We are seeking a Master’s student for a 30, 45, or 60 credit thesis opportunity starting Spring / Summer 2025 to explore the relationship between ambient weather conditions, floral microclimates and resources, and pollinators. Field work will involve floral resource collection and pollinator identification and sampling.
Background:
While there is a fairly good understanding of the negative consequences of pollinator declines for crops, we know very little about the consequences for wild plant communities. Wild plant communities are thought to be more resilient to changes in pollinator communities because they comprise many different species that may show different responses (“response diversity”). Such variation arises from the variability of plant species and taxonomic groups to rely – more or less – on pollinators for reproduction. It is predicted yet barely known whether these differences on pollinator dependence can maintain overall plant diversity but significantly shift plant composition.
Project description:
To address this gap, we will select at least three plant species with different levels of pollinator dependence (low, medium and obligate insect pollinated). For each of these species we will determine the relationship between pollinator visitation rate and diversity with seed set. This will be done experimentally by bagging flowers of plants until they open, exposing individual flowers to a chosen range of visitation rates and species richness of pollinators and then bagging them again until seed set can be estimated. We will also collect body pollen from flower-visiting insects, record the environmental variables, and account for the surrounding plant species composition. We will then analyze these factors to determine how pollinator effectiveness to plant reproduction is mediated on a per-species basis.
You will join us in the field in observing pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and hoverflies. You will learn to develop a research question of your own within the project framework and develop important scientific skills as part of your Master’s studies.
Are you interested?
If you would like to know more about this position and working with insect pollinators, please contact Arrian Karbassioon (arrian.karbassioon@cec.lu.se) for more information.