Choice in a floral marketplace: the role of complexity in bumble bee decision-making

Austin, Matthew W.; Horack, Patricia; Dunlap, Aimee S.

doi:10.1093/beheco/ary190

Cited by 23 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Empirical studies on the links between floral diversity and flower constancy provide contrasting results. While Gervais et al (2020) and Martínez-Bauer et al (2021) found that increasing plant diversity was associated with lower flower constancy in Bombus impatiens and B. terrestris , Austin et al (2019) found that bumble bees became more flower constant when there are more options available. The latter finding is more consistent with a “cognitive limitations” perspective, since deciding among more options would be cognitively more challenging and flower constancy, therefore, a possible solution to avoid switching costs (see also Chittka et al 1997; Gegear & Thomson 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Decision making is often impaired as the number of choices increases (Latty & Trueblood, 2020). The different studies differ in that the first two were performed under natural conditions, whereas Austin et al (2019) was experimental. Non-experimental surveys can be confounded by numerous factors, such as differences in rewards, clustering of flowers or management, whereas experimental studies might fail to capture crucial features of natural environments that affect decision-making (Fawcett et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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When should bees be flower constant? An agent-based model highlights the importance of social information and foraging conditions

Hayes

Grüter

2022

Preprint

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Many bee species show flower constancy, i.e. a tendency to visit flowers of one type during a foraging trip. Flower constancy is important for plant reproduction, but whether bees also benefit from flower constancy remains unclear. Social bees, which often use communication about food sources, show particularly strong flower constancy. We hypothesised that the sharing of social information increases the benefits of flower constancy because foragers share information selectively about high-quality food sources, thereby reducing the need to sample alternatives. We also asked if foraging landscapes affect flower constancy. We developed an agent-based model that allowed us to simulate bee colonies with and without communication and flower constancy in different foraging environments. Flower constancy alone performed poorly in all environments, while indiscriminate flower choice was often the most successful strategy. However, communication improved the performance of flower constant colonies in nearly all tested environments. This combination was particularly successful when high-quality food sources were abundant and competition was weak. Our findings help explain why social bees tend to be more flower constant than solitary bees and suggest that flower constancy can be an adaptive strategy in social bees. Simulations suggest that anthropogenic changes of foraging landscapes will have different effects on the foraging performance of bees that vary in flower constancy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When should bees be flower constant? An agent-based model highlights the importance of social information and foraging conditions

Hayes

Grüter

2022

Preprint

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“…In this study, we took into account only visual signals and rewards, but the choice of visits may also be influenced by other parameters such as flower scent, which may itself be influenced by the higher temperature conditions. Furthermore, foraging decisions result from interactions between innate preference, constancy, choice set composition, cost of foraging and social information, and each of these components interact [67,71,72]. In our experiment, rather than modifying one signal, we opted to study the consequences of changing several floral signals and rewards at once to obtain a more realistic picture of multi-attribute choices compared to oversimplified single-attribute choices that do not reflect reality [67].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Warm Temperatures Reduce Flower Attractiveness and Bumblebee Foraging

Descamps

Jambrek

Quinet

et al. 2021

Insects

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(1) Background: Plants attract pollinators using several visual signals, mainly involving the display, size, shape, and color of flowers. Each signal is relevant for pollinators foraging for floral rewards, pollen, and nectar. Changes in floral signals and rewards can be induced by an increase in temperature, drought, or other abiotic stresses and are expected to increase as global temperatures rise. In this study, we explored how pollinators respond to modified floral signals and rewards following an increase in temperature; (2) Methods: We tested the effects of warmer temperatures on bee-pollinated starflower (Borago officinalis, Boraginaceae) and determined the behavior of one of its main pollinators, the buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris). We measured visual floral traits (display and size) and rewards (nectar and pollen) for plants cultivated at 21 °C or 26 °C. We investigated bumblebee behavior by tracking insect visits in a binary choice experiment in an indoor flight arena; (3) Results: Plants cultivated at 26 °C exhibited a smaller floral area (i.e., corolla sizes summed for all flowers per plant, 34.4 ± 2.3 cm2 versus 71.2 ± 2.7 cm2) and a greater flower height (i.e., height of the last inflorescence on the stem, 87 ± 1 cm versus 75 ± 1 cm) compared to plants grown at 21 °C. Nectar production per flower was lower in plants grown at 26 °C than in plants grown at 21 °C (2.67 ± 0.37 µL versus 4.15 ± 0.22 µL), and bumblebees visited flowers from plants grown at 26 °C four times less frequently than they visited those from plants grown at 21 °C; (4) Conclusions: These results show that warmer temperatures affect floral signals and reduce overall floral resources accessible to pollinators. Thus, the global increases in temperature caused by climate change could reduce plant pollination rates and reproductive success by reducing flower visitation.

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“…Hildesheim et al 2019;Kalisz & Vogler 2003;Moreira-Hernandez & Muchhala;Opedal et al 2016) and studies have examined how reliability of floral rewards affects pollinator behavior (e.g. Austin et al 2019;Dunlap et al 2017); however, how stochasticity in the presence of pollinators affects floral evolution and the delineation of pollination systems remains a largely understudied topic. Future studies testing the pollination syndrome concept should utilize plant-pollinator data with broad spatiotemporal coverage when defining primary pollinators and consider how pollinator reliability across time and space may influence the interpretation of pollination syndromes (or the lack thereof) in their focal species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing Pollination Syndromes in <i>Oenothera</i> (Onagraceae)

Krakos

Austin

2021

J Poll Ecol

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Pollinators are considered a major selective force in shaping the diversification of angiosperms. It has been hypothesized that convergent evolution of floral form has resulted in “pollination syndromes” - i.e. suites of floral traits that correspond to attraction of particular pollinator functional groups. Across the literature, the pollination syndrome concept has received mixed support. This may be due to studies using different methods to describe floral traits and/or the pollination syndrome concept being supported more often in species highly reliant on pollinators for reproduction. Here, we assess the predictive ability of pollination syndromes in Oenothera, a species rich clade with pollination systems existing on a gradient of specialization, and in which species are either self-compatible or self-incompatible. We ask the following questions: Do Oenothera species follow the pollination syndrome concept using traditional, categorical floral trait descriptions and/or quantitative floral trait measurements? And, are floral traits more predictive of primary pollinators in species with specialized pollination systems and/or species that are self-incompatible? Mapping floral traits of 54 Oenothera species into morphospace, we do not find support for the pollination syndrome concept using either categorical or quantitative floral trait descriptions. We do not find support for specialization or breeding system influencing the prediction of primary pollinators. However, we find pollination syndromes were more predictive in Oenothera species with moth pollination systems. Collectively, these results suggest that the pollination syndrome concept cannot be generally applied across taxa and that evolutionary history is important to consider when evaluating the relationship between floral form and contemporary pollinators.

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Choice in a floral marketplace: the role of complexity in bumble bee decision-making

Cited by 23 publications

References 55 publications

When should bees be flower constant? An agent-based model highlights the importance of social information and foraging conditions

When should bees be flower constant? An agent-based model highlights the importance of social information and foraging conditions

Warm Temperatures Reduce Flower Attractiveness and Bumblebee Foraging

Testing Pollination Syndromes in <i>Oenothera</i> (Onagraceae)

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