Meeting Abstract
Foraging bumblebees fly through complex wind and spatial environments while carrying up to their body mass in pollen and/or nectar back to the hive. Bumblebees carrying loads (pollen and nectar) back to the hive would be required to not only remain stable in unsteady wind conditions but also be highly maneuverable to fly through unsteady spatial environments and escape from predators. Bumblebees store pollen in pollen baskets located on the tibia of their hind limbs, while nectar is stored within the nectar crop located just posterior to the petiole. The location of the nectar or pollen carried by bumblebees has a significant influence on various morphological metrics including mass, location of center of mass, moment of inertia, etc. which can in-turn be expected to manifest as changes in flight performance depending on the load type being carried. The stability and maneuverability of bumblebees carrying different loads was investigated by attaching miniature steel balls to the tibia of the hind limbs (simulating pollen load) and on the abdomen near the petiole (simulating nectar loads). The “loaded” Bumblebees were tracked, using high speed cameras, as they flew in two flow conditions viz; in wake of a vertically oriented circular cylinder and tracking a moving flower in smooth flow conditions. Bumblebees carrying pollen were observed to be more stable in unsteady wind conditions, present in the wake of the cylinder, however they exhibited lower maneuverability when tracking the moving flower. These highlight the interactions between load type and trade-offs in flight stability and maneuverability.
