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Student 10-Minute Presentation

Plant-Insect Ecosystems

Student

Student Competition

Grad 10-min Competition: P-IE, IPM - Horticulture

Gut reactions: Bees and their love-hate relationship with cucurbit pollen

Monday, November 11, 2024
11:06 AM – 11:18 AM MST
Location: Phoenix Convention Center, 131 C, PCC
Oral Presentation Student Competition
Plants included in the species Cucurbita pepo like pumpkins, summer squash, and zucchini, require pollinators to move pollen from the male flower to female flower for fruit set. The three major bee pollinators responsible for moving this pollen are squash bees, honey bees, and bumble bees. Recent studies have shown that pumpkin pollen is toxic to bumble bee adults and larvae when consumed. Leading to the question of how the native bee pollinator the Squash bees, an obligatory feeder on this pollen has adapted to overcome the toxic effects of this pollen. As bees use their microbiome to help breakdown consumed pollen, this work examined the impact of a sole C. pepo pollen source on the microbiome of the three main C. pepo pollinators in high tunnels. For this study, all three major pollinators were introduced into hoop houses containing only C. pepo for a 10-day period and their gut microbiota was sampled before and after the restrictive feeding. We measured overall bacterial 16S load using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) to test if consumption of Cucurbita pollen changes bacterial abundance. The results from this study could help to update pollination recommendations in C. pepo fields.