Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 2, 2025
Collection and Identification of Pollen from Honey Bee Colonies
Published on: January 19, 2021
Does sorting by color using visible and high-energy violet light improve classification of taxa in honey bee pollen
Charlie P Bailey1, Carolyn A Sonter1, Jeremy L Jones1
1School of Environmental and Rural Science University of New England Armidale New South Wales 2351 Australia.
Premise:
Pollen collected by honey bees from different plant species often differs in color, and this has been used as a basis for plant identification. The objective of this study was to develop a new, low-cost protocol to sort pollen pellets by color using high-energy violet light and visible light to determine whether pollen pellet color is associated with variations in plant species identity.
Methods And Results:
We identified 35 distinct colors and found that 52% of pollen subsamples (n = 200) were dominated by a single taxon. Among these near-pure pellets, only one color consistently represented a single pollen taxon (Asteraceae: Cichorioideae). Across the spectrum of colors spanning yellows, oranges, and browns, similarly colored pollen pellets contained pollen from multiple plant families ranging from two to 13 families per color.
Conclusions:
Sorting pollen pellets illuminated under high-energy violet light lit from four directions within a custom-made light box aided in distinguishing pellet composition, especially in pellets within the same color.
