Nectar Guide Consisting of Radiating Lines Attract Foragers Even When Not in Floral Center
Jul 04, 2014 Email"> PrintText Size
Can the attraction of nectary and nectar guide be tested separately from the potential attraction of the floral center? Previous experiments focusing on linear nectar guides have not investigated this question.
Dr. Eben Goodale of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) and his colleagues tested if a radiating nectar guide around a nectary allowed foragers to find the nectary more easily, even when these elements are not near the floral center. They tested the behavior of foragers from three successive bumble bees (Bombus impatiens) colonies towards a 10-cm square feeder placed horizontally on the bottom of a foraging arena.
They made an artificial flower (feeder) in which nectar guide and nectaries competed for a forager’s attention. They created “disjunct” feeders in which the nectar guide was separated from the nectar and "conjunct” feeders in which the radiating lines of the nectar guide surrounded the nectary. To eliminate the potentially attractive effect of the flower center, the nectary and nectar guide were off-center on the conjunct feeder. On the disjunct feeder, the nectary and nectar guide were separated and off-center.
Their study had three distinguishing features: (1) testing an off-center nectar guide, (2) separating the attraction of nectary and nectar guide by creating a disjunct feeder which provides information conflict, and (3) using bees that were not pre-trained and whose responses should thus indicate innate preferences.
They demonstrated that nectar guide consisting of radiating lines could attract the attention of naïve bees even when not centered in the flower and not connected to a visible nectary.
The study entitled “The innate responses of bumble bees to flower patterns: separating the nectar guide from the nectary changes bee movements and search time” has been published online in Naturwissenschaften.
The study was partially supported by the 1000 Plan Recruitment Program from the People’s Republic of China to Eben Goodale.
Can the attraction of nectary and nectar guide be tested separately from the potential attraction of the floral center? Previous experiments focusing on linear nectar guides have not investigated this question.
Dr. Eben Goodale of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) and his colleagues tested if a radiating nectar guide around a nectary allowed foragers to find the nectary more easily, even when these elements are not near the floral center. They tested the behavior of foragers from three successive bumble bees (Bombus impatiens) colonies towards a 10-cm square feeder placed horizontally on the bottom of a foraging arena.
They made an artificial flower (feeder) in which nectar guide and nectaries competed for a forager’s attention. They created “disjunct” feeders in which the nectar guide was separated from the nectar and "conjunct” feeders in which the radiating lines of the nectar guide surrounded the nectary. To eliminate the potentially attractive effect of the flower center, the nectary and nectar guide were off-center on the conjunct feeder. On the disjunct feeder, the nectary and nectar guide were separated and off-center.
Their study had three distinguishing features: (1) testing an off-center nectar guide, (2) separating the attraction of nectary and nectar guide by creating a disjunct feeder which provides information conflict, and (3) using bees that were not pre-trained and whose responses should thus indicate innate preferences.
They demonstrated that nectar guide consisting of radiating lines could attract the attention of naïve bees even when not centered in the flower and not connected to a visible nectary.
The study entitled “The innate responses of bumble bees to flower patterns: separating the nectar guide from the nectary changes bee movements and search time” has been published online in Naturwissenschaften.
The study was partially supported by the 1000 Plan Recruitment Program from the People’s Republic of China to Eben Goodale.
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