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3D pollination biology of cacao Project ID: 000461839 Public
41 Media · 7 Specimens · Creator: Wolcott, Katherine · Managed by: Katherine Wolcott

Despite the economic importance of chocolate and that insect pollinators have been shown to limit cacao crop yields, little is known about the highly specialized pollination biology of Theobroma cacao L., and even less about its relatives, Byttneria spp., Ayenia spp., and Guazuma spp. For pollination, insects must go through Cacao’s bizarre petals (petal sacs) to come into contact with the pollen-containing anthers. Then, they need to either escape the petals and fly to another flower (for cross pollination) or come into contact with the pollen-receiving stigma (for self pollination). Acquiring and depositing pollen via movement through these intricate 3-dimensional structures is size- and geometry-specific. For example, if an insect is too small or not the right shape, it could crawl through the flower without interacting with the anthers or stigma at all. Ceratopogonid midges (Diptera) are often named cacao’s main pollinator, but field studies have found higher visitation rates for other small dipterans. It is also possible that different insects are responsible for population across cacao’s range. To determine the functional size limits of cacao’s pollinators, 3D measurements of floral structures can be used and compared with suspected pollinator dimensions to make hypotheses on which floral visitors are most likely to be successful. To precisely quantify plant-pollinator geometry and functional size limits of an effective pollinator for cacao and its relatives, we are using microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) and 3D geometric morphometrics.

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  ID Part Object Taxonomy Type Date Added Publication Status  
000531660 flower 07 - 23jan22 ftg:2009-0862 A Theobroma cacao Volumetric Image Series 2023-06-20 Open Download  
000531627 flower 05 - 23jan22 ftg:2009-0862 A Theobroma cacao Volumetric Image Series 2023-06-20 Open Download  
000531617 flower 04 - 23jan22 ftg:2009-0862 A Theobroma cacao Volumetric Image Series 2023-06-20 Open Download  
000531606 flower 01 - 23jan22 ftg:2009-0862 A Theobroma cacao Volumetric Image Series 2023-06-20 Open Download  
000531449 flower 04 - 24jun22 ftg:2002-0120 C Theobroma cacao Volumetric Image Series 2023-06-20 Open Download  
000530624 flower 03 - 24jun22 ftg:2002-0120 C Theobroma cacao Volumetric Image Series 2023-06-14 Open Download  
000530582 flower 04 - 24jun22 ftg:2002-0120 A Theobroma cacao Volumetric Image Series 2023-06-13 Open Download  
000530571 flower 03 - 24jun22 ftg:2002-0120 A Theobroma cacao Volumetric Image Series 2023-06-13 Open Download  
000530567 flower 02 - 24jun22 ftg:2002-0120 A Theobroma cacao Volumetric Image Series 2023-06-13 Open Download  
000530557 flower 01 - 24jun22 ftg:2002-0120 A Theobroma cacao Volumetric Image Series 2023-06-13 Open Download  
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