Some caffeine, bees "fall in love" with certain flowers

Some caffeine, bees "fall in love" with certain flowers

Some caffeine, bees "fall in love" with certain flowers

When you need to learn, there is nothing better than a cup of strong coffee
.

The bees seem to do the same

"When you give bees caffeine, they seem to be more motivated and efficient
.

" said Sarah Arnold, a researcher at the Natural Resources Research Institute (NRI) at the University of Greenwich, UK.

It is not easy for bees to choose the best flowers as food
.

"For bumblebees, for example, this is quite challenging

Scientists already know that caffeine is naturally present in plants such as coffee and citrus, which helps turn bees into loyal "customers" for their flowers
.

But most of the previous experiments were mainly designed to provide caffeine on flowers.

In order to answer this question, the Arnold team (including researchers from NRI and NIAB EMR, a British horticultural research organization) decided to give bees caffeine in their nests, and let bees learn to combine specific odors (a synthetic odor that mimics the floral scent of strawberries) with Linked with delicious sugar solution
.

Later, when they were released to look for food and chose strawberry-scented flowers, the bees would get sugary but decaffeinated nectar

Postdoctoral researcher Jan-Hendrik Dudenhöffer divided 86 previously untrained bees (hornets) into three groups
.

He gave the first group of bees strawberry floral fragrance and caffeine-containing sugar solution; the second group of strawberry floral fragrance and sugar solution, let them know the positive connection between the two, but no caffeine stimulation; gave the third group of sugar solution , There is no relevant smell

Then, he put the bees in an experimental field and let them choose between two kinds of robotic flowers: strawberry-scented flowers and other disturbing flowers
.

If bees do not understand the relationship between strawberry floral scent and nectar reward, they are equally likely to "visit" these two flowers
.

However, 70.

However, this preference did not last long
.

Bees that consumed the caffeine-containing sugar solution quickly "overcame" their preference for strawberry flowers and began to visit other types of flowers in the same way

"This is what we can expect, because bees can get sugar whether they visit the target flower or interfere with it,
" Arnold said.
"In some ways, they forget as fast as they learn
.
"

Researchers have also noticed that caffeine has a subtle effect on the "speed of nectar collection" of bees or the number of flowers visited in a given period of time
.
Although all bees became more efficient over time, bees that consumed caffeine had the fastest progress, suggesting that caffeine may also improve motor learning skills
.

Arnold said these findings are of great significance to agriculture
.
For example, strawberry growers may buy dozens or even hundreds of boxes of commercial bees each year, many of which may fly to nearby wildflowers instead of strawberry flowers
.
Arnold said that by using caffeine to make bees prefer target plants, wild flower resources can be reserved for wild bees, and the money invested by strawberry growers on commercial bees is even more valuable
.
This is a win-win situation for all parties
.
(Source: Tang Yichen of Science Net)

Related paper information: http://dx.
doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
cub.
2021.
06.
068

http://dx.
doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
cub.
2021.
06.
068