Bees and bumblebees are declining all around the world without anyone really knowing why. Hoverflies are the third most important pollinators in the world but we know much less about them than about bees and bumblebees. In our research, we investigate what attracts hoverflies to a certain flower, while they seem uninterested in another . The goal is to find characteristics that distinguish the popular flowers from the less popular. Our ultimate aim is to create artificial flowers with these characteristics to see if they can be attracted to the site.
The project Pollinate More! started in 2013 as a collaboration between Dr. Karin Nordström at Uppsala and Flinders Universities and Dr. Shannon Olsson at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, India. Karin contributes with her expertise in insect vision while Shannon is contributing with her expertise in the field of odor. Together they received a grant from the builder Olle Engkvist Foundation for doing research on hoverflies’ role as pollinators. Since many variables would be measured, Dr. Josefin Dahlbom was contacted and contributed with knowledge about how to handle large data sets.
In 2014, the equipment was tested and the aim was to figure out how all the measurements should be taken in a good way. The behavioral studies alone got new instructions repeatedly. Besides behavioral observations, we take measurements of the scent of flowers, very local levels of carbon dioxide, humidity and temperature, a spectrophotometer is used to quantify the color of the flowers, weather parameters are obtained from the Geological Survey of Sweden and the flowers are photographed for image analysis where we look at things like patterns and contrast.
2015 was an exciting year. The measurements started in the Indian Himalayas in April-May and continued in Sweden as soon as hoverflies emerged in the Uppsala area. Just in time for the season ending in Sweden (September), it begins in Bangalore.
In 2016 we are field testing fake flowers created from the key parameters established from the 2015 data.
Research is conducted in close collaboration with Uppsala Botanical Garden.
Photos: Josefin Dahlbom, Malin Thyselius, Olga Dyakova och Karin Nordström.
The project Pollinate More! started in 2013 as a collaboration between Dr. Karin Nordström at Uppsala and Flinders Universities and Dr. Shannon Olsson at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, India. Karin contributes with her expertise in insect vision while Shannon is contributing with her expertise in the field of odor. Together they received a grant from the builder Olle Engkvist Foundation for doing research on hoverflies’ role as pollinators. Since many variables would be measured, Dr. Josefin Dahlbom was contacted and contributed with knowledge about how to handle large data sets.
In 2014, the equipment was tested and the aim was to figure out how all the measurements should be taken in a good way. The behavioral studies alone got new instructions repeatedly. Besides behavioral observations, we take measurements of the scent of flowers, very local levels of carbon dioxide, humidity and temperature, a spectrophotometer is used to quantify the color of the flowers, weather parameters are obtained from the Geological Survey of Sweden and the flowers are photographed for image analysis where we look at things like patterns and contrast.
2015 was an exciting year. The measurements started in the Indian Himalayas in April-May and continued in Sweden as soon as hoverflies emerged in the Uppsala area. Just in time for the season ending in Sweden (September), it begins in Bangalore.
In 2016 we are field testing fake flowers created from the key parameters established from the 2015 data.
Research is conducted in close collaboration with Uppsala Botanical Garden.
Photos: Josefin Dahlbom, Malin Thyselius, Olga Dyakova och Karin Nordström.