week 5 Flashcards
what are european honey bees used for
Is a Managed pollinator
Pollination services
-Main purpose (pollinating crops)
Production of honey and other hive products
what makes honeybees eusocial
Cooperative care of the brood
Overlapping generations
-Different generations alive at the same time
Division of labour
-Individuals in charge of reproduction only (queens/drones)
-Individuals only in charge of work (workers)
what is the population of a honey bee colony made up of
One queen
Thousands of workers
Hundreds of drones
A colony has 20 000 to 100 000 individuals
what are the different castes of honey bees
queen
worker
drone
what does a queen look like
Big abdomen for reproduction
what does a worker honey bee look like
Hairs for collecting pollen
what does a drone honey bee look like
Chubby
Huge eyes to identify queen
Big abdomen to hold reproductive organs (penis)
what type of reproduction does honey bee have
Haplodypoid
Fertilized eggs become female (queen, worker)
Diploid (2 sets of chromosomes)
Unfertilized eggs become male (drone)
Haploid (1 set of chromosomes)
what do honey bee cells look like
Peanut shaped cells for holding queens
Hexagon cells for everyone else
how many larval instars do honey bees have
5 larval instars
how long do honey bee eggs last before they hatch
3 days
how do honey bee larva move from one larval instar to the next
Mouts (ecdysis)
Last moult turns into pupa
how long does each type of honey bee take to develop
Drones take 24 days to develop
Workers take 21 days to develop
Queens take 16 days to develop
what are the characteristics of a honey bee egg
Oval shape
White
Vertical to horizontal position
1.2-1.8mm in size
0.12-0.22 mg weight
what are the parts of a honeybee egg
Micropyle
-Where sperm goes in to fertilize egge
Chorion
-Shell of egg
Cytoplasm with yolk
nucleus
what is embryogenesis
Development of an embryo from an egg
what is an embryo
Unhatched offspring in process of development
what is hatching
Emergence of larva (from egg) at end of embryonic development
what are the steps of development inside a honeybee egg
- Cleavage (from unicellular to multicellular)
- Formation of blastoderm
- Formation of a germ band
- Formation of germ layers
-Endoderm
-Mesoderm
-Ectoderm
Formation of organs and tissues
what are the characteristics of a honeybee larva
Comma shape
Pearly white color
Position: lateral to upright
Size: 2.7 to 26.5 mm
what is the weight of different honeybee larva
Worker: 140mg (x900)
Queen: 250mg (x1700)
Drone: 346mg (x2300)
what do honeybee larva eat and why is it important for development
Worker bees eat royal jelly during first 3 days
Queens only fed royal jelly
After 3 days workers fed worker jelly
larva have potential of becoming queen or worker based on their food
what are the characteristics of honeybee pupae
Shape: resembles adult
Color: pearly white to brown/yellow/black
Position: upright
Size: 40mm
what is the weight of different types of honeybee pupae at emergence
Worker: 120mg
Queen: 200mg
Drone: 220-290 mg
what do workers do with wax for honeybee pupae
Workers cover cell with wax
Once worker is ready to emerge, cuts the wax with mandibles
how long do honeybee workers live
5-6 weeks
what determines what kinds of tasks worker honeybees do
Do different tasks based on their age
As they age they do more outside the next
From start to finish
Cell cleaning → capping brood→ tending brood and queen → receiving nectar → handling pollen → comb building → hygienic → ventilating → patrolling → guard → foraging
what do workers in nurse bee phase do
Feeds developing larvae
Hypopharyngeal glands developed (create royal jelly)
Hygienic behaviour
Identify diseased/dead brood, uncap them and remove from hive
what do workers in field bee phase do
Forages for pollen, nectar, water and propolis
-Propolis is source of protein and prevents disease
-Pollen is source of energy
Phase lasts 10-21 days
Orientation flights
Hypopharyngeal glands atrophied
Fanning
Guarding
-Old grumpy bees
Orienting
how long do honey bee drones live
5-6 weeks
what do honeybee drones do
Emergence
Eats pollen and honey
Orientation flights
-8 days post-emergence
Mating flights
After mating, they die
In fall, workers kick them out of hive
how long do winter bees live and what do they do
Lives 5-6 months
Generate heat (keep queen warm)
how long do honey bee queens live
2-5 years
what do honey bee queens do
Emergence
Kills other queens
Orientation flights
Mating flights
Mates with 10-20 drones
Allows genetic diversity
Once in life
Egg laying
2-5 days post-mating
1500 eggs/day
Releases pheromones to tell workers colony is fine
If queen starts to fail, workers know and make replacement
what kind of organism are honey bees
a superorganism, group of organisms that work together as a single entity
what are honey bee colonies like in spring
Small adult population
The queen will start to lay eggs
Start to rear brood
what are honey bee colonies like in summer
Strong adult bee population
Peak of brood rearing
Drone production
Swarming
