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Teasing out the functional groups of oil-collecting bees in the light of the pollination of Nierembergia flowers

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Abstract

Pollination interactions between plants bearing oil-flowers and oil-collecting bees are regarded as specialized, and within the major group of bees, oil-collecting bees are considered a special functional group of pollinators, yet they encompass a great diversity, not only at taxonomic level but also in morphological and behavioral aspects. Since the functional group of oil-collecting bees is functionally diverse, we examined whether these bees, despite their gross commonalities, may be exerting divergence within and among oil-flowered species or, alternatively, promoting convergence to some general oil-flower morphology that can be pollinated by a functional range of oil-bees. To answer this question, we recorded pollinator assemblages of 18 taxa of Nierembergia, as well as the foraging behavior, visitation frequency, and morphometric characterization of all oil-collecting bees species that pollinate the flowers of those taxa, by field observations and sampling. We found that the pollinator assemblages of the species and varieties of Nierembergia largely differed among taxa. 14 species of oil-collecting bees, belonging to the genera Chalepogenus, Centris, Tapinotaspis, Caenonomada, Tetrapedia, and Arhysoceble, were recorded as pollinators of Nierembergia flowers. These pollinator species varied in multivariate body size, rewards-gathering behavior, and way they carry out pollination on flowers. According to our results, Nierembergia flowers are pollinated by five functional groups of oil-collecting bees that presumably promote divergence within and among Nierembergia taxa. Floral resource-harvesting behavior of oil-collecting bees species that pollinate Nierembergia flowers would be a key feature in the definition of functional groups and in the diversification of flower features in Nierembergia.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files].

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Acknowledgements

We thank Ana Clara Ibañez, Andrés Issaly, Florencia Soteras, Mauricio Cisternas, Cristina Acosta, Gabriela Ferreiro, Valeria Paiaro, Matías Baranzelli, Melina Mena, Santiago Benitez-Vieyra, Federico Sazatonil, Aimé Rubini Pisano, Sofía Maubecin, Nicolás Maubecin, Nayara Simoes Macayo, Federico Heredia, Georgina Nicolino, Denis Larrea, Stefan Wanke, José Rubén Pérez Ishiwara, Miguel Castañeda Zárate, Ania Vargas Ayalá, María Noel Augusto, and Soledad Chiabrando for field assistance in the uncountable sampling trips; Juan Fornoni for the research stay of CCM at Instituto de Ecología of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and for the financial support for N. angustifolia field sampling; Arturo Roig Alsina and Antonio Aguiar for their help in bees identification and María Laura Guzman Rodriguez for revising the English version of the manuscript. This work was supported by funds of Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET, PIP 201101-00245, PIP 11220150100690CO) and Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (FONCYT-PICT-2011-0837, PICT 2015-3089) to ANS. CCM, NR, NP, AAC, and ANS acknowledge the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) as postdoctoral and doctoral fellowship holders and researchers.

Funding

This work was supported by funds of Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET, PIP 201101-00245, PIP 11220150100690CO) and Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (FONCYT-PICT-2011-0837, FONCYT-PICT 2015-3089) to Alicia N. Sérsic.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Ecología Evolutiva y Biología Floral, Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, CONICET, FCEFyN, Córdoba, Argentina

    Constanza C. Maubecin, Nicolás Rocamundi, Nahuel Palombo, Liliana A. Aguirre, Andrea A. Cocucci & Alicia N. Sérsic

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  1. Constanza C. Maubecin
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  2. Nicolás Rocamundi
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  3. Nahuel Palombo
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  4. Liliana A. Aguirre
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  5. Andrea A. Cocucci
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  6. Alicia N. Sérsic
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Contributions

CCM, ANS, and AAC contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by all authors. The first draft of the manuscript was written by CCM and ANS and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Constanza C. Maubecin.

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Supplementary Information

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Supplementary file1 (XLSX 14 kb)

11829_2021_9864_MOESM2_ESM.eps

Supplementary file2 Pollinator morphometric variables. A. Dorsal view; B. lateral view; C. Ventral view. Measured traits (abbreviations): body length (BL), body width (BW), body height (BH), foreleg length (FLL), middle leg length (MLL), fore basitarsal length of the first leg (FBL), middle basitarsal length (MBL) (EPS 8018 kb)

Supplementary file3 (XLSX 24 kb)

Supplementary file4 (XLSX 13 kb)

11829_2021_9864_MOESM5_ESM.eps

Supplementary file5 Tetrapedia sp. bee collecting oil from the dorsal side of the petals of N. linariifolia flower (EPS 2853 kb)

Supplementary file6 Oil collection by Chalepogenus goeldianus in Nierembergia ericoides flower (MP4 4363 kb)

Supplementary file7 Oil collection by Chalepogenus neffi in Nierembergia tucumanensis flower (MP4 5297 kb)

Supplementary file8 Pollen collection by Chalepogenus goeldianus in Nierembergia ericoides flower (MP4 7350 kb)

11829_2021_9864_MOESM9_ESM.eps

Supplementary file9 Bee species clustering according to morphometric measurements. Biplot obtained by Cluster Analysis. The clusters are numbered and identified with different colors. Pollinator genus abbreviations: Ch. for Chalepogenus, T. for Tapinotaspis, C. for Centris, A. for Arhysoceble, Ca. for Caenonomada (EPS 1070 kb)

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Maubecin, C.C., Rocamundi, N., Palombo, N. et al. Teasing out the functional groups of oil-collecting bees in the light of the pollination of Nierembergia flowers. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 15, 809–819 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-021-09864-y

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