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Frequency‐dependent selection by pollinators: mechanisms and consequences with regard to behaviour of bumblebees Bombus terrestris (L.) (Hymenoptera: Apidae) by A. Smithson; M. R. Macnair is a Agricultural and Biological Sciences article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Frequency‐dependent selection by pollinators: mechanisms and consequences with regard to behaviour of bumblebees Bombus terrestris (L.) (Hymenoptera: Apidae) about?

## Abstract __Bombus terrestris__ , a typical pollinating insect species, was offered artificial flowers of two different corolla colours with the same sucrose solution reward in an array. Common colours were significantly preferred, and the strength of the frequency‐dependent response increased as a result of learning. There were also frequency‐independent biases towards blue flowers, probably because blue flowers appeared more conspicuous to bumblebees than yellow flowers, and the degree of preference for blue was greater when flowers had low nectar rewards. Flower‐to‐flower movements by individual bumblebees between flowers were non‐random, were biased to movements within the same flower colour, and were also dependent on morph frequency. The mechanisms governing flower selection in bumblebees are discussed. Pollinators foraging similarly in a natural situation would induce positive frequency‐dependent selection, assortative mating, and directional selection on different corolla colour morphs of the plant population being visited, resulting in stabilizing selection for a single flower colour.

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Author

A. Smithson; M. R. Macnair

Publisher

John Wiley and Sons; Wiley (Blackwell Publishing); Blackwell Publishing Inc.; Wiley; Springer Science and Business Media LLC (ISSN 1010-061X)

Published

1996

Language

EN

Field

Agricultural and Biological Sciences (Life Sciences)