Meeting Abstract

P3.22  Wednesday, Jan. 6  THE ROLES OF FLOWER COMPLEXITY AND REWARD QUALITY IN HONEY BEE FORAGING BEHAVIOR AT ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS CLEMENT, Meredith L.*; BARTHELL, John F.; LIU, Lucy; PRESKY , Miyeon E. ; REDD , JeAnna R. ; WELLS, Harrington; University of Central Oklahoma; University of Central Oklahoma; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; SUNY College at Oneonta; University of Central Oklahoma; University of Tulsa mclement@uco.edu

Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) represent a model system for understanding the foraging dynamics of pollinators at flowers. In the current study we examined how honey bees made decisions when confronted with complex artificial flowers designed to simulate composite (asteraceous) flowers in nature. In order to do so, we varied cost and numbers of flrets at each flower. A sucrose reward was deposited into the wells (representing florets) of the artificial flowers with the nectar volume being held constant at 2 µl per well. Each artificial flower was built with either one or four wells. Experiments were performed using 2M vs. 0.5M and 1.75M vs. 0.75M sucrose rewards in each flower type. When comparing artificial flowers with the same number of wells, the honey bees consistently chose the flowers that held the more highly concentrated (2M and 1.75M) sucrose rewards. When the reward was held constant and the number of wells was varied, the honey bees chose the simpler flower to visit. However, when both reward and well number were manipulated, the bees chose the higher sucrose concentration rewards even if the flower was more complex (4 wells). The handling and flight times of bees at flowers were also measured for both flower designs, and the complexity of the flower did not seem to limit the time that honey bees spent foraging at an artificial flower. These results have implications for understanding the foraging dynamics of honey bees in native and non-native habitats.