| | Category | ZO | L23 | What Flowers Do Bees Frequent? |
| | Abstract | The purpose of this study was to identify the flowers that honeybees |
| | visited throughout a growing season, based on the pollen present in their |
| | hives. It was hypothesized that the bees would collect more pollen from |
| | those flowers blooming profusely during any point in the growing season, |
| | and this type of pollen would be the most abundant found in the hives. |
| | To conduct this study, pollen was collected from two sources; flowers |
| | and beehives, on the University of Michigan-Dearborn Campus from April |
| | through September 2008. Flowers were selected by identifying those that |
| | were blooming most abundantly in the area. Flowers were picked every |
| | two weeks from April through August. The pollen was removed, dried, |
| | and frozen. Pollen from three honeybee hives, located next to each other, |
| | was collected every two to four weeks (dependent on availability of |
| | beekeeper) from May through September. This pollen was also dried and |
| | frozen. |
| | The flower and the hive pollen were then prepared on slides, which |
| | were examined and photographed with a microscope. The flower pollen |
| | was compared to the pollen found in the hives using the parameters of |
| | shape, size, and date of bloom for identification. |
| | Results of the comparison between the individual flower pollen and the |
| | hive pollen showed that eight-three percent of the pollen found in the three |
| | hives throughout the summer, was from the flowers that bloomed most |
| | abundantly in the area surveyed. This finding supports my hypothesis that |
| | honeybees collect pollen from the most abundantly blooming flowers in the |
| | area. |
| | Bibliography | “Basic Bee Biology For Beekeepers.” MAAREC(Mid-Atlantic Apicultural |
| | Research & Extension Consortium.) Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, |
| | Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and |
| | the USDA cooperating. February 2000. Online. Available. |
| | <http://www.ento.psu.edu/MAAREC/pdfs/basicBeeBiology.pdf>. |
| | Tekiela, Stan. Wild Flowers of Michigan. Cambridge, MN: Adventure |
| | Publications, 2000. |