Here ’ s How Bees and Butterflies See Flowers : No Wonder They Love Them !
Sara Burrows Reprinted From : https :// bit . ly / 340q5a1
NEWS
Humans are blind to ultraviolet light , but bugs can see it , and boy are they lucky ! Ultraviolet florescence photography gives us a hint of how flowers look to pollinators .
Insects see the world very differently from how humans see it . They can ’ t see red light like we do but can see ultraviolet wavelengths invisible to the human eye .
We ’ ll never be able to see the world exactly as they do , but a special type of photography called ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence photography can give us a hint at how awesome the world looks to bugs … especially the world of flowers , which emit their own florescence after being exposed to ultraviolet light .
California photographer Craig Burrows has done some amazing work with this type of photography , soaking the flowers in ultraviolet light , turning it off , and then snapping a photo of the flowers emitting the light they ’ ve just absorbed with a special lens filter .
It ’ s obviously not exactly as bugs would see the flowers , as they are seeing the
UV light reflected off the flowers under the sun , not fluorescing in the afterglow of a darkened room , but it gives you an idea .
A 2019 study found the parts of the flowers that reflect UV light are important advertisements for attracting pollinators .
The UV reflecting vs UV absorbing ( UV dark ) parts of the flower , help the bees navigate between petals and pistils ( or stamens ), helping them find the pollen , a 2009 study found .
Figures : © Craig Burrows
Grassroots Vol 20 No 4 December 2020 36