{"id":2294,"date":"2021-01-19T09:43:29","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T08:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.exeter.ac.uk\/buddingnews\/?p=2294"},"modified":"2021-01-19T09:43:29","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T08:43:29","slug":"new-research-big-bumblebees-learn-locations-of-best-flowers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/buddingnews\/2021\/01\/19\/new-research-big-bumblebees-learn-locations-of-best-flowers\/","title":{"rendered":"New Research – big bumblebees learn locations of best flowers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Big bumblebees take time to learn the locations of the best flowers,\u00a0new research shows<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile smaller bumblebees \u2013 which have a shorter flight range and less carrying capacity \u2013 don’t pay special attention to flowers with the richest nectar.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

University of Exeter scientists examined the “learning flights” which most bees perform after leaving flowers.<\/p>\n

Honeybees are known to perform such flights \u2013 and the study shows bumblebees do the same, repeatedly looking back to memorise a flower’s location.<\/p>\n

“It might not be widely known that pollinating insects learn and develop individual flower preferences, but in fact bumblebees are selective,” said\u00a0Natalie Hempel de Ibarra<\/a>, Associate Professor at Exeter’s\u00a0Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“On leaving a flower, they can actively decide how much effort to put into remembering its location.<\/p>\n

\"Bumblebee
Bumblebees carry out “learning flights” after leaving flowers (credit: Natalie Hempel de Ibarra)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bumblebees carry out “learning flights” after leaving flowers (credit: Natalie Hempel de Ibarra)<\/p>\n

“The surprising finding of our study is that a bee’s size determines this decision making and the learning behaviour.”<\/p>\n

In the study, captive bees visited artificial flowers containing sucrose (sugar) solution of varying concentrations.<\/p>\n

The larger the bee, the more its learning behaviour varied depending on the richness of the sucrose solution.<\/p>\n

Smaller bees invested the same amount of effort in learning the locations of the artificial flowers, regardless of whether sucrose concentration was high or low.<\/p>\n

“The differences we found reflect the different roles of bees in their colonies,” said Professor Hempel de Ibarra.<\/p>\n

“Large bumblebees can carry larger loads and explore further from the nest than smaller ones.<\/p>\n

“Small ones with a smaller flight range and carrying capacity cannot afford to be as selective, so they accept a wider range of flowers.<\/p>\n

“These small bees tend to be involved more with tasks inside the nest \u2013 only going out to forage if food supplies in the colony are running low.”<\/p>\n

The study was conducted in collaboration with scientists from the University of Sussex.<\/p>\n

The bees were observed in greenhouses at the University of Exeter’s award-winning Streatham Campus, and Professor Hempel de Ibarra thanked the university’s\u00a0Grounds and Gardens team<\/a>\u00a0for their continued support.<\/p>\n

The study was funded by the Leverhulme Trust.<\/p>\n

The paper, published in the journal\u00a0Current Biology<\/em>, is entitled: “Small and large bumblebees invest differently when learning about flowers.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Big bumblebees take time to learn the locations of the best flowers,\u00a0new research shows. 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