David E Pattemore

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Senior Scientist at Plant and Food Research

Significance Many of the world’s crops are pollinated by insects, and bees are often assumed to be the most important pollinators. To our knowledge, our study is the first quantitative evaluation of the relative contribution of non-bee pollinators to global pollinator-dependent crops. Across 39 studies we show that insects other than bees are effic...

Radio telemetry has been widely used to study the space use and movement behaviour of vertebrates, but transmitter sizes have only recently become small enough to allow tracking of insects under natural field conditions. Here, we review the available literature on insect telemetry using active (battery-powered) radio transmitters and compare this t...

Reported declines of pollinator populations around the world have led to increasing concerns about the consequences for pollination as a critical ecosystem function and service. Pollination could be maintained through compensation if remaining pollinators increase their contribution or if novel species are recruited as pollinators, but empirical ev...

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) have been implicated in the spread of the fire blight pathogen (Erwinia amylovora), and may transmit other bacterial plant pathogens in the process of pollinating crops. Furthermore, the movement of hives from one orchard to another could spread plant diseases over large distances. We investigated whether honey bees migh...

The loss of bird species following human colonization of New Zealand has raised concerns about the consequences for crucial ecosystem functions such as pollination. The understorey shrub Alseuosmia macrophylla (Alseuosmiaceae) exhibits characteristics typical of a bird pollination syndrome, but populations still persist in northern North Island for...

The role of nocturnal pollinators has been globally understudied, particularly in agriculture, but growing evidence suggests that crops often assumed to be pollinated during the day also receive additional pollination by night-active animals. In our study, we assessed six different types of evidence to determine whether blueberry flowers, which are...

Floral syndromes can be a useful tool for predicting the identity of pollinators from floral morphology. However, the reliability of floral syndromes are still debated in the literature, and can often result in effective pollinators being overlooked. Pollination by moths has historically been associated with a floral syndrome comprising white tubul...

To retrieve (open access) use this link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03014223.2023.2245760 Artificial light at night (ALAN) is considered a growing threat to bat species due to its potential impacts on circadian cycles, increased predation risk, and avoidance behaviour. Urban expansion and associated increases in ALAN may impact t...

Pollinating insects are critical to ecosystem stability and food security. Concerns about the impact of insect declines have therefore seen increased research on the role of wild pollinators in cropping systems. However, this research has predominantly focused on diurnal pollinators such as bees and flies, leaving the role of nocturnal pollinators...

Managers of insect-pollinated orchards face many decisions that can significantly influence crop yields, including managing pollination through use of beehives or the layout of cultivars in the orchard. Understanding the relative importance and interactions between these multiple decisions through empirical field trials is rarely possible, so model...

Varroa destructor is a honey bee (Apis mellifera) parasite identified as one of the leading causes of overwintering colony loss in New Zealand. It has been shown that a naturally occurring heritable trait, “Varroa Sensitive Hygiene” (VSH), confers an advantage to colonies by increasing behaviours that limit the survival and reproduction of Varroa m...

Pollination involves complex interactions between plants and pollinators, and variation in plant or pollinator biology can lead to variability in pollination services that are difficult to predict. Models that effectively predict pollination services could enhance the ability to conserve plant-pollinator mutualisms in natural systems and increase c...

Many crop plants rely on insect pollination, particularly insect-pollinated crops which are functionally dioecious. These crops require insects to move pollen between separate plants which are functionally male or female. While honey bees are typically considered the most important crop pollinator species, many other insects are known to visit crop...

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are the current model species for pesticide risk assessments, but considering bee diversity, their life histories, and paucity of non-eusocial bee data, this approach could underestimate risk. We assessed whether honey bees were an adequate risk predictor to non-targets. We conducted oral and contact bioassays for Leiopr...

Avocado (Persea americana) flowers are primarily diurnal, however low minimum overnight temperatures can delay in the opening of female-phase flowers such that the flowers open late in the day and remain open overnight. To determine whether moths are important visitors to avocado flowers at night, we trapped moths in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand,...

Pollination by insects is critical for the production of many crops worldwide. Crop cultivars vary in a number of traits, but their differing pollination requirements are often overlooked. Kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) is reliant on pollen movement between male and female plants, but there has been disagreement in the literature about what its po...

Mutualistic plant-pollinator interactions are critical for the functioning of both non-managed and agricultural systems. Mathematical models of plant-pollinator interactions can help understand key determinants in pollination success. However, most previous models have not addressed pollinator behavior and plant biology combined. Information genera...

This research will focus on the impacts of artifical lighting on the behavioural ecology of LTBs occupying urban and peri-/urban habitat in Hamilton and Taranaki.

Worldwide, anthropogenic change is causing biodiversity loss, disrupting many critical ecosystem functions. Most studies investigating the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning focus on species richness, predominantly within the context of productivity‐related functions. Consequently, there is limited understanding of how othe...

Within food webs, vectors of plant pathogens interact with individuals of other species across multiple trophic levels, including predators, competitors, and mutualists. These interactions may in turn affect vector‐borne pathogens by altering vector fitness and behavior. Predators, for example, consume vectors and reduce their abundance, but often...

