tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/queen-bees-7967/articlesQueen bees – The Conversation2024-03-20T01:25:27Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2262062024-03-20T01:25:27Z2024-03-20T01:25:27ZNZ’s summer insects are packing up for autumn – here’s how our gardens can help them through the cold months<p>Chillier mornings and higher heating bills aren’t the only signs of the changing seasons. Common insects, too, are having to adapt. One day we see them in our gardens and parks, the next they appear to have disappeared. </p>
<p>But most are still here – they’re just harder to find.</p>
<p>Overwintering is an adaptation that many plants, insects and other invertebrates undergo in temperate climates. It’s how they survive cold times of the year when food sources are scarce. </p>
<p>It’s similar to the way some mammals, such as bears, hibernate. But while hibernation involves an extended and deep dormancy akin to sleep, overwintering organisms are still active, just to a lesser extent. </p>
<p>Some alpine insects, such as wētapunga, can even tolerate being <a href="https://predatorfreenz.org/stories/mountain-stone-weta/">frozen solid</a> for days at a time, slowing down their metabolism until conditions become favourable again.</p>
<h2>The stay-at-home monarch</h2>
<p>New Zealand’s monarch butterflies demonstrate how insects can adapt to new environments. In North America, they disappear for the northern winter, <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_Butterfly/migration/index.shtml">migrating up to 5,000 kilometres</a> from around the Great Lakes to the central Mexican volcanic mountains. </p>
<p>They arrive in huge swarms, with population estimates one year of around <a href="https://monarchconservation.org/monarch-status/monarch-population-status">380 million butterflies</a>, clustering together to conserve energy. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/insects-and-spiders-make-up-more-than-half-nzs-animal-biodiversity-time-to-celebrate-these-spineless-creatures-195450">Insects and spiders make up more than half NZ's animal biodiversity – time to celebrate these spineless creatures</a>
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<p>In New Zealand, however, the monarch has adapted to island life and does not migrate. We know this because, for 15 years, the Moths and Butterflies of NZ Trust tagged monarch butterflies in autumn and winter to track where they were overwintering. </p>
<p>The data collected showed <a href="https://www.nzbutterflies.org.nz/project/tagging-monarchs/">no pattern of migration</a> or any common destination. Most recovered tags were still within the general area in which the butterflies were released. </p>
<p>New Zealand monarchs do show some similar behaviours to their North American counterparts, though. You might be fortunate to see a tree with a swarm of monarchs, usually on the tree’s northern side. </p>
<p>The butterflies stay active during winter, as temperatures allow. On a sunny day you will see them flying around, looking for nectar from flowers to top up their energy.</p>
<h2>Leave the leaf litter</h2>
<p>Overwintering in large numbers, however, is not typical of the way most insects survive the winter. Aotearoa’s <a href="https://jandtlab.com/how-can-i-help-save-the-bees/">native bees</a> are active only in the summer, when females forage to collect a nutritious “pollen ball” to sustain their dozen or so offspring underground during development. </p>
<p>Bee larvae will remain underground during winter, long after their parents have perished. They will emerge the following summer as the new generation of adults, never having met their caregivers.</p>
<p>While flowers rich in nectar and pollen are crucial for insects to forage when they emerge from overwintering, dead and decaying plant matter is the <a href="https://xerces.org/blog/leave-leaves-to-benefit-wildlife">lifeblood of the invertebrate world</a> during autumn and winter. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/nz-votes-the-red-admiral-butterfly-bug-of-the-year-how-to-make-your-garden-its-home-223083">NZ votes the red admiral butterfly ‘bug of the year’ – how to make your garden its home</a>
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<p>Leaf litter provides cover and nutrition for millions of insects and other microorganisms that cycle nutrients and soil, pollinate ecosystems and sustain larger organisms such as birds and fish.</p>
<p>You can help butterflies and other invertebrates survive winter by raking dead leaves onto the garden, rather than into the rubbish, and leaving seed heads on plants. Not only will this give these amazing ecosystem engineers somewhere to shelter, it will also help them return precious nutrients to the soil. </p>
<p>Plants such as <a href="https://www.nzbutterflies.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/List-of-some-nectar-species.pdf">Leucanthemum and Alyssum</a>, which produce nectar-filled flowers in autumn and winter, can provide a top-up feed for butterflies and other pollinators during warm spells. </p>
<p>Native winter-flowering whauwhau, or five-finger (<em>Pseudopanax arboreus</em>), provides vital overwintering energy for insects. And kotukutuku (<em>Fuchsia excorticata</em>), though mainly bird-pollinated, is also <a href="https://thisnzlife.co.nz/top-17-trees-feed-bees-new-zealand-year-round/">popular with bees</a>.</p>
<h2>Flight of the bumble bee</h2>
<p>Not all insects overwinter. Colony and social insects such as bumble bees and honey bees follow <a href="https://www.nzbct.org.nz/bee-informed/">characteristic phenological cycles</a>, intricately and inseparably linked to floral blooming seasons. </p>
<p>Bumble bee queens initiate a colony underground and begin to produce workers that typically live for an average of 28 days. </p>
<p>As the colony deteriorates with age at the end of summer, the queen will shift from producing sterile workers to producing reproductive individuals. These male <a href="https://www.perfectbee.com/beekeeping-articles/role-of-the-drone-bee">drones</a> and female <a href="https://www.amentsoc.org/insects/glossary/terms/gyne/">gynes</a> will leave the nest to mate, while workers consume the remaining resources.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-bees-have-queens-2-biologists-explain-this-insects-social-structure-and-why-some-bees-dont-have-a-queen-at-all-213208">Why do bees have queens? 2 biologists explain this insect's social structure – and why some bees don't have a queen at all</a>
