I hadn’t thought about bee dancing for a long time, when someone pointed me to this post by Laura Luebbert and Lior Pachter on a bit of data fraud in biology. Luebbert writes: Four years ago, during the first year … Continue reading →

The neuronal basis of complex social behavior is still poorly understood. In honeybees, reproductive investment decisions are made at the colony-level. Queens develop from female-destined larvae that receive alloparental care from nurse bees in the form of ad-libitum royal jelly (RJ) secretions. Typically, the number of raised new queens is limited but genetic breeding of "royal jelly bees" (RJBs) for enhanced RJ production over decades has led to a dramatic increase of reproductive investment in queens. Here, we compare RJBs to unselected Italian bees (ITBs) to investigate how their cognitive processing of larval signals in the mushroom bodies (MBs) and antennal lobes (ALs) may contribute to their behavioral differences. A cross-fostering experiment confirms that the RJB syndrome is mainly due to a shift in nurse bee alloparental care behavior. Using olfactory conditioning of the proboscis extension reflex, we show that the RJB nurses spontaneously respond more often to larval odors compared with ITB nurses but their subsequent learning occurs at similar rates. These phenotypic findings are corroborated by our demonstration that the proteome of the brain, particularly of the ALs differs between RJBs and ITBs. Notably, in the ALs of RJB newly emerged bees and nurses compared with ITBs, processes of energy and nutrient metabolism, signal transduction are up-regulated, priming the ALs for receiving and processing the brood signals from the antennae. Moreover, highly abundant major royal jelly proteins and hexamerins in RJBs compared with ITBs during early life when the nervous system still develops suggest crucial new neurobiological roles for these well-characterized proteins. Altogether, our findings reveal that RJBs have evolved a strong olfactory response to larvae, enabled by numerous neurophysiological adaptations that increase the nurse bees' alloparental care behavior.

Visits to the Smithsonian's National Zoo just became a little bit sweeter with the arrival of a new honeybee colony. With a hive made of glass in the Zoo's Pollinarium and full access to the outdoors, these bees are showing off the wondrous ways of their world.

The post Honeybees fascinate visitors at the National Zoological Park appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Scientists have identified several wild insects that could undertake the crop pollination function of honeybees. By comparing a range of pollinating insects they found three wild species that appear to be as efficient as the honeybee in pollination but may need management to increase their numbers.

The presence of wild bees alongside honeybees was found to increase almond orchard production in a recent study. The findings demonstrate how increased biodiversity enhances ecosystem services, such as pollination, and provide an opportunity to increase agricultural yields whilst also benefitting wildlife.

The presence of wild bees alongside honeybees was found to increase almond orchard production in a recent study. The findings demonstrate how increased biodiversity enhances ecosystem services, such as pollination, and provide an opportunity to increase agricultural yields whilst also benefitting wildlife.

A potential new biopesticide, made of spider venom and snowdrop proteins, kills agricultural pests but shows minimal toxicity to honeybees, new research suggests. Learning and memory of honeybees exposed to the biopesticide were not affected, even at doses higher than they would normally encounter in the environment.

Consider helping our honeybees by planting native flowers.

This colony of bees is rebuilding in a hollow log in Germany after the hive collapsed earlier this year.

Australian scientists are attaching sensors to bees to track their movements and study colony collapse disorder.

New research conducted in the UK reveals that diseases common in "managed" bees are now reaching wild populations.

Through the collaborative magic of crowdfunding, the Open Source Beehives project aims to bring downloadable beehive designs to citizen scientists everywhere.

A photographer has caught fascinating slow-motion footage of honeybees flying, working and even stinging.

Scientists scramble to understand the causes of colony collapse disorder.

A buzzworthy new discovery might help explain the alarming speed of colony collapse disorder.

Honey bees between pollination gigs still need to eat. Efforts are underway to keep them from starving when they’re off the clock.

Hives of honeybees do 'the wave' by shaking their booties. The wave pattern, called "shimmering,", requires impressive coordination.

Honeybees Sweetened Life for Stone Age Humans

Fleets of these 'artificial bees' could one day pollinate our crops just like real bees do.

New research finds a protein in honeybee semen that makes the queen temporarily blind.

Despite recent declines in honeybees and other bee species, the U.S. is suspending its annual count of honeybee hives.

The behavior has never been documented in other insects, researchers say.

If you’ve been itching to get back to the outside world, two words might make you think again: murder hornets. For the first time, these gigantic, invasive hornets have been spotted in the U.S., which could be a problem for both humans and honeybees.[...]

Modifying bacteria found in the guts of bees could help protect the insects against lethal infections affecting hives worldwide

A protein-coding gene called GB45239 is responsible for thelytokous parthenogenesis — the ability to produce daughters asexually — in the Cape honeybee (Apis mellifera capensis), a subspecies of honeybee found in the two southern provinces of South Africa, according to a new paper published in the journal Current Biology. The female worker caste of the [...]

It's not a bee attack -- it's just a bee swarm. Here are tips on how to deal with one.

What happens when you find bees have made your home into their hive? You call Mike 'The Bee Guy' and document it their removal.

Honeybees survey vast tracts of land during their communal foraging. They share their best finds in a waggle dance, which new research has turned into a powerful tool for assessing ecosystem health.

The queen led her minions to the engine of a Delta airplane, delaying the flight until the protected bees could be professionally removed

While not banning the killer pesticides altogether, the new measure will at least hopefully help the beleaguered pollinators.

In defense of biomimicry and of scientific research with no foreseeable applications

Listen to the Betty Boops of the insect world as they "boop oop a doop" in the hive.

A new scientific study could save a whole lot of elephants.

Michael Thiele is 'rewilding' honeybees in California, returning them to more natural nest environments in order to help them survive.

Murderous Asian hornets are invading honeybee hives- decapitating the insects and feeding the bodies to their young. But Japanese bees are fighting back by cooking the predators to death.

Hayden Library - QH309.D866 2018