Does sorting by color using visible and high-energy violet light improve classification of taxa in honey bee pollen pellets?

Premise: Pollen collected by honey bees from different plant species often differs in color, and this has been used as a basis for plant identification. The objective of this study was to develop a new, low-cost protocol to sort pollen pellets by color using high-energy violet light and visible light to determine whether pollen pellet color is associated with variations in plant species identity.

Methods And Results: We identified 35 distinct colors and found that 52% of pollen subsamples ( = 200) were dominated by a single taxon.