Foraging bee species differentially prioritize quantity and quality of floral rewards

Pollinator–plant interactions represent a core mutualism that underpins biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems, and the loss of flowering plants is a major driver of pollinator declines. Bee attraction to flowers is mediated by both quantity of resources (the number of available flowers for exploration) and quality of resources (pollen nutritional value), but whether and how bees prioritize these factors is not well understood. Here, we leveraged a unique plant system to investigate the floral factors influencing bee foraging decisions. Recombinant inbred plant lines were generated by crossing the self-fertilizing Capsella rubella and the pollinator-dependent outcrosser C. grandiflora, to produce plants that varied across floral traits. Using enclosed arenas, we evaluated the foraging behavior of two solitary bee species, Osmia cornifrons and Megachile rotundata, to the isolated inflorescences from these lines. Visits from O. cornifrons were significantly positively correlated with the number of flowers, while M. rotundata visits were significantly positively associated with pollen nutrition, with a preference for plants with higher pollen protein-to-lipid content. Further experiments using artificial flowers confirmed that M. rotundata preferred flowers with higher protein:lipid ratios, while O. cornifrons visits were unaffected by nutrition. These studies demonstrate that, although both bee species collect pollen as their sole source of protein and lipids for themselves and/or their offspring, they differentially prioritize resource quantity (number of flowers) and quality (pollen nutritional content). These studies lay the groundwork for understanding how different foraging strategies evolved, and influence, plant–pollinator ecological networks.