Southern California Conferences for Undergraduate Research

Southern California Conferences for Undergraduate Research

The effect of mesh bagging and visit number on honey bee (Apis mellifera) pollen deposition in seedless watermelon (Citrullus lanatus)

Authors:

Jake Cecala, Charity Muraya, Robert Polanco, Damian Popovic, Sarah Saleemi

Mentor:

Joan Leong, Professor of Biological Sciences, California State Polytechnic University Pomona

The effect of mesh bagging and visit number on honey bee (Apis mellifera) pollen deposition in seedless watermelon (Citrullus lanatus)
There have been significant losses in the number of honey bees, the main crop pollinator, in the United States. Thus, it is important to find out how we can increase the efficiency of honey bee pollination, if honey bees continue to decline in numbers. Honey bee pollinator effectiveness is commonly quantified by the amount of pollen deposited in a single floral visit. This measurement requires the use of unvisited flowers, which are veiled with a mesh bag that prevents entry of any pollinator. We tested whether fine or coarse mesh bags have similar effects on watermelon flower nectar volume and honey bee pollen deposition on watermelon flowers. Also examined was whether the pollen deposited on an initial visit by a honey bee is similar to that deposited on subsequent visits by a honey bee. This experiment was conducted in a watermelon field at Cal Poly Pomona. Two types of mesh bagging were used: fine (opening ~ 0.1mm2) and coarse (opening ~ 1.0 mm2). The bagged flowers were “unveiled”, placed in a vial, and offered to bees. Stigmas were removed, stained, and mounted on microscope slides and counted. We found that there was no difference in the nectar volume within flowers or in the amount of pollen grains deposited between the two mesh bag types. There was a significant effect of visit number on honey bee pollen deposition.
Any type of mesh bagging would be adequate when veiling virgin flowers. The initial visit by a honey bee deposited about twice as much pollen than subsequent visits. These findings confirm previous research indicating that measuring the pollen deposition ability of honey bees is more complex than is currently recognized.


Presented by:

Charity Muraya, Damian Popovic

Date:

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Poster:

35

Room:

Broome Library

Presentation Type:

Poster Presentation

Discipline:

Biology
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