SUPR
The effect of pollinator grooming on plant reproduction: a theoretical approach
Dnr:

NAISS 2023/22-1232

Type:

NAISS Small Compute

Principal Investigator:

Mario Vallejo-Marin

Affiliation:

Uppsala universitet

Start Date:

2023-12-07

End Date:

2025-01-01

Primary Classification:

10615: Evolutionary Biology

Webpage:

Allocation

Abstract

Pollen participates both as the carrier of male gametes in the reproduction of flowering plants and as a key resource exploited by floral visitors, especially bees. Pollinator behavior significantly alters the patterns of pollen removal and deposition, often called pollen fates. Specifically, our aim is to analyze whether pollen redistribution and removal during pollen grooming may change the “pollen landscape” on a bee´s body and, consequently, affect both pollen delivered by the anthers and pollen deposition onto stigmas. For this, we have developed a spatially explicit agent-based model to determine how bee grooming behavior may alter pollen fates and affect plant reproduction. Our code can simulate flower visits by bees, so that we simulate bee behavior and access the destination of pollen grains from each individual flower. Furthermore, using empirical data from the literature, we can parameterize the model with real values. Therefore, we will carry out simulations of 100 visits with different combinations of grooming intensities and removal to the scopa, repeating for at least 100 simulations. Our model has been developed in R language (version 4.3.2, R Development Core Team, 2023), using R Studio (version 2023.09.1+494, RStudio Team, 2020).