The modern science of ambrosiology: in honour of Herbert and Irene Baker

Abstract

Herbert and Irene Baker were a team. Their contributions to pollination biology have been many, but it is in the area of nectar its chemical composition, functional and ecological significance, and value in taxonomy and evolution that we honour them here. Although nectar can be described as simply a sugary secretion from plants, we know that it is more than that. Herbert and Irene explored the depths of nectar chemistry, analysing sugar components, non-sugar constituents that can benefit nectarivorous animals (amino acids, lipids, antioxidants, proteins, minerals, vitamins) or that may be deleterious (alkaloids, phenolics, other toxins, salts, and perhaps some other amino acids). They related the ratios of disaccharide (sucrose) to monosaccharides (glucose and fructose), and the amounts of amino acids, and other constituents in nectar to pollinator types and theorized on the reasons for the trends they observed. They noted tight relationships between nectar constituents and plant systematics, and additive effects of some constituents after hybridization. In all their nectar studies made over a quarter century, evolution and ecology were forefront. This scholarly couple made an indelible mark.