There are several different methods for collecting pollen. Fuchsin jelly is one of the most popular, but it is also possible to get pollen using sticky tape and then you can paste the pollen directly to slide glasses. Its also easy and cheap, but I am not sure how reliable it is to keep your pollen samples just in these sticky tapes on the slide glasses, as it may impact your ability to identify the species and count the pollen later.
Pollen will remain identifiable when preserved on sticky tape. Yes, it will dehydrate and collapse. With solvent for the sticky-tape glue, the pollen grains can be washed off and processed for acetolysis or for SEM or both. Some of these techniques are well described in the book "Practical Pollination Biology" (A. Dafni et al. (eds)) available in USA from BioQuip in California or from the printers Volumesdirect.com
I hope this helps,
Peter
Peter G. Kevan
There are some techniques in order to collect pollen from birds, with adhesive tape you will have the best results. See: ORTEGA-OLIVENCIA, A.; RODRIGUES-RAIAÑO, T.; VALTUEÑA, F.J.; LÓPEZ, J.; DEVESA, J.A. 2005. First confirmation of a native bird-pollination plant in Europe. Oikos 110: 578-590.
From flower anthers, you can see in any paper on pollen morphology, it is easy.
Both - pollen from birds and from flowers - should be treated by acetolysis methodology in order to have best results. Read: ERDTMAN, G. 1960. The acetolysis method. A revised description. Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift 39: 561-564.
Thank you Francisco! I was also searching for references on uses of adhesive tape to get pollen for bird's beaks, I just found this one: Valdivia, C. E., J. A. Simonetti, and C. A. Henriquez. 2006. Depressed pollination of Lapageria rosea Ruiz et pav. (Philesiaceae) in the fragmented temperate rainforest of Southern South America. Biodiversity and Conservation 15:1845-1856.
If you are curious, here it is a picture of a pollen sample in an adhesive tape from Brachyotum sp.
In my experience the best type of tape to use is Sellotape "Magic Tape" as it's not too sticky and easily peels off. If you need a reference see:
Lamborn, E. & Ollerton, J. (2000) Experimental assessment of the functional morphology of inflorescences of Daucus carota (Apiaceae): testing the “fly catcher effect”. Functional Ecology 14: 445-454
When you've stuck the tape to a glass side, view it from underneath and the tape itself is quite opaque.
Thanks Dr Ollerton, I appreciate your response. By the way, I like your papers.
Yes, sticky tapes deteriorate but, in the past, I've identified the pollen on the tape within 48 hours of removing it from the bird. Here are two an easy methods.
1) Use double-edged sticky tape.
2) One side of the tape is used to swab the bird's head and or bill. The opposite side then then used to adhered the sample to a glass slide. This glass slide goes into a slide box and is taken back to the lab.
3) Back in the lab you have two options. First, stain the exposed side of the tape with Calberla's fluid, wait five minutes and add a cover slip. View the grains and feather barbules under any standard scope at X10, X20 or X 40 12 - 24 hours later.
4) OR - you can pry the tape offer the slide, spatter coat it, re-mount it and pop it under an SEM.
When swabbing bird feathers, swab against the grain and try to remove small feathers or feather barbules. This will allow you to see how the grains "fit" onto or inter the feather barbules.
Sticky tape is difficult to see through on a microscope slide - ironically, "transparent" tape is really bad in this regard. "Packing" tape is a little better, but for either, it's difficult to do much more than get counts of pollen through the tape. Even that can be challenging if there is any clumping of grains.
A better approach (noted above) is to use small fuchsin-laced cubes of gelatin or agar to dab the animal in the field, and then prep the slide with a cover slip in the field. Petroleum jelly is also good as it doesn't dry out, so you don't need to seal the cover slip - gives you a little more time to get through the counting. Either way you end up with something clear enough to id the pollen.
Washing the tape with a solvent (noted above) is also a possibility, depending on how much time is available in the lab vs. the field. With any of these approaches, your best bet is to give it a try in a little pilot study to see what will work best for the kind of data you need. Good luck and keep us posted on your success!
Thanks for your comment Christopher, I collected a large sample of almost 1000 slides with pollen from plants and birds. I and my assistants were able to identify - with some difficulty - most of them just by watching directly in the microscope. I reached a lab that does the acetolysis, but the process is a bit complicated and expensive. They were busy working with other projects. Any way, I have a paper ready to submit about the pollen load in hummingbirds and other birds; I think everybody that is in pollination ecology will like it! If somebody would like to review my paper, send me a private message with your contact information.
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