University of North Texas 
While we often see insects visiting the front of flowers where they can act as pollinators
("legitimate visitation"), many flower visitors can also "rob" nectar from the base
of tubular flowers by biting or using existing holes. Theoretically, nectar robbing
should harm the pollination mutualism. However, both pollination and robbing are common.
To understand this apparent conundrum, we are applying concepts and techniques from
foraging behavioral research to study nectar robbing from the bees' perspective. We
have been investigating the ecological conditions (e.g., competition for nectar, bee-flower
morphological mis-match) that alter (1) the relative benefits of robbing versus visiting
legitimately and (2) whether individual bees should remain constant to one foraging
strategy or the other.
Collaborators: Jessie Barker, Judie Bronstein, Becky Irwin, Jorge Peña, Sarah Richman
Watch nectar robbing in action!