Just started my PhD field work and released these beautiful mason bees at my study site as part of my experiment. Osmia ribifloris might be my all time favorite favorite bee. Excited to see how they do this season!
Hi all, I’m a graduate researcher working on bee-plant interactions and need to collect ~10 mg of pollen per flower species from the three most abundant species at my field site.
So far, I’ve experimented with a few approaches:
•Anther collection + processing: Collected anthers and tried vortexing and centrifuging, but results were inconsistent and yielded less pollen than expected
•In-field brush collection: Using paint brushes has been the most reliable so far, but it’s incredibly time-consuming, especially for tiny flowers like Amsinckia
The brush method works, but as a grad student on a tight timeline (and tighter budget), I’m looking for something more efficient.
My questions:
•Has anyone optimized pollen collection for small-flowered species?
•Are there better processing methods for anthers that actually yield decent quantities- such as drying?
•Any tricks for speeding up brush collection?
I’m open to whatever works and low-tech solutions are totally fine! Any suggestions appreciated. Thank you for your time :D