Bumblebees flex their muscles in search of food

Bumblebees have different ways of collecting pollen. Some types of flowers, such as potato plants, require a firmer grip to release pollen. The bumblebee then uses a technique called “Hummingbird pollination“, where the anther bites the flower and shakes it.

Muscles contract and vibrate

Researchers at Uppsala University have studied how this happens in detail, and have made new discoveries.

– Instead of cleaning pollen directly from the flower, the bumblebee uses the muscles in its thorax, which it uses when it flies, and which contract very quickly. That makes the bumblebee vibrate, says Charlie Woodrow, who researches evolutionary biology at Uppsala University.

When the bumblebee vibrates, pollen can be shaken off the flowers, which have tubular stamens with an opening at the tip.

How fast the muscles vibrate and how loud the vibrations affect the amount of pollen released, says Charlie Woodrow.

Pollen is released quickly

Bumblebees need pollen as food for themselves and their larvae. in ““buzz pollination” They emit an intense buzzing sound.

In the new study, researchers used a high-speed camera to see in detail how this happens. They discovered that the vibrations are transmitted from the muscles in the chest to the bumblebee's head, which moves back and forth at up to 400 times the acceleration of gravity.*

-So there are very fast movements. When the bee does this, it bites the flower. This allows pollen to be released very quickly compared to normal brushing of pollen from a flower or vibrations transmitted directly from muscles, says Charlie Woodrow.

*Gravity acceleration: The acceleration a body receives from gravity when it falls free from a height.

Scientific study:

Bumblebee pollinators deliver thumping vibrations to flowers through periodic bitingCurrent Biology.