Data from: Bees use the taste of pollen to determine which flowers to visit

Pollen plays a dual role as both a gametophyte and a nutritional reward for pollinators. Although pollen chemistry varies across plant species, its functional significance in pollination has remained obscure, in part because little is known about how floral visitors assess it. Bees rely on pollen for protein, but whether foragers evaluate its chemistry is unclear, as it is primarily consumed by larvae. We asked whether the chemical composition of pollen influences bumblebees' foraging behaviour. Using putatively sweet and bitter pollen blends, we found that chemical composition influenced two aspects of bee behaviour relevant to plant fitness: the amount of pollen collected and the likelihood of subsequently visiting a visually similar flower. These findings offer a new perspective on the nutritional ecology of plant–pollinator interactions, as they show that pollen's taste may mediate its collection and transfer.花粉兼具双重功能：既是配子体（gametophyte），也是为传粉者提供的营养奖励。尽管不同植物物种的花粉化学成分存在差异，但花粉在传粉过程中的功能意义仍不甚明确，这在一定程度上源于学界对访花者如何评估花粉化学成分的认知匮乏。蜜蜂依赖花粉获取蛋白质，但由于花粉主要由幼虫食用，目前尚不清楚觅食蜂是否会评估花粉的化学成分。本研究旨在探究花粉的化学组成是否会影响熊蜂的觅食行为。通过使用经推测具有甜味与苦味的花粉混合样本，我们发现花粉的化学组成会影响两类与植物适合度相关的蜜蜂行为：采集的花粉量，以及后续访问视觉相似花朵的概率。本研究结果为植物-传粉者互作的营养生态学提供了全新视角，研究表明花粉的味觉感受可能介导花粉的采集与传递过程。