Bumblebees

Why do the bumblebees pick some flowers over others? Researchers have known for a while that a flower's color can be a signal. Color in shorthand that says to a bee: hey, I get some good quality nectar here, want to stop by for a visit. But new findings show that bees also use color to get clues about a flower's temperature. And according to a study from a British research team published in the journal Nature, some like it hot. Bees use up a lot of energy just stay warm on some days. In fact, they can't even fly if they are too cold. So if one flower is warmer than another, a bee can save some of its fuel by basking on that flower while it's doing its pollinating business. And it turns out that bumblebees consistently do choose warmer flowers over cooler ones, even when the two flowers offer up the same quantity and quality of nectar. Some plants seem to be evolutionarily adapted to be slightly warmer because the warmer ones get visited more by the chilly bees. When it comes to getting pollinated, apparently the heat is on, and that is the buzz.