Preprints / In Press

Publications roughly organized by theme

* = undergraduate

** = co-first authors

Pollen foraging

Vaudo, A.D., Dyer, L.A. and Leonard, A.S. 2024. Pollen nutrition structures bee and plant community interactions. PNAS 121 (3) e2317228120.

Vaudo, A.D., Lin, E., Luthy, J.A., Leonard, A.S., and Grames, E.M. 2024. Do past and present abiotic conditions explain variation in the nutritional quality of wildflower pollens for bees? Evolutionary Ecology. 38: 941–955. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-024-10313-4

Mayberry, M.M., Francis, J.S., Burrow, J.K., Dall, F.E., Bowe, M. Leonard, A.S., Campbell, P. and Russell, A.V. 2024. One for the road: Bumble bees consume pollen at flowers. Apidologie 5 (82). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-024-01124-1

Vaudo, A.D., Tooker, J.F., Patch, H.M., Biddinger, D.J., Coccia, M., Crone, M.K., Fiely, M., Francis, J.S., Hines, H.M., Hodges, M., Jackson, S.W., Michez, D., Mu, J., Russo, L., Safari, M., Treanore, E.D., Vanderplanck, M., Yip, E., Leonard, A.S., and Grozinger, C.M. 2020. Pollen protein: lipid macronutrient ratios may guide broad patterns of bee species’ floral preferences. Insects, 11, 132.

Muth, F., Francis, J.S. and Leonard, A.S. 2016. Bees use the taste of pollen to determine which flowers to visit. Biology Letters 12: 20160356.

Muth, F., Papaj, D.R. and Leonard, A.S. 2016. Bees remember flowers for more than one reason: Pollen mediates associative learning. Animal Behaviour 111:93-100.

Nectar + Pollen

Francis, J.S., Acevedo, C.R.*, Muth, F. and Leonard, A.S. 2019. Nectar quality changes the ecological costs of chemically defended pollen. Current Biology. 29(14)R679-R680.

Muth, F., Breslow, P.*, Masek, P. and Leonard, A.S. 2018. A pollen fatty acid enhances learning and survival in bumblebees. Behavioral Ecology. 29:1371-1379.

Muth, F., Papaj, D.R. and Leonard, A.S. 2017. Multiple rewards have asymmetric effects on learning in bumblebees. Animal Behaviour. 126:123-133.

Francis, J.S., Muth, F. Papaj, D.R., and Leonard, A.S. 2016. Nutritional complexity and the structure of bee foraging bouts. Behavioral Ecology.  27 (3): 903-911.

Muth, F., Papaj, D.R. and Leonard, A.S. 2015. Colour learning when foraging for nectar and pollen: Bees learn two colours at once. Biology Letters. 11: 20150628.

Nectar Chemistry

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Bee Behavior

Muth, F., Breslow, E.* and Leonard, A.S. 2023. Octopamine affects gustatory responsiveness and may enhance learning in bumble bees. Apidologie. 54 (9).

Muth, F.**, Philbin, C.S.**, Jeffrey, C.S. and Leonard, A.S. 2022. Discovery of octopamine and tyramine in nectar and their effects on bumblebee behavior. iScience 25(8) 104765.

Anthony, W.E.*, Palmer-Young, E.C., Leonard, A.S., Irwin, R.E. and Adler, L.S. 2015. Testing dose-dependent effects of the nectar alkaloid anabasine on trypanosome parasite loads in adult bumble bees. PLoS ONE 10(11): e0142496.

Richardson, L.L, Adler, L.S., Leonard, A.S., Andicoechea, J.*, Regan, K.H.*, Anthony, W.*, Manson, J.S., and Irwin, R.E. 2015. Secondary metabolites in floral nectar reduce parasite infections in bumble bees. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B: Biological Sciences 282(1803):20142471.

Sublethal Effects of Pesticides

Tatarko, A.R., Leonard, A.S., & Mathew, D. 2023. A neonicotinoid pesticide alters Drosophila olfactory processing. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 10606.

Richman, S.K., Muth, F., & Leonard, A.S. 2021. Measuring foraging preferences in bumble bees: a comparison of popular laboratory methods and a test for sucrose preferences following neonicotinoid exposure. Oecologia, 196, 963-976.

Richman, S.K., Maalouf, I.M., Smilanich, A.M., Marquez Sanchez, D., Miller, S.Z., & Leonard, A.S. 2022. A neonicotinoid pesticide alters how nectar chemistry affects bees. Functional Ecology, 36(4), 1063-1073.

Muth, F., Gaxiola, R.L. and Leonard, A.S. 2020. No evidence for neonicotinoid preferences in the bumblebee Bombus impatiens. Royal Society Open Science. 7:191883.

Muth, F., Francis, J.S., and Leonard, A.S. 2019. Modality-specific impairment of learning by a neonicotinoid pesticide. Biology Letters. 15: 20190359.

Muth, F. and Leonard, A.S. A neonicotinoid pesticide negatively affects foraging, but not learning, in free-flying bumblebees. 2019. Scientific Reports. 9: 4764.

Conceptual Frameworks

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Reviews

Hemingway, C.T., Leonard, A.S., MacNeill, F.T., Pimplikar, S. and Muth, F. 2024. Pollinator cognition and the function of complex rewards. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2024.06.008

Townsend, A., Sewall, K.B., Leonard, A.S. and Hawley, D.M. 2022. Infectious disease and cognition in wild populations. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 37 (10), 899-910.

Francis, J.S., Tatarko, A.R., Richman, S.K., Vaudo, A.D. and Leonard, A.S. 2020. Microbes and pollinator behavior in the floral marketplace. Current Opinion in Insect Science. 44: 16-22.

Leonard, A.S. and Francis, J.S. 2017. Plant-animal communication: Past, present, and future.  Evolutionary Ecology. 31: 143-151.

Leonard, A.S. and Masek, P. 2014. Multisensory integration of colors and scents: Insights from bees and flowers. Journal of Comparative Physiology: Series A 200:463-474.

Bee cognition

Muth, F., Tripodi, A.D., Bonilla, R.*, Strange, J.P. and Leonard, A.S. 2021. No sex differences in learning in wild bumblebees. Behavioral Ecology. 32 (4), 638-645.

Riveros, A.J., Leonard, A.S., Gronenberg, W. and Papaj, D.R. 2020. Learning of bimodal vs. unimodal signals in restrained bumble bees. Journal of Experimental Biology. 223: jeb220103.

Muth, F., Cooper, T.R.*, Bonilla, R.F.* and Leonard, A.S. 2018. A novel protocol for studying bee cognition in the wild. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. 9(1), 78-87.

Muth, F., Scampini, A.V.*, and Leonard, A.S. 2015. The effect of acute stress on learning and memory in the bumble bee. Learning and Motivation 50: 39-41.

For earlier work on multimodal floral signals, nectar guides, bee brains, spider behavior, and cricket mate choice check out: