Abstract
Volatile odors from flowers play an important role in plant-pollinator interaction. The honeybee is an important generalist pollinator of many plants. Here, we explored whether any components of the odors of a range of honeybee-pollinated plants are commonly involved in the interaction between plants and honeybees. We used a needle trap system to collect floral odors, and GC–MS analysis revealed nonanal was the only component scent detected in 12 different honeybee-pollinated flowers and not present in anemophilous plant species. For Ligustrum compactum, blooming flowers released significantly more nonanal than buds and faded flowers. For Sapium sebiferum, nonanal release through the day correlated with nectar secretion. Experimentally increasing nectar load in flowers of Sapium sebiferum, Ligustrum compactum, and Castanea henryi increased nonanal levels also. Nonanal was also detected in flower nectar and honeys from experimental colonies. Electroantennogram recordings and behavioral observations showed that untrained honeybees could detect and were strongly attracted to nonanal. We argue that nonanal persists in both honey and nectar odors facilitating a learned association between nonanal and food reward in honeybees.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Dr. Guangli Wang for suggesting on EAG experimental design, Dr. Shengliang Liao for help in GC-MS experiments, and Dr. Xinjian Xu for help in floral scent collection.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 31702193), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi province (no. 20171BAB214018), Key Research and Development Project of Jiangxi province (no. 20181BBF60019), and the Earmarked Fund for China Agriculture Research System (no. CARS-44-KXJ15).
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XJH and ZJZ designed the experiments; YBL and XJH conducted the experiments; YM, YZH, JFL, ZL, and WYY helped in performing the experiments; XJH, YBL, ABB, and ZJZ wrote and revised the paper.
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Liu, Y.B., Zeng, Z.J., Barron, A.B. et al. The involvement of a floral scent in plant-honeybee interaction. Sci Nat 109, 30 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-022-01802-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-022-01802-z