Determinants of pollination quality

研究的重点是(1)作为传粉者的大黄蜂(和其他一些昆虫)，(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垂直分布的变化。我们将比较1974年、1998年、2007年、2014年的现有数据集，并定期为未来的调查奠定基础。*对肠道病原体引起的大黄蜂疾病进行调查，认为这可能是观察到的蜜蜂数量下降的原因。我们将培育稀有物种进行感染试验，确定其肠道菌群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。这项合作工作将与制定衰退物种状况报告和恢复计划同时进行。*使用新的微型谐波雷达应答器记录幼稚的大黄蜂是如何调查、比较和决定觅食地点的。*调查大黄蜂和蜜蜂之间社会觅食线索可能的种间转移，并基于种间对花卉资源的竞争检验新的假设。*将人工冬眠的蜂王放置在野外部署的羽化陷阱中。通过确定蜂王在田野中真正醒来的时间，这项工作将阐明天气的影响以及气候变化扰乱植物与传粉者配对的时间的可能性。*以植物为中心的具体项目包括：*继续对(1)多年生植物接受授粉服务和(2)结实的人口成本进行长期研究。分析移栽花园中大约220株植物20多年的数据。拟合整体投影模型。*使用移植花园中的植物从营养生长的角度来检查花蜜生产的成本。*使用3D打印来大规模生产人造花，这些人造花捐赠并接受粉末染料来代替花粉，以估计花朵变异对“雄性”和“雌性生殖成功”(RS)的影响。将这项技术扩展到进行“人工进化”实验，在这个实验中，一个世代的RS差异决定了下一代的表型分布。*测试预测，适应蜜蜂和鸟类授粉的彭斯通物种相关对之间的花蜜补充时间表将一致地不同，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. ********