Artificial flowers as a tool for investigating multimodal flower choice in wild insects

Chapman, KM; Richardson, FJ; Forster, CY; Middleton, EJT; White, TE; Burke, P; Latty, T

Artificial flowers as a tool for investigating multimodal flower choice in wild insects

Chapman, KM Richardson, FJ Forster, CY Middleton, EJT White, TE Burke, P

Latty, T

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Publisher:: Wiley
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Ecology and Evolution, 2023, 13, (11), pp. e10687
Issue Date:: 2023-11-20

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Chapman, KM
dc.contributor.author	Richardson, FJ
dc.contributor.author	Forster, CY
dc.contributor.author	Middleton, EJT
dc.contributor.author	White, TE
dc.contributor.author	Burke, P https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0978-0237
dc.contributor.author	Latty, T
dc.date.accessioned	2024-02-23T05:18:02Z
dc.date.available	2023-10-20
dc.date.available	2024-02-23T05:18:02Z
dc.date.issued	2023-11-20
dc.identifier.citation	Ecology and Evolution, 2023, 13, (11), pp. e10687
dc.identifier.issn	2045-7758
dc.identifier.issn	2045-7758
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/175836
dc.description.abstract	Flowers come in a variety of colours, shapes, sizes and odours. Flowers also differ in the quality and quantity of nutritional reward they provide to entice potential pollinators to visit. Given this diversity, generalist flower-visiting insects face the considerable challenge of deciding which flowers to feed on and which to ignore. Working with real flowers poses logistical challenges due to correlations between flower traits, maintenance costs and uncontrolled variables. Here, we overcome this challenge by designing multimodal artificial flowers that varied in visual, olfactory and reward attributes. We used artificial flowers to investigate the impact of seven floral attributes (three visual cues, two olfactory cues and two rewarding attributes) on flower visitation and species richness. We investigated how flower attributes influenced two phases of the decision-making process: the decision to land on a flower, and the decision to feed on a flower. Artificial flowers attracted 890 individual insects representing 15 morphospecies spanning seven arthropod orders. Honeybees were the most common visitors accounting for 46% of visitors. Higher visitation rates were driven by the presence of nectar, the presence of linalool, flower shape and flower colour and was negatively impacted by the presence of citral. Species richness was driven by the presence of nectar, the presence of linalool and flower colour. For hymenopterans, the probability of landing on the artificial flowers was influenced by the presence of nectar or pollen, shape and the presence of citral and/or linalool. The probability of feeding increased when flowers contained nectar. For dipterans, the probability of landing on artificial flowers increased when the flower was yellow and contained linalool. The probability of feeding increased when flowers contained pollen, nectar and linalool. Our results demonstrate the multi-attribute nature of flower preferences and highlight the usefulness of artificial flowers as tools for studying flower visitation in wild insects.
dc.format	Electronic-eCollection
dc.language	eng
dc.publisher	Wiley
dc.relation.ispartof	Ecology and Evolution
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1002/ece3.10687
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	0602 Ecology, 0603 Evolutionary Biology
dc.subject.classification	3103 Ecology
dc.subject.classification	3104 Evolutionary biology
dc.subject.classification	4102 Ecological applications
dc.title	Artificial flowers as a tool for investigating multimodal flower choice in wild insects
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	13
utslib.location.activity	England
utslib.for	0602 Ecology
utslib.for	0603 Evolutionary Biology
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Marketing Discipline
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Strength - ACRI - Australia China Relations Institute
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Strength - BIDA - Business Intelligence and Data Analytics
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
pubs.consider-herdc	true
dc.date.updated	2024-02-23T05:17:57Z
pubs.issue	11
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	13
utslib.citation.issue	11

Abstract:

Flowers come in a variety of colours, shapes, sizes and odours. Flowers also differ in the quality and quantity of nutritional reward they provide to entice potential pollinators to visit. Given this diversity, generalist flower-visiting insects face the considerable challenge of deciding which flowers to feed on and which to ignore. Working with real flowers poses logistical challenges due to correlations between flower traits, maintenance costs and uncontrolled variables. Here, we overcome this challenge by designing multimodal artificial flowers that varied in visual, olfactory and reward attributes. We used artificial flowers to investigate the impact of seven floral attributes (three visual cues, two olfactory cues and two rewarding attributes) on flower visitation and species richness. We investigated how flower attributes influenced two phases of the decision-making process: the decision to land on a flower, and the decision to feed on a flower. Artificial flowers attracted 890 individual insects representing 15 morphospecies spanning seven arthropod orders. Honeybees were the most common visitors accounting for 46% of visitors. Higher visitation rates were driven by the presence of nectar, the presence of linalool, flower shape and flower colour and was negatively impacted by the presence of citral. Species richness was driven by the presence of nectar, the presence of linalool and flower colour. For hymenopterans, the probability of landing on the artificial flowers was influenced by the presence of nectar or pollen, shape and the presence of citral and/or linalool. The probability of feeding increased when flowers contained nectar. For dipterans, the probability of landing on artificial flowers increased when the flower was yellow and contained linalool. The probability of feeding increased when flowers contained pollen, nectar and linalool. Our results demonstrate the multi-attribute nature of flower preferences and highlight the usefulness of artificial flowers as tools for studying flower visitation in wild insects.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/175836