Analysing plant-pollinator interactions with spatial movement networks

Cristian Pasquaretta (1) , Raphaël Jeanson (1) , Christophe Andalo (2) , Lars Chittka (3) , Mathieu Lihoreau (1)

1 CRCA - Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale - UMR5169
2 EDB - Evolution et Diversité Biologique
3 Research Centre for Psychology

Pollinators, such as bees, face the complex challenge of efficiently exploiting patchily distributed floral resources across large landscapes. In the present study we consider the utility of spatial network statistics to analyse the foraging patterns of bees moving between feeding sites at various spatial and temporal scales. We explain how spatial movement networks can be derived theoretically and experimentally to describe bee foraging decisions. We illustrate this approach by analysing six datasets of bumblebees and honeybees foraging in arrays of artificial flowers, and showing how network metrics change as foragers gain experience with the spatial distribution of feeding sites. 5. We compare network analyses with more conventional statistics used to characterise bee foraging movements and discuss the implications of our novel statistical and modelling approach for pollination ecology.

Mots clés: route optimisation; spatial networks; pollination; movement ecology; Bumblebees; foraging; honeybees

Domaines: Interactions entre organismes; Zoologie des invertébrés; Biodiversité et Ecologie

Cristian Pasquaretta, Raphaël Jeanson, Christophe Andalo, Lars Chittka, Mathieu Lihoreau. Analysing plant-pollinator interactions with spatial movement networks. Ecological Entomology, 2017, Entomological Networks: Ecology, Behaviour and Evolution, 29th Symposium of the Royal Entomological Society, 42 (S1), pp.4-17. ⟨10.1111/een.12446⟩. ⟨hal-02105102⟩