While some bees are known to scavenge sodium through literal blood, sweat, and tears, a new study finds pollinators also have a taste for salt from a more cheerful source: flower nectar.
. Sanders and his colleagues wanted to test whether pollinators also have a taste for salt from a more cheerful source: flower nectar.
The team selected five species of flowering plants native to the meadows of Vermont, where the research took place. They grew the flowers, which included yarrow and purple coneflower, in a greenhouse. Lead author Carrie Finkelstein, then an undergraduate at the University of Vermont, visited the greenhouse every warm, sunny day from July to August 2021, when pollinators are active. Each time, she used a tiny hand pump to suck the nectar out of the flowers and replace it with a sugary solution. Half the plants received an artificial nectar containing 1% salt and the other half received a nonsalty version.
Plants usually have low amounts of sodium in their nectar, but levels can vary from plant to plant within a species, the authors say. “It could be the case that some plants are spiking their nectar with sodium in order to attract pollinators,” Sanders says. Whether that’s true—and whether the plants or the pollinators benefit—is still a wide-open question. Salt-rich diets aren’t always healthy for humans, Bonoan says, and the same could hold true for insects.
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