Honey Bee Science
The Honey Bee Dance
As far back as the ancient Greeks, observers such as Aristotle knew that honey bees perform dances, but did not know why. In the 20th century, the biologist Karl von Frisch showed that honey bee scouts dance to show forager bees where to find sources of nectar, pollen, and propolis. The bees orient by using a built-in sun compass. Based on the position of the sun, the scout bee dance tells the direction to these sources. The bee dance also shows the distance to and the quality of these sources. For more details of this amazing means of communication, see The Dance Language of the Honey Bee.
Bee Vision
Compared to human vision, bee vision is "shifted" toward the high-frequency end of the light spectrum:
- Honey bee vision is sensitive to ultraviolet light; they do not see red (low end of the light spectrum).
- Honey bees can see a color known as "bee purple," based on a combination of ultraviolet and yellow light. Since humans cannot see ultraviolet light we cannot see this color.
- To honey bees, what to humans appears as green color appears gray. Floral colors, especially in the ultraviolet range, appear prominently against this background.
When a honey bee looks at a plant, what it sees is predominately the ultraviolet image, not the image a human sees. Examination of flower structure under ultraviolet light makes clear that many angiosperms have flowers that specifically developed in ways that attract honey bees. These plants are often highly dependent on honey bees for pollination.
Oxygen Transport
Bees (and insects in general) have a respiratory system that is largely separate from the circulatory system. In particular, they do not use hemoglobin for the transport of oxygen. Instead, they have a tracheal system that transports oxygen to their body's cells and carries carbon dioxide from the cells. When the bee is at rest, this transport takes places by simply diffusion through the tracheal network. When the bee is active, the bee pumps its abdomen, which acts as a bellows to assist in the movement of the gas. Openings to the tracheal system are found on the outside of the bee's body and are referred to as spiracles.
Note: Tracheal mites are the cause of acarine disease in honey bees. Their larvae, which are honey bee parasites, enter the tracheal system through the spiracles.
Sting Physiology
Honey bees differ from other stinging insects in having a barbed stinger. The stinger, together with the poison sac at its base, is ripped out of the abdomen of the stinging bee, which dies afterward. Honey bee venom itself is a complex mixture of a number of substances. Each of these substances has a somewhat different effect on other organisms. Bee venom includes histamine, but the quantity is not sufficient to be toxic to vertebrates. Instead, it is primarily effective against other insects. On the other hand, bee venom triggers histamine release in humans, and this accounts for most of the symptoms of a bee sting.Getting Stung
Getting stung is something every beekeeper is always asked about. Learn more about honey bees and other insects it's often confused with, hornets, wasps, and yellow jackets. If you are stung by a bee, the end of its abdomen breraks off with the stinger. This part of the abdomen keeps pumping bee venom into the sting and into you. Do not try to remove the sting by plucking it out with your finger and thumb. The way to deal with it is to run the back of a knife (NOT the sharp edge) along the area towards the sting and scrape it off. This way you can remove it approaching the underneath of the "pump" without sqeezing more venom in.Swarming
The swarming of a honey bee colony is a spectacular event. For details about its causes and prevention, see Swarming and Swarm Prevention.
Just to show how clever bees can be, I want you to look at this video. It shows that in spite of their short life span the honey bee is capable of some kind of collective learning. In this case the hive worked together to save the colony from attack by hornets. If hornets attack a beehive the bees have no chance. So, they have learned first how the hornet attacks came about and then how to prevent these attacks. These are Japanese Bees. Bees and Hornets both live in Japan, so the bees had to adapt or die.
Sustainable Living Quote:
What good is a house, if you haven't got a decent planet to put it on?
- Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)