Buzz pollination and bumblebees
by Chris, 11 August, 2018, 0 comments
Bumblebees are important pollinators; their bodies are often seen covered with pollen grains. However, when visiting certain flowers they have a special mechanism for releasing the pollen grains from the anthers (the special sacs on the stamens). This mechanism is known as sonication or buzz pollination. When visiting flowers of the potato / tomato family (the Solanaceae) or blueberries, they land on the flower, use their mouth parts to hold onto a stamen and then use rapid contractions of their (thoracic) flight muscles to make the stamen vibrate. The effect of these vibrations is to allow the pollen to be released from the tube-like anthers from a pore or small slits (poricidal stamens). Read more...