Macadamia is partially self-incompatible and cross-pollination is considered important to improve yields. However, questions remain regarding the importance of self- vs. cross-pollination, and subsequently whether managed pollinators are useful in commercial orchards. Pollinators play a key role in cross-pollination, but for self-pollination, the p...

Avocado (Persea americana) has synchronously protogynous flowers: flowers open first in female phase before closing and opening the next day in male phase. Cultivars are grouped based on whether the flowers typically first open in female phase in the morning (type A), or in the afternoon (type B). However, it is known that environmental factors can...

Protected cropping can increase orchard productivity; however, enclosed environments can be disruptive to pollinators. Bumble bees (Bombus terrestris) forage under covers, but industries lack guidelines for using them as pollinators. Here conservative stocking rates for bumble bees in covered kiwifruit orchards were identified using empirical manip...

The survey of insect flower visitors to crops dependent on their pollination is an essential component in determining their effectiveness as pollinators. In most cases, different survey techniques are required for different crops because of variation in planting design, floral density, spatial distribution of flowers or where additional factors suc...

Globally, conversion of natural habitat to agricultural land is a primary driver of declines in critical ecosystem services, including pollination. However, exotic species are often well‐adapted to human‐modified environments and could compensate for ecosystem services that are lost when native species decline. We measured pollination services (pol...

Leks are aggregations of sexually displaying males visited by receptive females and characterized by intense maleemale competition to attract mates. Success in lekking species is often contingent upon male display output and/or lek attendance, with energetically costly displays functioning as an honest indicator of male quality. Furthermore, displa...

Two main mechanisms may buffer ecosystem functions despite biodiversity loss. First, multiple species could share similar ecological roles, thus providing functional redundancy. Second, species may respond differently to environmental change (response diversity). However, ecosystem function would be best protected when functionally redundant specie...

Different pollinators may vary in their temporal flower-visitation patterns within crops, potentially extending the period pollination may occur. To assess whether this could be the case in kiwifruit, we conducted standardised observational surveys of insects visiting kiwifruit flowers within 31 orchards at three times: 10:00–11:00, 12:00–13:00 and...

Insect pollination is key to ensuring adequate fruit yields within avocado orchards. Various bee and non-bee insect species have been considered as potential pollinators of avocado worldwide, but in New Zealand there has been little research into which insect species visit avocado flowers. In the Bay of Plenty, an important avocado production area,...

The Japanese plum 'Black Doris' (Prunus salicina) is a self-infertile early-flowering crop so insufficient cross pollination and lack of pollinators could be factors to explain reported poor fruit set. This project assessed the relative abundance of flower visitors within a plum orchard and their movements among three orchards, as part of a wider s...

Approximately one-third of our food globally comes from insect-pollinated crops. The dependence on pollinators has been linked to yield instability, which could potentially become worse in a changing climate. Insect-pollinated crops produced via hybrid breeding (20% of fruit and vegetable production globally) are especially at risk as they are even...

Temperatures experienced by each shadehouse and glasshouse treatment. Histogram of temperatures collected at chest height from data loggers (onset HOBO Prov2 temp/RH meters) from the two enclosures for each of the three temperature treatments during the course of the experiment. (TIF)

Stages of development in carrot florets. Petals and anthers were removed from florets for photography. (TIF)

Coefficients table of GLM for flower phenology. Relationship between time between sowing and blooming and the plant variety, and the plant line (male sterile vs. male fertile), with interactions and a gamma distribution. The intercept condition is the excellent variety, male sterile. (DOCX)

Traces from the flame ionization detector (FID) of the gas chromatograph (top line) coupled with the electro-antennogram detector (EAD) responses (bottom line) from a honey bee antenna. Three electrophysiological responses were detectected from the EAD trace, circled in red: phenylacetaldehyde, nonanal, methyl salicylate, from left to right. The an...

Coefficients table of zero-inflated binomial GLMM for seed set. The final model retained temperature at the time of pollination, plant variety, and pollen viability as predictors of observed seed set per three umbellets. The intercept condition is the excellent variety. (DOCX)

Coefficients table of GLMM for nectar sugar composition. The final model retained time-of-day, temperature at the time of pollination, plant variety, and the interaction between time-of-day and variety. The intercept condition is the excellent variety at the peak nectar emission time of 11:00am. (DOCX)

Coefficients table of binomial GLMM for pollen viability. The final model retained temperature at the time of pollination, plant variety, and the number of days pollen was stored prior to processing as predictors of observed pollen viability in male fertile lines. The intercept condition is the excellent variety. (DOCX)

Coefficients table of LM for nectar glucose:fructose ratio. The intercept condition is nectar glucose (μg) per ½ umbel. (DOCX)

Coefficients table of ADONIS for floral volatiles; variety trial. (DOCX)

Coefficients table of ADONIS for nectar phenolic bouquet. The final model retained plant variety, temperature at the time of pollination, and time-of-day. (DOCX)

Coefficients table of ADONIS for floral volatiles; temperature trial. (DOCX)

Preliminary carrot pollen viability sampling method and results. (DOCX)

Coefficients table of ADONIS for floral volatiles; time-of-day trial. (DOCX)

Raw data from which analyses were generated. (CSV)

A wide variety of insect species provide pollination services in natural and agricultural ecosystems, but in order to quantify their contribution it is necessary to evaluate their effectiveness. An important component of this is to determine their ability to transfer pollen to stigmas which typically requires observers to wait for insects to visit...

