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My adventure with Native Bees all started off when a local news article popped up in my feed. Titled “College Of The Canyons Receives Bee Research Grant,” it caught my attention with the pictures of honey bees around their hive. I looked into the article and read that the National Science Foundation has given a grant to College of the Canyons, my local community college, to give COC students the opportunity to study native bees in their population decline. This created a question in my head: Since when was the Bee population declining?
Getting in touch with Professor Jeannie Chari, Coordinator of the Biodiversity Initiative, she invited me to Santa Clarita Environmental Education Consortium's Green Stem Summit, where she would be a presenter. There I would ultimately present the first part of my work with Native Bees.
I started off
Yellow-faced bumblebees are one of the most common and easy to identify native Californian bees. The Bombus Vosnesenskii (Apidae) are large and chunky compared to other bees. These can be easily spotted by their bright yellow facial hair. They are also hairy and have yellow bands on their backs and abdomens. Similar to the honey bee, these creatures live in colonies. are large and chunky compared to other bees. These can be easily spotted by their bright yellow facial hair. They are also hairy and have yellow bands on their backs and abdomens. Similar to the honey bee, these creatures live in colonies.
Mining bees are one of the first to emerge from their nests in the spring. These solitary bees nest in the ground. They are distinguished by their facial foveae, or grooves that are located down the center of their face. Along with the line runes down between their eyes, they have metallic coloring. If you come across a bee that is digging in the ground, it is highly probable that it is a mining bee. They are classified as Mining bees, Andrena spp. (Apidae).
The Leafcutter bee is a crucial part of native pollinators in California. The Leafcutter bee, Megachile spp. (Megachilidae), have heart-shaped or triangular abdomens. These bees carry pollen on the underside of their abdomen, where their carrying scopa is located. Similar to the bumblebees, they are slow filers. However, the Leafcutter bee has thick, muscular heads that are required for leaf cutting. They use these materials to partition their eggs and the nests, which are likely located in holes in wood.
The Halictidae is one of the substantial families with nearly 4,500 species. Although they present the most diverse social behavior; however in our area, they nest in annual colonies in the soil. They are more commonly known as sweat bees. These groups of bees are usually medium to small-sized that look elongated. They are referred to as “sweat bees” due to their interactions with humans. They are drawn to perspiration because they are trying to feed on sweat for salt and minerals. Sweat bees, or Halictus spp. (Halictidae), are distinguished by their pale bands at the abdomen.
When identifying bees, there are specific things to look for that separate each species. Today, I learned how to distinguish different types of bumble bees based on key features. It is common knowledge that insects have three main body sections: the head, thorax, and abdomen. In California, bumblebees are one of the more common types of native bees to roam the state.
The bumblebees are relatively larger than the common honey bee. Often mistaken for the carpenter bee, the bumblebee has a fuzzier, yellow abdomen compared to the sleek, black shiny abdomen of the carpenter bee. Bumblebees are generally identified by the color patterns on their tergum segments. Female bumblebees have a total of 6 segments found in their abdomen versus the 7 found in their male counterparts.
But before you identify a bumble bee, you need to correctly determine whether it is a male or female. Bumble bees fall into three categories; mainly, queens, workers, and males. Queens and workers are relatively similar except in size. Queens are much bigger compared to them. Both Queens and workers are female. Males, on the other hand, can be different in ways such as coloration and physical features. Because male bumblebees have so many different variations, most researchers and scientists focus on females.
Some of the major differences between male and female bumblebees are the characteristics that you have to closely examine. The male bumblebee has one more antenna, with a total of 13 than its female counterpart. Those male bumblebees also have thinner legs. After identifying whether they are female or male, you can identify them. A great resource to figure out what the species of bumblebees are is identification guides and illustrations. There are many databases and great resources that show what bumblebee you came across.
I recently came across a picture of a bumblebee sleeping inside a flower. At first, I thought that the bee had been stuck inside of the flower and had died. But in reality, that was not the case. Bees require a specific temperature to fly efficiently. A temperature higher than 50 degrees Fahrenheit is enough for the bee to operate without using all its nectar reserves. However, the ideal temperature would be around 80 to 90 degrees. When the weather outside is too hot or cold for the bee to carry out its duties, it may take a break inside a flower. The reasoning behind this is due to the flower being warmer/cooler than its surrounding. Flowers have the capabilities of producing their heat and providing shade. Bees sleeping outside their nest regularly find a flower head due to its characteristics. A flower can hold multiple bees. This can be observed in a deep flower such as a squash blossom. An interesting phenomenon that may occur is that the flower will close on the bees, “trapping” them. Bees that are inside the blooms sleep out of the hot sun and will leave whenever it wants to.
I found it very interesting that bees and flowers have these interactions, in addition to their relationship. I always thought that flowers attract bees due to their nectar and pollen, but there was another reason. I never expected that flowers provide shelter and habitat to bees when they are vulnerable. It reminded me of a poem that I came by when I was researching California Bees: Grace Hibbard’s Where California Bees Sleep.
What does a group of bored worker honey bees do when they have too much time and nothing to do? The gang hangs around until one of them is drawn to a sweet redolent. Some of the scouts decide to check out what the sugary aroma is. It is coming from a nearby hive where a conflict is weakening the colony. The scouts believe they can inundate the lethargic guard bees that are dozing off near the entrance. A couple of moments later, the scouts turn into dancers and direct bandits towards the weak hive.