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<p>Around March and April you may see many <a href="https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/bee-faqs/finding-dead-bees/">dead bumble bees</a> on the ground. This isn’t necessarily cause for alarm – they have simply worked hard pollinating and have reached their natural life expectancy. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, newly mated queen bumble bees will now seek out new spots in which to begin colonies, such as vacant rodent and rabbit burrows. The queens benefit from the retained heat provided by undisturbed leaf litter, which also protects them from predators.</p>
<p>Eventually, our overwintering insects will emerge, often coinciding with the start of flowering and pollen production. But a changing climate can <a href="https://www.beeculture.com/pollination-its-all-about-timing/">disrupt key plant-animal interactions</a> such as pollination. In the meantime, they will appreciate all the help we can give them as temperatures drop and the cycle of life turns again.</p>
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<p><em>The authors gratefully acknowledge the help of the <a href="https://www.nzbutterflies.org.nz/">Moths and Butterflies of New Zealand Trust</a> in the preparation of this article.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janice Lord has received funding for invertebrate-related research from the Miss E.L. Hellaby Indigenous Grasslands Research Trust, Royal Society of New Zealand, Department of Conservation, and University of Otago. She is a member of the Entomological Society of New Zealand and an honorary associate of Plant and Food Research Ltd.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Connal McLean is a member of The Entomological Society of New Zealand and The Moths and Butterflies of New Zealand Trust.</span></em></p>Many common insects seem to disappear during autumn and winter – but they are still around. Making your garden a good winter habitat can help these vital pollinators survive and thrive.Janice Lord, Associate Professor in Botany, University of OtagoConnal McLean, Natural History Technician – Invertebrates, Te Papa TongarewaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2132082024-03-04T13:35:40Z2024-03-04T13:35:40ZWhy do bees have queens? 2 biologists explain this insect’s social structure – and why some bees don’t have a queen at all<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578405/original/file-20240227-30-jjne39.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C0%2C3019%2C1971&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The queen, on the right with a larger, darker body, is bigger than the worker bees in the colony and lives several times longer.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/bees-from-a-bee-colony-with-a-queen-are-seen-on-a-honeycomb-news-photo/1233050929">Jens Kalaene/picture alliance via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
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<p><strong>Why do bees have queens? – Rhylie, age 8, Rosburg, Washington</strong></p>
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<p>When you think “bee,” you likely picture one species that lives all over the world: the <a href="https://www.natgeokids.com/au/discover/animals/insects/honey-bees/">honey bee</a>. And honey bees have queens, a female who lays essentially all of the eggs for the colony.</p>
<p>But most bees don’t have queens. With about <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-many-species-native-bees-are-united-states#:%7E">20,000 species of bees worldwide</a> – that’s about 2 trillion bees – the majority of them don’t even live in groups. They do just fine <a href="https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/wildlife_diversity/nongame/native-pollinators/solitary-social.phtml#:%7E">without queens or colonies</a>. </p>
<p>Instead, a single female lays eggs in a simple nest, either inside a plant stem or an underground tunnel. She provides each egg with a ball of pollen mixed with nectar that she collected from flowers, and she leaves the eggs to hatch and develop on their own. She doesn’t have anyone to help with this process. </p>
<p>These bee species, often spectacularly beautiful, are <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/pollinators/animals/bees.shtml">important pollinators of many crops and plants</a>, though most people aren’t even aware of them. </p>
<p>Since lots of bees successfully live without a queen, what is it that queens provide for the bee species that do have them? <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KF4sBDIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">We are behavioral ecologists</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=r9Wuv18AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">who study social insects</a>, and this question is at the heart of our research. </p>
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<span class="caption">A bee colony may have many thousands of workers who support the single queen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/bees-flying-royalty-free-image/172457089">bo1982/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
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<h2>A queen, workers and drones</h2>
<p>Along with honey bees, two other kinds of bees also have queens: <a href="https://www.treehugger.com/bumblebee-facts-5119379">bumble bees</a>, which are found on all continents except Australia and Antarctica, and <a href="https://beeswiki.com/stingless-bees/">stingless bees</a>, which are found primarily in tropical areas. </p>
<p>One honey bee colony – also called a hive – may have <a href="https://www.buzzaboutbees.net/honey-bee-facts.html">more than 50,000 bees</a>, while bumble bee colonies usually have just a few hundred bees. Stingless bee colonies are often small, but some are as large as the biggest honey bee hives. </p>
<p>These bees’ social structures have two more things in common besides the egg-laying queen: the female workers who care for the colony, and the males, <a href="https://www.buzzaboutbees.net/dronebee.html">sometimes called “drones</a>.” </p>
<p>Notice the males are not included in the “worker” group. Males generally don’t help collect nectar or pollen, protect and maintain the hive, or care for the young larvae. The females do all of those jobs. </p>