The survey of insect flower visitors to crops dependent on their pollination is an essential component in determining their effectiveness as pollinators. In most cases, different survey techniques are required for different crops because of variation in planting design, floral density, spatial distribution of flowers or where additional factors suc...

Entropy and SVD dataset This dataset includes mean entropy values for 8 body regions and body length measurements for 10 pollinator species. It also includes mean SVD values for Brassica rapaand Actinidia deliciosaand mean pollen load values for Brassica rapa.

Brassica rapa flower morphology Photograph of a pak choi Brassica rapa flower. Labels show the key reproductive structures.

Pre-process region script

Mark regions script

Entropy test script

Variation in entropy values between different photos of the same specimen Variation in entropy values for multiple photos (n = 5 per region per species) for two different body regions of the same specimen.

Actinidia deliciosa flower morphology Photographs of a female (a) and male (b) kiwifruit Actinidia deliciosa flower. Labels show the key reproductive structures.

Background Functional traits are the primary biotic component driving organism influence on ecosystem functions; in consequence, traits are widely used in ecological research. However, most animal trait-based studies use easy-to-measure characteristics of species that are at best only weakly associated with functions. Animal-mediated pollination is...

MATLAB tutorial

Intraspecific variation in pollinator hairiness Intraspecific variation in entropy values across different body regions of insect pollinators used in our study. Boxes represent the interquartile range, horizontal lines within boxes are median values, whiskers are the range and single dots are outliers.

Functional traits are the primary biotic component driving organism influence on ecosystem functions; in consequence, traits are widely used in ecological research. However, most animal trait-based studies use easy-to-measure characteristics of species that are at best only weakly associated with functions. Animal-mediated pollination is a key ecos...

Functional traits are the primary biotic component driving organism influence on ecosystem functions; in consequence, traits are widely used in ecological research. However, most animal trait-based studies use easy-to-measure characteristics of species that are at best only weakly associated with functions. Animal-mediated pollination is a key ecos...

Flowering plants require pollen to be transported and deposited on a stigma for fertilization to occur. This process of pollination is critical for plant reproduction and the production of crops. Agents that pollinate flowers include wind, insects, birds, and bats. To study pollination it is important to understand how the biology of the flower and...

Pollinators, which provide the agriculturally and ecologically essential service of pollination, are under threat at a global scale. Habitat loss and homogenisation, pesticides, parasites and pathogens, invasive species, and climate change have been identified as past and current threats to pollinators. Actions to mitigate these threats, e.g., agri...

The initial list of potential issues identified by the horizon-scanning process. Issues with the same number were grouped together, based on similarity, for voting

Background. Pollinators, which provide the agriculturally and ecologically essential service of pollination, are under threat at a global scale. Habitat loss and homogenisation, pesticides, parasites and pathogens, invasive species, and climate change have been identified as past and current threats to pollinators. Actions to mitigate these threats...

Background. Pollinators, which provide the agriculturally and ecologically essential service of pollination, are under threat at a global scale. Habitat loss and homogenisation, pesticides, parasites and pathogens, invasive species, and climate change have been identified as past and current threats to pollinators. Actions to mitigate these threats...

Calliphorid and sarcophagid flies are common, widespread pollinators of vegetable and forage seed crops. Information regarding their seasonal occurrence on arable farms growing these crops may help predict their temporal effectiveness and flexibility as pollinators. Window intercept traps (12 per farm) were placed at the edges of crop paddocks acro...

Background. Pollinators, which provide the agriculturally and ecologically essential service of pollination, are under threat at a global scale. Habitat loss and homogenisation, pesticides, parasites and pathogens, invasive species, and climate change have been identified as past and current threats to pollinators. Actions to mitigate these threats...

Macadamia nuts are a valuable culinary resource, but yields can vary substantially between varieties, orchards and seasons. The nuts are harvested from commercial varieties derived from two endemic Australian tree species; Macadamia integrifolia Maiden & Betche and Macadamia tetraphylla L.A.S. Johnson. While some aspects of crop management for this...

Males of lek-breeding species defend clustered territories from which they display to visiting females. However, the mechanisms leading to the adoption of clustered male display sites are often unknown. In this study, we examined the possibility of a resource-based lek in New Zealand's lesser short-tailed bat (Mystacina tuberculata) (Mammalia: Chir...

In New Zealand, unmanaged bees species can be important crop pollinators, but their abundance and distribution is poorly known within hybrid carrot seed crops. Standardised counts of bees visiting flowering carrot umbels (1350 umbels observed/field) across 19 commercial hybrid fields were conducted between 1000 h and 1500 h. Despite honey bees bein...