DOI: 10.5061/dryad.08kprr5bc
title: Data from: Isolating the effects of floral temperature on visitation and behavior of wild bee and fly pollinators

description: Flower temperature impacts pollinator choice in laboratory settings and
 the foraging behavior of bees in natural populations. However, the direct
 effects of floral temperature on animal pollination in field conditions
 are difficult to isolate from other pollinator-perceived traits that may
 affect flower temperature, such as shape and color. We experimentally
 manipulated the temperature of model flowers while keeping
 insect-perceived color and floral shape constant by using infrared (IR)
 reflecting paint. We tested the efficacy of this method across an
 elevation gradient and evaluated the effect of flower temperature on
 pollinator visitation and behavior in populations of Argentina
 anserina. The cooling effect of the IR-reflecting treatment was effective
 in alpine populations (&gt;3000m) but not at lower elevations
 (&lt;2500m). A manipulative glasshouse experiment showed that the
 cooling effect of floral IR reflection was stronger under higher IR
 irradiance. This suggests that elevational change in solar intensity
 contributes to elevation-specific effects of IR reflectance on flower
 temperature. The impact of flower temperature on bee and fly visitation,
 basking, and the duration of forgaing depended strongly on air
 temperature. When air temperature was high (&gt;30 degrees C), cooler
 flowers received more visits than warmer flowers. At high elevations,
 flies increased the time spent in warmer flowers when air temperatures
 were cool. However, flies foraged longer in cooler flowers when air
 temperatures were warm. Flower temperature impacted the likelihood of bees
 basking, but not their visitation rate or foraging duration. By
 experimentally isolating floral temperature from other floral traits, we
 found direct effects of flower temperature on the visitation and behavior
 of wild pollinators, especially during periods of more extreme air
 temperatures. Thus, pollinators have the potential to exert selection on
 floral temperature and the traits that shape it. Our study also highlights
 that floral IR reflectance impacts floral temperature in a
 context-dependent manner, calling for more investigations into this
 little-studied axis of floral variation.
description: # Isolating the effects of floral temperature on visitation and behavior
 of wild bee and fly pollinators **Description of the data and file
 structure** List of Excel Files. All files have a 'data' tab
 with the data analyzed and a 'metadata' tab with descriptions of
 column headers. * bilayer_final.xlsx: Model flowers with manipulated petal
 angle and IR reflecting paint coating. During the observation period
 associated mid-day model flower temperature, external air temperature, and
 the temperature differential between internal and external temperature
 probes were measured at mid-day in unobstructed grassy field in Clemson,
 South Carolina, USA. - field_analyzed.xlsx: Temperature data for model
 flowers with manipulated paint coatings in the field across six field
 sites at high and low elevation populations in Southwestern Colorado. *
 flw_data.xlsx: Temperature data, and pollinator visitation for each
 artificial flower during an observation period. Data collected from field
 observations of artificial flowers and temperature data collected using
 thermocouples. - pol_dataset_fixed_truncated.xlsx: Data for each
 pollinator visit observed in an array including duration spent in a
 flower. Data collected from field observations of model flowers and
 temperature data collected using thermocouples. * gh_ir_test.xlsx: Flower
 temperature data of artificial flowers in glasshouse experiment with
 manipulated floral angle and NIR reflectance under high NIR and low NIR
 treatments. Temperature data collected using thermocouples. In all data
 files, missing values are indicated by "NA". ## Code/Software
 FE_manuscript code.R contains all code used to analyze data from the above
 Excel files. All models and figures were created using R 4.3.2.