The taste of nectar - a neglected area of pollination ecology

By M. Gardener, M. Gillman. 2002

173 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Nectar is an important biological resource that is utilized by a wide range of animals as a food source. Amino acids are the second most abundant class of compound (after sugars) to be found in nectar. In foraging for nectar, animals carry out the vital role of pollination. Many animal taxa visit flowers, but the most abundant pollinators are insects. Although amino acids are detectable by insects, little work has focussed on the role of taste in the ecology of pollination (with most studies concentrating on foraging choice). The idea that different amino acids elicit different responses in insect taste receptors was used to characterize nectar samples from 65 plant species from a wide range of families according to their amino acid profile (determined by high performance liquid chromatography). A ternary classification system was used to map the amino acids present in nectar samples. There is a wide range of taste profiles with most plant species having their own characteristic taste value. How nectar tastes to pollinating insects is of great importance in understanding the foraging choices of insect pollinators and there are many avenues that remain to be explored.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Insect Science, Nutrition and Dietetics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a744a84cdf9d938411c6917aef6a2bae6c9d7cd5

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

1. N. Blüthgen
2. K. Fiedler
3. L. S. Adler
4. J. Bronstein
5. G. Gottsberger
6. R. Mitchell
7. P. Kevan
8. David I. Inouye

In Insect Science

1. N. Blüthgen
2. K. Fiedler
3. N. Desneux
4. G. Gottsberger
5. B. Larson
6. L. S. Adler
7. R. Mitchell
8. S. Wratten

In Nutrition and Dietetics

1. K. Fiedler
2. N. Blüthgen
3. R. Mitchell

Citations in the corpus

• HERITABILITY OF NECTAR TRAITS: WHY DO WE KNOW SO LITTLE? (2004, background): “The adaptive nature of other nectar traits (e.g., chemical composition, taste, temporal patterns of nectar secretion) is often hypothesized (Faegri and van der Pijl 1971, Adler 2000, Gardener and Gillman 2002; see Waser 1983), but seldom tested.”
• What shapes amino acid and sugar composition in Mediterranean floral nectars (2006, unknown): “But by being so dominant, sugars are expected not to constitute the main discriminatory compound for the response of the nectar consumers in phrygana, which is the case in other habitats (Gardener and Gillman 2002).”
• Sugar and amino acid composition of ant‐attended nectar and honeydew sources from an Australian rainforest (2004, background): “For foraging preferences of animals, total sugar concentration (Adler 1989; Blem et al . 2000) and sugar identities (Koptur & Truong 1998; Romeis & Wackers 2000) are important, but amino acids also play a key role for some consumers (Inouye & Waller 1984; Erhardt 1991; Lanza et al . 1993; Gardener ”
• The dual role of floral traits: Pollinator attraction and plant defense (2004, unknown): “Some floral visitors prefer nectar with specific amino acid components or concentrations (Gardener and Gillman 2002).”
• COMPETITION FOR COMPOSITION: LESSONS FROM NECTAR-FEEDING ANT COMMUNITIES (2004, background): “However , the underlying hypotheses are still largely unexplored (Gardener and Gillman 2002).”
• Flies and Flowers II: Floral Attractants and Rewards (2014, background): “…that nectars can contain amino acids (Baker & Baker 1973a, b, 1983a, b, 1986; Kevan & Baker 1983, 1999; Potter & Bertin 1988; Rathman et al. 1990; Gardener & Gillman 2002; Vrzal et al. 2010), but experimental evidence for an adaptive role of amino acids in the attraction and nutrition of…”
• Weed-insect pollinator networks as bio-indicators of ecological sustainability in agriculture. A review (2016, background): “Thus, they are attracted to flowers rich with amino acids, especially female butterflies (Alm et al. 1990; Rusterholz and Erhardt 2000; Gardener and Gillman 2002).”
• ATTRACTING ANTAGONISTS: DOES FLORAL NECTAR INCREASE LEAF HERBIVORY? (2004, background): “If nectar-feeding adults can detect differences in amino acids (Gardener and Gillman 2002), such variation could be used as an indicator of plant nutritional status and subsequent offspring performance.”
• How do belowground organisms influence plant–pollinator interactions? (2015, unknown): “2006), amino acids (Gardener and Gillman 2002) or toxins (Adler 2000), should be carefully examined following root damage to determine how these traits influence pollinator behavior.”