Research Question:
What is the effect of different colours (red, yellow, blue, light violet, white) of plastic flowers on bees behaviour?
Background:
While we see wavelength from about 390 to 750 nm, bees can see wavelength from 350 to 650. These wavelengths do not represent the colours that we are used to see, but represent an ultraviolet spectrum. Also, bees are able to distinguish between dark and light- this helps them to distinguish different shapes. Because bees’ perception of wavelengths transmitted by the colours is different from ours, also their perception of colours will be different.
Hypothesis:
The table below shows how wavelengths transmitted by different colours are perceived using the ultraviolet spectrum.
Colour Ultraviolet…show more content… Dependent Variable- Number of bees lying on the fake flower (± 1 bee). Controlled Variables-
Variable Possible impact on experiment Control method
Smells in the surroundings May influence bees orientation. Avoid perfumes and particular strong smells around the area where the experiment will take place.
Other plants Bees may be attracted by other plants. Place the flowers in an area where there is a lack of other flowers.
Smell of the attractant If different attractants are used, they may smell differently and bees may be attracted more to the smell than to the colour. This would make the data unreliable. Use the same attractant for all artificial flowers.
Distance from the hive If the artificial flowers are placed at different distances from the hive, bees may see the closer flower first and therefore the data wouldn't be reliable. Place the five artificial flowers at the same distance from the hive.
Table 2- Controlled variables.
Equipment:
• plastic flowers of five different colours: red, yellow, blue, light violet and white.
• stopwatch (± 0.1 s)
• measuring tape (± 0.1 cm)
• 50 ml honey (± 5