Broadly, I study plant-pollinator interactions. I work with Heliconia tortuosa and its hummingbird pollinators, trying to discover how this plant recognizes it’s visitors.
Current Work
Heliconia tortuosa is a curious plant because it only successfully reproduces (by producing fruit) when it has been visited by a specific set of hummingbirds. My goal is to determine how this plant is able to distinguish between such visitors.
Using a combination of high-speed, slow motion videography, sleepless nights, hundreds of pollination experiments, many failed (plant) reproductive attempts, 3D printed hummingbird models, and an iron core of unyielding determination, we came up with what I like to call, “The Nectar Drop Hypothesis”.
We hypothesize that some hummingbird species, namely green hermits and violet sabrewings, have a specific morphology and behaviour that inadvertently deposits a small amount of nectar on the stigma of the flower which hydrates the pollen and promotes pollen germination. We propose that this Nectar Drop is the distinguishing factor between pollinator species that allows for recognition.