Dissertation Research: Testing how traits shape individual resource use in response to competition: implications for ecosystem functioning

许多种类的植物依靠昆虫授粉，包括人类食用的大多数水果和蔬菜。然而，为了使花受精，花粉通常必须来自同一种植物。 因此，昆虫传粉者的一个关键属性是它们的忠诚度，即它们将花粉从一朵花带到同一物种的另一朵花的可能性有多大。 蜜蜂作为传粉者特别有价值的一个原因是它们的高度忠诚，但最近的研究表明，蜜蜂的忠诚度可以变化。 该项目将测试哪些特定因素增强或降低蜜蜂的忠诚度。 除了增加对重要生态系统服务的科学理解外，该项目还将为博士论文增加一个新的组成部分，并为两名本科生提供密集的实地研究经验。为了将研究结果传达给公众，研究人员将在亚利桑那州图森市的沙漠博物馆帮助创建一个关于传粉者重要性的推广项目。之前在科罗拉多落基山脉的草地上对熊蜂授粉的研究表明，熊蜂之间对花朵的竞争促进了忠诚。 然而，这取决于一个物种舌头的平均长度：当其他物种的熊蜂被移除时，舌头较短的物种往往会失去更多的保真度，植物繁殖也会减少更多。该项目将测试一个物种内个体之间的差异是否具有相同的效果。研究人员将从草地上移除除一种之外的所有大黄蜂，并跟踪飞行并测量个体蜜蜂的舌头长度。研究结果将促进传粉生态学的保真度的知识。更广泛地说，研究将显示个体动物之间的差异如何导致它们对竞争做出不同的反应，从而对生态系统功能产生影响。

Many species of plants depend on insects for pollination, including most of the fruits and vegetables that humans eat. However, for pollen to fertilize a flower, it must generally come from the same species of plant. A critical attribute of insect pollinators is thus their fidelity, how likely they are to carry pollen from one flower to another flower of the same species. One reason that bees are especially valued as pollinators is their high fidelity, but recent research has shown that the fidelity of bees can vary. This project will test which specific factors enhance or diminish fidelity in bees. Besides increasing scientific understanding of an important ecosystem service, the project will add a new component to a doctoral dissertation and provide intensive field research experience for two undergraduate students. To communicate results to the general public, researchers will help create an outreach program on the importance of pollinators at the Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona.Previous work on pollination by bumblebees in meadows in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado shows that competition between bumblebees for flowers promotes fidelity. However, this depends on the mean length of the tongue of a species: when other species of bumblebees are removed, shorter tongued species tend to lose fidelity more and plant reproduction decreases more. This project will test whether variation between individuals within a species has the same effect. Researchers will remove all but one species of bumblebee from areas in meadows and follow the flights and measure the tongue lengths of individual bees. Results will advance knowledge of the ecology of fidelity in pollination. More broadly, research will show how differences between individual animals cause them to respond differently to competition, with consequences for ecosystem function.