Figure 4

Effect of the pear mimic odour on the pollen foraging. (A) Percentage of blooming of the dominant variety of pear tree during the experimental period. As an example is shown one colony fed unscented sucrose solution (SS) and one colony pear mimic-scented sucrose solution (SS + PM). (B) Size of pear pollen loads trapped at the colony entrance is expressed in mg of 10 pollen loads along the experimental period. (C) Number of pollen loads accumulated during days 3, 7 and 8 after the offering of pear mimic-scented sucrose solution (SS + PM) or unscented sucrose solution (SS) for the same colonies. Pollen traps were placed in one colony treated of each treatment, the samples obtained were classified according to their colour into the categories: Pyrus communis (light grey bar) and pollen from other species (dark grey bar).