From Nature World News:
Bumblebees assess pollen quality using floral characteristics such as petal color and shape, a new study reveals.
Bees don't eat pollen while foraging, so researchers weren't sure if bumblebees actually form associative relationships between quality of pollen and flowers.
The study by researchers at the University of Exeter and colleagues shows that bumblebees don't just mindlessly move from one flower to another collecting pollen and nectar, but actually spot flowers that will provide good quality nectar even before they land on them.
"There is still very little known about how bees decide which flowers to visit for pollen collection. Easily learning floral features based on pollen rewards, without needing any nectar rewards, is a fast and effective way to recognise those flower species which bees have previously experienced to be the best ones," said Dr Elizabeth Nicholls, a Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Sussex, according to a news release.
To read the full article, visit Nature World News' website.
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