Bumblebee flower constancy and pollen diversity over time.

ABSTRACT: Bees often focus their foraging effort on a few or even a single flower species, even if other equally rewarding flower species are present. Although this phenomenon-called flower constancy-has been widely documented during single foraging trips, it is largely unknown if the behavior persists over longer time periods, especially under field conditions with large temporal variations of resources. We studied the pollen diet of individuals from nine different Bombus terrestris colonies for up to 6 weeks, to investigate flower constancy and pollen diversity of individuals and colonies, and how these change over time. We expected high degrees of flower constancy and foraging consistency over time, based on foraging theory and previous studies. Instead, we found that only 23% of the polle

SUBMITTER: Yourstone J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10332455 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul-Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature