Pollination, gathering nectar and the distribution of flower species

James W. Friedman*, Avi Shmida

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

A model of pollination, having one species of bee and several species of flower, is presented. The foraging bee monitors the size of the nectar standing crops of the various flower species and, using a learning procedure described in the paper, tends to visit more frequently the species with the larger nectar standing crops. The differential visitation rates affect the relative reproductive success of the flower species. Steady-state flower distributions are derived and it is proved that such equilibria exist. The model explains some general features found in the pollination market, such as why bees lack innate preferences for certain flower species, the equilibrium allocation of flower resources between display and reward, and the conditions that permit deceptive flowers.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)127-138
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Theoretical Biology
Volume175
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1995

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Pollination, gathering nectar and the distribution of flower species'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this