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Multicomponent floral signals elicit selective foraging in bumblebees

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Abstract

Flower constancy, or the tendency of individual pollinators to visit sequentially a single flower type even when other equally rewarding types are available, has important implications for animal-pollinated plants. Yet, the proximal reason for the behaviour still remains poorly understood. Here I show that bumblebees visiting equally rewarding flowers that differ in size and odour are more flower constant and less efficient (visited fewer flowers per minute) than bees visiting flowers that differ in size only and odour only. These results are consistent with the view that flower constancy in pollinators is related to their inability to perceive, process or recall multicomponent floral signals. I discuss these findings in the context of pollinator behavioural mechanisms and the evolution of floral diversity.

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Acknowledgements

I thank three anonymous referees for helpful comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by a post-doctoral fellowship awarded to R. J. Gegear from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

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Correspondence to Robert J. Gegear.

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Gegear, R.J. Multicomponent floral signals elicit selective foraging in bumblebees. Naturwissenschaften 92, 269–271 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-005-0621-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-005-0621-5

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