<p>Instead, the males have one task: to find and then mate with a female who may become a future queen. After building their strength, males leave the hive to join thousands of other drones to wait for new queens that are also looking for mates. If males are lucky enough to mate, they die soon afterward. In contrast, females typically mate with many different males before starting their lives as egg-laying queens. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Female worker bees do pretty much all the work.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>The isolated queen</h2>
<p>Maybe you imagine a queen as the one in charge, ordering everyone around. But that’s a case of language being misleading. Unlike human queens who lead their people, bee queens don’t rule over their workers. </p>
<p>Instead, particularly for honey bees, the queen is rather isolated from what’s happening in the hive. Remember, she just lays eggs, up to 2,000 in a day. The workers surround and take care of her while managing the colony. The queen bee might <a href="https://www.buzzaboutbees.net/how-long-do-bees-live.html">live for a few years</a>, much longer than female worker bees and drones.</p>
<p>Other animals also live in social groups with a division of labor between those who reproduce and those who maintain the colony. <a href="https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/animals/insects/ant-facts/">Ants</a>, <a href="https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/termite/353849#:%7E">termites</a> and <a href="https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/wasp/353914#:%7E">some wasps</a> – like yellow jackets and hornets – have a similar kind of colony structure. So does the <a href="https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/naked-mole-rat">naked mole rat</a>. Why did these groups evolve to have queens? </p>
<h2>Family ties</h2>
<p>One way for an organism to pass on genes is by having offspring. </p>
<p>Another way is to help close relatives, who are likely to share many of your same genes, to produce more offspring than they would if they were on their own. </p>
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<span class="caption">Honey bee eggs and larvae develop one to a cell.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/honey-bee-eggs-and-larva-in-comb-with-black-royalty-free-image/1455295651">Megan Kobe/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
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<p>This option is pretty much what happens in a bee colony. Those thousands of female worker bees may not themselves reproduce, but the queen is their mother. They help her produce another generation of siblings who will one day be their sisters. In this way, the female worker bees are passing their genes on to the next generation, just not directly. </p>
<p>Something else to consider: A honey bee hive is a <a href="https://www.beebasket.in/stories/nature/hive-architecture-the-engineering-marvel-of-beehives/#:%7E">wonderfully complex structure</a>. The layers of wax combs built to store honey and raise offspring are a marvel of architecture and require a large workforce for construction, ongoing repairs and protection from intruders or predators. </p>
<p>So you might ask: Which came first? Social groups with queens and workers producing large numbers of related offspring that required more elaborate nest structures? Or did the complex nest arise first, which led to greater success for groups that evolved to divide tasks among queens and workers? </p>
<p>These are fascinating questions that biologists have been exploring for decades. But both of these factors – the division of labor and the complex hive structures – help explain why there are bees with queens. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A queen’s main job in the hive is to lay eggs and pass genes on to offspring. But many bee species do just fine without queens or big colonies.Phil Starks, Associate Professor of Biology, Tufts UniversityAviva Liebert, Professor of Biology, Framingham State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1976712023-01-20T13:37:37Z2023-01-20T13:37:37ZHow do you vaccinate a honeybee? 6 questions answered about a new tool for protecting pollinators<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505433/original/file-20230119-14-78gogp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C4759%2C3216&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A new vaccine promises better protection against a virulent honeybee infection. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BeeHealth/dec03c6d562c457fa83f50032ab8a6f1/photo">AP Photo/Elise Amendola</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Honeybees, which pollinate <a href="https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/helping-agricultures-helpful-honey-bees">one-third of the crops Americans eat</a>, face many threats, including infectious diseases. On Jan. 4, 2023, a Georgia biotechnology company called <a href="https://www.dalan.com/">Dalan Animal Health</a> announced that it had <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230104005262/en/First-in-Class-Honeybee-Vaccine-Receives-Conditional-License-from-the-USDA-Center-for-Veterinary-Biologics">received a conditional license</a> from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a vaccine designed to protect honeybees against American foulbrood, a highly destructive infection.</em> </p>
<p><em>To receive a conditional license, which usually lasts for one year and is subject to further evaluation by the USDA, veterinary biological products must be shown to be <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/vet_biologics/publications/pel_2_2.pdf">pure, safe and reasonably likely to be effective</a>. Dr. Jennie Durant, an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=B1qAtjIAAAAJ&hl=en">agriculture researcher</a> at the University of California, Davis, who specializes in honeybee health, explains why this vaccine is potentially an important step in ongoing efforts to protect pollinators.</em></p>
<h2>1. What threat does this vaccine address?</h2>
<p>The new bee vaccine, <a href="https://www.dalan.com/product">Paenibacillus Larvae Bacterin</a>, aims to protect honeybees from <a href="https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/beltsville-md-barc/beltsville-agricultural-research-center/bee-research-laboratory/docs/american-foulbrood-disease/">American foulbrood</a>. This highly destructive bacterial disease gets its name from the foul scent honeybee larvae exude when infected. </p>
