Gradual pollen release in a buzz pollinated plant: Investigating pollen presentation theory under bee visitation

The rate at which flowers dispense pollen across successive pollinator visits is a key functional trait influencing male reproductive success. Pollen presentation theory (PPT) predicts that when pollinators are abundant and actively groom their bodies to collect pollen, plants should evolve gradual pollen release. Despite its intuitive appeal and generality, PPT has rarely been tested empirically using real bee visits, especially in buzz pollinated plants where pollen dispensing is controlled mechanically. Buzz pollinated plants are ideal to study PPT because they are often nectarless and rely on pollen-grooming bees, which must apply vibrations to specialised tube-like or poricidal anthers to release pollen. The vibrations generated by some bees directly determine pollen release and thus yield a direct mapping between bee behaviour and floral function. Here, we provide the first quantitative assessment of pollen dispensing in a buzz pollinated plant, Solanum rostratum, using real bumbl..., , # Data from: Gradual pollen release in a buzz pollinated plant: Investigating pollen presentation theory under bee visitation

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.kkwh70sh4](10.5061/dryad.kkwh70sh4)

## Description of the data and file structure

Pollen remaining and buzz duration data set.

### Files and variables

#### File: FE_bee_release_mdat_20250701.csv

**Description:** 

##### Variables

* SampleID: Sample (flower) identity
* buzz.number: Consecutive buzz number 
* cep.fund.frequency.median: Median fundamental frequency of each buzz (Hz)
* start: Start time of each buzz (seconds)
* stop: End time of each buzz (seconds)
* buzz.duration: Buzz duration in seconds
* visit.length: Visit duration in seconds
* BeeID: Bee identity
* Accession: Plant accession number
* flower.sample: Flower sample
* mean.size: Mean pollen grain size in microns
* pollen.number: Number of pollen grains
* est.pollen: Estimated pollen number,