Related topics: bees

How the hummingbird's tongue really works (w/ video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Ornithologists first put forth the theory that hummingbirds took in nectar using capillary action (where liquid rises against gravity in a narrow tube) in 1833 and since then no one has questioned it. In ...

Herbivory discovered in a spider

(PhysOrg.com) -- There are approximately 40,000 species of spiders in the world, all of which have been thought to be strict predators that feed on insects or other animals. Now, scientists have found that a small Central ...

Rainforest plant developed sonar dish to attract pollinating bats

The researchers discovered that a rainforest vine, pollinated by bats, has evolved dish-shaped leaves with such conspicuous echoes that nectar-feeding bats can find its flowers twice as fast by echolocation. The study is ...

How do bees make honey? It's not just bee barf

(Phys.org) —Last weekend, my daughter asked me how bees made honey, and I realized that I didn't know the answer. How do bees make honey? I did some homework, and can now explain it to her – and to you.

Some hummingbirds resort to sneaky methods to obtain nectar

A 50-year project recently came to fruition for UConn researchers. In their paper recently published in The American Naturalist, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Emeritus Professor Robert Colwell and his colleagues—all ...

Nicotine enhances bees' activity

Nicotine-laced nectar can speed up a bumblebee's ability to learn flower colours, according to scientists at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL).

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Nectar

Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants. It is produced in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers, in which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists, which in turn provide anti-herbivore protection. Common nectar-consuming pollinators include bees, butterflies and moths, hummingbirds and bats.

Nectar is an ecologically important item, the sugar source for honey. It is also useful in agriculture and horticulture because the adult stages of some predatory insects feed on nectar.[examples needed]

Nectar secretion increases as the flower is visited by pollinators. After pollination, the nectar is frequently reabsorbed into the plant.

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