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Bees use honest floral signals as indicators of reward when visiting flowers.
Journal article

Bees use honest floral signals as indicators of reward when visiting flowers.

  • Knauer AC Institute of Systematic Botany, University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse 107, 8008, Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Schiestl FP
  • 2014-12-11
Published in:
  • Ecology letters. - 2015
Floral evolution
learning
phenylacetaldehyde
pollination
volatile
volatile organic compounds (VOC)
Acetaldehyde
Animals
Bees
Behavior, Animal
Brassica rapa
Cues
Flowers
Plant Nectar
Pollen
Pollination
Volatile Organic Compounds
English Pollinators visit flowers for rewards and should therefore have a preference for floral signals that indicate reward status, so called 'honest signals'. We investigated honest signalling in Brassica rapa L. and its relevance for the attraction of a generalised pollinator, the bumble bee Bombus terrestris (L.). We found a positive association between reward amount (nectar sugar and pollen) and the floral scent compound phenylacetaldehyde. Bumble bees developed a preference for phenylacetaldehyde over other scent compounds after foraging on B. rapa. When foraging on artificial flowers scented with synthetic volatiles, bumble bees developed a preference for those specific compounds that honestly indicated reward status. These results show that the honesty of floral signals can play a key role in their attractiveness to pollinators. In plants, a genetic constraint, resource limitation in reward and signal production, and sanctions against cheaters may contribute to the evolution and maintenance of honest signalling.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/54188
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