Module 7 Flashcards
Pollination
Male gametes of flowers being transferred to female gametes
Gymnosperms are mostly pollinated by
Wind
Pollen in flowering plants is made in the
Anther
Pollen from males is transferred to the
Stigma (female reproductive organ) and then the ovary where they are fused
Zygotes become
Seeds
Pollination that is aided by insects is known as
Entomophily
Anything that assists in pollination is
a pollinator
Animal pollination is more effective than
Wind pollination as the pollen moves through the organism to a targeted destination
Only adult insects can
Pollinate and they have adapted mechanisms like long tubes for mouths to better pollinate
Insects adaptations for pollen
Can have hairs to help pick up pollen
Pollen baskets on the hind legs to carry pollen
Pollination is
Mutualistic
Pollinators can be
Generalists (bumblebees) or specialists
Specialists
Only pollinate certain plants, for plants they are beneficial because it decreases the chance of pollen being lost for plants and the pollinators have an exclusive food source without competition
Pollinators use what to signal to insects
Visual cues
Scent (can trick the insect into pollinating by providing a scent of a mate or food)
Nectar guides
UV light provided by flowers that is visible to insects but invisible to humans
Used to send a signal to insects
Harmful insects to pollinators
Nectar robbers
Tear open flowers to feed on nectar and do not even pollinate
Industrialization has affected
Pollen forming plants as well as pollinators
Insecticide pollinator affects
Can be found in the pollen of plants which can lead to it killing pollinators
Neonicotinoids
Considered safe for vertebrates but deadly for insects
Have very negative effects on pollinators (can disrupt behaviour and ability to learn or even kill them)
Two types of pollinators
Wild vs managed pollinator
Managed pollinator best example
Bees
First insects to be domesticated and forage on pollen
Other managed pollinators
Bumblebees
Bumblebees pollination method
Buzz pollination
Buzz pollination
Once in the flower, the bee violently shakes its wings to release pollen
Alfafa Leafcutter Bee
Used for alfalfa and are not part of colonies
Mason bees
Solitary bees that visit only visit flowers near their nesting site which makes it easy for people to exploit them by putting pollinating crops near their nests
Have high level of activity during flowering season and short flight season, meaning insecticide use can be times to protect the bees
Mostly used for tree fruit
Apiculture
Managing bees in hives built by people
Important in agriculture and environmental health
Most honey production is produced by
Domesticated bees
Bees environmental services
They are generalist pollinators
80 percent of insect pollination
contribute $19 billion to the USA alone
$2 billion to Canada
Almonds and apples are dependent on
Honey bees
Equipment used to protect beekeepers
Special sting proof suits
Smokers to calm the bees down
Busy Bee Farm Interview
Small window to prepare for winter (must provide sugar to bees so they do not starve)
Wax is collected as a byproduct
Varroa mite is harmful for bees and need to be dealt with
First bee domesticated by people
European honeybee
European honeybees
Great for pollination
Lives in large colonies and nests in natural cavities
can regulate nest temperature
African honey bee
They are more aggressive and have become invasive
Africanized honey bees
This hybrid can take over honeybee hives which is adverse
They are more aggressive and have become invasive
Giant honey bees
Never been domesticated and lives in South Asia and honey is removed from wild colonies
Eusociality
Cooperative brood care (take care of individuals that are not their own)
Overlap of generations
CASTE system (most of the colony does not reproduce)
Eusociality is present in
Ants bees and wasps
Haplodiploidy
Sex determination system found in all Hymenoptera
Females are diploid and males are haploid
Hapoldiploidy showing relatedness
Full sisters are more related (0.75) than their own offspring
This means that more copies of a daughter’s genes will be passed on if she helps her mother make more sisters rather than have her own children
This leads to more altruistic behaviour
Colonies of honeybee castes
worker females
reproductive queens
Male drones
Worker honey bees
Non reproductive females that do foraging, brood care and defence
Highest amount of bees in the colony
Small ovaries and lack the necessery structures for fertilization
This means that any eggs they hatch will not be fertilized and become males
Worker bee adults start as
Nurse bees
Tend to the hive
Worker bees that are older become
Guard bees
After becoming guard bees, the workers become
Foragers after 21 days
Use the position of the sun and landmarks to find food
Can visit up to 2000 flowers but only produce 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
Workers specialized glands
Mandibular glands
Convert pollen and nectar into food for the larvae
Can be worker jelly or honey or royal jelly
All larvae receive
Royal jelly for the first three days of life
Worker larvae receive
Worker jelly
Larvae intended to become queens receive
Royal jelly
During times of resource scarcity, worker bees
Will be more guard-like and defensive of foreign invader bees that may invade and steal honey
During times of resource abundance
Guard bees allow foreign workers from other colonies to enter because these bees propose little threat and may provide gifts of honey and pollen to be adopted into the colony
Queen honey bee mating
Will take nuptual flights during the summer and mating occurs in the air
