Results: More flowers available per raceme early season.
Slide 24 of 31
Notes:
(Figure: Bar Graph) Here’s the distribution of numbers of flowers
available per raceme from the same fields at the same time as the bees were
being followed.
There are many more flowers per raceme in bloom early in the season than
late in the season. Bees clearly don’t visit all of the flowers available
on racemes.
A similar change in distribution of numbers of flowers per raceme when
standing crop was high vs. low was seen in commercial fields. (see slide
show 4)
We were able to generate the distribution of flowers visited by bees late in
the season (slide 21), by superimposing the 57% movement rule on the late
season distribution of flowers per raceme. Few racemes have more than three
flowers open. So, stay on the raceme 43% of the time, but if there are no
more flowers in bloom, the bee has to leave.