The Diligent Bumblebee

Script by Francie Von Mertens.

The next time you see a bumblebee buzzing around a flower, take a closer look. These large, slow moving, black and yellow bees are worth it, and rarely if ever sting when working a flower. Bumblebees sip nectar, but they also collect the flower's pollen to take back to their underground nest. Bumblebee larvae feed on pollen, rich in protein.

Bumblebees collect pollen with a technique called "buzz pollination." Here's how it works. A bumblebee grabs the pollen-bearing flower part and then vibrates her body to release the pollen. Because a bee in flight builds static electricity, the airborne pollen is attracted to the charged hairs on a bee's body – like a magnet!

The collection process doesn't stop there. The bumblebee combs the pollen down to a special pollen storage area on each hind leg. When full, they look like tiny yellow saddlebags. Not all pollen, however, makes it back to the underground colony. For a plant to mature and produce seeds, pollen from a flower's male part must reach the female part. Bumblebees inadvertently assist this process when they work to fill their saddlebags.

As one of the few practitioners of buzz pollination, bumblebees play an important role as fertilizers of tomatoes and some other plants whose pollen is difficult to reach. Before this recent discovery, growers of greenhouse tomatoes had to hand pollinate their plants; most have now handed that job over to the buzzy and busy bumblebee.

When you do take a closer look at a bumblebee, listen for the buzz and, if you like tomatoes, give a little thanks. Or a big thanks, because bumblebees pollinate an estimated fifteen percent of all crops in this country.