Nectar and pollen on flowers are a source of protein and energy for bees, and sufficient bee colonies can thrive in nectar plants. There are thousands of flowers in nature, and the color, structure, pollinator insects, and pollination methods of each flower are different. Most plants attract insects to pollinate them through flowers, and the mission of flowers is to attract pollinating insects. The bright colors of the flowers, the fragrant floral fragrance, the nutrient-rich pollen, and the sweet and delicious nectar are all magic weapons that attract insects. Bees are the mainstay of the pollinatory army, I believe that many people in the outdoors will see a lot of bees collecting honey on flowers, but many people do not know how bees find flowers, nor do they know which flowers bees are interested in.
Peach pollen is abundant, basically no nectar, in the spring when the big honey source flowers, bees collect very little peach pollen, are to collect nectar and pollen sufficient flowers
The swarm began to go out to collect nests, not on a large scale, but first sent "reconnaissance bees" to find honey source flowers. The so-called "reconnaissance bee" is a young adult bee in the swarm who is physically strong, agile and has a keen sense of smell, responsible for finding honey source flowers outside. So how does the "scout bee" look for flowers in the wild and ask for willows, and finally find the honey source flowers? Skill one, rely on a pair of tentacles to give bees a sensitive sense of smell; skill two, rely on a pair of compound eyes to identify the color of flowers.
Skill one, relying on a pair of tentacles to give bees a sensitive sense of smell
The bee's sense of smell is not what we understand to judge the smell by smell through the nose, the bee has its own odor recognizer, that is, a pair of tentacles on the head, each tentacle has three thousand microstructures. When the bee's tentacles capture the floral fragrance of the flowers, the floral molecules will pass through the tentacle holes to contact the sensory cells under the holes, and then activate the nerve cells connected to the sensory cells connected to the sensory cells, and then transmit the mirror waves to the relevant areas of the brain, so that the bees can identify the fragrance of the flowers, and then find the flowers by tracking the floral fragrance in the air. Similarly, the scent of nectar from flowers in the air is captured by bees, who then track the scent until they find the flowers.
Orange blossoms, with a strong floral fragrance, nectar and white flowers, are one of the large nectar source plants that bees like to collect
Skill two, rely on a pair of compound eyes to identify the color of flowers
Some people may ask, so if the flowers do not release floral substances, how do bees find the flowers? If the flowers really don't release floral fragrance to attract bees, then it must be through the bright colors, but the bees do not recognize all colors. When you take a closer look at the clusters of flowers with many different colors, you will find that bees frequently collect honey and powder on several flowers of a specific color. So why is this happening? In fact, bees recognize different hues. Because the compound eye of the bee has spectrally sensitive optic cells, especially the four spectra of yellow, green, blue and violet in the seven color spectra, the bee can recognize yellow, green, blue and purple. When the tentacles cannot catch the floral fragrance molecules, the bees will identify the color through the compound eye and will approach to scout. Check the flowers for pollen and nectar, if not, they will leave to continue to scout for the next color of the flowers, and if there are bees, they will further determine whether the nectar of the flowers can be collected.
Bees' preference for color can be observed in clusters of ring-winged purslane flowers, which are white, red, pink, pink, and yellow
When the color of the flower successfully attracts the bees, the final ability to get the bees depends on whether the nectar and pollen on the flowers can be collected. Although some flowers successfully attract bees by color or floral fragrance, because the nectar is hidden deep in the corolla tube, whether the nectar can be collected depends on the length of the beak of the bee. The average length of the beak of the Chinese honey bee is 5 mm, the average length of the Italian bee is 6 mm, if the length of the corolla tube exceeds the length of the bee's beak, the bee cannot absorb the nectar, then the bee will also abandon it. Therefore, it is not enough for flowers to attract bees in color and nectar, and whether they can be collected by bees is the key. For example: honeysuckle, because the corolla tube is long and thin, the beak of the Chinese honey bee cannot reach the honey gland to suck nectar, while the other flower Lingxiao flower, the corolla tube is large and funnel-shaped, and the bee can climb into the corolla tube to absorb the nectar. So as long as the scout bee is sure that the nectar of the flowers can be collected, it will start to collect the nectar and powder, and then locate the flower position and fly back to the hive to notify other collecting bees to come and collect.
The corolla tube is large, bees can drill into the suction nectar, and the pollen of the lingxiao flower is easy to collect
The flowers that bees prefer to collect are basically yellow, white, blue, purple, and rich in pollen, nectar, or pollen nectar. The bees' identification of flower colors is also the result of thousands of years of natural evolutionary selection. Flowers of these colors also appeared in the period of great flow of honey, such as yellow rape flowers and a yellow flower, white locust flowers and linden tree flowers, purple aster and motherwort. These flowers are perfectly powdered and are essential for the survival and development of bees. Bees collect a source of honey basically from the beginning of the honey flow to the end of the honey flow, and the collection of flowers is very specific. This kind of specialization has great benefits for the bee colony and flowers, first, the collection of bees can fly directly to the honey source to collect, saving the time of waiting for the reconnaissance bees to go out to scout the honey source, and improving the collection efficiency of the bee colony. Second, the flowers have been sufficiently pollinated by bees, and a flower can get pollination by several bees, and the pollen pollination is fully uniform, and the result rate is greatly improved.
The nectar of the octagonal gold plate is on the surface of the flower, and the bees can easily collect it, and the bees in the picture suck the nectar with their beaks
So the bee's ability to find flowers and the characteristics of their exclusive love for flowers, can beekeepers use it? The answer is yes, beekeepers can take advantage of this feature of bees to greatly improve the success rate of bee traps in the wild. Then for the treatment of the beehive, the outside of the hive can be painted with a striking yellow or white, so that the color can attract the scout bees to come and check. Then pour some melted beeswax on the inside and outside of the trap, and then apply some honey, which is to attract scout bees through the smell, so that the processed bee box can easily attract scout bees. Scouts then return to the nest to inform the location of the trap box, and the collecting bees will come to collect the honey smeared and remember the location. If the collection of bees continues to lure the beehive to collect honey for several consecutive days, the location of the beehive will be kept in mind, which is to use the specificity of the bees to collect the honey source, then in the spring beekeeping season the bee colony will fly directly to the beehive, the success rate is very high.
The wild is rich in bee resources, using the characteristics of bees, handling the beehive box, putting a good position, the probability of attracting bees in the spring is very high
In life, many people will often encounter bees flying around them, and these wandering bees are basically scout bees. Some people will be very afraid, and they will drive away the bees, and they will often be stung by the bees. After the spring, when everything recovers and everywhere is red, it is a good time for spring travel, of course, this is also a good time for bees to collect honey. To go out on a spring trip, try not to wear the yellow, white, blue, purple and other clothes that bees like, and it is best not to spray perfume with a strong floral fragrance, so that the opportunity to attract bees to scout bees during spring travel can bees and avoid unnecessary trouble caused by bee stings.