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Nectar Working Group

CONTACT
Chair: Massimo Nepi (Italy) | nepim@unisi.itr

The ICPPR Nectar Working Group is aimed in promoting research on the biology of nectar and nectaries and their relationships with animals. For hundreds of years nectar-based plant-animal relationships have been reported as examples of symmetric mutualism: services provided by animals to plants in exchange for food provided by plants to animals. An interesting topic that is emerging today from the more recent researches on the chemical and biochemical characterization of nectar is the presence of several substances that are not directly related to the nutritional value of this secretion challenging the classical view of nectar as a food reward. Another recent emerging aspect is the presence of a third partner in plant-animal relationships mediated by nectar: yeasts and/or bacteria. These organism can be responsible of drastic change in the chemistry of nectar and consequently on the foraging behaviour of animals. Deepening our knowledge in these emerging fields may open new evolutionary and ecological scenarios to better understand complex plant-animal interactions.

A research topic on nectaries and nectar was recently published in Frontiers of Plant Sciences: 
https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/6575/new-perspectives-on-the-biology-of-nectaries-and-nectars  

Massimo Nepi
Department of Life Sciences - University of Siena
Via P.A. Mattioli 4, 53100, Siena (Italy)
tel: +390577233767
fax: +390577232860
e-mail: massimo.nepi@unisi.it
Skype: massimonepi