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A little-known world - assessing a non-bee crop flower visiting community using metabarcoding
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  • Ellen Richard,
  • Thomas Braukmann,
  • Nigel Raine,
  • Dirk Steinke
Ellen Richard
University of Guelph
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Thomas Braukmann
University of Guelph
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Nigel Raine
University of Guelph
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Dirk Steinke
University of Guelph

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Abstract

Pollinator diversity is critical for optimal ecosystem service and function. While bees are frequently the most efficient pollinators, they represent only a small fraction of pollinator diversity. Non-bee pollinators have received little recognition for their role in commercial agricultural pollination despite representing 95% of flower visitor diversity. Many non-bee pollinators are more resilient to land-use intensification and climate change due to their nomadic life-history and tolerance of inclement weather. Our research characterizes non-bee pollinator communities, their foraging preferences, and floral fidelity in strawberry crops. We caught 608 non-bee flower visitors, across three field sites, during three months of the flowering period (May–August) of day-neutral strawberries in southern Ontario. DNA metabarcoding provided species-level identifications of the non-bee flower visiting community. Diptera (64%) and Hymenoptera (22%) (primarily bee species) were the most abundant flower visitors; Coleoptera and Hemiptera were also collected from flowers. Metabarcoding of pollen identified pollen from 110 genera representing 48 different families. Species with a high floral fidelity (flower constancy) for visiting strawberries were likely to be more effective pollinators (vectors of conspecific pollen between reproductively receptive strawberry plants). Additionally, small amounts of pollen from other plant genera suggested that insects are active and mobile, rather than staying stationary on a single flower.