Dissertation Research: Shared pollinators affect flowering plant coexistence

如果没有蜜蜂、蝙蝠和蝴蝶等传粉者，世界上大多数开花植物都会消失。由于传粉媒介的重要性，确保它们的健康对于保护生物多样性和促进全球农业安全至关重要。作为传粉者，一些本地蜜蜂可以通过限制它们访问特定物种的花来表现出强烈的忠诚度，而其他蜜蜂可能没有那么忠诚，访问许多不同类型的花。从理论上讲，有忠实传粉者的植物应该产出更多的果实和种子，因为传粉者在访问时只提供合适的花粉类型。这项研究的目的是了解本地蜜蜂对某些植物的忠诚程度。这项研究还探讨了近亲植物之间传粉媒介的共享如何影响这些植物产生的种子数量。如果一些植物在共享传粉媒介时比其他植物做得更差，传粉媒介忠诚度的差异可能会影响这些植物的常见或稀有程度。本研究结果对于理解传粉媒介在维持健康和多样化的农业和自然植物群落中所起的作用具有重要意义。这项研究有助于研究生的培训，为高中生物课开发了一个实验室和实地项目，并提供了参与和鼓励女性和代表性不足的学生参与STEM科学的机会。共存理论通过将物种相互作用定义为物种内部与物种之间竞争的平衡来解决物种丰富度在生物群落中是如何维持的。本研究利用这一理论来研究传粉者共享是否影响克拉克属四种共生植物的共存动态。要确定传粉者共享对开花植物的共存是有利还是不利，关键在于了解专门以花为食的本地蜜蜂对花的偏好和稳定性，以及它们提供的花粉数量。利用遗传鉴定技术（qPCR）测定克氏菌传粉媒介花粉的多样性和数量。这些测量将与每个植物物种的竞争能力的估计一起使用，以确定共享传粉者是否可以改变植物的适合度，以及这种模式是否显示出负频率依赖。该研究将揭示传粉媒介共享在促进开花植物共存中的作用。

Without pollinators like bees, bats and butterflies, most of the world's flowering plants would disappear. Because of the importance of pollinators, insuring their health is essential for preserving biodiversity and promoting global agricultural security. As pollinators, some native bees can show strong loyalty by limiting their visits to only flowers from a certain species, while other bees may not be so loyal, visiting many different types of flowers. In theory, plants with loyal pollinators should produce more fruit and seeds because the pollinators provide only the appropriate pollen type when they visit. The aim of this research is to understand the degree to which native bees show loyalty to certain plants. This study also explores how the sharing of pollinators between closely related plants might influence how many seeds those plants produce. If some of the plants do worse than others when sharing pollinators, differences in pollinator loyalty may influence how common or rare those plants become. The results of this research are important for understanding the role pollinators play in maintaining healthy and diverse agricultural and natural plant communities. This research contributes to the training of a graduate student, develops a lab and field program for a high school biology class and provides opportunities to engage and encourage women and under-represented students in STEM science.Coexistence theory addresses how species richness is maintained in biological communities by framing species interactions as a balance of competition within versus between species. This study uses that theory to investigate whether pollinator sharing affects coexistence dynamics in four co-occurring plants in the genus Clarkia. Determining whether pollinator sharing is detrimental or favorable for flowering plant coexistence hinges on understanding the flower preference and constancy of native bees that specialize on flowers and the quantity of pollen they provide. The diversity and quantity of pollen found on Clarkia's pollinators will be measured with a genetic identification technique (qPCR). These measurements will be used in conjunction with estimates of each plant species' competitive ability to determine whether shared pollinators can change plant fitness and whether the pattern shows a negative frequency dependence. This study will shed light on the role that pollinator sharing can play in promoting the coexistence of flowering plants.