Date: November 8, 2016
Source: University of Exeter
Bees use a variety of senses and memory of previous experiences when deciding where to forage for pollen, research by the University of Exeter suggests.
The researchers believe pollen-collecting bees do not base their foraging decisions on taste alone, but instead make an "overall sensory assessment" of their experience at a particular flower.
Bees typically do not eat pollen when they collect it from flowers, but carry it back to the nest via special "sacs" on their legs or hairs on their body.
This makes it difficult to understand how bees judge whether the pollen a flower produces is nutritious enough for their young.
Indeed, researchers have been puzzled for a long time as to what exactly bees look for when they collect pollen from flowers.
Co-author Dr Natalie Hempel de Ibarra, expert in insect neuroethology at Exeter's Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, said: "It seems that bees don't just respond to a single nutritional compound in pollen, such as crude protein content, but to a range of sensory cues in pollen and flowers.
"They also form memories for locations and types of flowers that they have visited which affect their foraging decisions.
"We need more research that considers the behaviour and neurobiology of bees to understand when and why they prefer some plants and some pollen over others.
Continued
Bees use a variety of senses and memory of previous experiences when deciding where to forage for pollen, research by the University of Exeter suggests.
The researchers believe pollen-collecting bees do not base their foraging decisions on taste alone, but instead make an "overall sensory assessment" of their experience at a particular flower.
Bees typically do not eat pollen when they collect it from flowers, but carry it back to the nest via special "sacs" on their legs or hairs on their body.
This makes it difficult to understand how bees judge whether the pollen a flower produces is nutritious enough for their young.
Indeed, researchers have been puzzled for a long time as to what exactly bees look for when they collect pollen from flowers.
Co-author Dr Natalie Hempel de Ibarra, expert in insect neuroethology at Exeter's Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, said: "It seems that bees don't just respond to a single nutritional compound in pollen, such as crude protein content, but to a range of sensory cues in pollen and flowers.
"They also form memories for locations and types of flowers that they have visited which affect their foraging decisions.
"We need more research that considers the behaviour and neurobiology of bees to understand when and why they prefer some plants and some pollen over others.
Continued
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