Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 8, 2025
09:09
Radio Frequency Identification and Motion-sensitive Video Efficiently Automate Recording of Unrewarded Choice Behavior by Bumblebees
Published on: November 15, 2014
11.1K
Patch selection by bumble bees navigating discontinuous landscapes.
Fabiana P Fragoso1, Qi Jiang2,3, Murray K Clayton2
1Agricultural Research Service Research Participation Program, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, 455 Science Drive, Madison, WI, 53711, USA.
Scientific Reports
|April 27, 2021
Summary
Bees navigate patchy resources by choosing larger, closer patches. This finding helps predict bee movement and the spread of genetically engineered pollen in crops.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Animal Behavior
Background:
- Bees forage on unevenly distributed pollen and nectar resources.
- Understanding bee patch selection is key to studying foraging on discontinuous landscapes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and test probability models of bee movement.
- To determine how patch size and distance influence bee foraging decisions.
Main Methods:
- Four distinct probability models of bee movement were developed.
- A field experiment with varying patch sizes and distances was conducted.
- Empirical transition probabilities were compared to model predictions.
Main Results:
- Bumble bees utilize both patch size and isolation distance in patch selection.
- Bees can assess the total available resources within a patch.
- Bumble bees demonstrate a preference for large, nearby patches.
Conclusions:
- Bee foraging behavior is influenced by patch size and distance.
- Developed models can predict bee movement patterns.
- Findings aid in predicting the spread of genetically engineered pollen via bee pollination.
Related Concept Videos
00:53Migration
8.2K
Migration is long-range, seasonal movement from one region or habitat to another. This common strategy, carried out by many different organisms around the world, is an adaptive response that typically corresponds to changes in an organism’s environment, like resource availability or climate. Migrations can involve huge groups of thousands of animals as well as single individuals traveling alone and can range from thousands of kilometers to just a few hundred meters.
8.2K
02:40Pollination and Flower Structure
73.6K
Flowers are the reproductive, seed-producing structures of angiosperms. Typically, flowers consist of sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels. Sepals and petals are the vegetative flower organs. Stamens and carpels are the reproductive organs.
73.6K
01:46Types of Selection
42.9K
Natural selection influences the frequencies of particular alleles and phenotypes within populations in several different ways. Primarily, natural selection can be directional, stabilizing, or disruptive. Directional selection favors one extreme trait and shifts the population towards that phenotype while selecting against individuals displaying alternate traits. Stabilizing selection favors an intermediate trait with a narrow range of variation. Deviation from the optimal phenotype towards an...
42.9K