Floral visitor frequency to different colored flowers and the impact on flora and floral visitors

Abstract

I monitored the frequency of visitation by floral visitors to plants with varying[3] colors of flowers. The flower visitors described in this study include bees, spiders, beetles, butterflies, flies, ants, and wasps. The flower colors observed in the study were red, orange, yellow, blue, purple, pink, and white of various species. Previous studies have demonstrated a preference for flower visitation based on color and the resulting suppression of native flora through competition with invasive flora and the subsequent impacts on populations of flowering plants and floral visitors. My objective was to determine if there was a preference by floral visitors for flowers of a certain color and to evaluate the potential impacts of such a preference on flora populations and floral visitor populations. The main goal of this study is to understand how the color preference of floral visitors impacts visitation frequency, and how that impacts flowers and pollinators in Northern Colorado to better inform residents of Northern Colorado which plants they should plant that are more beneficial to maintaining healthy populations of native flora and floral visitors. This study also briefly examines how ecosystems that experience disturbances like invasives or warming areas can be more vulnerable to the impacts of color preference. Visitation frequency is important to understand because plants and floral visitors rely on each other for many natural processes, including reproduction and nutrition. Reduced visitation could decrease the overall health and populations of native plants by reducing their reproduction rates, in turn reducing populations of floral visitors that rely on these plants for protection and food. This study found a higher frequency of visitation of the blue flowers, with purple, yellow, and red flowers following in frequency of visitation respectively. The most frequent floral visitors across all colors of flowers tended to be bees, followed by wasps and then flies. These results show that planting blue or purple flowers that support bees is beneficial and conducive to healthy populations of flora and floral visitors in Northern Colorado.