They will do this about 15 times
Allows her to have enough sperm to keep a colony
Sperm is stored in the spermatheca
Enormous ovaries can make 1500 eggs a day in the summer
Queens can sting
Multiple times rather than once due to small barbs on the stingers
Worker bees can sting
Insects multiple times
but vertebrates catch the barbs and pull off the stinger
Queen stinger has more
Venom and is used to sting competition
Male drone bees
One objective which is mating
Drone adaptations
Large eyes to spot a queen
Olfactory receptors tuned to find queen pheromones
Large wings and flight muscles (fastest male reaches the queen first)
Drones die
After mating because the phallus are removed
Larval queen cells size is relatively
Larger
What development day does the caste determine what type of bee the larvae is
4th day
How many more times do nurse bees visit queen cells over worker cells
10 times
Juvenile hormones levels of queens versus workers
Higher for queens in larval stage and the same in pupation
Honeybee chewing-lapping mouthparts labium
Labium is modified into a tongue that is used to uptake nectar
Honeybee mandibles use
Used to build colony
Pollen baskets in the tibia
Allows for them to pack pollen
Honeybee eyes allow them to detect
Nectar guides
Honeybee body heat generation
Decouples flight muscles from the wings and vibrates them to produce heat
Heat as a defence mechanism for honeybees
Bees swarm hornets and vibrate wings to increase heat and cook and suffocate hornet
Honey bee stinger
Modified ovipositor only present in females
Use of stinger leads to the death of the bee
To ensure sugar is broken down, bees
Regurgitate nectar from one to another and the enzymes of each one breaks down the sugars and they are then deposited into a cell
What do bees do before closing off a cell of honey in the hive
They flap their wings to evaporate water
This along with the acidic nature of honey makes it inhospitable for bacteria and fungi
What to do when a bee colony is too large
The queen forms a swarm of workers and a new queen is made
The old queen takes some workers away from the colony
What process signals that the bee colony is too large
the queen’s pheromones change
makes the workers look for a new colony
bees aggressiveness when in a swarm
Low because they do not have honey to protect
European honey bee dance language is performed by
Worker bees on vertical surfaces of honey combs
Round dance communicates
Availability of food
Foragers exchange what during the round dance in order to tell other bees about the type and quality of food
Small bits of food that also provide a scent
Round dance does not convey
Exact location of food
Waggle dance
Communicates exact location specifically the direction and distance of far away food
Waggle dance involves
Moving in a figure 8 pattern and shaking their abdomen while moving in it
The angle of the vertical axes of the straight portion of the waggle dance indicates
The direction of the food source relative to the sun
The length of the straight portion of the waggle dance comminicates
the distance from the colony
Bees convey distance using
The amount of effort used to get to a food source
Therefore food sources that have a lot of wind in the way will take more effort
Bees will waggle more vigorously if
The food source is more abundant
Pollen and nectar in the waggle dance
Can be exchanged
For food that is between 15-100 metres away
what dance is performed
Intermediate dances are performed between the waggle and round dances
Dorso-ventral abdominal vibration dance (DVAV)
Involves the torso-ventral vibration of the bee’s vibration
DVAV is used to regulate
Daily and seasonal availability of food or queen position for swarming
European honey bee nasonov’s gland
Produce footprint pheromones that act as beacons to send bees to important sites
Tarsal glands
Can also make footprint pheromones
Queen mandibular pheromone
Inhibits egg production by workers and signals that there is a healthy queen
Created by mandibular glands and fed to worker bees
Queens and drones create pheromones for
Attraction
Honey combs with empty cells release pheromones that tell workers to
Find more food
Larval combs signal
indicate their presence and stimulate pollen foraging
Factors leading to bee population decline
Disease
Climate
Habitat loss
Insecticide
Colony collapse disorder (CCD)
Happens if the workers abandon the hive and it collapses
Cause of CCD
Low quality of the colony and the combination of other factors
Varroa mites will enter what to disturb bee larval production
Enter combs where larvae are made
Varroa mites develop
Alongside the bee and when the bee leaves its comb, they attach to other bees
Varroa transmits
Many diseases between bees
Tracheal mites feed on the bees
Hemolymph
Tracheal mites reduces bees
Activity and lifespan
Tracheal mites are treated when beekeepers treat
Varroa mites
Chalkbrood disease is transmitted from
Adults to larvae, the larvae are killed by the disease
Chalkbrood disease accumulation is due to
Human movement of hives
American foul brood pathogen process
Spreads through any medium in a bee colony
Bee larvae are affected by this when they eat contaminated food
American foul brood cells kill larvae
By leading them to starvation
Any colonies suspected of American Foul Brood must
Be reported and if confirmed must be destroyed
Harvesting honey can be harmful if
Bees are not given proper carbs after their honey is harvested
Bee hive important needs
Resources needed for survival
Being provided with a diversity of flowers nearby
Habitat should be maintained so that the local population can contribute to pollinating
Limit insecticide use
