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Pollinators make numerous sounds while hovering, landing, and taking off from flowers. These sounds are minor compared to other insect vibrations and acoustics, so researchers usually ignore their wing and body buzzing transmissions.
These signals have been studied to create noninvasive and effective pollinator community monitoring approaches for plant biology and ecology.
Despite emerging evidence that insects and plants may receive and transmit vibroacoustic signals, plant-pollinator coevolution has mostly focused on visual and olfactory cues.
To observe snapdragon reactions, researchers played audio of Rhodanthidium sticticum bee (snail-shell bee) buzzing near the flowers. They found that Snapdragons increased their sugar and nectar amount and altered their gene expression for sugar transport and nectar synthesis when the buzzing were heard.
If flowers can boost pollinator fidelity by changing their bloom period, their reaction may be a survival and coevolution technique.
Using vibroacoustic cues to identify approaching pollinators may be an adaptive technique for plants. In response to an efficient pollinator’s vibroacoustic signal, plants may boost their reproductive success by changing pollinator behavior.
Buzzing sounds can elicit plant responses, but it’s unclear if plant acoustics can impact insect behavior, such as attracting a pollinator.
If pollinators respond as expected, sounds could treat economically important crops and plants and lure pollinators.
Plants can perceive biotic elements like beneficial and dangerous insects and nearby plants and abiotic signals like temperature, drought, and wind in a surprising number of ways.
Source:
Plants increase nectar production in response to pollinator buzzing sounds, study finds. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-nectar-production-response-pollinator.html
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