Pollination of plants by insects belongs to the features of seed species. This is one of the stages of sexual reproduction of vegetation, spreading with the help of ripe seeds. Fertilization occurs due to the transfer of pollen grains to the stigmas of flower pistils.
In this case, the stamens play the role of the male genital organs, and the pistils – the female. Healthy plant offspring is obtained precisely by the work of pollinating insects, which ensure the cross transfer of pollen between different plants.
The content of the article
- 1 A bit of biology
- 1.1 Plant fitness
- 2 What you need to know about nectar and pollen
- 2.1 Conditions for the extraction of nectar
- 3 Features of bees in honey collection and pollen collection
- 3.1 The nature of the use of the bribe
A bit of biology
Pollination is divided into two main types:
- allogamy or pollination with an intermediary insect (cross);
- autogamy or self-pollination (self-pollination).
The most active and efficient pollinators from the insect world, bringing the greatest benefits to plants, are bees. Flies, wasps, bumblebees, butterflies, dragonflies, various types of beetles and even ants also work on flowers. This process is called entomophilia.
There is also pollination carried out by man artificially, and occurring naturally with the participation of birds and animals. But only bees bring double benefits: they participate in an important biological process and provide people with honey, pollen, bee bread.
Read: Honey plants
Pollination processes can occur without the participation of living organisms at all. In this case, the wind “works” – wind pollination occurs, or water – hydrophilia occurs. The wind helps to pollinate grasses, trees, and water helps wetland vegetation.
Plant fitness
Nectar is a sweetish liquid secreted by special flower organs – nectaries. The adaptability of plants to insect pollination is characterized precisely by the presence of these organs.
How they look is due to the type of plant:
- monocotyledonous species secrete nectar with the skin and cells located under it;
- in dioecious species, nectaries look like curved outgrowths, or pits (depressions, bowls) inside the spurs.
Another, rather rare, way of reproduction is the secretion of nectar by other organs: stems, petioles and the leaves themselves. They play the role of non-flowering nectaries. Bees are attracted by such plants less often than those with morphologically expressed nectar organs.
What you need to know about nectar and pollen
Bees pay more attention to entomophilous vegetation – those that insects work on. From their flowers, they bring not only nectar in large quantities, but also pollen (the so-called pollen).
For collecting the shreds by nature, special baskets on the rear legs are provided. And the nectar is collected by the bees in the goiter with the help of the proboscis (licked from the plants).
The nectar obtained from each individual plant has its own color, smell and aroma. With the abundant flowering of one crop that attracts bees, varieties of monofloral (one-component) honey with excellent taste characteristics are obtained. With the mass flowering of different plants, polyfloral or multicomponent varieties are produced.
There are also poisonous honey varieties that contribute to the death of bees, especially young animals, or cause “intoxication” – severe poisoning in humans.
Read: Poisonous melliferous plants
Wind-pollinated species attract flying bees much less often, although they secrete more pollen than nectar. If entomophilous plants do not bloom or there are few flowers on them, bees are forced to turn to wind-pollinated types.
The well-being of bee colonies during the brood hatching period depends entirely on the collection of pollen grains.
It is the only source of vitamins, minerals, fats and proteins for growing young animals. Good (strong) families bring up to 34-35 kilograms of pollen per season. Part of it is canned – poured with honey in honeycomb cells, turning into bee bread or bee bread.
In the spring, up to 50% of flying insects work on the preparation of the peg, in the summer – 5-10%, since all the forces in the hives are directed to honey collection.
Conditions for the extraction of nectar
The rate and amount of nectar secretion is determined by weather conditions:
- air temperature;
- soil moisture.
Plants forced to fight drought hardly emit it. The most favorable air humidity for honey collection is from 60 to 80%.
As for the temperature indicators, not only the release of the nectar liquid depends on them, but also the concentration of sugar components in it.
The more sugar (the higher the air temperature), the more willingly flight bees work on nectaries. When the temperature drops, the flowers give off a less sweet, watery substance. If the sugar content is less than 10%, the bees bypass the plant!
The concentration of sugar components is:
- high – up to 70% or more;
- normal (average) – 50-60%;
- reduced – less than 40%;
- very low – 5-6%.
The most favorable temperature indicators are from 20 to 30 degrees Celsius. When the temperature drops to +10, the release of nectar liquid stops completely.
Also, honey collection is suspended in any case if there is nowhere to store the feed – empty honeycomb frames are not installed in the hives on time. The bees working at the reception begin to run up the combs in a wagging dance. This serves as a signal for the termination of emergence to honey plants.
Features of bees in honey collection and pollen collection
Not all bees are equally good at switching between plant species when collecting nectar and pollen. Some breeds completely ignore certain honey plants.
There is also conservatism in the choice of flower corolla in color.
For example, the Central Russian breed is almost not interested in red clover, since it was formed under conditions when the main melliferous plants of the habitat do not have a bright color and bloom for a short time (linden, buckwheat, mustard inflorescences look quite modest).
And southern breeds willingly fly to variegated inflorescences, as they were formed in conditions of long and strong bribes from brightly colored melliferous plants. For example, Georgian, Krainsky, gray mountain Caucasian and Italian bees willingly visit dark-colored or bright flower corollas. The collected polish is predominantly pink-purple in color.
Read: Choosing a paint color for a bee hive
The mix of the collected pollen also depends on the breed:
- the Georgian population has the most mixed pollen;
- the Italian breed brings mixed pollen three times less than the Georgian, but more than the Central Russian and Krai;
- Central Russian and Krajina bees prefer to collect single-color or monofloral patches in one flight – mixed (multi-colored) ones are less common.
Also, depending on the breed, a bribe that is available in nature is used. Much here is due to the swiftness of the population, the peculiarity of the structure of the oral apparatus (whether there is a long proboscis or not), and working capacity.
The nature of the use of the bribe
“Caucasian women” willingly work, making the most of even weak bribes. Thanks to their long proboscis, they are able to reach the most inaccessible nectaries. At the onset of honey collection, they themselves reduce the amount of brood, and do not tend to swarm.
Central Russian and local zoned breeds willingly work on well-accessible flower nectaries, subject to timely expansion of the nests (the swarm instinct remains muted).
Krajinskaya breed prefers spring honey plants – works great in early spring and during the period of massive flowering of gardens.
“Italian women” less productive, so they pay much attention to the preparation of feed and the rearing of larvae.
Gray mountain Caucasian bees are in the first place in terms of honey productivity. On the second, the Krainskaya breed, on the third – the Central Russian, Italian and local zoned (each region has its own).
