Ecology -- Bees :)

Eusocial

cooperative brood care, overlapping generations within a colony of adults, and a division of labor into reproductive and non-reproductive groups

• highest level of sociality in animals

Cretaceous period (145-65 million years ago)

In what period did flowering plants become dominant?

over 100 million years

For how long has bees and flowers been coevolving?

allows the abdomen to point in many directions

• stinging and laying eggs

What’s the purpose of the narrow waist on bees?

solitary

In which the bee/wasp mother never meets her children is an example of a ___ species

social

In which the bee/wasp mother waits for the daughters to be born is an example of a ___ species

worker caste

Daughters that help the mom forage and dig or form extra cells for her to lay eggs in

Different color and patterns

What distinguishes workers from the mother queen?

forage, build the nest, and defend it

Workers usually…

never leaves the nest and only lays eggs

queens usually…

annual colony

where the foundress queen makes workers (and males), and the colony grows until the end of the growing season, then they all die except the new queens

they burrow or crevice, and emerge in spring where they start feeding a building a new colony

how do the foundress queens survive the winter?

perennial colony

colonies that live “forever.” Not seasonal.

Honey storage

1st adaptation that allows for a perennial colony

survival of harsh environmental conditions, and energy to shiver

What does honey allow?

colony formation by swarming

2nd adaptation that allows for a perennial colony

When one colony splits into two, making another colony with a new mated queen and all

What is swarming?

Apis

What genus are honeybees members of?

Europe, Asia, and Africa

what is the genus Apis native to?

4

How many distinct honeybee groups are there?

• ¼ inch long

• native through Iran and SE Asia

• comp of nest is a single small plate and has a few ounces of honey

• nest usually concealed under leaves or in a cave

Dwarf Honeybee qualities

Apis florea

scientific name for dwarf honeybee?

• .7 inches long

• native to Nepal, Tibet, and India

• the comb is a large exposed plate that can hold up to 50 lbs of honey

• nest has to be illuminated so they’re hung from branches and abt 80 ft in the air

• aggro and can pursue up to 300 ft

Giant honeybee qualities

A. dorsata

scientific name for giant honeybees

• slightly smaller than western honeybee

• wide distribution mostly covering asia

• nest has several combs hanging in parallel plates separated a consistent distance

• nest in dark hollow trees in caves

• stores a decent amount of honey in less tropical regions

Eastern honeybee qualities

A. cerana

scientific name for eastern honeybee

• most widely distributed BEE —> many races/subspecies evolved from them

• similar nest to eastern honeybee

• unclear origins cause domesticated for so long

Western honeybee qualities

A. mellifera

scientific name for western honeybee

• subspecies of western honeybee

• yellow and orange branded abdomen

• most widely distributed RACE in the world

• gentle, disease-resistant, good foragers

Italian Honeybee qualities

Apis mellifera ligustica

scientific name for italian honeybee

• Dusky brown with more mutated orange bands

• From Austria and the Balkan region, now is worldwide distributed

• second most popular race

• usually in cooler areas

• Gentle, disease resistant, good nest defenders, makes lots of honey

Carniolan Honeybee qualities

A. m. carnica

Carnolian Honeybee scientific name

• From western Europe — Britain, north and west of the Alps

• Cold-weather resistant race

German Black/Dark European Honeybee qualities

A. m. mellifera

German Black/Dark European Honeybee scientific name

• native to southern and central Africa

• Looks very similar to Italian Honeybee

• high honey productions, good disease-resistance, and highly defensive

• accidentally released in Brazil and hybridized with European races

African Honeybee qualities

A. m. scutellata

African Honeybee scientific name

• From Cape Peninsula in South Africa

• female workers are able to lay fertile eggs

• Queens can lay their eggs in African colonies undetected, and their workers can destroy the colony

Cape Honeybee qualities

A. m. capensis

Cape Honeybee scientific name

• small and dark with yellow abdominal bands

• native to Nile valley region

• Defensive behavior and low honey production

Egyptian Honeybee qualities

A. m. lamaracki

Egyptian honeybee scientific name

• hybrid bee made cause massive bee loss from Isle of Wight disease (1906-1919)

• Italian + German Black

• has honeybee strains from Italy, England, France, Turkey, Greece, and two African strains

Buckfast bee qualities

worker bees

Sterile female bees (majority)

drone bees

fertile male bees (few hundred)

queen bee

Female and fertile (only 1)

During her nuptial flight by several drones

when does a queen become fertilized?

spermatheca

Where is sperm stored in a queen?

haplodiploidy

What determines sex in the offspring?

