Pollination by bees (2024)

Plants compete with one another: They all want to be pollinated, as only then can they reproduce. The bee’s senses are adapted to signals that are emitted by flowers. On the one hand by their colour and on the other by their scent. Bees can see colours. They prefer to fly to-wards the colours yellow and blue. They cannot see red. For example, they only see the poppy as a dark spot. However, bees can see ultraviolet light, and the flowering plants “know” this. They have pigments that reflect ultraviolet light. This means the bees know where the nectar sources are and therefore the optimum places to land. It is fascinating that bees can only see colours at a maximum flight speed of 5 km/h. At higher speeds they see their environment in black and white.

Bees smell with their antennae. Thanks to the mobility of the antennae, they can also smell spatially, enabling them to tell which direction the smell is coming from, so they can head straight for the flowering plant, pollenate it and collect the nectar.
The bees suck up the nectar, the basis for honey, using their proboscis and store it in their honey stomach. Pollen, which contains a lot of protein and is primarily used to rear the brood, is picked up by the bees almost as they fly past. It sticks to the hairs on the bees, and when they visit the next plant of the same species it is transferred in adequate quantities to their stigma.

This is how the male pollen grain unites with the female egg cell to mature into seeds in the flower. This is the basic process of pollination, and the continuation of the plant’s existence is guaranteed. Meanwhile, the majority of the pollen grains stay on the back legs of the bees like “pants” and are taken to the hive as valuable food.

A bee visits around 100 flowers per foraging flight, with a maximum speed of up to 30 kilometres per hour. With ten foraging flights per day, this equates to 1,000 flowers. With a maximum of 40 flights per day, however, considerably more is possible. If 20,000 bees swarm out of a hive several times a day, 20 million flowers or more are pollinated each day.

When the bee finds a rich source of food, it shares this information with its fellow bees. Various dances (round and waggle dance) are the first step in successful recruitment.

Bees are loyal to flowers. They remain faithful to a productive plant species until it stops flowering. Bees are also loyal to locations. They recruit other bees in their community to fly to the chosen food sources using their dances and other assistance in the field. This continuity has enormous advantages, as it ensures that pollen is deposited within the same plant species and that the sequence of flowering in a region is utilised to optimum effect. This also simplifies or guides the work of the beekeeper. He or she can change the location of the hives depending on the flowers available so that the bees always find the best conditions and create honey from as few flower sources as possible.

Pollination by bees (2024)

FAQs

Pollination by bees? ›

When a bee collects nectar and pollen from the flower of a plant, some pollen from the stamens—the male reproductive organ of the flower—sticks to the hairs of her body. When she visits the next flower, some of this pollen is rubbed off onto the stigma

stigma
A stigma is a part of a flower that gets pollen from pollinators such as bees. The stigma is part of the female reproductive part of a flower, the pistil. The stigma is on top of the style. The stigma can be either hairy or sticky, or both to trap pollen.
https://simple.wikipedia.org › wiki › Stigma_(botany)
, or tip of the pistil—the female reproductive organ of the flower.

What is pollinated by bees called? ›

Pollination by insects is called entomophily. Entomophily is a form of pollination whereby pollen is distributed by insects, particularly bees, Lepidoptera (e.g. butterflies and moths), flies and beetles.

How does pollination work with bees? ›

When bees collect pollen and nectar from flowers, pollen from the male reproductive organ of the flower sticks to the hairs of the bee's body. When the bee visits the next flower, some of the pollen is rolled off and onto the female reproductive organ of the flower.

Do bees pollinate male or female flowers? ›

Both sexes drink floral nectar for their own caloric needs, but only females collect pollen to provision young, and thus forage at greater rates.

Do bees just pollinate flowers? ›

4. Bees aren't the only pollinators. The list of pollinators is long and includes hummingbirds, moths, wasps, beetles, bats and butterflies — just to name a few! Butterflies spread pollen as they travel from flower to flower, feeding on nectar.

What is another name for bee pollen? ›

Bee pollen is also known as Buckwheat Pollen, Extrait de Pollen d'Abeille, Maize Pollen, Pine Pollen, Polen de Abeja, Pollen d'Abeille, Pollen de Sarrasin, and other names. Bee pollen should not be confused with apitherapy, bee venom, or royal jelly.

