Meeting Abstract

P2-15  Tuesday, Jan. 5 15:30  The Effect of Introducing Differing Color Floral Morphs on Bee Visitation in a Native Population of Vitex agnus-castus on the Greek Island of Lesvos KLEMPAY, B.L.; LIM, I; MALLULA, M.L.*; OLSEN, A.M.; PARK, K.E.; SILVA, D.H.; GONZALEZ, V.H.; HRANITZ, J.M.; PETANIDOU, T.; BARTHELL, J.F. ; Yale University; Williams College; University of Kansas; University of Michigan; Pomona College; St. Mary’s University; University of Kansas; Bloomsburg State University; University of the Aegean; University of Central Oklahoma jbarthell@uco.edu

At least two distinct color morphologies of the Mediterranean chasteberry bush, Vitex agnus-castus L., occur on the Greek island of Lesvos near Kalloni Bay: blue and white. A transplant experiment was conducted to detect whether introducing an inflorescence from an alternately colored bush within an experimental host bush would cause perturbations in visitation by foraging bees; these introductions occurred within adjacent blue and white bushes. Twenty paired comparisons were used per bush, with one inflorescence serving as a control and the other as a manipulated treatment by having an introduced (opposing colored) inflorescence (in a floral water pick) attached immediately next to it on its stem. Bee visitation rates between the respective inflorescence types (manipulated and control) did not significantly differ according to a Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test over the course of the day and nor did the level of nectar standing crop as measured immediately after the last forager censusing period (ca. 18:00) using a Wilcoxon Pairwise Test. These results suggest that floral colors (blue versus white) do not strongly influence bee foraging behavior at the level of the inflorescence. However, the nectar flow dynamics of this species at the level of V. agnus-castus populations may still influence foraging patterns of bees among individual bushes (regardless of color).