<p>An outbreak of American foulbrood is effectively a death sentence for a bee colony and can economically devastate a beekeeping operation. The spores from the bacteria, <em>Paenibacillus larvae</em>, are highly transmissible and can remain <a href="https://pollinators.msu.edu/resources/beekeepers/diagnosing-and-treating-american-foulbrood-in-honey-bee-colonies/">virulent for decades</a> after infection. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">How American foulbrood affects honeybee colonies.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Once an outbreak occurs, beekeepers typically have to <a href="https://extension.psu.edu/honey-bee-diseases-american-foulbrood#:%7E:text=American%20foulbrood%20(AFB)%20is%20a,death%20in%20only%20three%20weeks.">destroy any bee colonies</a> that they know were infected to avoid spreading the disease. They also have to destroy the hive boxes the colonies were stored in and any equipment that may have touched infected colonies. </p>
<p>Beekeepers have used antibiotics preventively for decades to keep foulbrood in check and treat infected colonies. Often they mix the antibiotics with powdered sugar and sprinkle it inside the colony box. As often happens when antibiotics are overused, scientists and beekeepers are seeing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetmic.2007.05.018">antibiotic resistance</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001861">negative impacts on hive health</a>, such as disruption of the helpful microbes that live in bees’ guts.</p>
<p>In 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration began <a href="https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/development-approval-process/using-medically-important-antimicrobials-bees-questions-and-answers">requiring a veterinarian’s prescription or feed directive</a> to use antibiotics for foulbrood. While this regulatory change <a href="https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/helping-agricultures-helpful-honey-bees">sought to address antibiotic resistance</a>, it limited beekeepers’ access to antibiotics and their ability to treat foulbrood preventively. The vaccine would ideally provide a more sustainable solution. </p>
<h2>2. How effectively does the vaccine prevent infection?</h2>
<p>Studies are still analyzing its effectiveness. One <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.946237">published study</a> demonstrated a 30% to 50% increase in resistance to American foulbrood in a vaccinated queen’s offspring. </p>
<p>While this might seem low, it’s important to put the results in context. Given how deadly and contagious American foulbrood is, researchers did not want to directly expose an outdoor hive to foulbrood with an unproven vaccine. Instead, they conducted lab studies where they exposed test hives to around 1,000 times the number of American foulbrood spores a colony would typically be exposed to in the field. Dalan, the manufacturer, has field trials planned for 2023. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1539702810916360192"}"></div></p>
<h2>3. How do you vaccinate honeybees?</h2>
<p>It’s not done with tiny needles – beekeepers mix the vaccine <a href="https://www.dalan.com/science">into bee food</a>. This approach exposes queen bees to inactive <em>Paenibacillus larvae</em> bacteria, which helps larvae hatched in the hive to resist infection. </p>
<p>This is not a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines/how-they-work.html">mRNA vaccine</a>, like the Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines. It’s a more traditional <a href="https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-an-Inactivated-Vaccine.aspx">inactive vaccine</a> like the one we use against polio. To understand how the vaccine works, it’s helpful to know what queen bees eat: a protein-rich substance called “<a href="https://www.beeculture.com/royal-jelly-worker-bee-produced-protein-rich-mothers-milk/">royal jelly</a>” that is secreted from glands on the heads of young worker bees. </p>
<p>When queen bees are shipped to a beekeeper, they are typically placed in a small cage with 50 to 200 worker bees that have been fed something called queen candy. This substance is often made with powdered sugar and corn syrup and has the consistency of sugar cookie dough or modeling clay. Worker bees consume the candy, produce royal jelly and feed it to the queen.</p>
<p>The vaccine’s delivery method uses this unique system. A beekeeper can mix the vaccine with the queen candy, which is then digested by worker bees. They produce royal jelly and feed it to the queen, who digests it and then transfers the vaccine to her ovaries. Once she is transferred to the hive and begins laying eggs, the larvae that hatch from those eggs have a heightened immunity to American foulbrood.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PcDF23HdlUY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The new vaccine takes advantage of the queen’s central role in the hive.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Who will use the vaccine?</h2>
<p>According to representatives at Dalan, limited quantities of the vaccine should be available starting in spring 2023 to commercial beekeepers and bee producers, with the aim of supplying smaller-scale beekeepers and hobbyists in the future. </p>
<h2>5. How long will a dose last?</h2>
<p>Dalan is still researching the specifics. Its current understanding is that it will last as long as the queen bee can lay eggs. If she dies, is killed or is replaced, the beekeeper will have to purchase a new vaccinated queen. </p>
<h2>6. Is this a big scientific advance?</h2>
<p>Yes – it is the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/science/honeybee-vaccine.html">first vaccine for any insect in the U.S.</a> and could help pave the way for new vaccines to treat other issues that have plagued the beekeeping industry for decades. Honeybees face many urgent threats, including <a href="https://beelab.umn.edu/varroa-mites"><em>Varroa</em> mites</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/bees-face-many-challenges-and-climate-change-is-ratcheting-up-the-pressure-190296">climate change</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/poor-nutrition-may-be-another-reason-for-the-declining-honey-bee-population-48684">poor nutrition</a>, which makes this vaccine an exciting new development. </p>
