Scientists usually explain the success of bees with the division of work in the hive - each perform a different task for the common good of the colony that lives as a superorganism. New experiment with thermal cameras, however, revealed that the secret of success lies deep in the hive. There is a special kind of bee, which acts like a living radiator, warming the entire hive and regulating its complex social structure.
Central to the hive!
They call them "Toplesh bees." They use your body to create a unique central heating system in the hive, the survey showed German specialists. Termopchelite temperature is higher than that of all others in the hive. They dissolve their wings so that their muscles tense to the limit, but not remove them. This allows them to upload their own temperature greatly - sometimes it can reach 44 degrees Celsius, about 10 degrees more than the normal bee. In theory, this means that they can "cook" themselves, but they do not lend themselves to high degrees, the researchers found.
These bees are responsible for maintaining the temperature in the "nursery" of the hive, where young bees, more pupae are imbed into wax cells, while developing explains prof. Jurgen Tauts group for the study of insects at the University of Würzburg.
"These special bees can sneak into empty wax cells and transmit heat to 70 pupae around them. That's right supplies at the colony, "said Tauts.
In addition to warm termopchelite have an even more important role - they
determine the fate of each pupae,
by deciding what will be the future role of bees in the hive. For example, these pupae that are held to develop at 35 degrees Celsius, mature bees as intelligent search engines that then go out every day from the hive in search of nectar and pollen. Those who are left to grow at 34 degrees, it becomes hosts bees that never leave the nest and dealing with labor-intensive work in the hive as feeding the larvae and cleaning.
As a result, termopchelite ensure that there will always be enough a worker for each of the hive, which is a condition for the success of the entire royal society. As is known, each bee colony has a different "occupation" - some are guards, others build the hive, others bring food, fourth caring for the queen, etc.
The team managed to establish the role of termopchelite using new technology that measures the temperature inside the hive. Thermal Cameras show how termopchelite warm each cellule to pupa to the right temperature, stick to walls and transmit heat. Depending on external conditions and the size of the hive termopchelite can be from a few to several hundred.
"According to previous understandings pupae in the nest produce heat and bees come inside to warm up. Now we see that there are adult bees who are responsible for maintaining the temperature, "explains Professor. Tauts. The finding also shows that it is very useful to the hive to have empty wax cells that most beekeepers do not like. It turns out that they are very important to sustain life in the colony and that "central heating" works precisely by them.
Bees love coffee and cigarettes
Many of us need a coffee and a cigarette to start the day. Now it turns out that bees are no different. They prefer nectar with small amounts of nicotine or caffeine before juice without these improvements, found Israeli researchers at the University of Haifa.
Nectar consists mainly of sugars, which provide energy to insects. Nectar of certain plants, however, contain small amounts of substances to be defined as toxic, such as caffeine and nicotine. The research team studied whether the role of these substances is to attract bees to nectar, or are just byproducts without any specific purpose. "They may have been selected during evolution, as in humans, to make the bee addicted," said team boss prof. Iddo Izak.
Nicotine is found naturally in floral nectar of some types of tobacco tree, while caffeine is in the colors of citrus crops, particularly high content in grapefruit. To establish whether bees prefer nectar with caffeine and nicotine, the researchers placed directly in the laboratory nectar with different concentration of sugar and other caffeine and nicotine. Next to them was complex and "clean" nectar containing only sugar. Concentrations of caffeine and nicotine ranged from levels consistent with those in the natural floral nectar up to much higher. The results showed that bees
prefer nectar with closest to the natural nicotine and caffeine.
According to the researchers is very difficult to say categorically that the substances of abuse have emerged during evolution to make pollination more successfully. Based on the survey, however, it can be assumed that the plants survived natural selection are precisely those that developed "correct" levels of nicotine and caffeine. This enable them to attract and then not repel bees, which you gained a significant advantage of pollination to other plants.
The team at Haifa University emphasizes that his research proves the existence of a preference rather than a dependency of bees on nicotine and caffeine. They continue their research to understand that bees are really addicted to these types of "dangerous" nectar.
Workers' bees are lying to the queen! It is believed that the queen mother controls the entire kosher. It turns out, however, that some beggar-beggars are cheating on her - they reproduce for themselves, thus prolonging their own lives, a study in Brazil found.
Study of a Brazilian type - Melipona scutellaris, showed that some of the male bees are the sons of worker bees, not the queen. Studied were 600 males from 45 colonies was analyzed by their genotype to determine which is their mother. In principle, colonies of approximately 1,500 worker bees are controlled by a queen.
The results, published in the journal. "Molecular Ecology" show that 23% of males are sons of workers and not of the queen. Worker bees are not normally sexually mature and mate. It turns out, however, that can lay unfertilised eggs which develop male bees.
In order to ensure the dominant role, the queen usually eats the eggs of female workers. The only benefit to workers from laying their own eggs is that it prolongs their lives nearly three times. How does it work? Workers lay eggs actually work less and usually do not go for the performance of hazardous tasks outside the hive. By so doing, worker bees parasitize the back of the next generation for their own benefit, concludes co-author of the project Denise Alves.
Source: www.euroscientist.com , www.pixabay.com
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