I’m not sure why I dislike Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the bumblebee”. Maybe it’s because the buzzing sound is rather ominous. And the buzz of our native bumblebees is music to my ears.
There are 19 known species of bumblebees in Michigan, and while they can sting, they rarely do.
But that buzz enables these large hairy insects to pollinate hundreds of plant species, including garden and agricultural crops. You see, during the flight of a real bumblebee, an electric charge builds up on the bee’s body. At the same time, flowering plants, being connected to the Earth, develop a negative charge. (Think socks in the dryer.)
Bumblebees don’t even have to touch a flower to get covered with pollen. The electrical attraction is great enough that the pollen from a flower leaps onto the bee and sticks. At another flower, the pollen, now positively charged, jumps on the negatively charged flower and fertilization takes place.
But some tube-shaped flowers hold their pollen pretty tightly. To get pollen from these flowers, bumblebees hug the flowers and use their flight muscles to vibrate vigorously. Alternatively, some bumblebees rapidly hit the flowers with their heads and the vibrations cause the flowers to dislodge their pollen.
Around the world, researchers are excited about the potential of bumblebees for agriculture, and environmentalists are doing all they can improve habit for and reduce the environmental risks to these essential pollinators.
Here in the Great Lakes region, there is quite a buzz about protecting the flight of the bumblebees.