<p>Dalan is also working on a vaccine to protect bees against <a href="https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/beltsville-md-barc/beltsville-agricultural-research-center/bee-research-laboratory/docs/european-foulbrood-disease/">European foulbrood</a>. This disease is less fatal than American foulbrood, but is still highly infectious. Beekeepers have been able to treat it with antibiotics but, as with American foulbrood, they are seeing signs of resistance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197671/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennie L. Durant does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A vaccine for bees may evoke images of teeny hypodermic needles, but this product works in a sophisticated way that reflects the social structure of honeybee colonies.Jennie L. Durant, Research Affiliate in Human Ecology, University of California, DavisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1785042022-04-26T19:53:33Z2022-04-26T19:53:33ZExtreme heat waves threaten honeybee fertility and trigger sudden death<p>Temperatures soared above 42 C for days in Western Canada in June 2021, with Lytton, B.C., registering 49.6 C, <a href="https://www.rmets.org/metmatters/record-breaking-heat-canada">the hottest temperature ever recorded in Canada</a>. Wildfires scorched the province, sparking a <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/wildfire-status/about-bcws/wildfire-history/wildfire-season-summary">56-day state of emergency</a> and <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/birth-adoption-death-marriage-and-divorce/deaths/coroners-service/statistical/heat_related_deaths_in_bc_knowledge_update.pdf">nearly 600 additional sudden deaths</a> compared to the same time in 2020.</p>
<p>But humans were not the only ones affected by the heat. Beekeepers in the Okanagan Valley reported <a href="https://alisonmcafeeblogs.wordpress.com/2022/01/19/research-bulletin-keeping-nucs-cool-in-a-heatwave/">unusual deaths of honeybee queens, drones and small colonies</a>. Drones, which are the reproductive males, <a href="https://news.ubc.ca/2022/02/22/bees-are-explosively-ejaculating-to-death-a-polystyrene-cover-could-help-stop-it/">spontaneously ejaculate</a> when they die from stress, and Emily Huxter, a beekeeper in Armstrong, <a href="https://focus.science.ubc.ca/bee-ting-the-heat-65679c3be719">saw dozens of drones</a> suddenly lying dead on the lids of her hives with their male bits poking out. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451688/original/file-20220312-25-1agjimo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451688/original/file-20220312-25-1agjimo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451688/original/file-20220312-25-1agjimo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=247&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451688/original/file-20220312-25-1agjimo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=247&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451688/original/file-20220312-25-1agjimo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=247&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451688/original/file-20220312-25-1agjimo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451688/original/file-20220312-25-1agjimo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451688/original/file-20220312-25-1agjimo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A honeybee drone that died during the heat wave in British Columbia in June 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Emily Huxter)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I research how heat stress affects honeybees, and Huxter’s observations reflect what I’ve seen in the lab. Our experiments show that after six hours at 42 C, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0493-x">50 per cent of male honeybees die</a>. The results were alarming, yet conservative compared to previous work. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/art049">Other researchers</a> have found that up to 77 per cent of drones die from exposure to 42 C for just four hours. </p>
<p>This means that after a heat wave, new queens — the reproductive females — will have fewer opportunities to mate. Colonies headed by poorly mated queens are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-013-1065-y">more likely to collapse</a>, and this could pose problems for farmers who rely on honeybees to pollinate their crops. But it also betrays the risk that heat waves pose to populations of wild insects. </p>
<h2>Death isn’t the only damage</h2>
<p>Worryingly, male fertility likely begins to decline well before the drones die. For example, after just two hours at 42 C, about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0493-x">one-third</a> of sperm cells within drone ejaculates perish. This means that if a male bee survives a heat event, his fertility is likely impaired. Huxter’s dead drones indicate that the temperatures last summer clearly reached the fertility-damaging range, even for those that survived.</p>
<p>Queen honeybees mate and keep sperm in a specialized storage organ over their lifetime, typically <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/s0531-5565(00)00236-9">one to three years</a>. But even stored sperm cells are not safe from hot temperatures. Queens exposed to temperatures above 38 C for two hours or more usually survive, but the viability of the stored sperm drops to what beekeepers consider to be “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01586-w">poor quality</a>.”</p>
<p>Large, established colonies appeared to fare well during the 2021 heat dome, in terms of survival. But just because most bees survived, this insidious loss of fertility for both drones and queens means that they could still have been harmed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Queen honey bee" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451685/original/file-20220312-26-12odmtz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451685/original/file-20220312-26-12odmtz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451685/original/file-20220312-26-12odmtz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451685/original/file-20220312-26-12odmtz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451685/original/file-20220312-26-12odmtz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451685/original/file-20220312-26-12odmtz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451685/original/file-20220312-26-12odmtz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Canada imports about 250,000 queen honeybees each year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Alison McAfee)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Wild insects matter too</h2>
