Automating pollinator foraging tracking to study responses to drought and pesticide stress

Monday, November 14, 2022

10:30 AM – 10:42 AM PT

Location: Vancouver Convention Centre, Meeting Room 206

Presenting Author(s)

Anupreksha Jain

Graduate Research Assistant
University of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin

Co-Author(s)

James D. Crall

Assistant Professor
University of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin

Drought may disrupt pollination via alteration in floral traits and subsequent pollinator visitation, with dire consequences for both plant and pollinator participants of the mutualism, via impacts on diet breadth and floral fidelity. Further, different flowering plant species may be affected differentially, with cascading effects on the network and ecosystem structure. Previous studies have found that pollinator visitation declines for drought-stressed vs well-watered plants, but we lack data on realistic community-level dynamics, where pollinators do not have the choice to visit non-stressed plants. Here, we present a low-cost automated tracking system to investigate in a contained environment if individual pollinators (Bombus impatiens) adapt their foraging strategies to experimental drought imposed on a matrix of potted flowering plants, and how this flexible learning-driven behavior is disrupted by neonicotinoid exposure. Continuous monitoring of uniquely-identified foragers allows us to estimate pollen transfer patterns and conspecific pollination efficacy under various experimental conditions.