On Sept. 30, William Kirk requested information on efficiency of
pollen transfer by bees. Oct 03 LDHARDER gave some information on
the subject, and he suspects that a correlation with some unmeasured
variable  might be involved.
 
Our observations on pollen-collecting behaviour of honeybees in a
bee flight room with controlled environment suggest, that not the
size of the pollen grains, but the efficiency with which the
gathering bee can collect the pollen, governs the attractivity of
the pollensource. The more recalcitrant to removal (sticky)
the pollen is, the less attractive the source will be.
The last remark of LDHARDER points in the same
direction. If this holds plants with anthers with pollen grains
that are quicker collected by bees would be better off,
independant of the size of the single pollen grain.
 
Bernd Brinkschmidt/Job v. Praagh
Bee Research Institute
D-3100 Celle