Abstract Detail

Studying Plant Pollinator Interactions in Changing Environments: Approaches, Lessons and Future Directions

Burkle, Laura [1], Runyon, Justin [2], Glenny, William [3].

Climate change can alter floral scent and pollinator attraction.

The worldwide decline in pollinators highlights the importance of understanding how factors associated with climate change may affect plant-pollinator interactions. Components of climate change have the potential to strongly influence plant traits important for attracting pollinators, including floral volatile organic compounds. We examined how drought, elevated CO₂, and leaf herbivory—key components of climate change—affected floral display, floral volatiles, and the visitation rates and community composition of pollinators to four forb species in Montana. Leaf herbivory changed floral scent and reduced pollinator attraction in one forb species. While experimental drought reduced flower size and floral display in all species, there were species-specific effects of drought on volatile emissions per flower, the composition of volatile compounds produced, and subsequent pollinator visitation rates. Drought also influenced the floral visitor community across forb species, indicating that some groups of pollinators were deterred while others were attracted. Preliminary data suggest that elevated CO₂ can also influence floral traits and visitation by pollinators. These results suggest that floral volatiles provide information-rich signals to pollinators under shifting environmental conditions and that floral volatiles may be relatively more important than visual plant traits for pollinator attraction, particularly under climate change. The potential implications of these findings for pollinator and habitat conservation and restoration will be discussed.

1 - Montana State University, Ecology Department, P.O. Box 173460, Lewis Hall, Bozeman, MT, 57917, USA
2 - USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 1648 S. 7th Avenue, Bozeman, MT, 59717, USA
3 - Montana State University, Ecology Department, P.O. Box 173460, Lewis Hall, Bozeman, MT, 59717, USA

Keywords:
plant-insect interactions
pollination
drought
Herbivory
floral volatiles
climate change
elevated CO2.

Presentation Type: Symposium Presentation
Session: SY08, Studying plant pollinator interactions in changing environments: approaches, lessons and future directions
Location: Chatham Ballroom - C/Savannah International Trade and Convention Center
Date: Tuesday, August 2nd, 2016
Time: 3:45 PM
Number: SY08006
Abstract ID:172
Candidate for Awards:None