Determinants of pollination quality

该研究的重点是（1）熊蜂（和其他一些昆虫）作为授粉者，（2）它们为植物提供的服务，（3）这些服务对植物的进化影响，以及（4）对授粉关系保护的威胁。 以蜜蜂为中心的具体项目包括：* 在几十年来气候变化的背景下，调查落基山脉大黄蜂物种的海拔分布变化。 我们将比较1974年、1998年、2007年和2014年的现有数据集，并为今后定期调查奠定基础。* 调查由肠道病原体引起的熊蜂疾病，这可能是观察到的种群下降的原因。 我们将饲养稀有物种进行感染试验，描述它们的肠道菌群中的真菌和锥虫病原体、RNA病毒，特别是可能对抗病原体的有益细菌。 这项合作工作将与为正在减少的物种编制状况报告和恢复计划同时进行。 * 使用新的小型谐波雷达应答器来记录天真的熊蜂如何调查，比较和决定觅食的位置。 * 调查熊蜂和蜜蜂之间社会觅食线索的可能种间转移，并测试基于种间竞争花卉资源的新假设。将人工冬眠的蚁后放入野外部署的紧急陷阱。 通过确定蚁后何时在野外醒来，这项工作将澄清天气的影响以及气候变化破坏植物-传粉者匹配时间的可能性。** 以植物为中心的具体项目包括：* 继续长期研究（1）长寿多年生植物接受的授粉服务和（2）结果的人口成本。 分析20多年来关于移植花园中220株植物的数据。 拟合积分投影模型。* 使用来自移植花园的植物来检查营养生长方面的花蜜生产成本。*使用3D打印大规模生产人造花，这些花捐赠和接收粉末染料代替花粉，以估计花卉变异对“男性”和“女性生殖成功”（RS）的影响。扩展这种技术进行“人工进化”的实验中，RS差异在一代决定下一个表型分布。 * 测试预测，花蜜补充时间表将在适应蜜蜂和鸟类授粉的相关对Penstemon物种之间始终不同，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. ********