How Bumblebees Choose the Best Flowers: Logic and Learned Behavior in Insects

How do bumblebees select the choicest and best flowers to visit? They're remarkably smart for being insects, according to researchers. Despite their tiny brains, bees can learn from others and employ logic.

Like honeybees, bumblebees pollinate flowers. They seek out colored blossoms that contain lots of energy-rich nectar to bring back to their hives. In fact, most worker bees visit thousands of flowers every day in their search for food.

In order to test their learning capabilities and understand how bees manage to choose the best flowers, researchers conducted tests in wooden laboratory "flight arenas" that were stocked with artificial flowers. Bees were then trained to know that sugar could be found on flowers where other foragers were present. Then, the researchers allowed other bees to watch through a screen as their companions chose a particular flower color and ignored another.

The bees behind the screen were later released and allowed to choose a flower color alone. Researchers found that the bees copied their companions' choices just by watching them. In order to make sure that this wasn't a fluke, researchers also tested "naïve foragers," who had never learned to equate other bees with nectar. The scientists found that the naïve bees did not copy the behavior of other bees.

"Our study shows how bees use past associations to make decisions about when to copy others, but almost all other animals, including humans, are also capable of forming associations," said Erika Dawson, one of the researchers, in a press release.

The findings also reveal that bumblebees are highly reliant on learned behavior and association in order to find the best foraging grounds.  

As bees continue to disappear around the United States, it's more important than ever to understand their behavior. In fact, a recent study revealed that honeybee brains which were exposed to pesticides commonly found in agricultural fields had trouble retaining information. Learning exactly what behaviors bumblebees and other types of bees employ to survive is crucial in the preservation of these insects.

The findings are published in the journal Current Biology.