What is it called when bees distribute pollen to flowers? ›

Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the male parts of a flower to the female parts of a flower of the same species, which results in fertilization of plant ovaries and the production of seeds.

Can you touch a bee while it's pollinating? ›

To avoid stings, give social bees such as honey bees and bumble bees their space when near a colony, and avoid touching bees when observing them when they are visiting flowers.

Can you pollinate without bees? ›

Some fruits are self-pollinating, and can fertilize themselves without any bees involved. The Navel Oranges seen in the photo at the top are a good example of a fruit that can self-pollinate. Most fruit trees -- pears and apples in particular -- are self-sterile for their own pollen.

What do bees pollinate the most? ›

Some crops, including blueberries and cherries, are 90-percent dependent on honey bee pollination. One crop, almonds, depends entirely on the honey bee for pollination at bloom time.

How do bees know if a flower has pollen? ›

Bees will use their sense of smell to find blooming plants that contain pollen and nectar. Honeybees have hair all over their bodies, and even have tiny hairs on their eyes. Once a bee lands on a flower, like a static charge, the pollen from a flower will jump onto a bee's fuzzy body.

Do bees pollinate every plant? ›

The plight of pollinators

Honey bees alone pollinate 80 percent of all flowering plants, including more than 130 types of fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, bee populations have dropped alarmingly across North America, as have the populations of many other pollinator species.

What plants are not pollinated by bees? ›

Bees don't pollinate grains, which are cultivated forms of grass. So wheat, rice, and corn would survive. Nor do bees pollinate sugarcane or sugar beets, another huge source of calories in a grain-based dessert.

Who pollinates the most? ›

Hoverflies. Hoverflies are prolific pollinators. They are known to visit at least 72% of global food crops and over 70% of animal-pollinated wildflowers.

Can bees exist without flowers? ›

Bees like flowers because they feed on their nectar and pollen. The nectar is used by bees as food and an energy source to get to and from their home. The pollen they also pick up from flowers are used to feed larva (baby bees) in the hive. Bees need flowers and flowers need bees.

What happens to bees if there are no flowers? ›

But it appears that bees improvise when they can't find flowers by eating sugar from honeydew, and that they have ways of finding these sugars that might involve watching the activity of other bee foragers instead of just looking for flowers,” Meiners said. “They still need pollen from flowers to reproduce.

Why was bee pollen banned? ›

AUBREY: Take, for instance, a product called Zi Xiu Tang Bee Pollen Capsules. The FDA took action to recall this product back in late 2012 because it contained a banned drug called sibutramine, which can increase the risk of heart attacks. But this product can still be found on the Internet.

Can bees eat honey? ›

A Bee's diet consists of honey and pollen.

Honey and pollen are the building blocks of a bee's diet. Bees eat honey because it provides them with energy-laden carbohydrates, while pollen's protein provides bees with essential amino acids.

Who should not eat bee pollen? ›

Bee pollen is not safe for children or pregnant women. Women should also avoid using bee pollen if they are breastfeeding. Bee pollen may cause increased bleeding if taken with certain blood thinners like warfarin.

Why do bees not always sting? ›

Myth #1: All bees sting.

The stinger, or sting, is a modified egg-laying device. Therefore, only females have them. However, despite having a stinger, the females of many bee species actually cannot sting. Bees tend to sting to defend their nest, so most bees won't sting unless they are provoked or feel threatened.

What is it called when a bee is on a flower? ›

Pollination is the movement of pollen from the anthers of a flower to the stigma of the same or a different flower.

What do bees do with pollen after they collect it? ›

Most pollen is used by bees as larvae food, but bees also transfer it from plant-to-plant, providing the pollination services needed by plants and nature as a whole.

Why shouldn't you jump in water when attacked by bees? ›

Never jump into a body of water to escape bees. They will wait for you to surface. Schmidt points to a case in which a swarm of bees hovered for hours over a man in a lake, stinging him whenever he came up for air. (The man survived only because the bees returned to their hive after sunset.)

Do bees recognize people? ›

Bees may have brains the size of poppy seeds, but they're able to pick out individual features on human faces and recognize them during repeat interactions.

What do bees not like? ›

Bees also have a distaste for lavender oil, citronella oil, olive oil, vegetable oil, lemon, and lime. These are all topical defenses you can add to your skin to keep bees away. Unlike other flying insects, bees are not attracted to the scent of humans; they are just curious by nature.

