Data from: Isolating the effects of floral temperature on visitation and behavior of wild bee and fly pollinators
Data files
Mar 26, 2025 version files 1.65 MB
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bilayer_final.xlsx
55.36 KB
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field_analyzed.xlsx
20.24 KB
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flw_data.xlsx
157.28 KB
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gh_ir_test.xlsx
1.33 MB
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pol_dataset_fixed_truncated.xlsx
86.44 KB
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README.md
1.76 KB
Abstract
Flower temperature impacts pollinator choice in laboratory settings and the foraging behavior of bees in natural populations. However, the direct effects of floral temperature on animal pollination in field conditions are difficult to isolate from other pollinator-perceived traits that may affect flower temperature, such as shape and color. We experimentally manipulated the temperature of model flowers while keeping insect-perceived color and floral shape constant by using infrared (IR) reflecting paint. We tested the efficacy of this method across an elevation gradient and evaluated the effect of flower temperature on pollinator visitation and behavior in populations of Argentina anserina. The cooling effect of the IR-reflecting treatment was effective in alpine populations (>3000m) but not at lower elevations (<2500m). A manipulative glasshouse experiment showed that the cooling effect of floral IR reflection was stronger under higher IR irradiance. This suggests that elevational change in solar intensity contributes to elevation-specific effects of IR reflectance on flower temperature. The impact of flower temperature on bee and fly visitation, basking, and the duration of forgaing depended strongly on air temperature. When air temperature was high (>30 degrees C), cooler flowers received more visits than warmer flowers. At high elevations, flies increased the time spent in warmer flowers when air temperatures were cool. However, flies foraged longer in cooler flowers when air temperatures were warm. Flower temperature impacted the likelihood of bees basking, but not their visitation rate or foraging duration. By experimentally isolating floral temperature from other floral traits, we found direct effects of flower temperature on the visitation and behavior of wild pollinators, especially during periods of more extreme air temperatures. Thus, pollinators have the potential to exert selection on floral temperature and the traits that shape it. Our study also highlights that floral IR reflectance impacts floral temperature in a context-dependent manner, calling for more investigations into this little-studied axis of floral variation.
Description of the data and file structure
List of Excel Files. All files have a ‘data’ tab with the data analyzed and a ‘metadata’ tab with descriptions of column headers.
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bilayer_final.xlsx: Model flowers with manipulated petal angle and IR reflecting paint coating. During the observation period associated mid-day model flower temperature, external air temperature, and the temperature differential between internal and external temperature probes were measured at mid-day in unobstructed grassy field in Clemson, South Carolina, USA.
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field_analyzed.xlsx: Temperature data for model flowers with manipulated paint coatings in the field across six field sites at high and low elevation populations in Southwestern Colorado.
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flw_data.xlsx: Temperature data, and pollinator visitation for each artificial flower during an observation period. Data collected from field observations of artificial flowers and temperature data collected using thermocouples.
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pol_dataset_fixed_truncated.xlsx: Data for each pollinator visit observed in an array including duration spent in a flower. Data collected from field observations of model flowers and temperature data collected using thermocouples.
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gh_ir_test.xlsx: Flower temperature data of artificial flowers in glasshouse experiment with manipulated floral angle and NIR reflectance under high NIR and low NIR treatments. Temperature data collected using thermocouples.
In all data files, missing values are indicated by “NA”.
Code/Software
FE_manuscript code.R contains all code used to analyze data from the above Excel files. All models and figures were created using R 4.3.2.