The evolution of floral sonication, a pollen foraging behavior used by bees (Anthophila).

ABSTRACT: Over 22,000 species of biotically pollinated flowering plants, including some major agricultural crops, depend primarily on bees capable of floral sonication for pollination services. The ability to sonicate ("buzz") flowers is widespread in bees but not ubiquitous. Despite the prevalence of this pollinator behavior and its importance to natural and agricultural systems, the evolutionary history of floral sonication in bees has not been previously studied. Here, we reconstruct the evolutionary history of floral sonication in bees by generating a time-calibrated phylogeny and reconstructing ancestral states for this pollen extraction behavior. We also test the hypothesis that the ability to sonicate flowers and thereby efficiently access pollen from a diverse assemblage of plant species, le

SUBMITTER: Cardinal S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5873439 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature