Bumble bees damage plant leaves and accelerate flower production when pollen is scarce

第一作者：Foteini G. Pashalidou

第一单位：苏黎世联邦理工学院

通讯作者：Consuelo M. De Moraes

 Abstract 

背景回顾：Maintaining phenological synchrony with flowers is a key ecological challenge for pollinators that may be exacerbated by ongoing environmental change.

 摘  要 

植物花的物候保持同步是授粉昆虫所要面对的一个主要生态挑战，而不断变化的环境可能使得该挑战不断加剧。本文中，作者发现熊蜂工蜂会在花粉稀缺时啃咬还未开花植物的叶片，从而促进这些植物开花。实验室研究显示叶片的破环行为受到有无花粉的强烈影响，而那些被熊蜂损伤的植株开花要明显早于未被损伤的植株与被机械损伤的对照组。后续的户外试验显示野外植物受损伤的程度与当地可利用花的多少相关。此外，作者还观察到来自野外的另外两种熊蜂物种的工蜂同样也会破坏植物的叶片。本文的研究揭示了熊蜂工蜂的一种影响地区可利用花资源的行为。

 Bumble bee gardeners 

Bumble bees rely heavily on pollen resources for essential nutrients as they build their summer colonies. Therefore, we might expect that annual differences in the availability of these resources must simply be tolerated, but Pashalidou et al. made observations suggesting that bees may have strategies to cope with irregular seasonal flowering (see the Perspective by Chittka). When faced with a shortage of pollen, bumble bees actively damaged plant leaves in a characteristic way, and this behavior resulted in earlier flowering by as much as 30 days. Experimenters were not able to fully replicate the results with their own damage, suggesting that there is a distinct method that the bees use to stimulate earlier flowering.

doi: 10.1126/science.aay0496

Journal: Science

Published date: May 22, 2020