Honey bee and native solitary bee foraging behavior in a crop with dimorphic parental lines

ESTRAVIS BARCALA, C; PALOTTINI, F; FARINA WALTER M.

PLOS ONE

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

Lugar: San Francisco; Año: 2019 vol. 14

1932-6203

Insect pollination is issential for hybrid seed production systems, among which, introducedand native bees are the primary pollinating agents transferring pollen from male fertile (MF)to male sterile (MS) lines. On a highly dimorphic sunflower (Helianthus annuus) crop, weassessed the foraging behavior of solitary Melissodes bees and honey bees Apis mellifera.We found that Melissodes spp. were dominant in and showed fidelity to MF plants, gatheringsunflower pollen efficiently throughout the day. In contrast, honey bees dominated on MSlines, mostly gathered nectar and exhibited high floral constancy, even after interacting witha second visitor. Also, honey bees carried sunflower pollen on their bodies while visiting MSinflorescences. This study highlights the need for a thorough understanding of the factorsinvolved in a pollinator-dependent agroecosystem crop to assess the contribution of nativebees on pollination of crops which offer resources spatially separated in two highly dimorphicparental lines.