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<H1 class=entry-title>A Network of Plants and Pollinators</H1><!-- Byline -->
<ADDRESS class="byline author vcard">By <A class="url fn" title="See all posts by DANIEL S. SONG" href="http://scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/author/daniel-s-song/"><FONT color=#004276>DANIEL S. SONG</FONT></A></ADDRESS><!-- The Content -->
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<DIV class=w480><FONT color=#004276><IMG id=100000000885435 height=360 alt="Bees on the legume, Astragalus mongholicus." src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/06/28/science/28saw_bees/28saw_bees-blog480.jpg" width=480></FONT><SPAN class=credit>Daniel S. Song</SPAN><SPAN class=caption>Bees on the legume Astragalus mongholicus.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class="w75 left"><IMG id=100000000885404 height=75 alt="" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/06/28/science/saw_dansong/saw_dansong-thumbStandard.jpg" width=75></DIV>
<P><EM><A href="http://casperlab.bio.upenn.edu/members-dan.xhtml"><FONT color=#004276>Daniel Song</FONT></A>, a doctoral student at the University of
Pennsylvania, writes from Hovsgol National Park, Mongolia, where he is studying
how plants and pollinators form interaction
networks.<BR></EM><BR><STRONG>Tuesday, June 21</STRONG></P>
<P>Next time you grab a snack or sit down for a meal, take a minute to think
about what you’re eating; chances are plants and insect pollinators were
involved. Tomatoes, almonds, apples and coffee are just a few examples of the
hundreds of foods consumed daily by people around the world that are
insect-pollinated. How do pollinators behave in natural habitats? What goes into
the decision to pollinate a certain flowering species? What is it about the
flowers that attract pollinators? Especially in light of colony collapse
disorder, it is ever more important that we study how natural plant communities
maintain their pollination services.</P>
<P>Our field site in the Dalbay Valley is interesting in that it has, in close
proximity, two drastically different areas: the valley floor and the upper
slope. The two areas differ in almost every way: plants, soil moisture, air
temperature and grazing pressure, to name just a few. Using this natural divide,
I can compare and contrast pollination activity in two ecologically distinct
areas. As for the pollinators, there is a diverse collection of insect
pollinators buzzing around: butterflies, moths, hoverflies and bumblebees, among
others.</P>
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<DIV class=entry>
<H6 class=kicker>P.I.R.E.-Mongolia Project</H6>
<H5><A href="http://scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/mongolia/"><FONT color=#004276>Previous Posts</FONT></A></H5>
<UL class=summary>
<LI><A title="Climate Change in Mongolia" href="http://scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/27/climate-change-in-mongolia/"><FONT color=#004276>Climate Change in Mongolia</FONT></A> </LI></UL></DIV></DIV>
<DIV class="w190 right"><IMG id=100000000885427 height=253 alt="Pulsatilla multifida, flowering." src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/06/28/science/saw_multifida/saw_multifida-articleInline.jpg" width=190><SPAN class=credit>Daniel S. Song</SPAN><SPAN class=caption>Pulsatilla
multifida, flowering.</SPAN></DIV>
<P>In this beautiful backdrop, I spend my summers in northern Mongolia studying
floral visual cues and pollinators. My dissertation work is divided into two
parts: measuring floral and pollinator traits and monitoring pollinator
visitation to flowers. The traits I am looking to measure are ones that are
relevant in the act of pollinating. Take, for example, two traits I am
measuring: the depth of the flower (corolla tube depth) and bumblebee tongue
(proboscis) length. One reason for pollinators to visit flowers is to extract
energy in the form of sugary, caloric nectar. The nectar typically sits at the
base of the flower, and to reach it the bumblebee has to unfurl its tongue to
taste the flower’s sweet reward. If the depth of the flower is longer than the
tongue of the bumblebee, it’s unlikely that the bumblebee would visit that
flower to get nectar. Corolla tube depth can, in an overly simplistic case,
explain why certain bumblebees visit, or do not visit, certain flowers.</P>
<P>What connects the floral traits and the pollinator traits to each other is
the monitoring of pollinator visitation to the flowers. The observations are
painstaking and tedious but provide the key to the lock. I set up several
four-square-meter plots upslope and on the valley floor to monitor pollinator
visitation and flower production daily. Recording pollinator visitation to the
flowers allows us to link their respective traits. This allows us to see if any
repeating patterns emerge, as in the example with the corolla depth and
proboscis: longer-tongued bees exclusively visit deeper flower tubes.</P>
<P>I will spend a full 11 summer weeks at the field site to capture the
beginning and end of pollination activity as well as flower production. As the
climate changes, plant and animal communities may respond in unpredictable ways.
Natural pollination services (involving both the flower and pollinator) need to
be studied now to anticipate how one of our most precious natural commodities
will be
affected.</P></DIV><!-- end .entry-content --></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>