Ep. 503 - Pollen Specialization

In Defense of Plants Podcast

In Defense of Plants

Science & Medicine, Natural Sciences

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 8 December 2024

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bees run the gamut from generalists to specialists. Whereas the generalists visit a variety of plants for the resources they need, many specialists exist on a single species. Such is the case for at least 20 different bees living in Southwestern North America who specialize on the pollen of the creosote bush (Larrea tridentata). In geologic terms, creosote is a relative newcomer to the Southwest and trying to understand how so many bee species have come to specialize on its pollen and how differences in flowering phenology across its range affect their lifecycle has been a mainstay of Dr. Bob Minckley's career. Join us as we take a dive into the mysterious world of pollen specialization. This episode was produced in part by Sigma, Max, Richard, Maia, Rens, David, Robert, Thomas, Valerie, Joan, Mohsin Kazmi Photography, Cathy, Simon, Nick, Paul, Charis, EJ, Laura, Sung, NOK, Stephen, Heidi, Kristin, Luke, Sea, Shannon, Thomas, Will, Jamie, Waverly, Brent, Tanner, Rick, Kazys, Dorothy, Katherine, Emily, Theo, Nichole, Paul, Karen, Randi, Caelan, Tom, Don, Susan, Corbin, Keena, Robin, Peter, Whitney, Kenned, Margaret, Daniel, Karen, David, Earl, Jocelyn, Gary, Krysta, Elizabeth, Southern California Carnivorous Plant Enthusiasts, Pattypollinators, Peter, Judson, Ella, Alex, Dan, Pamela, Peter, Andrea, Nathan, Karyn, Michelle, Jillian, Chellie, Linda, Laura, Miz Holly, Christie, Carlos, Paleo Fern, Levi, Sylvia, Lanny, Ben, Lily, Craig, Sarah, Lor, Monika, Brandon, Jeremy, Suzanne, Kristina, Christine, Silas, Michael, Aristia, Felicidad, Lauren, Danielle, Allie, Jeffrey, Amanda, Tommy, Marcel, C Leigh, Karma, Shelby, Christopher, Alvin, Arek, Chellie, Dani, Paul, Dani, Tara, Elly, Colleen, Natalie, Nathan, Ario, Laura, Cari, Margaret, Mary, Connor, Nathan, Jan, Jerome, Brian, Azomonas, Ellie, University Greens, Joseph, Melody, Patricia, Matthew, Garrett, John, Ashley, Cathrine, Melvin, OrangeJulian, Porter, Jules, Griff, Joan, Megan, Marabeth, Les, Ali, Southside Plants, Keiko, Robert, Bryce, Wilma, Amanda, Helen, Mikey, Michelle, German, Joerg, Cathy, Tate, Steve, Kae, Carole, Mr. Keith Santner, Lynn, Aaron, Sara, Kenned, Brett, Jocelyn, Ethan, Sheryl, Runaway Goldfish, Ryan, Chris, Alana, Rachel, Joanna, Lori, Paul, Griff, Matthew, Bobby, Vaibhav, Steven, Joseph, Brandon, Liam, Hall, Jared, Brandon, Christina, Carly, Kazys, Stephen, Katherine, Manny, doeg, Daniel, Tim, Philip, Tim, Lisa, Brodie, Bendix, Irene, holly, Sara, and Margie.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome to the Indefensive Plants podcast, the official podcast of
0:04.1	Indefensiveplants.com.
0:05.5	What's up? This is your host, Matt. Welcome to the show. How is everyone doing this week?
0:09.5	I'm doing great because we have new merch designs up in our store. Go over to Indefensiveplants.com
0:15.4	and click on Apparel at the top or look for our merch link in the show notes for this or any other episode and click it to check it out.
0:22.0	Picking up our customizable merch not only helps you look great, it helps support the podcast in the process
0:27.2	because conversations like you're about to hear can't happen without your support.
0:31.2	And speaking of cool conversations, I have one lined up for you today.
0:35.2	We are talking to Dr. Bob Minkley about one of his favorite
0:38.4	subjects in the world, pollen specialization among bees. There are many generalist bees out
0:44.1	there, but there are also many species that specialize on one or maybe a small handful of plants.
0:50.3	How and why they do this is varied and fascinating to think about and also very difficult to study.
0:55.8	But there's no one better to talk about this than Dr. Minkley himself.
0:59.4	So let's just jump right into it.
1:00.8	Without further ado, here's my conversation with Dr. Bob Minkley.
1:04.1	I hope you enjoy. All right, Dr. Bob Minkley, welcome to the podcast. I can't wait to discuss your area of research today.
1:25.2	But for those that aren't familiar with your work, let's start off with an introduction.
1:28.6	Tell everyone a little bit about who you are and what it is you do.
1:31.6	Well, I'm at the University of Rochester, and I work on solitary bees primarily,
1:39.7	and primarily solitary bees that live out in the deserts in Arizona and the southwest United
1:46.0	States and northern Mexico. And that area is where there's many, many species of bees
1:54.0	and many species of bees that are pollen specialists. They only go to one or a few plants. And so that's the place I like to go. I
	...

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