ARE NECTAR SECONDARY METABOLITES TOOLS TO INCREASE SEED PRODUCTION?

   Several effects have been demostrated about the influence of secondary compounds of floral nectar on specific traits of pollinating insects (for a review have a read of the paper by Stevenson et al. 2017, https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2435.12761).

Nevertheless testing the manipulation hypothesis of nectar secondary compounds, i.e. their role in maximizing the efficiency of pollination and ultimately reproductive output and plant fitness, is far from being resolved as reported by our paper published in Frontiers of Plant Sciences (see at https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2018.01063/full).

The MAEC Lab is now collaborating with colleagues of the University of Bologna leaded by Marta Galloni and with Laura Bortolotti from CREA-AA based in Bologna in studying the effect of the presence of secondary metabolites in pollinators’movements and seed production in seminatural condition. The first experiments have been planned for late spring.