ArticleBiology letters2016
Bees use the taste of pollen to determine which flowers to visit.
Article in Biology letters, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Impacts of increased temperatures on floral rewards and pollinator interactions: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in plant science · 2024Pooled it
- Wild bees occupy temporally stable pollen nutritional niches.Oecologia · 2026Article
- Warming and Drought Stress Modify Scent and Rewards in Flowers of Highbush Blueberry Affecting Pollinator Preferences.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Bumblebees learn to use antennal and tarsal taste to predict the presence of nectar rewards in flowers.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Article
- Extinction of Innate Floral Preferences in the Generalist Solitary Pollinator Eristalis tenax.Journal of chemical ecology · 2025Article
- Expression analyses of chemosensory genes provide insights into evolution of gustatory receptor genes in the bumble bee Bombus impatiens.BMC genomics · 2025Article
- Article
- High toxin concentration in pollen may deter collection by bees in butterfly-pollinated Rhododendron molle.Annals of botany · 2024Article
- Floral volatiles evoke partially similar responses in both florivores and pollinators and are correlated with non-volatile reward chemicals.Annals of botany · 2023Review
- Monofloral Corn Poppy Bee-Collected Pollen-A Detailed Insight into Its Phytochemical Composition and Antioxidant Properties.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Higher Essential Amino Acid and Crude Protein Contents in Pollen Accelerate the Oviposition and Colony Foundation ofInsects · 2023Article
- Hyperoside promotes pollen tube growth by regulating the depolymerization effect of actin-depolymerizing factor 1 on microfilaments in okra.Horticulture research · 2021Article
- Associative learning of non-sugar nectar components: amino acids modify nectar preference in a hawkmoth.The Journal of experimental biology · 2021Article
- Growing and Flowering in a Changing Climate: Effects of Higher Temperatures and Drought Stress on the Bee-Pollinated SpeciesPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Herbivory and Time Since Flowering Shape Floral Rewards and Pollinator-Pathogen Interactions.Journal of chemical ecology · 2020Article
- Global warming and plant-pollinator mismatches.Emerging topics in life sciences · 2020Review
- Male flowers of Aconitum compensate for toxic pollen with increased floral signals and rewards for pollinators.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Sonicating bees demonstrate flexible pollen extraction without instrumental learning.Current zoology · 2019Article
- Bumblebees are able to perceive amino acids via chemotactile antennal stimulation.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2019Article
- Diet and nutritional status during early adult life have immediate and persistent effects on queen bumble bees.Conservation physiology · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Pollen plays a dual role as both a gametophyte and a nutritional reward for pollinators. Although pollen chemistry varies across plant species, its functional significance in pollination has remained obscure, in part because little is known about how floral visitors assess it. Bees rely on pollen for protein, but whether foragers evaluate its chemistry is unclear, as it is primarily consumed by larvae. We asked whether the chemical composition of pollen influences bumblebees' foraging behaviour. Using putatively sweet and bitter pollen blends, we found that chemical composition influenced two aspects of bee behaviour relevant to plant fitness: the amount of pollen collected and the likelihood of subsequently visiting a visually similar flower. These findings offer a new perspective on the nutritional ecology of plant-pollinator interactions, as they show that pollen's taste may mediate its collection and transfer.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.