EEB440H1 Chapter N/A: 04 - Flower Constancy: Definition, Cause, and Measurement Summary
27 Apr 2016
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Individual pollinators, even members of the same colony, will specialize on different flower types, occasionally may switch specialty. A bee may specialize because it has fixed floral affinities (fixed preference). A bee may specialize because the flower is abundant and rewarding (labile preference). Should have specialties that change depending on abundance and rewards present. Evidence that bees/hummingbirds choose flowers partly due to rewards. Specialization may occur because a bee may only be able to remember how to manipulate a small number of species. Long time may be taken to learn other types. Favoured if reduced handling time offsets the loss of potential energy rewards. Should differ (contrast to preference) based on the bees encounter history with flowers. The behaviour should occur even if all flowers present offer similar rewards. Memory hypothesis is that pollinators are limited in their ability to remember how to recognize/manipulate more than a few types of flowers.
