Lemon Beebalm UVIVF

[dancingcat]

I'm curious as to whether or not a pollinator would "see" UVIVF during the day.

I did find one paper in Nature showing that pollinators respond to blue UVIVF in grasses [LINK]

but not sure if a bee would "see" solar UVIVF.  In Beebalm, the really bright spots are where the flowers bud out.

 

[colinbm]

Could it be because they don't see the longer wavelengths ?

 

[Andrea B.]

That is beautiful !!

 

Here's all I know which is not much at all. 

Bees can detect blue. If the visible fluorescence is blue and there were enough of it, then the bee could detect it. But given the small amount of UV in sunlight (3-4% depending on various factors), I suspect that daytime fluorescence is not strong enough to be easily noticeable as anything "separate" from the plant. I've read that the intensity of a flower's color can be enhanced by its fluorescence. But, again, it's probably not much enhancement.

[Andrea B.]

OF COURSE, having just written that above......I stumbled upon this very interesting little article. 

 

LINKIE: Bees Love Blue Fluorescent Light

 

How cool is that !!?? It certainly is not often that I find an "instant answer".

 

Quote from article: we learned the bees preferred blue fluorescence in the 430- to 480-nanometer range over that in the 400-420 region,” Ostroverkhova said.

[Andy Perrin]

Andrea, we use fluorescence in highlighters and detergents to intensify the visible response (whiter whites for laundry), so it definitely adds SOMEthing that humans can see. While I doubt faint fluorescence affects anything, it’s possible that the really bright fluorescence of pollen might be enough to give it some extra visual “kick”?

 

ETA:

Lol and just as I say that, you find an article…

[Andrea B.]

Now I am trying to remember what my exact search string was. 

 

added:  Found it. Very simple. "Can bees detect fluorescence?"

 

addition #2:  I *must* add this fascinating fact to my bee vision posters.

[dancingcat]

As a random thought on UVIVF, TIL (today I learned) that if you plunk a flower into tonic water and wait a bit, the UVIVF is amazing...  don't have any tonic water but will try it.  Probably will kill a few beebalms in the process.. just have to not put gin in with it...

[nfoto]

Tonic water has a truly outstanding pale blue fluorescence under UV illumination.

 

 

Have fun and save the gin for later use.