It's no secret that some plants lace their nectar with caffeine. It seems to attract more pollinators, which is certainly good for the plant. And the buzz that the insect gets sticks around in a bee's memory. Maybe that’s what brings honeybees back to caffeinated flowers over and over again, a new study suggests. Bees seem to find the treat so enticing that they even broadcast its whereabouts to their buddies.
Not all flowers serve up caffeine, but more than half of them seem to, the researchers say. One likely reason: The bitter compound deters insects from feeding on a plant’s leaves. But the low levels of caffeine in nectar certainly do not deter pollinating bees.
Then the scientists let marked bees go out foraging for food. Normally, bees respond to sweeter nectars by changing their waggle dance. It’s where bees wiggle their rear ends to signal. he sweeter a nectar is, the more than bees tend to forage and dance. But in the new study, the level of sugar in both types of feeding stations was identical. The only thing that differed was whether it had caffeine.
This suggests that caffeine was at least as enticing to the bees as the sugar was. And that’s an important finding. The reason: Some plants seem to substitute caffeine for sugar in their nectar, the researchers note. These plants may therefore dupe bees into pollinating their flowers by offering them a low-sugar drink, even though it’s not as good for making honey.