Flower Color in Bees

Preference of Flower Color in Bees

Abstract:

Bees were examined in order to determine which flower color, white, yellow or red, that they prefer to pollinate. This was done by observing five flowers in each of the flower colors for ten minutes for a total of eight days. During this period the number of visits to a flower by a bee, as well as the total number of bees for each flower color were counted. The yellow flower color was determined to have the most flower visits in comparison with the white and red flowers. Likewise, the yellow flowers had more total bees that visited them than any of the other colors that were tested.

Introduction:

The question was asked “What color flower do bees prefer to pollinate?” Previous studies have shown that bees do in fact see colors based on UV, blue and green. (Skorupski 2010) Bees often use the UV vision to locate sources of pollen or nectar in a flower. (Hanlon 2007) It has also been suggested that bees do not see the color red but can distinguish red variants such as yellow due to patterns produced via their vision in the UV spectrum. Therefore, it is expected that very few bees will be seen pollinating red flowers. It is also suggested that the color white appears blue/green in a bees vision. While the color green merely appears green. This would suggest that white flowers would not be as easily differentiated from green colored leaves. (West Mountain Apiary )

It was hypothesized that bees prefer yellow flowers, because the bees UV-vision is better able to distinguish the color yellow than the colors white or red. An alternative hypothesis would have bees that prefer red or white flowers when compared to yellow flowers. Research on this topic may be beneficial in providing evidence for the co-evolution of bees and specific flower types. For instance a flower might evolve to be a specific color in which to attract more bees, while bees may evolve to be more efficient pollinators of that specific flower type. It...