{"id":3640,"date":"2021-10-13T12:23:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-13T12:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/?p=3640"},"modified":"2022-03-23T11:37:06","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T11:37:06","slug":"new-publication-from-venjakob-et-al-in-plant-biology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/2021\/10\/13\/new-publication-from-venjakob-et-al-in-plant-biology\/","title":{"rendered":"New publication from Venjakob et al. in Plant Biology: Variation in nectar quality across 34 grassland plant species"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-176.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3647\" width=\"325\" height=\"282\" srcset=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-176.png 380w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/image-176-300x261.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 325px) 100vw, 325px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"justify\">Floral nectar is considered <em>the<\/em> most important  floral reward for attracting pollinators. It contains large amounts of  carbohydrates besides variable concentrations of amino acids and thus  represents an important food source for many pollinators. Its nutrient  content and composition can, however, strongly vary within and between  plant species. The factors driving this variation in nectar quality are  still largely unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"justify\">We investigated factors underlying interspecific  variation in macronutrient composition of floral nectar in 34 different  grassland plant species. Specifically, we tested for correlations  between the phylogenetic relatedness and morphology of plants and the  carbohydrate (C) and total amino acid (AA) composition and C:AA ratios  of nectar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"justify\">We found that compositions of carbohydrates and  (essential) amino acids as well as C:AA ratios in nectar varied  significantly within and between plant species. They showed no clear  phylogenetic signal. Moreover, variation in carbohydrate composition was  related to family-specific structural characteristics and combinations  of morphological traits. Plants with nectar-exposing flowers, bowl- or  parabolic-shaped flowers, as often found in the Apiaceae and Asteraceae,  had nectar with higher proportions of hexoses, indicating a selective  pressure to decelerate evaporation by increasing nectar osmolality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"justify\">Our study suggests that variation in nectar nutrient  composition is, among others, affected by family-specific combinations  of morphological traits. However, even within species, variation in  nectar quality is high. As nectar quality can strongly affect visitation  patterns of pollinators and thus pollination success, this intra- and  interspecific variation requires more studies to fully elucidate the  underlying causes and the consequences for pollinator behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Reference:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Venjakob, C., Ruedenauer, F.A., Klein, A.-M. and Leonhardt, S.D. (2021),  Variation in nectar quality across 34 grassland plant species. Plant  Biol J. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/plb.13343\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/plb.13343<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Floral nectar is considered the most important floral reward for attracting pollinators. It contains large amounts of carbohydrates besides variable concentrations of amino acids and thus represents an important food&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3647,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3640"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3640"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3861,"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3640\/revisions\/3861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}