Lara-Perez Edwin, Agosto Rivera Jose, Giray Tugrul, Megret Laboye Remi, Flórez Gómez Edwin
Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, Mayagüez 00680, Puerto Rico.
Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus, San Juan 00931, Puerto Rico.
Insects. 2025 Jul 11;16(7):714. doi: 10.3390/insects16070714.
This article proposes a new Flower Patch Nectar Sensor to address the problem of detecting and measuring nectar in artificial flowers used in experiments on pollinator behavior. Traditional methods have focused mainly on recording the visits of pollinators to the flowers, without addressing the dynamic variations in nectar in terms of volume and concentration. The proposed approach provides more detailed information about the nectar consumption by bees and allows for the determination of the optimal time to refill the flowers. This study introduces an innovative method that uses electrodes and an oscillator circuit to measure the volume of nectar present in the flower. The system correlates the concentration of nectar with a frequency signal that can be processed by a microcontroller. It was evaluated using initial volumes ranging from 1 μL to 4 μL, demonstrating its ability to accurately detect variations in nectar, even up to the point where the frequency approaches zero. The results confirm that this method allows us to identify how the reward offered to pollinators (represented by nectar) varies over time, in terms of concentration, under both controlled and natural conditions. Additionally, graphs are presented that show the relationship between an initial volume of 4 μL and variations in the frequency signal over a period of 25 min, highlighting the influence of these factors on nectar dynamics. This work not only introduces an innovative approach for the dynamic monitoring of nectar in artificial flowers but also lays the groundwork for future studies on the physical and chemical modeling of nectar in response to environmental conditions.
本文提出了一种新型花斑花蜜传感器，以解决在传粉者行为实验中用于检测和测量人造花中花蜜的问题。传统方法主要集中记录传粉者对花朵的访问情况，而未涉及花蜜在体积和浓度方面的动态变化。所提出的方法提供了有关蜜蜂消耗花蜜的更详细信息，并能够确定给花朵重新补充花蜜的最佳时间。本研究介绍了一种创新方法，该方法使用电极和振荡电路来测量花朵中花蜜的体积。该系统将花蜜浓度与可由微控制器处理的频率信号相关联。使用1微升至4微升的初始体积对其进行了评估，结果表明它能够准确检测花蜜的变化，甚至在频率接近零的情况下也能做到。结果证实，这种方法使我们能够确定在受控和自然条件下，作为传粉者奖励（以花蜜表示）的花蜜浓度随时间如何变化。此外，还给出了图表，展示了4微升的初始体积与25分钟内频率信号变化之间的关系，突出了这些因素对花蜜动态的影响。这项工作不仅介绍了一种用于动态监测人造花中花蜜的创新方法，还为未来关于花蜜响应环境条件的物理和化学建模研究奠定了基础。
