Date of Completion
2021
Document Type
Honors College Thesis
Department
Biology
Thesis Type
Honors College
First Advisor
Alison K. Brody
Keywords
mycorrhizae, floral rewards, nectar
Abstract
Most plants associate with mycorrhizal fungi in a relationship known as ‘mycorrhizae,’ where fungi colonize plant roots and exchange nutrients and water for photosynthetic sugars from their host plant. In addition to fungi, most flowering plants associate with animal pollinators to reproduce. Mycorrhizal fungi can influence plant-pollinator interactions by affecting plant floral traits important to pollinator attraction, yet the mechanisms of this relationship are not understood. We hypothesized an indirect pathway linking mycorrhizae to host plant reproductive fitness through changes to floral rewards important to pollinators, and we further predicted mycorrhizal effects to depend on the host-plant genotype. To study this, we examined floral reward and berry production over five cultivars of highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum; Ericaceae) plants treated with a commercial fungal inoculum. We measured variables of 1) nectar and pollen quantity, 2) nectar sugar and caloric content, 3) berry quantity, 4) berry sugar content, 5) seed set, and 6) the proportion of root cells colonized by mycorrhizal fungi. We found mycorrhizal treatment to increase nectar production for one cultivar and alter berry production in cultivar-dependent ways. We conclude that nectar production may be a direct link by which mycorrhizal partners may indirectly alter pollinator behavior, and that response to inoculation is genotype-dependent.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Saveson, Gretchen, "Linking mycorrhizal colonization to floral rewards and reproductive success in highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum" (2021). UVM Honors College Senior Theses. 435.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/hcoltheses/435