<p>Honeybees are not the only insects whose fertility is impacted by extreme heat. Scientists expect that <a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/based-on-science/global-warming-makes-heat-waves-hotter-longer-and-more-common">worsening heat waves</a> could impair fertility of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07273-z">beetles</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13738">bumblebees</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2005.00914.x">flies</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2017.09.004">moths</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2012.12.001">wasps</a> — and those are just some of the ones we know about. </p>
<p>For whole populations, the trends are even more concerning. In the flour beetle, <em>Tribolium castaneum</em>, the sons of heat-stressed fathers can have impaired fertility, despite never having experienced the heat themselves. Scientists predict widespread <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax8591">wild bumblebee declines</a> as the frequency of heat events increase to “untenable” extremes. And the temperatures at which male fruit flies lose their fertility do a better job of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01047-0">explaining their geographic distributions</a> than the <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/physiological-optima-and-critical-limits-45749376/">hottest temperatures at which they can survive</a> do.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Bumble bee on blueberry flowers" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451746/original/file-20220313-20-1lyio88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451746/original/file-20220313-20-1lyio88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451746/original/file-20220313-20-1lyio88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451746/original/file-20220313-20-1lyio88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451746/original/file-20220313-20-1lyio88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451746/original/file-20220313-20-1lyio88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451746/original/file-20220313-20-1lyio88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Honeybees are often used for blueberry pollination, but wild bumblebees are excellent pollinators too.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Alison McAfee)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But honeybees can adapt to their environment, and with the help of beekeepers, they will probably adapt to hotter temperatures too. Subspecies from the Middle East have a <a href="https://saudibi.com/file/research_folder/Tolerance_of_two_honey_bee_races_to_various_temperature_and_relative_humidity_gradients.pdf">higher tolerance</a> to hot and arid conditions than those native to Europe, for example, whereas colonies propagated in Canada show <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0011096">evidence of selection</a> for cold tolerance. </p>
<p>Even so, honeybee colonies only produce new queens about once a year when they prepare to swarm, or produce a new colony. This means that, relative to quickly reproducing insects like mosquitoes, they are by this metric disadvantaged for adapting to rapidly changing conditions. </p>
<p>Luckily, queen honeybees can compensate for this disadvantage by mating with multiple males, assuming they have not been killed in a recent heat wave. This increases the genetic diversity of their colonies, which is the fodder on which natural selection acts. </p>
<p>Canadian beekeepers also import around <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1093%2Fjee%2Ftoaa102">250,000</a> queens each year, adding a constant flow of new genetics. These days, the queens mainly arrive from California and Hawaii, but other exporters include Chile, Australia, Ukraine and New Zealand, among others. This may be a benefit or a hindrance, depending on how genetic diversity balances with local adaptation, but it does promote new combinations of genes that could help deal with new challenges. </p>
<h2>Bees are the bellwethers</h2>
<p>Despite the losses noted by beekeepers, honeybees, as a species, will almost certainly persist as the climate changes. But not all insects will be so lucky. Bumblebee, wasp and many ant queens, which are also produced annually during the summer, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.en.31.010186.001501">generally mate with one or a few males</a>, with limited opportunities for gene flow, and may be less capable of adapting. </p>
<p>Heat waves are clearly not the only challenge insects face: <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.847997">Habitat loss, pesticides and pathogens are also important</a>. And two months after British Columbia lifted the state of emergency, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/topic/Tag/B.C.%20Floods%202021">a devastating flood</a> displaced families yet again, as well as untold numbers of native bees hibernating in the ground. </p>
<p>Insects are critical players in ecosystems around the world, and with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax9931">many terrestrial species already declining</a>, research on how climate change will impact their fertility is vital. We pay attention to honeybees because we rely on them for pollinating crops, but they are not the only ones on which we depend. We know that the conditions during the 2021 heat dome are sufficient to reduce fertility of honeybees, which should raise alarm bells about the wild insects who don’t have keepers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178504/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison McAfee receives funding from Project Apis m., the Boone Hodgson Wilkinson Trust Fund, the Eastern Apicultural Society, and the Canadian Bee Research Fund. She is also an active member of the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists and is on the research committee for the British Columbia Honey Producers' Association.</span></em></p>Beekeepers in British Columbia reported honeybee deaths during the 2021 heat dome. Other insects may also be at risk.Alison McAfee, Postdoctoral Fellow, Michael Smith Laboratories, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1449002020-10-05T12:11:47Z2020-10-05T12:11:47ZSome bees are born curious while others are more single-minded – new research hints at how the hive picks which flowers to feast on<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360072/original/file-20200925-22-1oti0ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C17%2C3860%2C2567&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Working together to figure out where to eat.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/honey-beehive-royalty-free-image/183008733">Cheyenne Montgomery/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When you try to pick a restaurant with a group of friends, how do you decide? Your curious friend wants to try the new place, while your focused friend wants to go to the old faithful. One friend is insistent, while the other is more quiet. Ultimately, the focused vocal friend convinces the group by saying, “I am telling you, this is the best place. It’s a sure thing – we gotta go!”</p>
