Microbial Co-Occurrence in Floral Nectar Affects Metabolites and Attractiveness to a Generalist Pollinator

Rering, Caitlin C.; Vannette, Rachel L.; Schaeffer, Robert N.; Beck, John J.

doi:10.1007/s10886-020-01169-3

Cited by 29 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…When given the choice, bumble bees preferred nectar with bacteria at ambient temperature, suggesting that either the loss of fructose or an overabundance of microbial metabolites influenced bumble bee foraging choices. Nectar yeast metabolites, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), act as informative cues of nectar rewards, including indicating the presence of higher sugar concentrations [56]. Nectar with dissolved secondary metabolites from yeast elicited an enhanced gustatory response in bumble bees, indicating the importance of these chemicals [15].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elevated Temperature May Affect Nectar Microbes, Nectar Sugars, and Bumble Bee Foraging Preference

Russell

McFrederick

2021

Microb Ecol

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Floral nectar, an important resource for pollinators, is inhabited by microbes such as yeasts and bacteria, which have been shown to influence pollinator preference. Dynamic and complex plant-pollinator-microbe interactions are likely to be affected by a rapidly changing climate, as each player has their own optimal growth temperatures and phenological responses to environmental triggers, such as temperature. To understand how warming due to climate change is influencing nectar microbial communities, we incubated a natural nectar microbial community at different temperatures and assessed the subsequent nectar chemistry and preference of the common eastern bumble bee, Bombus impatiens. The microbial community in floral nectar is often species-poor, and the cultured Brassica rapa nectar community was dominated by the bacterium Fructobacillus. Temperature increased the abundance of bacteria in the warmer treatment. Bumble bees preferred nectar inoculated with microbes, but only at the lower, ambient temperature. Warming therefore induced an increase in bacterial abundance which altered nectar sugars and led to significant differences in pollinator preference.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elevated Temperature May Affect Nectar Microbes, Nectar Sugars, and Bumble Bee Foraging Preference

Russell

McFrederick

2021

Microb Ecol

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“…obtained when combining both microbes [32,54]. However, despite the fact that the volatile emission of a co-culture can be modeled in theory by summing the volatile emissions of the monocultures, a co-culture of an attractive yeast and bacterium does not always result in a more attractive volatile profile [55]. Metschnikowia reukaufii and Acinetobacter species, including A. nectaris, are commonly found together in floral nectar [48].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Inoculation of pear flowers with Metschnikowia reukaufii and Acinetobacter nectaris enhances attraction of honeybees and hoverflies, but does not increase fruit and seed set

et al. 2021

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Currently, one of the most important challenges is to provide sufficient and affordable food and energy for a fast-growing world population, alongside preserving natural habitats and maintaining biodiversity. About 35% of the global food production depends on animals for pollination. In recent years, an alarming worldwide decline in pollinators has been reported, putting our food production under additional pressure. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find sustainable ways to ensure this crucial ecosystem service. Recent studies have shown that floral nectar is generally colonized by microorganisms, specifically yeasts and bacteria, which may alter nectar chemistry and enhance attraction of pollinators. In this study, we investigated changes in pollinator foraging behavior and pollination success in European pear (Pyrus communis L.) cultivars ‘Regal Red’ and ‘Sweet Sensation’ (red sports of ‘Doyenné de Comice’) after flower inoculation with the typical nectar-inhabiting microorganisms Metschnikowia reukaufii and Acinetobacter nectaris, and a combination of both. Pollination success was monitored by measuring the number of flower visits, fruit set and seed set in two consecutive years, 2019 and 2020. Results revealed that application of a mixture of M. reukaufii and A. nectaris resulted in significantly higher visitation rates of honeybees and hoverflies. By contrast, no effects on flower visits were found when yeasts and bacteria were applied separately. Fruit set and seed set were not significantly affected by any of the inoculation treatments. The only factors affecting fruit set were initial number of flower clusters on the trees and the year. The absence of treatment effects can most likely be attributed to the fact that pollination was not a limiting factor for fruit set in our experiments. Altogether, our results show that inoculation of flowers with nectar microbes can modify pollinator foraging patterns, but did not lead to increased pollination success under the conditions tested.

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“…If true, this also suggests that R. dominica is potentially broadly attracted to a greater range of MVOC’s than T. castaneum. While Rering et al ( 2020 ) found that response to microbial monocultures and microbial assemblages were similar by the European honey bee, Apis mellifera , the generalization of this finding is currently unknown, and may vary in other systems. Future research should evaluate behavioral response to microbial monocultures found from grain in the postharvest environment to tease apart which species might be producing volatiles of behavioral relevance to stored product insects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…The authors concluded that the insects were not responding haphazardly, because of the low insect attraction to traps with competing volatiles from another species of fungus. In some cases, insects will respond similarly to microbial assemblages as to microbial monocultures (Rering et al 2020 ). Thus, in the last decade, there has been an increasing amount of work documenting the ubiquity and importance of MVOC’s for insect behavioral responses (Beck et al 2018 ; Davis et al 2013 ; Ponce et al 2021 ; Weisskopf et al 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial Volatile Organic Compounds from Tempered and Incubated Grain Mediate Attraction by a Primary but Not Secondary Stored Product Insect Pest in Wheat

et al. 2021

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There has been a dearth of research elucidating the behavioral effect of microbially-produced volatile organic compounds on insects in postharvest agriculture. Demonstrating attraction to MVOC’s by stored product insects would provide an additional source of unique behaviorally-relevant stimuli to protect postharvest commodities at food facilities. Here, we assessed the behavioral response of a primary (Rhyzopertha dominica) and secondary (Tribolium castaneum) grain pest to bouquets of volatiles produced by whole wheat that were untempered, or tempered to 12%, 15%, or 19% grain moisture and incubated for 9, 18, or 27 days. We hypothesized that MVOC’s may be more important for the secondary feeder because they signal that otherwise unusable, intact grains have become susceptible by weakening of the bran. However, contrary to our expectations, we found that the primary feeder, R. dominica, but not T. castaneum was attracted to MVOC’s in a wind tunnel experiment, and in a release-recapture assay using commercial traps baited with grain treatments. Increasing grain moisture resulted in elevated grain damage detected by near-infrared spectroscopy and resulted in small but significant differences in the blend of volatiles emitted by treatments detected by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC–MS). In sequencing the microbial community on the grain, we found a diversity of fungi, suggesting that an assemblage was responsible for emissions. We conclude that R. dominica is attracted to a broader suite of MVOC’s than T. castaneum, and that our work highlights the importance of understanding insect-microbe interactions in the postharvest agricultural supply chain.

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Microbial Co-Occurrence in Floral Nectar Affects Metabolites and Attractiveness to a Generalist Pollinator

Cited by 29 publications

References 59 publications

Elevated Temperature May Affect Nectar Microbes, Nectar Sugars, and Bumble Bee Foraging Preference

Elevated Temperature May Affect Nectar Microbes, Nectar Sugars, and Bumble Bee Foraging Preference

Inoculation of pear flowers with Metschnikowia reukaufii and Acinetobacter nectaris enhances attraction of honeybees and hoverflies, but does not increase fruit and seed set

Microbial Volatile Organic Compounds from Tempered and Incubated Grain Mediate Attraction by a Primary but Not Secondary Stored Product Insect Pest in Wheat

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