Queens and workers have 32 chromosomes, and drones are haploid with 16

What is haplodiploidy like in bees?

32

How many chromosomes will the offspring have if the queen CHOOSES to fertilize the egg?

16

How many chromosomes will the offspring have if the queen CHOOSES not to fertilize the egg?

Sex determination locus

At a ___ a diploid bee can have two genes present, whereas a haploid bee can only have one gene present

both genes are the same

In a diploid bee, if ___, the bee is male

both genes are different

In a diploid bee, ___, the bee is female

a male drone

what is the result of a haploid bee?

Complementary Sex Determiner (CSD)

What is the actual gene for sex determination called?

15

how many variants does CSD have?

product of CSD

What’s required for a bee to become female?

mRNA of a feminizer gene

where does CSD bind for a bee to become female?

a male will spawn

What happens if CSD doesn’t bind to the mRNA of the feminizer gene?

heterozygous

CSD only binds to fem gene if both alleles at the SDL are ___

½ - ¾ inch

how big is a worker bee?

physical and chemical environment

What can antennas sense?

pheromones

What chemical is used to control many activities within the hive?

mandibles and a proboscis

what does a worker mouth part consist of?

pollen cake

This process makes what?

• The bee brushes the pollen on its body to its hind legs with their pollen brush, they then rub their hind legs together to push the pollen into their leg joint to condense the pollen

corbicula or pollen basket

where is a pollen cake held?

ovipositor

what is the stinger modified from?

alarm pheromones — other bees will come for you

when a bee stings you, what is released?

beeswax

What do the 8 wax glands under the bees abdomen secrete?

20 and 1

What is a reasonable ratio of honey to beeswax?

3-4 days

how long does it take for an egg laid by the queen to hatch?

nurse bees

adult worker bees that care for the young larva

5 days

how long does it take for a larvae to fully grow?

protein-rich secretion from nurse bees from their mandibular and hypopharyngeal glands

how is royal jelly made?

pollen consumed by the nurse bees

where is the protein in royal jelly from?

reduced cause the nurse bees dilute the royal jelly with honey and pollen

how much food is fed to the larva after the 3rd day?

6 hours, about 100 visits

how long does it take for the nurse bee to seal a fully grown larva into its cell?

transforms it into a pupa, them it undergoes metamorphosis

Why does the nurse seal the larva into a cell?

21 days

how long does it take for a worker bee to emerge from the pupal cell?

16 days

how long does it take for a queen bee to emerge from the pupal cell?

24 days

how long does it take for a drone bee to emerge from the pupal cell?

gets fed by other worker bees before eventually feeding on honey reserves and protein-rich pollen themself

first couple of days as an adult worker bee?

starts feeding the older larvae since they can only regurgitate honey and pollen

days 4 and 5 as an adult worker bee?

starts feeding the younger larvae since hypopharyngeal glands are developed

day 6 as an adult worker bee?

wax glands are developed, so she starts making and repairing comb and eventually leave for the first time and therefore poop

day 10-12 as an adult worker bee?

nectar is regurgitated and swallowed and regurgitated over and over until it dries down to 17-18% moisture and the sucrose is digested into fructose and glucose

how is honey made?

invertase

what enzyme digest the sucrose into fructose and glucose?

week 3 or 4

when is a worker bee promoted to a forager?

they do little dances

how do scouts communicate? Bee becomes forager once she learns this

collect nectar, pollen, and propolis

what do foragers primarily do?

to seal gaps and holes and to improve the strength of combs in the hive

what is propolis used for?

They hold their front legs off the ground so it looks like they’re going to pounce.

what do guard bees look like?

5-6 weeks, works too hard

How long do bees live for if born in the summer?

5-6 months, activities more restricted

how long do bees live for if born in the fall?

presence, direction, nutritional value, and distance to food sources

What do foragers dance about?

round dance — moves in circles, alternating between clockwise and counterclockwise directions

how does a forager indicate that food is close by (few hundred feet)?

waggle/figure 8 dance — bee shakes its booty in a figure 8 way

how does a forager indicate that food is far away?

angle of the sun relative to the food source

what does angle of the line connecting the “8” in the waggle dance indicate?

distance

what does length of the line connecting the “8” in the waggle dance indicate?

quality

the greater the intensity of the waggling dance means the greater the ___ of the food