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StumbleUponPosts Tagged: nectar
What Attracts Bees to Blossoms? A Surprising Discovery by UC Davis Ecologist Rachel Vannette
You're watching honey bees foraging in a field. They buzz toward a blossom, sip nectar, and...
A honey bee heads toward a lupine blossom. It's not just the nectar she's scented. UC Davis community ecologist Rachel Vannette has just published a paper in New Phytologist journal that shows nectar-living microbes release scents or volatile compounds, too, and can influence a pollinator's foraging preference. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Microbial stains (fungi and bacteria) isolated from floral nectar. (Photo by Rachel Vannette)
This is the electroantennogram (EAG) assay set-up. (Photo by Bryan Smith, USDA-ARS)
Surprising Research Results: What the Microbes in Nectar Revealed
It's surprising what the microbes in nectar can reveal. Take the nectar of the sticky...
Researchers studied the microbes in the nectar of the sticky monkeyflower, Mimulus auranticus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
What a Stretch to Get the Nectar!
How often do you see a honey bee "standing upright" to reach nectar? "Well, I guess I could just...
A honey bee "stands upright" to reach the nectar on a Photinia blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Okay, I'll buzz over to it. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Sharing the Nectar--But Not All at the Same Time
Everybody eats in the pollinator garden. Maybe not at the same time, but they all eat. We noticed...
A syrphid fly (bottom right) heads toward a Mexican sunflower occupied by a honey bee. The fly, aka hover fly and flower fly, wants some nectar, too.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Can we share? As the honey bee keeps nectaring, the syrphid comes in for a taste. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
All mine! The honey bee wins. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
All mine! The syprhid fly takes over. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
All mine! A drone fly claims it. The drone fly is often mistaken for a bee. Note the "H" on the abdomen of the fly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
When Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries (Cherry Laurels)
It's definitely a bee friendly plant, packed with nectar and pollen. The cherry laurel, Prunus...
A backlit honey bee, its tongue or proboscis extended, heads for cherry laurel blossoms. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The anticipation of nectar and pollen is intense. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Touchdown! Pollen and nectar on the cherry laurel. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