How long would we live if bees died? ›

Some attribute the following quote to Albert Einstein: "If the bee disappeared off the face of the Earth, man would only have four years left to live.

What happens if honey bees go extinct? ›

The extinction of honeybees will cause an economic crisis with the decline of produce such as fruits and vegetables. For example, a Cornell University Study determined that 14 billion dollars worth of seeds in crops in the United States is pollinated by bees.

What would happen if all the bees died? ›

Without bees, the availability and diversity of fresh produce would decline substantially, and human nutrition would likely suffer. Crops that would not be cost-effective to hand- or robot-pollinate would likely be lost or persist only with the dedication of human hobbyists.

Why do bees make honey if they don't eat it? ›

Honeybees make honey as a way of storing and saving food for colder months when they are not able to leave their hive as often and there are not as many flowers to gather food from.

What pollinates better than bees? ›

Non-bee pollinators include flies, beetles, moths, butterflies, wasps, ants, birds, and bats, among others.

What time of day do bees pollinate? ›

Although this varies from species to species, their pollination patterns are consistent within species. For Honey bees and wasps, they are most active during the afternoon from 1 pm to 4 pm (PDT). For butterflies and dragonflies, they are more active midday 11 am to 2 pm (PDT).

How many flowers does a bee visit in a day? ›

In a single foraging trip, a honeybee will visit around 100 flowers, and she (all worker bees are female) will make around 10 to 15 trips in a day. So that's at least 1,000 flowers a day, and this is a conservative estimate – it's said that a honeybee might visit up to 5,000 flowers on a productive day.

How do bees see humans? ›

Rather than specifically recognizing people, these nectar-feeding creatures view us as "strange flowers," the researchers say.

How far do bees fly to pollinate? ›

Honey bees fly up to three miles from their hives to collect nectar and pollen.

What plants can only be pollinated by bees? ›

Bees pollinate crops such as apples, cranberries, melons, almonds, and broccoli. Fruits like blueberries and cherries are 90% dependent on honey bee pollination, and during bloom time, almonds depend entirely on honey bees for pollination.

Do bees like some flowers more than others? ›

Some bees prefer certain flowers because of their shape. Often these preferences are determined by the length of a bee's tongue. For example, long-tongued bees seek out tubular, deep-throated blooms while short-tongued species visit flowers with easily accessible nectar, such as those in the daisy family.

Why do bees only go to certain flowers? ›

Why are flowers visited only by certain bee species but not other species? Answer: Bees prefer to visit flowers where they can gather as much food as possible For this reason, bees may focus their attention on particular flowers, whilst ignoring others close by.

What plant does bees hate? ›

Plants that repel bees include geraniums, roses, dahlias, yews, and bougainvillea. These plants produce oils or essential oils that have an unpleasant odor to bees and are great at deterring bees away. Keeping bees away does not need to be a difficult task.

What colors are bees not attracted to? ›

Darker colors such as red appear black to bees, and since black is the absence of color bees are not naturally attracted to plants with red hues. Also, some tubular flowers are not attractive to bees because the shape is not conducive to pollination. Choosing red plants will discourage bees in the garden.

Do bees like black eyed Susans? ›

Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia spp., annual or perennial): Nothing says summer like a beautiful black-eyed Susan, and bees appreciate their prolific flowers just as much as we do.

What animal is the number 1 pollinator? ›

1) Wild honeybees

Wild honeybees work ceaselessly to pollinator crops like apples and blueberries.

What is the best pollinator in the US? ›

Honey bees are America's primary commercial pollinator and more than 100 U.S.-grown crops rely on honey bees and other pollinators including birds, moths, butterflies and other insects.

Are hummingbirds pollinators? ›

Hummingbirds (family Trochilidae) are amazingly adapted pollinators, and they play an important role in pollination. They have long, slender bills and tube-like tongues that they use to drink nectar from brightly-colored flowers; this gives them the energy they need to fuel their high metabolism.

What state does not have bees? ›

Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Idaho, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Oregon each have zero or close to zero American bumblebees left, according to a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity and Bombus Pollinators Association of Law Students.

What flowers do bees ignore? ›

Geraniums can be helpful in repelling bees, particularly red geraniums, as bees cannot see the color red. It may seem counterintuitive that a flower would repel bees, but these flowers contain little to no pollen and have a scent that the stinging pest does not particularly like.

