Effect of flower age on honey bee behaviour when rewards are kept constant.

摘要

A study was conducted in Prince Edward Island, Canada, to investigate the effect of rose (Rosa virginiana) flower age on the behaviour of honey bees (Apis mellifera) when the pollen reward is kept constant. Treatments comprised: (1) five first-day flowers; (2) five second-day flowers; (3) one first-day (in the centre) and four second-day flowers; and (4) four first-day and one second-day (in the centre) flowers. A combined total of 2693 visits (approach-only, hover-only and landings) to individual flowers, made by 415 honey bees, were recorded over 3 days. The number of approach-only visits did not differ significantly between first- and second-day flowers or among arrays of flower age combinations. The number of hover-only visits differed significantly between individual flower ages, with second-day flowers receiving more hover-only visits than first-day ones. The number of landing visits to individual first-day flowers differed significantly from the number of landing visits to second-day flowers. Arrays of first-day flowers received more landing visits than those of second-day flowers, and the total number of landings on an array generally increased as the number of first-day flowers in an array increased. For landing visits, excluding two where no times were recorded, no significant differences were found in foraging times between the individual flower ages or age combinations. Individual flower age had no effect on the number of approach-only visits, and flower age combination had no effect on the number of approach-only and hover-only visits, but in almost all other cases, first-day flowers, considered alone or in mixed groups, were preferentially visited.