Dyer Adrian G, Chittka Lars
Zoologie II, Biozentrum, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany.
J Exp Biol. 2004 Apr;207(Pt 10):1683-8. doi: 10.1242/jeb.00941.
Bees often facilitate pollination of important greenhouse crops. Individual bumblebees Bombus terrestris were therefore tested in an indoor flight arena to evaluate whether or not search time to find flowers was influenced by the inclusion or exclusion of ultraviolet radiation. Plastic model flowers of similar spectral properties to flowers of tomato Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. were used to evaluate bee search efficiency. The results show that bumblebees perceive when ultraviolet radiation is either removed or added to an illumination source; however, the bumblebees rapidly learn to find model flowers with equal efficiency in either illumination environment. The behavioural results are interpreted in relation to a colorimetric analysis showing how bumblebees are capable of using their visual system to forage efficiently in environments that exclude ultraviolet radiation.
蜜蜂常常促进重要温室作物的授粉。因此，对单个地熊蜂进行了室内飞行试验，以评估寻找花朵的搜索时间是否受到紫外线辐射存在与否的影响。使用了光谱特性与番茄（Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.）花朵相似的塑料模型花来评估蜜蜂的搜索效率。结果表明，地熊蜂能够感知照明源中紫外线辐射的去除或添加；然而，地熊蜂能迅速学会在两种照明环境中以相同效率找到模型花。行为学结果结合比色分析进行了解释，该分析表明地熊蜂能够利用其视觉系统在排除紫外线辐射的环境中高效觅食。
