Abstract Detail

Reproductive Processes

Stevens, Mia [1], Leventhal, Laura [2], Ison, Jennifer [3].

What is the genetic diversity of conspecific pollen carried by native bees to Echinacea angustifolia, a prairie perennial?

Over 90% of plant species transfer pollen between individuals via animal pollinators and the vast majority of these are generalist insects. The genetic diversity of conspecific pollen carried by a pollinator will likely affect a plant's reproductive fitness. For example, increased pollen donor diversity has been associated with increased offspring vigor, resulting in a higher overall reproductive output. In this study, we determined the conspecific pollen donor diversity carried on native bees visiting the prairie perennial, Echinacea angustifolia. We actively captured 99 bees from six pollinator taxa as they visited Echinacea. We used a novel protocol where we cooled bees and then ‘wiped’ the cooled bees on eight receptive stigmas of a previously genotyped maternal plant. We allowed the maternal plant to set seed and then genotyped the resulting 186 offspring. We also genotyped the 571 lowering Echinacea plants in the study site. We genotyped all offspring and potential pollen donors at ten microsatellite loci and conducted paternity analysis. We used these results to quantify the diversity of pollen donors carried by each bee. We found that the coneflower specialist bee, Andrena rudbeckiae, set more seeds per ‘wipe’ than the other, mostly generalist, bee taxa. By examining the conspecific genetic diversity of a pollinator's pollen load, our results contribute to the recent interest in adding the ‘genetic component’ to quantifications of pollinator effectiveness. We also discuss the implications of our results for the conservation of plants persisting in small fragmented populations.

1 - The College of Wooster, Biology Department, 1189 Beall Ave, Wooster, OH, 44691, United States
2 - University of California Davis, Department of Evolution and Ecology, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
3 - The College Of Wooster, Biology Department, 1189 Beall Ave., Wooster, OH, 44691, United States

Keywords:
pollination biology
Paternity analysis
Native bees
Echinacea
Pollinator effectiveness
Prairie Ecosystems
microsatellite.

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P, Reproductive Processes Posters
Location: Arizona Ballroom/Starr Pass
Date: Monday, July 29th, 2019
Time: 5:30 PM This poster will be presented at 5:30 pm. The Poster Session runs from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Posters with odd poster numbers are presented at 5:30 pm, and posters with even poster numbers are presented at 6:15 pm.
Number: PRP007
Abstract ID:580
Candidate for Awards:None