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INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF COLOR IN ATTRACTING WILD BEES TO WILDFLOWERS

Abstract

Bees are essential within global agriculture with one-third of the world’s food production dependent on their pollination services. Honeybees, the main commercial insect pollinator, have been declining for many years. Habitat enrichments (e.g. wildflower strips) have been shown to attract and boost wild bee abundances. Finding ways to increase wild bee abundance next to or in agricultural areas would be significant as wild bees could supplement the declining honeybees. In this study, the abundance of different wild bee groups and their flower color choices in the poor sandy soils of the coastal plain of eastern Georgia were examined. It was hypothesized that wild bees would be attracted to yellow and blue wildflowers, because the bee eye is designed to see the blue, yellow, and the UV spectrum. The study used nine plots with wildflower enrichment strips inside the plots and on the edges of the plots. Over 20 species of wildflowers (e.g. Monarda punctata, Gaillardia aristata, Coreopsis lanceolata) were used. Plots were samples 10-12 times a year using pan traps (UV-yellow, UV-blue, and white pan trap) and vane traps (yellow and blue). The traps contained no scents; only color was investigated. Bee – Flower observations were also performed each field sampling day. Different types of wild bees (different genera) had different flower color preferences. Sweat bees (Genus Lasioglossum) preferred blue and yellow colors. Mining bees (Genus Andrena) preferred yellow. Most small-size bees preferred yellow; while larger-size bees (Genus Bombus, Genus Habropoda) preferred blue. Many scientists suggest that medium and large size bees are more effective pollinators than small size bees. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating a range of wildflower colors to attract a diverse bee community and help improve pollination even in low quality sandy soils.

Acknowledgements

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grants # OS22 -150 and OS 24 -172.

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