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| Iliamna bakeri, a rare, fire-following mallow in NE California |
Many bee
pollinators are “specialists” on their host plants, collecting pollen only from
a preferred plant to feed their offspring. Many biologists have wondered why
this is so, and whether bee-plant specialization is advantageous for either the
bee or the plant. Some think bee specialists have become more “efficient” at
collecting the host plant pollen than other bees, and provision their nests
faster. All solitary bees have a limited window to provision their nests, and
pollen collecting trips are particularly time consuming.
We tested the
efficiency hypothesis using a solitary, ground-nesting bee, Diadasia nitidifrons, which is a mallow specialist
on Iliamna bakeri in the northwest USA.
