Research data for paper: Why petals? Naïve, but not experienced bees, preferentially visit flowers with larger visual signals dataset

Dataset for paper published in Insects (2023). <br> Abstract: Flower evolution includes a range of questions concerning the function of showy morphological features such as petals. Despite extensive research on the role of petals in attracting pollinators, there has been little experimental testing of their importance in attracting naïve versus experienced flower-visitors. In an exploratory field study, we manipulated the ray petals of inflorescences of two garden flowers, <em>Rudbeckia hirta</em> and <em>Helenium autumnale, </em>to test the hypothesis that these showy structures primarily function to attract first-time, naïve, visitors. On their first inflorescence visit to both species, naïve honey bees and bumble bees were more likely to visit intact inflorescences, than those with ray petals removed. However, by the tenth consecutive inflorescence on the same visit to the flower patch, test insects showed no preference. A positive correlation was observed between the visitation of inflorescences with zero petals and inflorescence number on both study plants, for both bees. These results suggest that a key function of showy petals is to attract naïve, first-time visitors. Like a restaurant attracting diners with a large sign, showy signals may be vital to enticing first-time visitors when competing with other establishments or plants for customers or pollinators. We hope the findings of this exploratory study will stimulate further work in this area.

本数据集对应发表于《Insects》（2023年）的学术论文。<br>摘要：花的演化涵盖诸多围绕花瓣等醒目形态特征功能的研究议题。尽管学界已针对花瓣在吸引传粉者中的作用开展了大量研究，但针对其对初次访花的未经验（naïve）访客与有经验访花者的重要性，相关实验验证仍较为匮乏。在本项探索性野外研究中，我们对两种园艺花卉——黑心金光菊（*Rudbeckia hirta*）与堆心菊（*Helenium autumnale*）——的头状花序的舌状花瓣（ray petals）进行了处理，以此验证如下假说：这类醒目的结构核心功能是吸引初次接触、未经验的访花者。在对两种植物的首次头状花序访花时，未经验的蜜蜂与熊蜂更倾向于访问保留完整舌状花瓣的头状花序，而非去除了舌状花瓣的个体。但在同一次访花斑块中，当受试昆虫连续访问至第10个头状花序时，其已不再表现出任何偏好。在两种研究植物中，针对两类蜂种，均观察到无花瓣头状花序的访问率与花序访问序号呈正相关。上述结果表明，醒目的花瓣的一项关键功能便是吸引初次访花的未经验访客。正如餐厅借助大型招牌招揽食客一般，当植物与其他同类或其他物种竞争传粉者时，醒目的视觉信号或许对吸引首批访客至关重要。本项探索性研究的发现或可推动该领域的后续研究。