Priming bumble bees with caffeine, odour of the target crop, and a food reward, has minimal effects on fruit crop pollination and yield in a semi-commercial setup
Caffeine is a widely occurring plant defence chemical that occurs in the nectar of some plants, e.g. Coffea or Citrus spp., where it may influence pollinator behaviour to enhance pollination. Previous laboratory work found inexperienced bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) located new food sources emitti...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Enviroquest Ltd.
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Journal of Pollination Ecology |
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| Online Access: | https://pollinationecology.org/index.php/jpe/article/view/797 |
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| _version_ | 1825206241064910848 |
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| author | Sarah Arnold Celine Silva Jan-Hendrik Dudenhöffer David Hall Dudley Farman Felix Wäckers Philip Stevenson Michelle Fountain |
| author_facet | Sarah Arnold Celine Silva Jan-Hendrik Dudenhöffer David Hall Dudley Farman Felix Wäckers Philip Stevenson Michelle Fountain |
| author_sort | Sarah Arnold |
| collection | DOAJ |
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Caffeine is a widely occurring plant defence chemical that occurs in the nectar of some plants, e.g. Coffea or Citrus spp., where it may influence pollinator behaviour to enhance pollination. Previous laboratory work found inexperienced bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) located new food sources emitting a learned floral odour more consistently if they had been fed caffeine in association with the odour and a food reward. Inexperienced bees primed with caffeine also made more initial visits to target robotic flowers emitting the target odour, compared to control bees or those primed with odour alone.
We tested whether these behaviours could be replicated under semi-field conditions in strawberry crops, to improve crop pollination and hence marketable yield. In three trials in mini-polytunnels, odour/caffeine-primed and control bumblebee colonies were allowed to forage on strawberry crops with nectar-rich distractor flowers present. Some small effects of caffeine priming were observed (a slight increase in the proportion of visits to the target flowers in one trial), but after controlling for polytunnel identity, the priming treatment did not influence crop yield and quality. While caffeine priming of commercial bumblebee colonies may have potential to improve pollination in crops, further research is needed to optimise the system for in-field use.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7db0bc0d34744effaf2fa00b81344863 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1920-7603 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Enviroquest Ltd. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Pollination Ecology |
| spelling | doaj-art-7db0bc0d34744effaf2fa00b813448632025-02-07T11:14:38ZengEnviroquest Ltd.Journal of Pollination Ecology1920-76032025-02-013710.26786/1920-7603(2025)797Priming bumble bees with caffeine, odour of the target crop, and a food reward, has minimal effects on fruit crop pollination and yield in a semi-commercial setupSarah Arnold0Celine Silva1Jan-Hendrik Dudenhöffer2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1548-1436David Hall3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7887-466XDudley Farman4Felix Wäckers5Philip Stevenson6Michelle Fountain7NIABNIABLincoln University, NZ and Natural Resources Institute, University of GreenwichNatural Resources Institute, University of GreenwichNatural Resources Institute, University of GreenwichBiobest NVNatural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich and Royal Botanic Gardens, KewNIAB Caffeine is a widely occurring plant defence chemical that occurs in the nectar of some plants, e.g. Coffea or Citrus spp., where it may influence pollinator behaviour to enhance pollination. Previous laboratory work found inexperienced bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) located new food sources emitting a learned floral odour more consistently if they had been fed caffeine in association with the odour and a food reward. Inexperienced bees primed with caffeine also made more initial visits to target robotic flowers emitting the target odour, compared to control bees or those primed with odour alone. We tested whether these behaviours could be replicated under semi-field conditions in strawberry crops, to improve crop pollination and hence marketable yield. In three trials in mini-polytunnels, odour/caffeine-primed and control bumblebee colonies were allowed to forage on strawberry crops with nectar-rich distractor flowers present. Some small effects of caffeine priming were observed (a slight increase in the proportion of visits to the target flowers in one trial), but after controlling for polytunnel identity, the priming treatment did not influence crop yield and quality. While caffeine priming of commercial bumblebee colonies may have potential to improve pollination in crops, further research is needed to optimise the system for in-field use. https://pollinationecology.org/index.php/jpe/article/view/797alkaloidsassociative learningbumblebeesflower constancysoft fruit pollinationhorticulture |
| spellingShingle | Sarah Arnold Celine Silva Jan-Hendrik Dudenhöffer David Hall Dudley Farman Felix Wäckers Philip Stevenson Michelle Fountain Priming bumble bees with caffeine, odour of the target crop, and a food reward, has minimal effects on fruit crop pollination and yield in a semi-commercial setup Journal of Pollination Ecology alkaloids associative learning bumblebees flower constancy soft fruit pollination horticulture |
| title | Priming bumble bees with caffeine, odour of the target crop, and a food reward, has minimal effects on fruit crop pollination and yield in a semi-commercial setup |
| title_full | Priming bumble bees with caffeine, odour of the target crop, and a food reward, has minimal effects on fruit crop pollination and yield in a semi-commercial setup |
| title_fullStr | Priming bumble bees with caffeine, odour of the target crop, and a food reward, has minimal effects on fruit crop pollination and yield in a semi-commercial setup |
| title_full_unstemmed | Priming bumble bees with caffeine, odour of the target crop, and a food reward, has minimal effects on fruit crop pollination and yield in a semi-commercial setup |
| title_short | Priming bumble bees with caffeine, odour of the target crop, and a food reward, has minimal effects on fruit crop pollination and yield in a semi-commercial setup |
| title_sort | priming bumble bees with caffeine odour of the target crop and a food reward has minimal effects on fruit crop pollination and yield in a semi commercial setup |
| topic | alkaloids associative learning bumblebees flower constancy soft fruit pollination horticulture |
| url | https://pollinationecology.org/index.php/jpe/article/view/797 |
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