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Dissertation Chapters | Biology | Brazil | Volume 11 Issue 11, November 2022

Buzz Pollination in Three Species of the Genus Senna: Bioacustics Characteristics of the Vibrations

Rachel Anne Alencar Martins | Arnaldo Alves Martins Junior

Abstract: Buzz pollination is a strategy for plants to transfer their gametes through a pollinator. Female bees vibrate the anthers in order to eject pollen found in anthers that open into apical pores. In this study, vibrations of three species of bees were analyzed, which are effective common pollinators of three species of plants of the genus Senna that occur in a region around Chapada do Araripe - CE, Brazil. Some properties of the vibrations were analyzed, such as: dominant frequency, wing beat frequency and duration. The goal was to analyze whether there are differences between the vibrations of the same species of bee vibrating different species of plants, as well as whether there are similar characteristics between different species of bees vibrating flowers of the same plant. Our results showed that there is plasticity in this behavior, bees of the same species modify their vibrations by foraging for pollen from different plant species and there is also a tendency for different species of bees to converge to higher or lower frequencies when visiting the same species of plant. Furthermore, the duration of vibrations seems to be related to indirect forms of pollen deposition in the pollinator body.

Keywords: Pollen flowers, poricidal anthers, behavioral plasticity, pollen foraging

Edition: Volume 11 Issue 11, November 2022,

Pages: 758 - 764