A majority of Angiosperm plant species depend on animal pollinators for pollination and reproductive success, including many of our crops. Numerous factors influence pollination success including plant pollination requirements, pollinator populations, and abiotic factors that affect both the plants and pollinators. Our research focuses on better understanding the factors that mediate plant-pollinator interactions, structure pollinator communities, and determine plant pollination success. Projects in our lab include, 1. Enhancing our understanding of pollinator ecology, behavior, and life history with a focus on native, wild bees, 2. Investigating the effects of disturbances and conservation efforts on pollinator communities, 3. Elucidating floral traits that drive pollinator attraction and pollination services, and 4. Determining pollination requirements, degrees of pollen limitation, and dependence on animal pollinators across different crop and wild plant species. Below are some of our ongoing research projects.
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Flowering plant and bee community assembly
Bees are intimately linked to their food source, flowering plants. We study how floral resource availability measured at different spatial scales, from patches to landscapes, structures bee communities. Our work in this area also identifies the best plants for bees and other pollinators with the goal of informing conservation efforts. Currently, we are conducting research on how abiotic, biotic, and socio-economic factors mediate the conservation value of pollinator gardens (funded by USDA NIFA). We are examining how plant origin and irrigation interact to determine the resource value of plants for pollinators, and how landscape context mediates pollinator recruitment to gardens. With our collaborators in the social sciences, we are also examining barriers to implementing pollinator-friendly gardening practices.
Effects of disturbances and conservation efforts on pollinator communitiesResearch projects in this field explore pollinator community responses to disturbances and conservation efforts at the behavioral, population, and community level. We also investigate how responses vary with pollinator life-history traits, disturbance intensity, or landscape context. Current projects in this area include examining how the timing of prescribed burns affects plant and pollinator phenology with consequences for plant pollination success, and investigating how the frequency of fire affects ground-nesting pollinator populations.
Floral traits and plant-pollinator interactionsPollinators make foraging decisions that are influenced by floral traits and rewards. Our work in this area focuses on elucidating the factors that mediate plant-pollinator interactions including the quantity and quality of floral rewards, flower morphology, and visual and olfactory cues. Currently, we are examining variation in floral traits and rewards across southern highbush blueberries and how this variation affects pollinator recruitment (funded by USDA SCRI). We also ask these questions in wild plants, including rare and threatened plant species such as Rhododendron chapmanii and Conradina etonia. For these endangered plants, enhancing pollinator recruitment and pollination success could influence conservation status.
Crop pollination ecologyMany crops including fruits, nuts, and vegetables, depend on insect pollination for optimal yields. We identify plant pollination requirements, effective pollinator species, and management practices that enhance pollination. Currently, we are examining management decisions that can optimize pollination of blueberry crops in Florida including pest management practices, the diversity and density of managed bees, and the diversity and arrangement of cultivars with subsequent effects on cross-pollination rates (funded by USDA SCRI, SARE Graduate Student Grant, Southern IPM Foundation, and Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services).
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