Do soil microbes affect flowers’ ability to attract bees?

New research reveals that certain soil microbes can help plants grow bigger flowers, therefore attracting more bees. The findings, which are published in New Phytologist, suggest that studying roots’ relationships with microbes can help scientists predict floral trait variations and plant-pollinator interactions.

The research focused on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), which form a symbiotic relationship with plant roots, providing the plant with nutrients and water in exchange for carbon. AMF associations with plants’ roots enhanced flower size, resulting in more visitations by bees; however, especially high AMF root colonization caused smaller flowers, indicating potential trade-offs between plant growth and fungal associations.

“Our findings reveal that the hidden roles of AMF can emerge when we look beyond plant growth or a single AMF species,” said corresponding author Aidee Guzman, PhD, who was at the University of California Berkeley while conducting this research and is now an Assistant Professor at Stanford University. “Floral traits and bee activity varied between compositionally distinct AMF communities, emphasizing that not all AMF communities are the same.”

URL upon publication: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.20219

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About the Journal
New Phytologist is an international journal publishing outstanding original research in plant science and its applications. Research falls into five sections: Physiology & Development, Environment, Interaction, Evolution, and Transformative Plant Biotechnology. Topics covered range from intracellular processes through to global environmental change. New Phytologist is owned by the New Phytologist Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of plant science.

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