What came before bees? ›

Bees evolved from ancient predatory wasps that lived 120 million years ago. Like bees, these wasps built and defended their nests, and gathered food for their offspring. But while most bees feed on flowers, their wasp ancestors were carnivorous.

Where do bees go in the winter? ›

Without blankets, fires, or adjustable thermostats, honeybees have to stick together pretty closely to stay warm (and alive) in the winter. When temperatures in the winter drop below 50 °F (10 °C), honeybees retreat to their hives and form a winter cluster to keep warm—sort of like a giant three-month slumber party.

How cold is too cold for bees? ›

A bee will not die until its body temperature reaches 41 degrees or lower. At this temperature, the bee can't move its shivering muscles to generate heat and stay warm. Bees usually become active again outside their hive in the spring with the warmer weather and blooming flowers.

Do bees remember where flowers are? ›

Bees have an innate ability to find and remember flowers, shows study | Deccan Herald.

What are the two names of pollination? ›

Pollination is divided into two types: self pollination and cross pollination.

Is a bee pollinating a flower mutualism? ›

When they land in a flower, the bees get some pollen on their hairy bodies, and when they land in the next flower, some of the pollen from the first one rubs off, pollinating* the plant. This benefits the plants. In this mutualistic relationship, the bees get to eat, and the flowering plants get to reproduce. 3.

What is another word for pollinated by animals? ›

Zoophily, or zoogamy, is a form of pollination whereby pollen is transferred by animals, usually by invertebrates but in some cases vertebrates, particularly birds and bats, but also by other animals.

What is pollination also called? ›

Transfer of pollen grains from anthers of one flower to the stigma of a flower of another plant of the same species is called as allogamy.

What are 2 common methods of pollination? ›

Flowering plants need to get pollen from one flower to another, either within a plant for self-pollination or between plants of the same species for cross-pollination to occur. However, pollen can't move on its own, so animals or the wind (and water in rare cases) move the pollen for plants.

What is the most common method of pollination? ›

About 80% of all plant pollination is by animals. The remaining 20% of abiotically pollinated species is 98% by wind and 2% by water.

What is the relationship between bees and flowers called? ›

Bees have a symbiotic relationship with flowers like no other. Meaning that while flowers are benefiting from being pollinated, bees are also receiving benefits in return.

Why do bees go from flower to flower? ›

Yes, mostly. Bees like flowers because they feed on their nectar and pollen. The nectar is used by bees as food and an energy source to get to and from their home. The pollen they also pick up from flowers are used to feed larva (baby bees) in the hive.

What is the symbiotic relationship formed between a bee and a flower called? ›

Mutualism is when two organisms are involved. For example, A bumble bee and a flower. The bee lands on the flower and starts to take the pollen from the flower. This helps the bee live. This helps the flower produce.

What is pollinated by wind called? ›

Anemophilous, or wind pollinated flowers, are usually small and inconspicuous, and do not possess a scent or produce nectar.

What is it called when flowers pollinate themselves? ›

There are two types of self-pollination: in autogamy, pollen is transferred to the stigma of the same flower; in geitonogamy, pollen is transferred from the anther of one flower to the stigma of another flower on the same flowering plant, or from microsporangium to ovule within a single (monoecious) gymnosperm.

What is a synonym for pollinators? ›

fertilize by transfering pollen. synonyms: cross-pollinate, pollenate. type of: fecundate, fertilise, fertilize, inseminate.

What are the 5 stages of pollination? ›

Fertilization Process
  • Pollination. Pollination takes place immediately before the anthesis. ...
  • Pollen Germination. Within 2 to 3 minutes, the pollen left on stigma starts to germinate, to grow pollen tube toward the egg cell. ...
  • Penetration of PollenTube into the Ovule. ...
  • Fertilization. ...
  • Division of the Fertilized Egg (Zygote)

What is pollination between flowers on the same plant called? ›

The transfer of pollen from stamens to stigma of the same flower or between two flowers of the same plant is called self pollination. The type of pollination taking place within two flowers of different plants is called cross pollination. The type of pollination also depends on the different pollinators.

Can pollination take place without pollen? ›

People can transfer pollen from one flower to another, but most plants are pollinated without any help from people. Usually plants rely on animals or the wind to pollinate them. When animals such as bees, butterflies, moths, flies, and hummingbirds pollinate plants, it's accidental.

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