What's a bumblebee's favourite colour? Purple of course

 

By DAVID DERBYSHIRE - More by this author » Last updated at 23:23pm on 19th June 2007 Comments

Bees prefer purple flowers like lavender

 

 

 

Gardeners who want to bring back the gentle drone of the bumblebee to their borders and beds should plant more purple flowers, scientists say.

 

Not only do the creatures have a preference for violet colours, their colonies will do better if they feed from purple plants, a study has shown.

 

More....

• More Brits to stroll down Lavender Lane in our warming climate

Researchers say the discovery could help restore the declining bumblebee back to its rightful place at the heart of British gardens and parks.

Recent studies show that their numbers have fallen by around 70 per cent.

 

It has long been known that bees have a preference for certain colours. Scientists from Queen Mary's College, London, studied the behaviour of nine colonies of young bumblebees when shown blue and purple artificial-flowers.

The bees, which were individually tagged, had been raised in a dark box and so had never seen flowers, or colours, before.

 

Although the preference of colonies varied, more bees were attracted to violet and purple colours than the blue ones.

After making a note of each colony's favourite colour, the researchers watched and weighed each bee as it left the laboratory and returned laden with nectar.

The bee colonies which showed the strongest love of purple collected 41 per cent more nectar than those that liked blue flowers best.

 

Flowers that would be particularly bee-friendly include hound's tongue, meadow clary, wood cranesbill and some purple varieties of penstemon. Lavender, buddleia, thistles and heathers are also good at attracting purple-loving bees.

Well considering we've had lavender covered in bees for the last 3 summers, they've wasted their scientific money... again. They should've emailed me :dozey:

Then I'm a bumble bee as well o_O I've just discovered my lavender love. :laugh4:

Then I'm a bumble bee as well o_O I've just discovered my lavender love. :laugh4:

 

So are you Beena??:rolleyes:

So are you Beena??:rolleyes:

I guess so. :P :rolleyes: :dozey:

More on the state of the bees........

 

Bees are dying and nobody knows why. There are a lot of theories, including a new strain of disease, pesticides spread on crops, genetically modified plants, the breaking down of the bee’s immune system, and of course, the most hyped, mobile phone waves.

 

This recent disappearance of the honey bee has been tagged CCD – “Colony Collapse Disorder”. It appears what exactly is happening is bees are leaving their hives and not coming back. Some suggest their tracking system has failed and unable to return to their hives they die. But what’s interesting is when bee hives are abandoned they are often taken over by other bees and insects but instead these hives are remaining abandoned, full of disease.

 

Scientists who have studied left behind bees have discovered every strain of disease known to infect bees, sometimes five or six infections in one bee. Environmentalists are blaming this bee epidemic on the growing use of genetically modified plants and the ever increasing use of pesticides in protecting and artificially stimulating plant growth. The chemicals in and on the plants are breaking down the bees immune system, making them more susceptible to disease.

 

Why should we care what happens to the bees?

 

Bees pollinate everything from alfalfa to broccoli, apples to almonds, sunflowers, soybeans, citrus; pretty much everything under the sun. The pollination of crops in the U.S. alone accounts for $15 billion worth of crops.

 

The suggestion is, if bees die out completely, man will follow soon after. In fact, some extremists suggest that the dying, or rather killing, of bees is the Elitists way of controlling the human population, for it is the big companies that are manipulating plant life, and the government and big business are intertwined, and government can do with a much more condensed global population. It is a much less obvious form of genocide.

 

Albert Einstein was quoted as saying, “If the bees disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”

 

So what do we do?

 

If it truly is the chemicals companies use in and on plants that are making bees extinct then something must be done to stop this. Do we really need to eat extra large produce or mass produce genetically altered ‘so-called perfect seeds’?

 

This is why producing and shopping organic is the only way to go. Not only are you guaranteed pesticide free fruits, vegetable, nuts, seeds, but you are often supporting your local farm rather than the corporate giants that are forcing them out of business. And for you meat eaters, who’s not to say that those pesticides are ending up in our chicken and beef because the livestock are feeding on the same seeds and grains that the bees are dying from pollinating.

 

If bees are dying from pollinating the same plants and seeds cattle graze on and we as humans are consuming these plants and these cattle, then Albert Einstein may very well be right. Man is not that far behind the bees.

Bees are dying and nobody knows why.

 

Well as you're a "bee", you'd better watch out, as you might be in danger yourself!!:P

don't worry I'm a good swot ;)