By Sarah Wilson, Healthy Planet Staff Writer
Bees go flower to flower randomly, right? Flowers can’t do anything special to attract bees other than bloom, right?
Wrong.
Flowers are active participants in their own pollination because they can hear. Or rather, they can detect sound. And once certain sounds are detected, they can react. Which sounds trigger such reactions? The buzz of a bee. When a flower senses a bee near, it goes to work, and within three minutes, it can produce more and sweeter nectar.
Abundant and tastier nectar can keep a bee rummaging around on that flower for longer. Longer pollinator visits tend to mean better pollination. And that’s the goal. So, once a flower becomes aware of the bee, it works quickly to roll out the welcome mat.
How does a flower detect sound?
Through vibration-sensitive cells on their petals. To the best of my knowledge, only snapdragons and evening primroses have been studied so far, but both have these cells.
Enterprising scientists observed petals through optical microscopes and saw them react to bee recordings.
Then they checked their work. They played sounds of animals who did not pollinate the flowers. Did they see any reaction? None. They double-checked the source of the change by removing the petals. Without petals, the flowers did not react to the bees.
But if sweeter nectar is so good, why not make it extra yummy all the time?
Because making nectar is expensive. It can take more than 35% of a flower’s energy to produce, which means they need to be tactical about it. No reason to waste precious resources making super delicious bee beverages if no bees are nearby.
Also, what if a constant supply of such an extra sweetness attracted herbivores? I have no proof for this but I do know deer lick at hummingbird feeders and eat fallen fruit, so they have a sweet tooth. Also, our white-tailed have more olfactory receptors than a bloodhound, meaning they absolutely could detect a sweeter flower, which would be catastrophic for the plant.
A much better plan is for the flower to lie low until it knows a pollinator is near. And that is precisely what they do.
Nature is amazing!