Abstract
Weather plays an important role in spring-blooming fruit crops due to the combined effects on bee activity, flower opening, pollen germination, and fertilization. To determine the effects of weather on highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum L., productivity, we monitored bee activity and compared fruit set, weight, and seed number in a field stocked with honey bees, Apis mellifera L., and common eastern bumble bees, Bombus impatiens (Cresson). Flowers were subjected to one of five treatments during bloom: enclosed, open, open during poor weather only, open during good weather only, or open during poor and good weather. Fewer bees of all types were observed foraging and fewer pollen foragers returned to colonies during poor weather than during good weather. There were also changes in foraging community composition: honey bees dominated during good weather, whereas bumble bees dominated during poor weather. Berries from flowers exposed only during poor weather had higher fruit set in 1 yr and higher berry weight in the other year compared with enclosed clusters. In both years, clusters exposed only during good weather had > 5 times as many mature seeds, weighed twice as much, and had double the fruit set of those not exposed. No significant increase over flowers exposed during good weather was observed when clusters were exposed during good and poor weather. Our results are discussed in terms of the role of weather during bloom on the contribution of bees adapted to foraging during cool conditions.
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Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Fewer bees foraged during poor than good weather in the blueberry field.
- Taxon
- highbush blueberry
Vaccinium corymbosume1 - Interactor
- beesAnthophilae0pollinator
- Outcome
- bees of all types were observed foraginge0
- Direction
- Fewere0
- Comparator
- good weathere0
- Setting
- fielde2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Fewer bees of all types were observed foraging and fewer pollen foragers returned to colonies during poor weather than during good weather”
e1“highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum L.”
e2“in a field stocked with honey bees”
Claim · model-written summary
Fewer pollen foragers returned to colonies during poor than good weather.
- Taxon
- highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Interactor
- pollen foragerse0pollinator
- Outcome
- pollen foragers returned to coloniese0
- Direction
- fewere0
- Comparator
- good weathere0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“fewer pollen foragers returned to colonies during poor weather than during good weather”
e1“highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum L.”
Claim · model-written summary
Honey bees dominated blueberry foraging during good weather.
- Taxon
- highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Outcome
- honey bees dominatede0
- Qualifier
- during good weathere0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“honey bees dominated during good weather”
e1“highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum L.”
Claim · model-written summary
Bumble bees dominated blueberry foraging during poor weather.
- Taxon
- highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Outcome
- bumble bees dominatede0
- Qualifier
- during poor weathere0
BombusOrganisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“bumble bees dominated during poor weather”
e1“highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum L.”
Claim · model-written summary
Blueberry flowers exposed only during poor weather had higher fruit set than enclosed clusters in one year.
- Taxon
- highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Treatment
- exposed only during poor weathere0
- Outcome
- fruit sete0
- Direction
- highere0
- Qualifier
- in 1 yre0
- Comparator
- enclosed clusterse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Berries from flowers exposed only during poor weather had higher fruit set in 1 yr and higher berry weight in the other year compared with enclosed clusters”
e1“highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum L.”
Claim · model-written summary
Blueberry flowers exposed only during poor weather had higher berry weight than enclosed clusters in the other year.
- Taxon
- highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Treatment
- exposed only during poor weathere0
- Outcome
- berry weighte0
- Direction
- highere0
- Qualifier
- in the other yeare0
- Comparator
- enclosed clusterse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Berries from flowers exposed only during poor weather had higher fruit set in 1 yr and higher berry weight in the other year compared with enclosed clusters”
e1“highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum L.”
Claim · model-written summary
Blueberry clusters exposed only during good weather had over five times as many mature seeds as unexposed clusters.
- Taxon
- highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Treatment
- exposed only during good weathere0
- Outcome
- mature seedse0
- Direction
- as manye0
- Value
- > 5 timese0
- Comparator
- those not exposede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“clusters exposed only during good weather had > 5 times as many mature seeds, weighed twice as much, and had double the fruit set of those not exposed”
e1“highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum L.”
Claim · model-written summary
Blueberry clusters exposed only during good weather weighed twice as much as unexposed clusters.
- Taxon
- highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Treatment
- exposed only during good weathere0
- Outcome
- weighede0
- Direction
- as muche0
- Value
- twicee0
- Comparator
- those not exposede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“clusters exposed only during good weather had > 5 times as many mature seeds, weighed twice as much, and had double the fruit set of those not exposed”
e1“highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum L.”
Claim · model-written summary
Blueberry clusters exposed only during good weather had double the fruit set of unexposed clusters.
- Taxon
- highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Treatment
- exposed only during good weathere0
- Outcome
- fruit sete0
- Direction
- doublee0
- Value
- doublee0
- Comparator
- those not exposede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“clusters exposed only during good weather had > 5 times as many mature seeds, weighed twice as much, and had double the fruit set of those not exposed”
e1“highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum L.”
Claim · model-written summary
Adding poor-weather exposure to good-weather exposure did not significantly increase blueberry cluster outcomes.
- Taxon
- highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Treatment
- exposed during good and poor weathere0
- Outcome
- increasee0
- Direction
- No significant increasee0
- Comparator
- flowers exposed during good weathere0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“No significant increase over flowers exposed during good weather was observed when clusters were exposed during good and poor weather”
e1“highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum L.”
The same questions in other papers
climate site · yield · Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)Results agree
1 paper in the same direction as this paper
- positive
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.