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Intensity and the ratios of compounds in the scent of snapdragon flowers affect scent discrimination by honeybees (Apis mellifera)

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Abstract

Floral scent is used by pollinators during foraging to identify and discriminate among flowers. The ability to discriminate among scents may depend on both scent intensity and the ratios of the concentrations of the volatile compounds of a complex mixture rather than on the presence of a few compounds. We used four scent-emitting cultivars of snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus) to test this hypothesis by examining the ability of honeybees to differentiate among their scents. Each cultivar produced three monoterpenes (myrcene, E-β-ocimene, and linalool) and five phenylpropanoids (methylbenzoate, acetophenone, dimethoxytoluene, cis-methylcinnamate, and trans-methylcinnamate). Cultivars were reliably classified by their scents in a canonical discriminant analysis. Honeybees were unable to discriminate among the scents of flowers of the same cultivar in our assay. The ability of honeybees to discriminate among the scents of different cultivars was a function of the intensity of the floral scent. Discrimination was also correlated to the distance among the scents described by the discriminant analysis; the cultivars that had the greatest differences observed in the discriminant analysis were the easiest to discriminate. Our results show that honeybees are capable of using all of the floral volatiles to discriminate subtle differences in scent.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Julie Mustard for commenting on the manuscript, Nina Gorenstein for collecting the volatiles, George Keeney for help with rearing snapdragons, and Susan Cobey and Kristin Corey for indoor bee culturing. We would also like to thank Joe Latshaw and Beth Skinner for help with the flask design. This research was funded by grants from NIH-NCRR (9 R01 RR1466) to BHS and from National Science Foundation (IBN-9904910) and Fred Gloeckner Foundation, Inc. to ND. These experiments comply with the Principles of animal care publication No. 86–23, revised 1985, of the National Institute of Health and current American legislation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department Entomology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Geraldine A. Wright, Amy Lutmerding & Brian H. Smith

  2. Horticulture and Landscape Architecture Department, Purdue University, W. Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    Natalia Dudareva

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  1. Geraldine A. Wright
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  2. Amy Lutmerding
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  3. Natalia Dudareva
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  4. Brian H. Smith
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Correspondence to Geraldine A. Wright.

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Wright, G.A., Lutmerding, A., Dudareva, N. et al. Intensity and the ratios of compounds in the scent of snapdragon flowers affect scent discrimination by honeybees (Apis mellifera). J Comp Physiol A 191, 105–114 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-004-0576-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-004-0576-6

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