Pollinator Experience, Neophobia, And The Evolution Of Flowering Time

Experiments with bumble bees and artificial flowers show that bees avoid visiting types of flowers that are rare and with which they have no previous experience. Such behaviour would reduce the likelihood of early-flowering plants being pollinated, because when a species first comes into flower it is both uncommon and unfamiliar to pollinators.

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Filed under: Biology on December 4th, 2008