Biodiversity Data Journal : General research article
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Why is the lawn buzzing?
Corresponding author: Timothy Mark Jones (tjone54@tigers.lsu.edu)
Academic editor: Michael Kuhlmann
Received: 10 Apr 2014 | Accepted: 23 Apr 2014 | Published: 24 Apr 2014
© 2014 Timothy Mark Jones.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Jones T (2014) Why is the lawn buzzing? Biodiversity Data Journal 2: e1101. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.2.e1101
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Graminoids, including grasses, are frequently described in the botanical literature as being wind-pollinated. This paper offers visual evidence for insect pollination of a grass. Three of the bees involved were found to have 100% grass pollen in their pollen sacs. In reviewing the literature for this paper, it was evident that those working with bees are well aware that these insects often pollinate graminoids. It is not clear why this information has not been incorporated into the botanical literature.
Honey bees, Apis mellifera, centipede grass, turf grass, Eremochloa ophiuroides, pollination, Poaceae, anemophilous, entomophilous
Centipede grass (E. ophiuroides) (
Apis mellifera, or honey bees, were introduced to North America by European settlers in the 1700's and are not native to the North American continent. They are now best described as being ubiquitous worldwide. Agricultural necessity has fostered this expansion as bees help to pollinate crops. Their evolutionary and phylogenetic origins appear to be multiple radiations out of Africa, with later expansions to Asia and Europe (
Observations were made by sitting/walking in a residential lawn in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA, during late September 2013 through early October 2013 (
Other plants at anthesis in association with E. ophiuroides.
Species | Family |
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Duchesnea indica (Andrews) Focke | Rosaceae |
Mikania scandens B.L.Rob. | Asteraceae |
Ligustrum sinense Lour. | Oleaceae |
Lablab purpureus (l.) Sweet | Fabaceae |
Kyllinga brevifolia Rottb. | Cyperaceae |
Oplismenus hirtellus (L.) P. Beauv. | Poaceae |
Digitaria ciliaris (Retz.) Koeler | Poaceae |
Ruellia simplex C.Wright | Acanthaceae |
Brugmansia sp. Pers. | Solanaceae |
Pollen analysis after acetolysis from bee corbiculae
Bees – using one corbicula | Sampled pollen grains | Percentage Poaceae pollen |
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1 | 252 | 100% |
2 | 266 | 100% |
3 | 270 | 100% |
Video observations of multiple bees collecting pollen from centipede grass
Honey bee moving pollen up the culm, while also spreading pollen through biotic winds; here with pollen visible at left and below bee
A total of three bees were sampled for taxonomic identification and examined by curators at the Louisiana State University Arthropod Museum (
Pollen sample at 20× from one bee corbicula demonstrating homogeneity. Image by: Sophie Warny
Inflorescences demonstrating color change in anthers after dehiscence from purple to brown
Equipment used:
Rainfall prior and post-observations; a wet summer/early fall and not a time of drought stress/starvation (
Precipitation amounts for summer and early fall 2013, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA. http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/
Month (2013) | Precipitation (cm) |
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June | 10.4 |
July | 11.9 |
August | 10.9 |
September | 19.3 |
October | 7.9 |
Total | 60.4 |
The honey bees were exclusively gathering unifloral Poaceae pollen (
"Pollen biotic winds" caused by honey bees are denoted by arrows showing dispersal of grains between culms – original images available at http://www.herbarium.lsu.edu/keys/pensoft/bees3/
The graminoids are treated in botanical literature as using the pollination syndrome of anemophily (
Honey, a well documented economic commodity that is studied and sampled for purity and origins, tells a different story from botanical literature. Melissopalynology, or the study of pollen in honey, describes the collection of graminoid pollen by honey bees as commonplace. This literature is not isolated but found from across the globe, describing collection of pollen from all graminoids: Poaceae (
Thanks to Chris Reid for editing and correction of my Rosaceae identification; and to Sophie Warny, Vaughn Bryant, and John Jones, concerning all things about pollen identification; and to Mary Barkworth for the advice to catch some of those bees.
Tim Jones observed the process and collected all samples. Dr. Victoria Bayless identified the honey bees as honey bees. The fly was identified by Tim Jones using the LSU Entomology collection. Dr. John G. Jones identified the pollen samples collected from the bees. Dr. Sophie Warny and Dr. Vaughn Bryant provided in-person and email palynological advice, respectively.
Flat file for June 2013 precipitation
Flat file for July 2013 precipitation
Flat file for August 2013 precipitation
Flat file for September 2013 precipitation
Flat file for October 2013 precipitation
"How-did" converting inches to centimeters across three weather points in Baton Rouge, La., from manual NOAA PDF amalgamation