What Vicki is describing is called "buzz pollination," and a surprising num=
ber of plants rely on it. The frequency of the buzzing changes noticeably w=
hen the bee is doing it.
I'm intrigued by the idea that bee species could have their own characteris=
tic buzz sound, but am unaware of any research into this. Certainly nothing=
like the work on singing orthopterans (e.g., check out the Singing Insects=
of North America website).
Cheers,
Alan
--- In vickipowys <> wrote:
>
> Some years ago a friend worked for CSIRO in Canberra, Australia and
> found that a particular species of bee buzzed at just the right
> frequency to cause a native pea flower to burst open and scatter its
> pollen on the bee. I don't remember the details but it might be
> written up somewhere.
>
> So yes, it may be possible to ID bees by their buzz. David Rentz in
> Australia studied crickets and katydids and produced a CD of calls
> that went with his book 'Grasshopper Country'. I am sure there are
> similar publications for other countries.
>
> Vicki
>
>
>
>
> On 13/12/2012, at 3:58 PM, jasonpudd wrote:
>
> > Is it possible to ID a native bee from a sound recording of a bee
> > in flight? Does anyone know anyone doing this kind of ID or
> > research with other insects? Trying to find a better way to ID
> > native bees without having to trap or net them which produces a
> > much different sample set and is more invasive. Any help or
> > suggestions is greatly appreciated!
> >
> >
>
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