Efficiency of using electric toothbrush as an alternative to a tuning fork for artificial buzz pollination is independent of instrument buzzing frequency

Abstract

Background: Breeding programs and research activities where artificial buzz-pollinations are required to have primarily relied upon using tuning forks, and bumble bees. However, these methods can be expensive, unreliable, and inefficient. To find an alternative, we tested the efficiency of pollen collection using electric toothbrushes and compared it with tuning forks at three vibration frequencies-low, medium, and high and two extraction times at 3 s and 16 s-from two buzz-pollinated species (Solanum lycopersicum and Solanum elaeagnifolium). Results:Our results show that species, and extraction time significantly influenced pollen extraction, while there were no significant differences for the different vibration frequencies and more importantly, the use of a toothbrush over tuning fork. More pollen was extracted from S. elaeagnifolium when compared to S. lycopersicum, and at longer buzzing time regardless of the instrument used. Conclusions:Our results suggest that electric toothbrushes can be a viable and inexpensive alternative to tuning forks, and regardless of the instrument used and buzzing frequency, length of buzzing time is also critical in pollen extraction.

Examining the Role of Buzzing Time and Acoustics on Pollen Extraction of Solanum elaeagnifolium

“…To understand the effect of buzzing frequency and duration of buzzing time on the amount of pollen removed further [14], we ran an artificial pollen extraction experiment, which clearly demonstrated that pollen extraction is independent of buzzing frequency (Figure 7A), while the duration of buzzing time has a significant effect (Figure 7B). These findings also agree with [25], where they found that a longer duration of buzzes eject more pollen in S. rostratum, while frequency had no significant effect on the amount of pollen removed.…”

“…Multiple field trips were made to observe major buzz pollinator incidence and record bee buzzing vibrations. Field visits were made early in the morning (7 a.m.-9 a.m.) to record maximum pollinator activity, and to confirm that we document first visitors once the flowers have opened [14]. During each visit, bee data were collected for their flower visit (number of visits), the time between landing and leaving a flower (visit bout), while simultaneously recording bee buzzes (explained in Section 4.3) followed by capturing a subset of bees for identification, bee mass and Intertegular distance (ITD) measurements carried out in the lab.…”

“…[6,[8][9][10][11]. Buzz pollination also provides us an excellent model system to understand the origin of complex floral modifications, the evolutionary ecology of pollen rewards, as well as biomechanics underlying plant-pollinator interactions [3,6,[12][13][14]. Although a large body of previous work focused on understanding the role of plant and pollinator characteristics in the context of buzz pollination in various plant families, whether such interactions play a key role in the reproductive success of invasive species such as S. elaeagnifolium is less understood.…”

“…Although previous studies documented the morphological and acoustic characteristics of buzzing bees and their host plants, we are still at the early stages of understanding such species-specific interactions at the community level [14,[26][27][28][29]. This is more ecologically relevant in invasive weeds, where pollination success, and consequently seed set, is a driving force in invasion success.…”

“…To examine this, we documented the pollination biology of S. elaeagnifolium in the LRGV by identifying the major buzz pollinators, their buzzing acoustic parameters (buzzing frequency, amplitude, duration of buzzing), as well estimating the effects of frequency and duration of buzzing on pollen extraction. Following this, we then used electric toothbrushes [14] to simulate the natural buzzing frequency and duration of buzzing to validate the results from the native pollinators.…”