Bees prefer to spot the stripes

GARDENERS can help maintain bumblebee populations by growing flowers equipped with "landing lights", research suggests.

A study found that the insects favour snapdragons with striped petals, and scientists believe the patterns perform a similar function to runway landing lights used by aircraft.

Professor Cathie Martin, from the John Innes Centre in Norwich, said: "Stripes following the veins of flowers are one of the most common floral pigmentation patterns, so we thought there must be some advantage for pollination.

"Stripes provide a visual guide for pollinators, directing them to the central landing platform and the entrance to the flower where the nectar and pollen can be found. We examined the origin of this trait and found that it has been retained through snapdragon ancestry."

Researchers observed bumblebees foraging among different snapdragon strains over a number of successive summers. They found that striped flowers were visited significantly more frequently than those with plain white or pink petals.

A team of New Zealand scientists also took part in the research, published yesterday in the journal New Phytologist.