lecture 16

Question 1

bees have well coordinated social actions in the absence of leaders, What are these actions:

Answer 1

• comb-building
• temperature regulation (internal next temp btw 25-35 C over and temp range of -40- 70 C)
• nest defence (asian bees cook wasps to death by ball wasps and contracting flight muscles to generate heat)
• recruitment to food: waggle dances

Question 2

recruitment

Answer 2

bringing nest mates to place where they are needed for food collection, nest defence etc.

Question 3

dance language

Answer 3

describes the complex waggle dances bees use to recruit nest mates to resources. (language bc they convey info from outside nest to nest mates inside nest at different time)

Question 4

when food is less than 25m away from nest

Answer 4

round dances

Question 5

for food at a distance of greater than 100m

Answer 5

waggle dance

Question 6

waggle dance

Answer 6

bee makes straight run while waggling abdomen and vibrates wings, then circles around, then repeats straight up and then circles in opposite direction etc.

Question 7

information believed to be conveyed through waggle dance

Answer 7

• distance to food: duration of waggle
• direction to food: angle with respect to vertical is the angle with respect to the sun
• food quality: from dance vigour, # repetitions of dance and nectar shared with other bees
• odour of food: picked up on surface of body from flower

Question 8

honey bees have a sun compass

Answer 8

maintain constant compass heading throughout the day by integrating the suns movement with their internal clock.
they adjust dances according to sun

Question 9

Karl von Frisch 1943

Answer 9

moved a feeder gradually further from hive to see dances of foragers transitioned from round to waggle dances
therefore, in 47 he looked into a hive to see difference between dances of near and far bees

Question 10

what was the scientific revolution discovered by von fischer and why was there controversy

Answer 10

his old simple hypothesis (odour search) was replaced by complex (language) hypothesis
controversy over how scented sugars were used in experiments therefore impossible to tell if the hypothesis was correct with dancers giving distance and direction but also smelling like food
therefore, must prove honey bees act on info received in waggle dance that the dances are functional

Question 11

How to prove dances are functional?

Answer 11

James Gould- get bees to lie to their nest mates

Riley- track recruits as they search for food after following waggle dances

Question 12

Are waggle dances functional?

Answer 12

Yes, bees can find approximate location of flowers based on info contained in dances. but once near flowers they finish orientation by searching for and orienting to floral scent (why bees have a difficult time finding unscented food sources)

Question 13

sequence of the behaviours of forging recruit bees

Answer 13

• detect bee doing dance (perceive comb vibrations orient to dancing bee)
• following behind
• perceive duration of vibration during straight run
• interpret its own body position on comb with gravity and internal clock
• perceive odours
• food samples and evaluate quality
• leave nest and orient with sun and fly distance and direction
• search for same odour