Effect of Apple Cultivar on Foraging Behavior and Pollen Transfer by Honey Bees1

1979/09/01 by Willard Scott Robinson

paper · doi:10.21273/jashs.104.5.596

Abstract

Abstract The flower structure of the ‘Delicious’ apple ( Malus domestica Borkh) differs from that of most apple cultivars by having gaps at the base of stamens. Honey bees ( Apis mellifera L.) learn to collect nectar through these gaps and avoid the flowers’ sexual parts; consequently, visits to ‘Delicious’ are less than half as effective in pollination as are visits to other cultivars.

Related

• Foraging Behavior of Honey Bees on ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Delicious’ Apple1
• Pollination success in apples is dependent upon wild bees and orchard design
• Not all pollinisers are equal: donor identity shapes fruit set, weight, and seed quality in apples
• Foraging choices balanced between resource abundance and handling concerns: how the honeybee, Apis mellifera, select the flowers of Robinia pseudoacacia
• Utilization of inter-row flower strips by cultivated Blue Orchard Bees, Osmia lignaria (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) and diverse wild bees during almond pollination