Abstract
Floral nectar often contains chemicals that are deterrent to pollinators, presenting potential challenges to outcrossing plant species. Plants may be able to co-opt pollinator chemical signals to mitigate the negative effects of nectar deterrent compounds on pollination services. We found that buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) and Mexican sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia) produce nectar with abundant phenolics, including three components of the Apis honeybee queen mandibular pheromone (QMP). In addition, these nectars contain a non-pheromonal phenolic, chlorogenic acid (CA), which was toxic to honeybees, and T. diversifolia nectar also contained isochlorogenic acid (IA). Fresh nectar or solutions containing nectar phenolics reduced Apis individual feeding compared to sucrose solutions. However, freely foraging bees preferred solutions with QMP components to control solutions, and QMP components over-rode or reversed avoidance of CA and IA. Furthermore, prior exposure to the presence or just the odor of QMP components removed the deterrent effects of CA and IA. By mimicking the honey bee pheromone blend, nectar may maintain pollinator attraction in spite of deterrent nectar compounds.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Mr. Yong Xiong and Yonghe Miao for assistance in nectar sampling, and many research assistants including Guangyin Zhao, Jianjun Li, Mingyue Ji, and Liyun Luo. We also thank Dr. Wei Cao of Northwest University, Xi’an City, China, for conducting nectar chemistry analysis, and members of the Adler lab, Prof. David Denlinger, Dr. Martin Heil, and one anonymous reviewer for feedback on the manuscript. This work was supported by National Basic Research Program of China (2007CB411603) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (30870445 and 31270525).
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Liu, F., Gao, J., Di, N. et al. Nectar Attracts Foraging Honey Bees with Components of Their Queen Pheromones. J Chem Ecol 41, 1028–1036 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-015-0642-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-015-0642-2