Flowers and insects communicate through electric signals, says study

Flowers use electric signalsto communicate with bees; using different voltages to indicate pollen levels.

13:20 23 February 2013

A research team from University of Bristol, who studied almost 200 bees collecting pollen from petunias, has discovered that flowers are using less obvious forces when attracting insects. 

Scientists confirmed that flowers send out electrical signal to attract bumblebees to their pollen. These same flowers can vary the voltage that they’re giving out to warn the insects if their nectar is running low. With this, flowers are believed to be enhancing their advertising power to bees. 

 

Professor Daniel Robert, who led the research, added that difference in electrical charges allowed the flowers and bees to communicate. 

 

He said: 'The co-evolution between flowers and bees has a long and beneficial history, so perhaps it's not entirely surprising that we are still discovering today how remarkably sophisticated their communication is.”