Flowers for Bees (Teacher Support)

Introduction

In this experiment flowers are grown for bees and assessed to see which are most favoured. Similarly we assess which types of bees do the most work visiting flowers.

Flowers for Bees Experiment Sheet

Relates to: student Flowers for Bees Experiment Sheet

Answers and guidance

1. Answers will vary. Students don't need to know the names of the flowers. A description, photo or drawing will suffice.
   Evidence could be gathered by the following method: On a sunny warm morning when bees are working, choose five fresh flowers that are close together on a plant. Tie some wool thread around the stalk of each so you can keep track of them. Count how many honey bees land on these five flowers over a two minute period. Now choose five flowers from a different nearby species of plant and repeat the counting process. The number of flowers chosen and the timing period will likely need adjusting to achieve informative comparisons. The data collected can be used as evidence to support claims such as, "Honey bees visit poppies more often than dandelions."
   Repeat the method, but this time compare bumble bee preferences.
2. Answers will vary. Methods might include: 1) Have one person time a minute. Another person counts how many flowers a given honey bee visits in that minute. They will need to keep a sharp eye on the bee, and if they lose track of it they should start over. Find the average number of flowers a honey bee visits over (say) five trials. Repeat the same method with bumble bees. Make sure you use the same plant. Does a honey bee or a bumble bee make more flower visits in a minute? 2) Choose a small plant that is being worked by both honey bees and bumble bees. Take a photo of one side of the plant and count how many honey bees and bumble bees you can see in the picture. Repeat for the other side of the plant.
3. If a bee is collecting nectar it will be probing deep into the flower with its tongue (proboscis). You even see them pushing their whole body into the flower, and their tongue may hang out for a few moments as they prepare to leave. Bees collecting pollen rub their legs and body over the flower's anthers and use their legs to comb the pollen into 'baskets' on their hind legs. There you will see a little blob of pollen accumulating as they forage.
4. Growing flowers for bees will give them a varied, healthy diet so their colonies remain strong. In turn they will be able to pollinate a myriad of other important flower-bearing plants — native trees and plants, vegetables, orchard trees and crops.

Applying your ideas

1. Answers will vary, but a beekeeper might want to place their hives near the flowers that students found to be most visited by honey bees.
2. Grow a range of plants preferred by honey bees for their pollen and nectar. The combination of species should be selected to supply these foods over the whole year, but especially during their main foraging seasons of spring, summer and autumn.
3. Grow flowering plants preferred by a range of pollinating insects, near to the crop, e.g. in a mixed species hedge. This way they will be ready to migrate into the crop when its flowers need pollinating.