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). 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, Rudbeckia hirta and Helenium autumnale, 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.

《Insects》期刊2023年发表的论文配套数据集。摘要：花的演化研究涵盖诸多与花瓣等醒目形态特征的功能相关的科学问题。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，但针对其在吸引未具备该类花访花经验的个体（naïve flower-visitor）与有经验访花者方面的重要性，目前仍缺乏充分的实验验证。本研究开展探索性野外试验，对两种园艺花卉——黑心金光菊（Rudbeckia hirta）与堆心菊（Helenium autumnale）的花序（inflorescence）的舌状花花瓣（ray petal）进行人工处理，以此验证如下假说：这类醒目的结构主要功能是吸引首次接触该类花的未经验访花者。针对两种花卉的首次花序访问中，未具备经验的蜜蜂与熊蜂更倾向于造访保留完整舌状花花瓣的花序，而非去除舌状花花瓣的花序。但当在同一块访花区域内连续造访第十个花序时，供试昆虫则不再表现出显著偏好。两种供试蜂类在两种研究植物上均表现出：造访无舌状花花瓣的花序的频次与花序访问序号呈正相关。上述结果表明，醒目的花瓣的核心功能之一是吸引首次接触该类花的未经验访花者。正如餐厅通过大型招牌吸引食客，醒目的花部信号在与其他商家或植物争夺消费者（或传粉者）时，对吸引首次到访者可能至关重要。本探索性研究的结果有望推动该领域后续相关研究的开展。