1. PROFESSOR JAYASHANKAR TELANGANA STATE
AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OFAGRICULTURE, RAJENDRANAGAR
BEE VISION
PRESENTED BY
N.RAMYA SRI
RAD/17-12
Ph.D 1ST YEAR
DEPARTMENT OF ENTOMOLOGY
2. The color we see is based upon how a pigment absorbs and
reflects light. When light hits an object, some is absorbed and
some is reflected. Our eyes perceive the reflected portion as
color.
3. • Humans generally see in the 700 to 400 nanometer range of the
spectrum, while bees can see from the 600 to 300 nm range.
• bees have a much broader range of color vision. Their ability to
see ultraviolet light gives them an advantage when seeking nectar.
• Humans base their color combinations on red, blue and green.
• Like us, bees are also trichromatic. That means they have three
photoreceptors
• But bees base their colors on ultraviolet light, blue and green.
This is the reason why bees can’t see the color red.
4. • Many patterns on flowers are invisible to humans can be seen
by bees.
• the UV patterns guide the bee to land at the nectar source.
• it also explains how bees are able to select a particular species
of flower from a field of white flowers. Bees aren’t just seeing
white flowers. They’re seeing flowers with distinct UV
markers.
Normal vision Bee vision
6. • Bees vision is much faster than humans
• Bees see change in color, depending upon the angle. This is
known as iridescence.
• They see these shiny petals and associate them with sugar.
Thus, the flower becomes more attractive to the bee and gets
pollinated.
• Bees can see individual flowers while traveling at a high rate
of speed. That’s why honey bees have no trouble pollinating
7. • Using the ocelli, bees can gather light and see ultra-violet light,
helping them to detect UV flower colors.
• A compound eye is made up of thousands of tiny lenses called
facets. Each of these facets takes in one small part of the
insect’s vision. The bee’s brain then converts these signals into
a mosaic-like picture made of each image.
• Eight cells that respond to light. Four of these cells respond to
yellow-green light, two respond to blue light, and one responds
to ultraviolet light.
8. In one study, a tunnel was painted in a semi-checkered pattern.
When the bees passed through it, they became confused
The checkered pattern caused them to think the tunnel was
longer, because they thought they were passing by a lot of
objects.
When the scientists painted horizontal stripes in the tunnel, the
bees flew too short. Because of the lines, they couldn’t judge that
they were passing by any objects.
Thus, scientists realized that bees use the objects they fly by to
judge distances, which they later communicate to the hive.
9. • This “bee vision” makes finding nectar much easier. In fact,
some flowers such as sunflowers, primroses and pansies have
nectar guides that can only be seen in ultra-violet light.
10. A Microscopic Review of the Sunflower and Honeybee
Mutualistic Relationship
The sunflower inflorescence forms a target pattern, consisting of a
dark central circle surrounded by a light ring area,
Flavonols and flavones - UV absorption in the dark basal parts of
the sunflower ray florets
Carotenoids - light portion of the distal ray floret.
Anthocyanins- UV absorption in the dark disk florets
Honeybees land on the ray florets, fluorescing conical epidermal
cells in the light portion of the target pattern of the sunflower
inflorescence seen by honeybees. which guide them toward the disk
florets.
during this process they cross pollinate the disk florets
Wojtaszek J. W and Maier C.,(2014)
11.
12. Sunflower (H. annuus, Asteraceae) ray floret morpho-anatomy. A) Photograph of the
distal portion of the ray floret corolla (c). B) LM of the ray floret cross section showing
the adaxial conical epidermal cells (ce), the abaxial flat epidermal cells (ae), and a
vascular bundle (vb). C) Photograph of the basal portion of the ray floret corolla (c)
and the vestigial ovary (ov). D) SEM image of the adaxial epidermal layer showing
conical epidermal cells. E) Detail of the conical epidermal cells in D showing the
reflective cones.
13. Bee cross-pollination pathway on a wild H. annuus (Asteraceae) inflorescence. The disk florets
flower in concentric circles. The three stages of disk floret reproductive development are shown
between the white lines. From the outer ray floret ring towards the center of capitulum: (p) late
pistillate and early pistillate disk florets, s) staminate disk florets with pollen star formations, and
i) immature buds of disk florets. The arrow indicates a bee pathway from the landing site on the
ray floret to the staminate disk floret to harvest pollen and nectar rewards. In passing though
the pistillate disk floret circle, the bee cross pollinate these flowers by wiping the pollen collected
from a previously visited plant against the receptive stigma lobes. Once in the staminate circle,
the bee body hairs collect new pollen grains, which are transported to a new plant
14. • Each ray floret corolla has a UV-reflecting distal tip and a UV-
absorbing base.
• distal parts of the ray floret act as landing sites .
• UV-absorbing basal parts act as a „honey-guide‟ toward the
nectar and pollen within the disk florets (Schlangen et al.
2009).
• As the honeybee passes through the outer disk floret rows on
their way to collect rewards from the staminate florets,
foreign pollen on the bee bodies is deposited on the receptive
stigmas of the pistillate disk florets assuring cross pollination
(Knox et al. 1976).
• Honeybees are attracted to the staminate florets by the
display of the pollen star which signals production of nectar in
these florets.
15. • Because of the bee’s extraordinary ability to see and navigate
its world, researchers have made many attempts to create
models that mimic a bee’s sight. in 2010, German scientists
were finally able to create a camera with a “bee’s eye view.”
• This “bee camera” will allow drone aircraft to “see” more of
the world around them. It’s a small step in trying to mimic the
bee’s very complex vision system.
16. • Drones with the sticky gel and hair components this effect of
Artificially pollinating the plants and causing them to begin
the process of producing seeds.
17. References
•Barras, Colin. “Artificial Bee Eye Could Improve Robotic Vision.” New
Scientist 207. 2773 (2010): 1.
•Dyer, Adrian G., and Jair E. Garcia. “Color Difference and Memory Recall in Free-
Flying Honeybees: Forget the Hard Problem.” Insects (2075-4450) 5.3 (2014): 629-
638.
•Kleist, T. “Bee Navigation: The Eyes Have It.” Science News 130.14 (1986): 214.
•Papiorek, S., et al. “Bees, Birds and Yellow Flowers: Pollinator-Dependent
Convergent Evolution of UV Patterns.” Plant Biology 18.1 (2016): 46-55.
•Pennisi, Elizabeth. “Dance of the Deceived Bees.” Science Now (2001): 2.
•Srinivasan, Mandyam V. “Distance Perception in Insects.” Current Directions in
Psychological Science (Wiley-Blackwell) 1.1 (1992): 22-26.
•Werner, Annette, Wolfgang Sturzi, and Johannes Zanker. “Object Recognition in
Flight: How Do Bees Distinguish Between 3D Shapes?” Plos ONE 11.2 (2016): 1-
13.
•Williams, Caroline. “Sense and Sense Ability. (Cover Story). New
Scientist 211.2826 (2011): 32-37.
