Bumblebees collect pollen from the most favored flowers, not the most common flowers in the environment. Ohio State University reports.
Bumblebees are considered among the most important pollinators in wildlife and agriculture. These are large and powerful insects that can fly long distances from the nest. At the same time, according to ecologists, there is a global pollinator crisis in the world, and therefore it is especially important to study the features of their behavior.
Karen Goodell and colleagues discovered The feeding preferences of these insects after observing more than 20,000 individuals in the state of Ohio. The most popular flowers were milkweed, native thistle species, morning glory, purple coneflower, monarda, penstemon, red clover, and pea. Of the 16 wasp species found in Ohio, the researchers observed only 10 species, eight of which were too numerous to be included in the analysis. bombus pensilvanicus. As expected, the most frequently observed species (11,555 total cases) bumblebees impatient. In total, the authors observed 477 hours of interactions with 96 different wildflower species.
As a result, it was possible to detect the clearly expressed disproportionate participation of flowers. In particular, insects almost ignore clover and echinacea. Five of the eight wasp species tended to pollinate non-native plants, and the usefulness of these animals in conserving native species is questioned. In any case, the number of pollen-collecting events was related to the wasp’s preferences, not which flowers were more abundant. Also, generally preferred flowers of different species do not intersect.
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