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What Is A Bee's Favorite Color?
15Jul,2024
What Is A Bee's Favorite Color?
Have you ever noticed that bumblebees seem to have a preference for purple flowers?
For that matter, can an insect even have a favorite color?
Bees are essential to terrestrial ecosystems due to their role as pollinators. Plants have a very close relationship with their pollinators. For example, plants that "want" to attract bees may be more likely to have flower colors that bees favor (and can see well). Bees and other animals see color differently than we do. We can see the rainbow between red and violet (but no infrared, and no ultraviolet). Bees, on the other hand, can see the rainbow from orange to ultraviolet. The difference is in the color receptors in our eyes. Humans have RGB color receptors (red, green, and blue), while bees have receptors for green, blue, and ultraviolet. So, if you are a plant and want some bees to come over, it behooves you to go to the trouble of making blue and purple pigments (challenging colors to make as a plant). The plants make good on their advertisement, as well, as violet-blue range flowers produce higher volumes of nectar.
Bees are essential to terrestrial ecosystems due to their role as pollinators. Plants have a very close relationship with their pollinators. For example, plants that "want" to attract bees may be more likely to have flower colors that bees favor (and can see well). Bees and other animals see color differently than we do. We can see the rainbow between red and violet (but no infrared, and no ultraviolet). Bees, on the other hand, can see the rainbow from orange to ultraviolet. The difference is in the color receptors in our eyes. Humans have RGB color receptors (red, green, and blue), while bees have receptors for green, blue, and ultraviolet. So, if you are a plant and want some bees to come over, it behooves you to go to the trouble of making blue and purple pigments (challenging colors to make as a plant). The plants make good on their advertisement, as well, as violet-blue range flowers produce higher volumes of nectar.
Even flowers that we would not say are blue may have a blue halo to bees. Flower petals have nanoscale structures that produce a blue glow when illuminated, which attracts bees regardless of the flower's actual pigmented color.
So, bees can see ultraviolet color patterns and blue halos that we miss out on as humans. They can also see polarized light. When sunlight enters our atmosphere, it vibrates in one direction (rather than all directions). This is called polarization. Polarized light, to those who can see it, makes patterns in the sky. These patterns help bees (and other insects, such as scarab beetles) navigate. Furthermore, some flowers utilize polarized light to help attract bees!
So, because of the way bees see, and their relationship with the plants who rely on them, we can say that bumblebees prefer blue, purple, and pink flowers.
Photograph by R. L. Nevinczenko (bumblebee on a thistle).
So, because of the way bees see, and their relationship with the plants who rely on them, we can say that bumblebees prefer blue, purple, and pink flowers.
Photograph by R. L. Nevinczenko (bumblebee on a thistle).
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BY : Rhiannon Nevinczenko