Determinants of pollination quality

研究的重点是：(1)大黄蜂（和其他一些昆虫）作为传粉者，(2)它们为植物提供的服务，(3)这些服务对植物的进化意义，以及(4)对传粉关系保护的威胁。以蜜蜂为中心的具体项目包括：***几十年来气候变化背景下落基山脉大黄蜂物种垂直分布变化的调查。我们将比较1974年、1998年、2007年和2014年的现有数据集，为今后定期调查奠定基础。***调查来自肠道病原体的大黄蜂病可能是观察到的种群下降的一个因素。我们将培养稀有物种进行感染试验，鉴定其肠道菌群的真菌和锥虫病原体，RNA病毒，特别是可能抵消病原体的有益细菌。这项合作工作将与发展状态报告和减少物种的恢复计划一起进行。***使用新的小型化谐波雷达应答器来记录naïve大黄蜂如何调查，比较和决定觅食的位置。***研究了大黄蜂和蜜蜂之间可能的社会性觅食线索的种间转移，并对基于种间花卉资源竞争的新假设进行了测试。***将人工冬眠的蚁后放置在野外部署的紧急陷阱中。通过确定蜂王在野外实际醒来的时间，这项工作将澄清天气的影响和气候变化对植物-传粉者匹配时间的潜在影响。******以植物为中心的具体项目包括：***对(1)长寿命多年生植物接受的授粉服务和(2)结果的人口成本进行持续的长期研究。分析一个移植花园里大约220株植物20多年来的数据。拟合积分投影模型。***使用移植花园的植物，根据营养生长来检查花蜜生产的成本。***使用3D打印来批量生产人造花，这些花可以捐赠和接收粉末染料来代替花粉，以估计花的变异对“雄性”和“雌性繁殖成功”（RS）的影响。将这一技术扩展到进行“人工进化”实验，其中一代的RS差异决定下一代的表型分布。***试验预测，在适应蜜蜂和鸟类授粉的相关对盆草物种之间，花蜜补充时间表将始终不同，正如理论预测的那样，并与花粉呈现模式平行。* * * * * * * *

The research focuses on (1) bumble bees (and some other insects) as pollinators, (2) the services they provide to plants, (3) the evolutionary implications of those services to plants, and (4) threats to the conservation of pollination relationships. Specific bee-centred projects include: ***Surveys of shifting altitudinal distributions of bumble bee species in the Rocky Mountains, in the context of climate change over decades. We will compare existing datasets from 1974, 1998, 2007, 2014, and lay groundwork for future surveys at regular intervals. ***Investigation of bumble bee disease from gut pathogens as a possible contributor to observed population declines. We will rear rare species for infection trials, characterize their gut floras for fungal and trypanosome pathogens, RNA viruses, and especially for beneficial bacteria that may counteract the pathogens. This collaborative work will occur alongside the development of status reports and recovery plans for declining species. ***Use of newly miniaturized harmonic radar transponders to document how naïve bumble bees investigate, compare, and decide on locations in which to forage. ***Investigation of the possible interspecific transfer of social foraging cues between bumble bees and honey bees, with tests of new hypotheses based on interspecific competition for floral resources.***Placement of artificially-hibernated queens into emergence traps deployed in the field. By determining when queens actually wake up in the field, this work will clarify the effects of weather and the potential for climate change to disrupt the timing of plant-pollinator matches. ******Specific plant-centred projects include:***Continued long-term studies of (1) pollination services received by a long-lived perennial plant and (2) demographic costs of fruiting. Analyze over twenty years of data for about 220 plants in a transplant garden. Fit integral projection models. ***Use plants from transplant garden to examine costs of nectar production in terms of vegetative growth.***Use 3D printing to mass-produce artificial flowers that donate and receive powdered dye in lieu of pollen to estimate consequences of floral variation for "male" and "female reproductive success" (RS). Extend this technique to conduct "artificial evolution" experiments in which RS differentials in one generation determine phenotype distributions in the next. ***Test predictions that nectar replenishment schedules will differ consistently between related pairs of Penstemon species adapted to bee and bird pollination, as predicted by theory and in parallel with pollen presentation patterns. ********