Bio Briefs

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Jun 08, 2010
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First radio tracking of tropical orchid bees

Tags: university of arizona

[Source: ScienceDaily] - Blue-green orchid bees zip through increasingly scarce patches of tropical forest pollinating rare flowers. For the first time, researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute track unique signals from tiny transmitters glued to individual orchid bees, yielding new insight into the role of bees in tropical forest ecosystems.

Researchers, using helicopters, discovered that the orchid bees traveled surprisingly long distances, zipping through increasingly scarce patches of tropical forest as they moved pollen between rare flowers that grew miles apart.

For more information: First Radio Tracking of Tropical Orchid Bees