Fig 1.
The effects of the number of flowers in single plants and larger clusters on visitation by insects.
The plots combine data from two separately conducted experiments: one with single plants differing in the number of flowers (blue circles and fitted lines) and another with larger clusters of up to 36 plants (orange circles and fitted lines). Data from these two experiments were combined for the purpose of visualisation, but were analysed separately. A: The number of flower visitors observed during 30 minute observation periods on single plants and larger clusters varying in the number of flowers. B: The number of insects visiting the plants or clusters of multiple plants relative to the number of flowers available. C: The number of flowers available per visitor; i.e. the potential pay-off for the flower visitors.
Fig 2.
Foraging behaviour of honeybees in response to the number of flowers in clusters of multiple plants.
A: The time spent foraging within the cluster by individual honeybees increased with the number of flowers available. B: The number of flowers visited increased with the total number of flowers available. C: The proportion of flowers visited by individual bees decreased with the number of flowers available. D: The number of flowers exploited per minute did not show any significant relationship to the number of flowers available. X-axis in A.—D. and y-axis in A. and B. are on a log-scale.
Fig 3.
Honeybees’ handling time per flower was independent of the number of flowers in clusters of different sizes.
A: Total time spent on a flower measured from video recordings as the time from the first contact until take-off. B: Feeding time estimated as the time honeybees spent with their head deep inside the flower. Both are measures of handling time excluding movement between flowers.
Fig 4.
Flower visitation rate peaks at the intermediate number of flowers.
Visitation rate per flower per hour was estimated as a product of the number of visitors (honeybees only) and the proportion of flowers visited by an individual honeybee.