| Popis: |
This study describes temporal and spatial variation in the foraging behavior of honey bees, Apis mellifera L., at the Chinese violet, Asystasia gangetica (L.) T. Anderson, in Hawaii. Workers made 3 types of visits: “out” (O-) visits involving nectar robbing through corollar slits made by carpenter bees (Xylocopa sonorina (Smith), “in-upright” (IR-) visits involving upright entry along the base of the corolla, and “in-upside down” (ID-) visits involving spiral, upside-down entry along the top of the corolla. In general, individual workers displayed only 1 tactic over 10 successive flower visits and over successive days. Nectar-robbing workers visited more flowers per min but spent less time per flower than workers making IR- or ID-visits. Bees making O- or IR-visits carried similar nectar loads but only very small amounts of pollen, whereas the reverse was true for bees making ID-visits. O- and IR-visits were made throughout the day, but ID-visits were observed only in the morning. Based on inter-site comparisons, the incidence of nectar robbing was influenced by the local density of carpenter bees which made the perforations used by nectar robbing honey bee workers. |