<p>Just like people, honey bees vary in how they seek out food and communicate where to go. As a biologist, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=lGDvqJ8AAAAJ&hl=en">I study collective behavior</a>, especially how groups make decisions. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1920554117">My colleagues and I have discovered</a> some individual bees are seemingly born with a predetermined foraging style – they can be either focused foragers or curious foragers. Having different approaches to collecting food turns out to be advantageous for large colonies that rely on a changing food landscape. </p>
<h2>Explorers and exploiters</h2>
<p>As animals collect food, they must balance exploring for new food with exploiting already known food sources. Individual animals have to do one or the other, switching between exploring or exploiting. In collectives, like honey bee colonies, foragers can split the work and do both at the same time. </p>
<p>As honey bees forage for nectar and pollen, they learn a lot of information about the flowers they visit, such as their <a href="https://doi-org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/10.1023/A:1015232608858">smells</a>, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1536017">colors</a> and <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674418776">locations</a>. Some bees become extremely focused on information associated with food, ignoring any new information – similar to selective attention in humans. Conversely, other bees exhibit a learning behavior marked by curiosity. They are interested in learning about new food sources, not just familiar ones.</p>
<h2>True to type</h2>
<p>My colleagues and I became interested in how bee colonies manage and act on these two types of information. To answer this question, we first figured out how to breed curious bees and focused bees. </p>
<p>We tested female queens and male drones to see if they were curious or focused, and then used artificial insemination to breed a curious queen with a curious drone, and a focused queen with a focused drone. Typically queens mate with 12 to 15 different drones and create genetically diverse workers, so using a single drone helped keep workers genetically uniform.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360070/original/file-20200925-20-j2iqtj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A bowl filled with several hundred bees, all marked with a blue dot on the thorax." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360070/original/file-20200925-20-j2iqtj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360070/original/file-20200925-20-j2iqtj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360070/original/file-20200925-20-j2iqtj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360070/original/file-20200925-20-j2iqtj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360070/original/file-20200925-20-j2iqtj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360070/original/file-20200925-20-j2iqtj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360070/original/file-20200925-20-j2iqtj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One-day-old curious bees marked blue.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sebastian Scofield</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Once we had populations of genetically curious and focused bees, we had to verify they would not be influenced by their social environment. We did this by placing bees in colonies of either their own learning type or one with an assortment of learning types. (We kept track of who was who by marking them with paint on their thorax as soon as they were born.) Sure enough, regardless of the social group the bees experienced, they exhibited the same learning behavior we observed in their parents. </p>
<h2>Familiar food versus novel food</h2>
<p>Next, we created colonies of all focused bees, all curious bees or a 50/50 mix of focused and curious bees – then watched how they foraged. </p>
<p>We gave them a choice between two food locations: a familiar, reliable food location that stayed in the same spot for four days or a new food location that changed odor, color and location every day. Both locations contained the same quality and quantity of food. We marked bees on their abdomens as they visited the feeders so we knew which ones they had been to and which ones they were revisiting.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360069/original/file-20200925-20-kytbgj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Five bees perched on the edge of a red feeder, sipping nectar." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360069/original/file-20200925-20-kytbgj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360069/original/file-20200925-20-kytbgj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360069/original/file-20200925-20-kytbgj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360069/original/file-20200925-20-kytbgj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360069/original/file-20200925-20-kytbgj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360069/original/file-20200925-20-kytbgj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360069/original/file-20200925-20-kytbgj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Researchers marked the bees visiting this feeder with yellow.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chelsea Cook</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We discovered the focused colony quickly found the familiar food location and exploited that eatery all week, rarely visiting the novel food option.</p>
<p>The curious colony, as expected, visited the novel and the familiar food locations equally, showing no preference. </p>
<p>Interestingly, the 50/50 mixed colony ended up acting more like the focused colony, using the familiar feeder and paying little attention to the novel feeders. We observed the curious bees in the mixed colony shifted their selected behavior by visiting the familiar feeder more than the novel one. Why?</p>
