An updated insect exclosure design for pollination ecology

Troy Tetreault,Ken Aho

doi:10.26786/1920-7603(2021)651

Abstract

Exclosures are a common method for quantifying the effects of animal pollinators on flowering plant species. However, a lack of standardized designs or clear descriptions of previously implemented exclosure designs decreases replicability in pollination studies and reduces scientific rigor. We summarized previous descriptions of pollination exclosure designs, and developed/tested a novel exclosure design in alpine environments on the Beartooth Plateau in northern Wyoming, USA. This exclosure design consists of a cylindrical internal wire frame, integrated ground stakes, and various mesh materials attached to the exterior. Exclosures on the plateau showed high efficacy in inhibiting insects from pollinating flowering plants, and nearly all of these exclosures remained functional throughout the time they were in place. Our updated exclosure design is effective, inexpensive, easy to produce, and widely applicable across differing ecosystems and experimental design types.

Highlights

Exclosures are a common method for quantifying the effects of animal pollinators on flowering plant species (Colwell & Fuentes 1975; Macior, 1978; Lazaro et al 2014)
Studies of alpine pollination are relevant given the negative effects of global warming on alpine plant species (Guisan & Theurillat 2000; Ernakovich et al 2014; Gobiet et al 2014), including the increased likelihood of plant-pollinator phenological mistimings (Inouye 2008; Kudo 2021), the dependence of alpine plants on animal pollinators, particular hymenopterans (Bauer 1983; Ollerton et al 2011; Pepin et al 2015; Byers & Cheng 2017; Inouye 2020), and the global decline of many hymenopteran pollinators (Sanchez-Bayo & Wyckhuys 2019)
Mesh exclosures demonstrated high efficacy in inhibiting insects from reaching flowering plants, with plants fruiting at a low level while in noncontrol exclosures

Summary

Notes on Methodology

Abstract—Exclosures are a common method for quantifying the effects of animal pollinators on flowering plant species. A lack of standardized designs or clear descriptions of previously implemented exclosure designs decreases replicability in pollination studies and reduces scientific rigor. We summarized previous descriptions of pollination exclosure designs, and developed/tested a novel exclosure design in alpine environments on the Beartooth Plateau in northern Wyoming, USA. This exclosure design consists of a cylindrical internal wire frame, integrated ground stakes, and various mesh materials attached to the exterior. Exclosures on the plateau showed high efficacy in inhibiting insects from pollinating flowering plants, and most of these exclosures remained functional throughout the time they were in place. Our updated exclosure design is effective, inexpensive, easy to produce, and widely applicable across differing ecosystems and experimental design types

INTRODUCTION

A NOVEL POLLINATOR EXCLOSURE DESIGN

MATERIALS AND METHODS

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION