Researchers turn with bumblebees have discovered that they can detect the electric signals of flowers thanks to the vibrations of their tiny hairs . The findings are published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesthis week .
Electroreception is unwashed in aquatic animals – from fish to rays to dolphins – who use saltwater as a conductive medium . In fact , the phenomenon was first bring out in sharks : They have sensitive , jelly - filled sense organ for discover fluctuations in electric field of view as they hunt prey in seawater . On land , echidnas use electrosensory organ in their snout to detect prey hiding in lactating dirt . Recent piece of work divulge that flower transmit with their pollinator by sending out electric signals . But ironical strain is a nonconductive medium , which mean these electric theatre of operations are weak . Exactly how bees observe and interpret them has remained a whodunit .
To investigate , a University of Bristol team , lead by Gregory Sutton , used a non - contact laser to measure out flyspeck vibration in the antenna and the bantam hairs ofBombus terrestrisbumblebees . They found that both antenna and hairs move in reception to electric subject field – but the hairs move more rapidly , and they were also displaced more . When the team focalise on neuron activity , they found that hair’s-breadth deflections in response to an electric field elicit a nervous organization response . That means that hair , and not the feeler , alert the bee ’s nervous organisation to floral signal .
" We were excited to discover that bees ' tiny hairs dance in response to electrical fields , like when humans hold a balloon to their haircloth , " Sutton tell in astatement . you may watch a video of bee hair moving in answer to an electrical fieldhere .
Electroreception in bumblebees belike arose because of the humiliated great deal and high stiffness of their so - called mechanosensory hair . The rigid , lever - like movement within a socket resembles spider fuzz and mosquito antenna that are acoustically sensitive . Furthermore , mechanosensory hairs are plebeian in arthropod , a grouping that include insects and spiders . It ’s potential that electroreception in telluric animals is more widespread than we antecedently think .
