Comparative bioacoustical studies on flight and buzzing of neotropical bees

Authors

  • Andreas Burkart Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
  • Klaus Lunau Institut für Sinnesökologie, Mathematisch Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät, HHU Düsseldorf
  • Clemens Schlindwein Departamento de Botânica Instituto de Ciêncais Biológicas Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26786/1920-7603(2011)17

Abstract

The presence of bees is typically accompanied by the humming sound of their flight. Bees of several tribes are also capable of pollen collecting by vibration, known as buzzing behaviour, which produces a buzzing sound, different from the flight sound. An open question is whether bee species have species-specific buzzing patterns or frequencies dependent of the bees' morphology or are capable to adjust their indivudual buzzing sound to optimize pollen return. The investigations to approach this issue were performed in northeastern Brazil near Recife in the state of Pernambuco. We present a new field method using a commercially available portable system able to record the sound of bees during flight and buzzing at flowers. Further, we describe computer linguistical algorithms to analyse the frequency of the recorded sound sequences. With this method, we recorded the flight and buzzing sequences of 59 individual bees out of 12 species visiting the flowers of Solanum stramoniifolium and S. paniculatum. Our findings demonstrate a typical frequency range for the sounds produced by the bees of a species. Our statistical analysis shows a strong correlation of bee size and flight frequency and demonstrate that bee species use different frequency patterns.

 

Author Biographies

Andreas Burkart, Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf

 

Klaus Lunau, Institut für Sinnesökologie, Mathematisch Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät, HHU Düsseldorf

 

Clemens Schlindwein, Departamento de Botânica Instituto de Ciêncais Biológicas Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

 

Published

2012-01-10

How to Cite

Burkart, A., Lunau, K., & Schlindwein, C. (2012). Comparative bioacoustical studies on flight and buzzing of neotropical bees. Journal of Pollination Ecology, 6. https://doi.org/10.26786/1920-7603(2011)17

Issue

Section

Articles