ENTOMOLOGY 2040 SECTION VII POLLINATION - HONEY BEES AND OTHERS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES OF SECTION

After completing this section students should be able to:

• Describe how the mutually beneficial relationships between insects and some plants may have developed.

• Describe the kinds of benefits that pollinating insects and their plant partners each get from the relationship.

• Explain how the color vision of honey bees may be related to the flowers they visit.

• Explain the differences between perfect and imperfect flowers and why both might require insect pollination.

• List the major groups of pollinators and explain which ones are most important, and why.

• Describe the plant and insect structural modifications that have evolved in the insect pollination relationship.

• Explain how solitary bees differ from their social relatives and why some are such effective pollinators.

• List the pollinator groups, other than Hymenoptera, and rank them in order of importance.

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Pollination - Honey Bees and Others.

    1. Flower structure.

        a. Pollination vs. fertilization.

        b. Perfect flowers vs. imperfect flowers.

        c. Plants.

            (1) Dioecious - male or female.

            (2) Monoecious - male and female.

    2. Coevolution - plants and insects.

        a. Early flowers.

        b. Insect bumblers.

        c. Directed visitation.

        d. Plant adaptions.

            (1) Showy flowers--shapes and colors.

            (2) Landing platforms.

            (3) Tripping mechanisms.

            (4) Nectar guides.

        e. Insect adaptions.

            (1) Hairy bodies.

            (2) Diet.

            (3) Flower constancy.

            (4) Corbicula.

            (5) Mouth Parts.

            (6) Communication.

    3. Importance of pollination.

        a. Crops.

        b. Pollinators.

            (1) Hymenoptera.

                • Honey bees.

                • Bumble bees.

                • Solitary bees.

            (2) Lepidoptera.

                • Hawkmoths.

            (3) Diptera.

                • Hover flies.

                • Bee flies.

            (4) Coleoptera.

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. Describe the structural modifications that have occurred in plants that act to facilitate insect pollination.

2. Describe the structural modifications that have occurred in insects, especially Hymenoptera, that facilitate pollination of certain flowers.

3. Describe some behavioral and physiological that Hymenoptera have made that facilitate plant pollination.

4. What is the difference between self pollination and cross pollination? Which do you think would be the "safer" strategy in insuring pollination.

5. Describe some mechanisms that have evolved in perfect flowers that act to insure cross pollination.

6. What is flower constancy? What is the value to the plant? To the insect pollinator?

7. What do you think is the major value of cross pollination?

8. What would be the effect of totally eliminating insect pollinators from the earth?

9. What is the basic difference between social and solitary bees?

10. What insect groups, other than Hymenoptera, are important pollinators? Which ones do you think would be most important?.

Go to Section VIII - Killer Bees - Brazilian Honey Bees