Bumblebee sonication behavior changes with plant species and environmental conditions

Abstract

Bumblebees collect pollen from some plants by grasping flowers and vibrating their flight muscles—a behavior termed buzz pollination, or sonication. The extent to which bees can and do alter their sonication has been scarcely documented. We show that bumblebees are capable of changing their vibration frequency. In two field studies, we found that relative humidity, date, and bee size are associated with sonication frequency and/or duration. We found that the frequency and duration of sonications differed on different plants. In a greenhouse study, we found that individual bumblebees change their sonication frequency and duration when collecting pollen from flowers of three different Solanum plants. This suggests that bees may change their sonication behavior to optimize pollen release from different types of flowers.