-Half of population leaves and starts somewhere else
Honey production
what are honey bee colonies like in fall
Medium adult bee population
Brood rearing stops
Drone production stops
No more pollen, focus on honey for winter
what are honey bee colonies like in winter
Cluster of winter worker bees will take care of queen
what is pollination
Pollination = plant sex
Movement of pollen from anthers (male parts) to stigma (female parts)
what are the parts of a flower
Petal
Attracts pollinators
Stigma
Traps pollen
Anther
Makes pollen
Pistil
Transports pollen to ovary
Ovary
Contains egg cells
Stamen
Proves support for anther
Sepals
Formerly protected the flower bud
what are the 2 main types of pollination and the differences
Self
Pollen movement within plant
Cross
Pollen movement between plants
what percent of flowering species animal pollinated
87.5%
what percent of food we eat come from crops benefit from insect pollination
35%
what is world value from pollination
$250 bil
9.5% of world agricultural production for human food
what are angiosperms
flowering plants
how old is insect pollination and why
Insect pollination likely ancient
Common ancestor of all angiosperms was insect pollinated
when did bees and flower evolve, what is this called
Bees and eudicots (main lineage of flowering plants) diversified at the same time
Coevolution
what are nectaries and where are they located
Glandular organs that secrete nectar
Can occur along many areas of flower
Sepals, petals, pistils, ovaries, receptacle
what is the composition of nectar
Sucrose, glucose, fructose, amino acids, lipids, phenols
when do flowers release nectar and why
Patterns mimic pollinator activity
Release nectar at different times of day to attract different types of insects
what is nectar to an insect
a sugary boost
what are 2 examples of highly developed and specialized pollinator/flower pairs? Why did they evolve this way
Angraecum sesquipedale
-Plant that has nectar at bottom of long tube
-Only certain moth with long tongue can access
-Moth
Natural selection favors long tongue to get pollen
-Orchid
Natural selection favors longer nectary tubes so moth has to rub against reproductive organs
Diascia floribunda
-Plant that produces floral oils at end of long tube that bees need
-Bees develop long lets to get at bottom
what are extrafloral nectaries and what are their purpose
Nectaries on outside of plant to attract insects that fend off herbivores and pests
Not for pollination and attract non-pollinators
why are ants not good pollinators? why do some flowers still atract them
Some ants have surface chemical that kill pollen
Other ants defend plants with extrafloral nectaries
Decrease bee visits dramatically
how does foraging behavior differ between pollinating species
Number of flowers visited/minute varies between bee species
Number of pollen grains deposited per single visit varies by species
does more honey bees always mean better pollination
Honey bees can lead to bad outcomes
Not as many fertilized ovules
More honey bees can cause less native pollinators in area
Can cause less pollination
are bees the only pollinators
no
what are pollination syndromes? are all flowers with same syndromes related?
Flowers take different shapes to attract (and sometimes deceive) pollinators
Different species of Pollinators look for certain colors and shapes to get pollen
Plants independently come up with same system for attracting pollinators
how do pollination syndromes work
Insects (and other pollinators) learn to recognize rewards (nectar and pollen) with different syndromes
what is floral signal advergence
floral mimicry
what are 3 types of floral signal advergence (floral mimicry)
Food plant mimicry
Plants look like they have reward, but don’t actually have reward
Sexual mimicry
Plants look and let of pheromones that look like mate
Pollinator tries to mate with
Oviposition site mimicry
Plant mimics dead animals
Insects try to lay eggs there
what are the 3 degrees of specialization for pollinators looking for pollen
Monolecty - one pollinator visits one plant species (rare)
Oligolecty - one pollinator visits several related plant species (common)
Polylecty - one pollinator visits many unrelated plant species (common)
what is an example of a highly specialized, monolectic species
wasps pollinating figs
why do wasps have to be highly specialized to pollinate figs
Fig flower inverted
Wasps get in and lay eggs inside
what are the 2 types of reproductive systems in figs
Monoecious
Each fig has both male and female flowers
Dioecious
Flowers only have male or female parts (not both)
what is the evolution of figs and wasps an example of? are there phylogenies perfectly the same?
coevolution
Fig wasps cospeciated with figs but also have switched hosts
Phylogeny of figs and fig wasps looks very similar
are all pollinators specialized?
no
Many plants have open flowers
Many pollinators indiscriminate
are relationships between specialization levels and pollinators and flowers one-to-one
no
Highly specialized bees can get resources from generalist flowers
