The tacit understanding between insects and flowers

There is a yellow circle in the middle of the blue flower of forget-me-not. What is this circle used for? This circle is a hint to the insects: come here to collect honey. It turns out that the place where the yellow circle of the forget-me-not flower is located is the population of the place where it secretes nectar. The yellow circle creates a tacit understanding between the insect and the forget-me-not. The forget-me-not uses the yellow circle to signal to the insect that it should follow this yellow circle. , there will definitely be gains. In fact, this kind of tacit understanding also exists among many other flower insects.

The color and fragrance of flowers and plants are also a way for flowers and insects to reach a tacit understanding. Insects can follow the scent of flowers to find partners from very far away, and the color of flowers and plants attracts insects to cooperate. After the location of the cooperation object is determined, it enters the substantive stage: the tacit understanding between insects and flowers and plants is completed through food-nectar and pollen. In order to make it easier for insects to find nectar, flowers and plants have prepared special "lure" devices. The entrance of the nectar-secreting pipe grows a color different from other parts of the flower, either dark, light, or long. Color spots, these various "nectar guides", guide insects to their food gathering destinations. They can eat sweet nectar and pollen, and at the same time bring out some pollen, doing their best to continue the family lineage of flowers and plants. Flowers and plants try their best to reach a tacit understanding with insects. How do insects identify these cues? Please read on.

The ability of insects to find flowers

The color of flowers is a sign that guides insects to find flowers. Bees can choose the flowers they like in the colorful prairie through vision. The vision of bees can only distinguish four colors. They can only see yellow, blue-green, blue and ultraviolet colors that are invisible to humans. All flowers that can show the above colors are the objects of collection by bees. So, what to do with red flowers? Butterflies are the only insects that can distinguish red, and red flowers are the objects that butterflies visit. There are also bright red flowers blooming on some tall plants, which must be pollinated by birds.

Among all kinds of insects, bees are undoubtedly the "main force" in pollinating plants. However, bees can only distinguish 4 colors. Can they do the job? In fact, bees also visit white flowers and red flowers. Flowers that appear to be white or red to humans are actually a mixture of multiple colors. For example, a poppy flower that looks red to humans contains in addition to red, it also contains ultraviolet colors that humans cannot see. Although bees cannot see red, they can distinguish ultraviolet colors. White flowers are actually a mixture of multiple colors that appear white to people's eyes. White flowers can almost absorb ultraviolet rays and reflect yellow and blue. Therefore, a flower that looks white may look like a bee. blue-green. In this way, the range of bees searching for flowers is greatly expanded. Finding flowers by color alone does not guarantee that bees will not make mistakes. Bees must also identify the flowers of various plants based on their shape and smell. Help bees determine the shape and smell of flowers are the tactile and olfactory organs, which are located on the bees' antennae. The color of flowers attracts bees from far away. When they fly closer, the bees make final selections based on the smell, so that they can identify the flowers they need among similar colors. The olfactory and tactile organs of the bee are both on its movable tentacles, so wherever the tentacles touch, while smelling the smell, they also touch the shape of the flower being smelled, and "measure" the "size" of the flower. ". Get the smell and shape right, and the flower will be unmistakable.

Insects also rely on their taste organs to find flowers, that is, through the taste organs in the mouth, they can judge the taste of nectar. The flower that suits the taste is the flower they are looking for. Interestingly, not all insects have taste organs located in their mouths. Flies use the tips of their legs to feel smells, and butterflies use the tips of their feet to taste.

The ability of insects to find flowers can be summarized in four words: color, shape, taste, and fragrance. After a series of judgments on the color, shape, smell, and taste of flowers, they can find the flowers they need among thousands of flowers.

How insects breathe

Insects have unique breathing methods. Insects have a network of air duct systems in their bodies. This system is criss-crossed throughout the body, so that the head is also covered with air supply ducts. Insects look like empty heads. The small tracheae in insects are connected and communicated in hierarchies. Its terminal tubules are connected to individual cells. On the cell body, microtracheal branches less than 1 micron in diameter can extend into the cell protoplasm. In this way, oxygen can be delivered to the destination in one step. The number distribution of microtracheae is directly proportional to the oxygen consumption of cells. In large cells such as flight muscles, the criss-cross microtracheal network ensures a considerable oxygen supply.

The ability to independently detect hypoxic parts of the body is a unique function of insect epidermal microtrachea. A microtrachea with a diameter of 1 micron is a blind tube with a length of less than 1/3 mm. When the oxygen consumption of the surrounding tissue increases, the microtrachea expands on its own, and the length can extend to about 1 mm. The opening time of the external opening of the microtrachea is very short, especially those of aquatic insects, which are usually closed. Otherwise, the strong airflow flowing through the insect's body will dry it out in a very short time. Oxygen in insects diffuses directly to the respiratory tract through the skin or gills, and then spreads throughout the body through the respiratory tract network.

Large terrestrial insects that breathe extremely fast have abdominal muscle frequencies as high as 70 to 80 times per minute, and their abdomens are flat, which is conducive to exhaust. When the abdominal muscles relax and recover, air is sucked into the body again. They use different channels for breathing and inhaling, that is, they use the pores in the chest to inhale and the pores in the abdomen to exhaust.

The spreader of "narcolepsy"

On the shores of Lake Victoria in Africa, a strange disease - narcolepsy - was once prevalent. The patient's symptoms include fever all over the body, being lethargic all day long, and finally death due to extreme exhaustion. This "narcolepsy" epidemic spreads very quickly, killing hundreds of thousands of people in some African villages and towns. Later, research revealed that the spreaders of this "narcolepsy" were a tiny protozoan called trypanosomatids and an insect called the tsetse fly. Trypanosomes are about 15 to 25 microns long, have very small bodies, and look like willow leaves. They parasitize in the blood of animals. It has two hosts, one is a tsetse fly and the other is a human. The tsetse fly infected with Trypanosoma narcolepsy bites the human body, and the trypanosome enters the human blood through the body surface. The trypanosome absorbs nutrients from the human blood and continues to grow. When it develops to a certain extent, it will move along the human body. The circulatory system invades the brain and spinal cord, causing people to become drowsy, so this kind of trypanosome is also called a sleeping bug. Blood-sucking insects such as trypanosomes and tsetse flies not only spread "narcolepsy" in Africa, but also spread various diseases in other parts of the world. In China, trypanosomes, along with cattle pythons and stable flies, spread a disease that harms horses, cattle, and camels, causing these animals to become emaciated, swollen, feverish, and sometimes die suddenly.

Trypanosomes have an extremely bad reputation. They parasitize various vertebrates, from fish and amphibians to birds, mammals, horses, cattle, and even humans. They don’t even need to be related to the tsetse fly. When such insects cooperate, they can directly infect various hosts. It is hoped that this "bad insect" will be conquered by humans as soon as possible and the infection routes of this type of disease will be cut off.

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