Abstract
Annual plants allocate soil nutrients to floral display and pollinator rewards to ensure pollination success in a single season. Nitrogen and phosphorus are critical soil nutrients whose levels are altered by intensive land use that may affect plants' fitness via pollinator attractiveness through floral display and rewards. In a controlled greenhouse study, we studied in cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) how changes in soil nitrogen and phosphorus influence floral traits, including nectar and pollen reward composition. We evaluated how these traits affect bumble bee (Bombus impatiens, an important cucumber pollinator) visitation and ultimately fruit yield. While increasing nitrogen and phosphorus increased growth and floral display, excess nitrogen created an asymptotic or negative effect, which was mitigated by increasing phosphorus. Male floral traits exhibited higher plasticity in responses to changes in soil nutrients than female flowers. At 4:1 nitrogen:phosphorus ratios, male flowers presented increased nectar volume and pollen number resulting in increased bumble bee visitation. Interestingly, other pollinator rewards remained consistent across all soil treatments: male and female nectar sugar composition, female nectar volume, and pollen protein and lipid concentrations. Therefore, although cucumber pollination success was buffered in conditions of nutrient stress, highly skewed nitrogen:phosphorus soil ratios reduced plant fitness via reduced numbers of flowers and reward quantity, pollinator attraction, and ultimately yield.
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Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Increasing nitrogen and phosphorus increased cucumber growth and floral display.
- Taxon
- cucumbers
Cucumis sativuse0 - Treatment
- increasing nitrogen and phosphoruse1
- Outcome
- growth and floral displaye1
- Direction
- increasede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“in cucumbers (Cucumis sativus)”
e1“increasing nitrogen and phosphorus increased growth and floral display”
Claim · model-written summary
Excess nitrogen produced an asymptotic or negative effect, mitigated by phosphorus.
- Taxon
- cucumbersCucumis sativuse0
- Treatment
- excess nitrogene1
- Outcome
- asymptotic or negative effecte1
- Direction
- negativee1
- Qualifier
- mitigated by increasing phosphoruse1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“in cucumbers (Cucumis sativus)”
e1“excess nitrogen created an asymptotic or negative effect, which was mitigated by increasing phosphorus”
Claim · model-written summary
Male floral traits were more plastic to soil nutrients than female flowers.
- Taxon
- cucumbersCucumis sativuse0
- Organ / stage
- Male floral traitse1
- Outcome
- plasticitye1
- Direction
- highere1
- Comparator
- female flowerse1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“in cucumbers (Cucumis sativus)”
e1“Male floral traits exhibited higher plasticity in responses to changes in soil nutrients than female flowers”
Claim · model-written summary
At a 4:1 nitrogen to phosphorus ratio, male flower nectar volume and pollen number increased.
- Taxon
- cucumbersCucumis sativuse0
- Organ / stage
- male flowerse1
- Treatment
- 4:1 nitrogen:phosphorus ratiose1
- Outcome
- nectar volume and pollen numbere1
- Direction
- increasede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“in cucumbers (Cucumis sativus)”
e1“At 4:1 nitrogen:phosphorus ratios, male flowers presented increased nectar volume and pollen number resulting in increased bumble bee visitation”
Claim · model-written summary
At a 4:1 nitrogen to phosphorus ratio, bumble bee visitation increased.
- Taxon
- cucumbersCucumis sativuse0
- Treatment
- 4:1 nitrogen:phosphorus ratiose1
- Interactor
- Bombus impatiens
Bombus impatiense2pollinator - Outcome
- bumble bee visitatione1
- Direction
- increasede1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“in cucumbers (Cucumis sativus)”
e1“At 4:1 nitrogen:phosphorus ratios, male flowers presented increased nectar volume and pollen number resulting in increased bumble bee visitation”
e2“bumble bee (Bombus impatiens, an important cucumber pollinator)”
Claim · model-written summary
Nectar sugar composition remained consistent across soil treatments.
- Taxon
- cucumbersCucumis sativuse0
- Treatment
- soil treatmentse2
- Outcome
- male and female nectar sugar compositione1
- Direction
- remained consistente2
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“in cucumbers (Cucumis sativus)”
e1“male and female nectar sugar composition, female nectar volume, and pollen protein and lipid concentrations”
e2“other pollinator rewards remained consistent across all soil treatments”
Claim · model-written summary
Female nectar volume remained consistent across soil treatments.
- Taxon
- cucumbersCucumis sativuse0
- Treatment
- soil treatmentse2
- Outcome
- female nectar volumee1
- Direction
- remained consistente2
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“in cucumbers (Cucumis sativus)”
e1“female nectar volume”
e2“other pollinator rewards remained consistent across all soil treatments”
Claim · model-written summary
Pollen protein and lipid concentrations remained consistent across soil treatments.
- Taxon
- cucumbersCucumis sativuse0
- Treatment
- soil treatmentse2
- Outcome
- pollen protein and lipid concentrationse1
- Direction
- remained consistente2
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“in cucumbers (Cucumis sativus)”
e1“pollen protein and lipid concentrations”
e2“other pollinator rewards remained consistent across all soil treatments”
Claim · model-written summary
Highly skewed nutrient ratios reduced flower numbers and reward quantity.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativuse0
- Treatment
- highly skewed nitrogen:phosphorus soil ratiose1
- Outcome
- numbers of flowers and reward quantitye1
- Direction
- reducede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“cucumber pollination success”
e1“highly skewed nitrogen:phosphorus soil ratios reduced plant fitness via reduced numbers of flowers and reward quantity, pollinator attraction, and ultimately yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Highly skewed nutrient ratios reduced pollinator attraction and yield.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativuse0
- Treatment
- highly skewed nitrogen:phosphorus soil ratiose1
- Interactor
- Bombus impatiensBombus impatiense2pollinator
- Outcome
- pollinator attraction, and ultimately yielde1
- Direction
- reducede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“cucumber pollination success”
e1“highly skewed nitrogen:phosphorus soil ratios reduced plant fitness via reduced numbers of flowers and reward quantity, pollinator attraction, and ultimately yield”
e2“bumble bee (Bombus impatiens, an important cucumber pollinator)”
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- negative
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See all 38 papers →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.