Barely touched on and resulting in unsettled findings in previous research, the effect of simultaneous deprivation of pollen and nectar on pollen collection in bumblebee colonies is investigated in the present thesis. This investigation is further expanded to include the roles of colony growth and foraging experience in mediating the effect of deprivation on foraging behaviour. In all experiments colonies were presented with one of two treatment conditions: Pollen-deprivation (-P) or pollen-and nectar-deprivation (-P-N). In Study One, the effect of type of deprivation on colony growth was examined. Results showed that colony growth in -P-N did not differ from colony growth in -P. Study Two includes two experiments. Experiment 1 examined the role of prior foraging tasks combined with resource deprivation in pollen collection. Colonies were first assigned to either -P or -P-N treatment conditions and were subsequently tested while deprived of both resources (-P-N). Colonies that had experience in managing both foraging tasks collected more pollen and allocated greater foraging effort than did colonies that only had experience in collecting pollen. Experiment 2 examined the role of colony size combined with resource deprivation in pollen collection. Larger colonies collected more pollen although smaller colonies collected more pollen relative to their colony size. Taken together, these experiments provide a comprehensive understanding of the interrelatedness between colonies' nutritional requirements, foraging experience, colony development and foraging behaviour. Also, they clarify the effect of simultaneous deprivation on pollen collection. Contributions of this thesis are placed within the context of practical implications for greenhouse pollination, as well as research implications for bumblebees' foraging currencies and foraging decisions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/29496 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Weinberg, Dalit |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 114 p. |
Page generated in 0.0085 seconds