Must Read: How Bumble Bees Make Flowers Explode With Pollen

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Feb 21, 2017 11:50 PM EST

A recent study has shown that flowers seem to respond to the buzzing sound of the bumble bees. Pollen simply drops off when the bee visits the flower and buzz through it.

Buzz-pollinated flowers encourage bees to eat the pollen directly and hope some grains to make it to the other flower for pollination. But, Anne Leonard who is a biologist at the University of Neva studies buzz pollination told PBS Newshour that, "Flower is almost like playing hard to get. It is intriguing because these buzz-pollinated plants ask for a huge energy investment from bees",

Buzz-pollinated flowers offer only pollen and hide their grains at the bottom of their anthers. The bee bites down the base of its anthers, and unhooks its flying muscles from its wings to contract them without taking a flight and vibrates them violently.

The vibrations make the pollen shoots out of the top and cover the bee. The bee then brushes down the pollen mixing with its sticky saliva and stored to the sac at the bottom of its legs as it will make another round in visiting another flower.

Aside from these, National Geographic also shows bees to be energy efficient in buzzing and pollinating plants. Denise Ellsworth, an entomologist at Ohio State University said, "bees have a positive electrostatic charge to their bodies, like when you scrape your feet on to the carpet."

Flowers normally have a negative charge before the bee lands on them. So, when the bee arrives and it brushes its body hairs to feel the strength of the flower's charge and the flower will lose its negative charge. This allows the bee to save time and move on to the next flower.

The importance of bees is now greatly felt from different countries as they are increasingly disappearing. Today, pollinators' global value is estimated at $200 billion per year which includes the United States at around $15 billion annually.

All the bees work is for the environment to maintain balance for plants and animals. A bee pollinates plants, plants reproduce and bear fruits and fruits are eaten by animals including humans. If this buzzing bee disappears in the ecosystem, the food chain will fail as well as every else.

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