From the start, honey bees are inveterate hoarders, just like dragons from mythical tales. These “cute bees” will become ruthless looters when nectar or honey becomes scarce. Bees are opportunistic insects and will take quick action when there is a chance. Worker bees will take food from any place and anywhere, including inadequate defense and weak colonies. They will turn on their species and prey on the vulnerable, particularly fragile hives with internal issues. If the coordinated raids succeed, it will cause a domino effect that will terminate that colony.
For the intruders to enter the foreign hive, they will encounter the guards at the entrance. The intruders will carry no pollen on them. Among the turbulence, some bees are shiny and black. This appearance is due to the bees losing their hair while fighting. The altercation will result in lots of debris and dead bees. Their queen bee could be among the list of casualties. Once inside, the looters will make their way towards the filled combs. Reaching the reserve, they will tear and rip apart the cells and collect the honey. The raiders will then navigate back to their hive to deposit the goods.
Soon after, wasps and other predatory animals will join the commotion. Drawn by the dead bees and the honey, it will be the end for the targeted hive. When it reaches this stage, almost nothing will be able to stop these predators. Unless there is human intervention, they will be annihilated. The phrase “survival of the fittest” is demonstrated here. The strong hives will survive and last longer than weaker colonies. So, the bees will naturally examine each other.
Bees, wasps, and hornets. All of these insects belong to the same classification of insects as Hymenoptera. Hymenoptera comes from the ancient Greek words for hymen(membrane) and pteron(wing). It describes how their wings are transparent and thin like membranes. Hymenoptera is the order of insects that includes bees, wasps, sawflies, and ants. All three flying insects live in hives or combs; furthermore, they all multiply in warm weather. There are two main types: solitary and social insects. A key thing to note is that hornets are a specific type of wasp. An analogy can be how all squares(hornets) are rectangles(wasps), but not every rectangle(wasp) is a square(hornet).
Hornets are a unique species of wasps. The main difference is that hornets are massive compared to wasps; hornet nests are also all aerial. Hornets tend to attack as a colony. These insects are omnivorous. The stings from hornets contain more acetylcholine, an organic chemical (C7NH16O2+), which makes it more poisonous. Both hornets and wasps create their home out of wood fibers and saliva. Compared to bees, wasps are predators and more aggressive. Wasps also have barely any hair on their bodies. Bees partake in pollination, while wasps and hornets don’t.
There are over 25,000 known species of bees, and the most common types of bees are bumblebees and honeybees. Both bumblebees and honeybees produce wax, but only the honeybees can create honey. Bumblebees are hairier and girthier compared to sleek honeybees with barbed stingers. Both these bees live in colonies. Honeybees live in large colonies(<25,000), while bumblebees only number into the hundreds.
I recently read an article by Carl Zimmer titled “The Secret Life of Bees,” published in the Smithsonian Magazine in March 2012. It was an interview with Dr. Thomas D. Seeley, a Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University. His work mainly focuses on swarm intelligence, which he defines as “the solving of cognitive problems by a group of individuals who pool their knowledge and process it through social interactions.” According to Seeley’s profile, his work is summarized in three books: Honeybee Ecology (1985), The Wisdom of the Hive (1995), and Honeybee Democracy (2010).
The article was mainly about Seeley’s discovery of how a hive of bees makes a crucial decision: the location of a new beehive. A perfect analogy of how the hive works would be comparing the swarm to the brain. Jeffrey Schall, professor and neuroscientist at Vanderbilt University, says that “bees are to hives as neurons are to brains.” One single scout is a visual neuron. Each neuron, or bee, can give us conflicting information on what we are seeing. The bees hold a competition to avoid stalemates. A coalition begins to disappear if there isn’t a recurring signal. The strategy prevents making the wrong choice early on.
I believe humans can take this knowledge and apply swarm intelligence. “Two heads are better than one” was one of the very first phrases I ever learned. Taking this swarm intelligence to humans would be taking this phrase to another level. However, there is a barrier between going down this path and making the best possible decision: not having a common goal. When we make decisions, we constantly need to compromise because of conflicting interests. Furthermore, debates end up focusing on obliterating the opponent, not finding a solution that fits everyone. Society can become a better place if we can learn from bees.
Honey. When I think of “honey” now, the first thing that pops into my head is the chemical structure of the sweetener. Made out of six carbon atoms, twelve hydrogen atoms, and 6 oxygen molecules, this is the product of the sophisticated bee society. But first, how did I get here?
It all started when I was peering inside my pantry, with my steaming chai tea in my hand, looking for honey. I spotted the bear-shaped bottle of dark-golden, viscous liquid. However, there was a catch: instead of the silky, smooth texture, there was a whiter and opaque substance. My honey has crystallized. I wondered why and began my research.
Crystallization occurs in honey because it is a preservative in its original state. Once the nectar starts to dilute, it begins to ferment. Glucose and fructose, the natural sugars found in honey, will bind together and create little crystals. A high concentration of sugar prevents any water from reacting with yeast or bacteria.
I was piqued when I discovered that crystallized honey could restore to its original state. All you need to do is submerge the honey jar in warm water and stir until the crystals dissolve. A second question emerged inside my head, could the same be done with royal jelly?
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