<figure>
<img src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1222/Waggle.gif?1599767052/">
<figcaption><span class="caption">The bee in the middle communicates the location of food using the waggle dance.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Dancing up a storm</h2>
<p>When honey bees find a good source of food, they use the <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674418776">waggle dance to direct their nest mates</a>. This dance communicates the distance to and direction of a nutritious meal, as well as its perceived quality. When we looked at waggle dance behavior in the 50/50 colony, we saw the focused bees were dancing more intensely – performing 0.59 turns per second, significantly faster than the curious bees’ 0.52 turns per second. Just like your vocal, excited friend, the focused bees attracted more followers, so more bees were recruited to the familiar, reliable feeder.</p>
<p>Because curious bees are interested in everything, including new information about possible food locations, they are perfect listeners and are easily convinced to visit the chosen feeder of their enthusiastic nest mates. </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Our future work will investigate how these foraging dynamics work in a changing food landscape – one where food runs out. If a source is depleted, will the focused bees turn their attention to the curious bees, who already know where other foraging locations are? </p>
<p>This research suggests successful societies make better decisions when members, by virtue of their innate learning styles, collect and communicate a diversity of information – whether they are bees looking for nectar or friends trying to decide on a restaurant. Diversity of learning behavior in individuals may help social groups adapt to shifting global environments.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144900/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chelsea Cook receives funding from National Institutes of Health, the US Department of Agriculture, and the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>New research suggests individual bees are born with one of two learning styles – either curious or focused. Their genetic tendency has implications for how the hive works together.Chelsea Cook, Assistant Professor in Biology, Marquette UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1348522020-05-01T12:15:13Z2020-05-01T12:15:13ZSpring signals female bees to lay the next generation of pollinators<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323471/original/file-20200327-132965-b72auj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C6%2C4236%2C2837&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Northern amber bumble bee queen (_Bombus borealis_) on a dandelion flower.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sarah A. Johnson</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The first days of spring – brighter and warmer – are a biological trigger for female bees to wake up from hibernation and begin to build future colonies. </p>
<p>These enormous bees, sometimes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-007-0510-3">two to three times larger</a> than a worker bee, are vital to our ecosystem and carry all the genetic material necessary for an entire generation of bees <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25085198">inside their bodies</a>. </p>
<p>If you are lucky, you might see these big bees bumble through spring blossoms in search of food and a new home. Be careful not to disturb them. Killing a few bees during the summer may not have much impact. But the death of a single female bee, ready to reproduce in early spring, could wipe out an entire colony and erase the important services that her offspring would provide – pollinating flowers in gardens, parks, farms and meadows. </p>
<p><a href="https://depts.washington.edu/distecol/people.html">My research</a> explores the foraging behavior of bees. I spend a lot of time in public parks and gardens in Seattle observing bees collecting pollen. I analyze which plants bees have visited and why. In early spring, I sometimes have the privilege of observing female bees as they search for a new home and visit plants to collect nectar for energy in flight. Bees accomplish their reproductive work in both simple and mysterious ways.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323470/original/file-20200326-132965-1v7bxzk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323470/original/file-20200326-132965-1v7bxzk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323470/original/file-20200326-132965-1v7bxzk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323470/original/file-20200326-132965-1v7bxzk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323470/original/file-20200326-132965-1v7bxzk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323470/original/file-20200326-132965-1v7bxzk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323470/original/file-20200326-132965-1v7bxzk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323470/original/file-20200326-132965-1v7bxzk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Western bumble bee queen (<em>Bombus occidentalis</em>) with a male on an aster flower.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sarah A. Johnson</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The wild social bee colony</h2>
<p>Female bees are essential to the survival of all bee colonies, but each species is unique. Bees native to the United States lead different lives from one another depending on whether they are social bees or solitary bees. </p>
<p>Female social bees first begin looking for a new nesting spot – a hole in a tree, an abandoned rat’s nest, an empty mouse burrow – to lay hundreds of offspring to build a colony. At the same time, they collect pollen and nectar to feed the newly hatched bees. Social bee colonies can contain thousands of bees, each performing a different task to keep the colony healthy and safe. </p>
<p>Only the queen bee is fertile and correctly called “queen” if she belongs to a species where adult females live together and cooperate in some way. An estimated 10% of all bee species – of which there are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0604033103">more than 20,000</a> worldwide – are considered social bees with a queen in charge.</p>
<p>All the female bees laid by a social queen bee are sterile, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-9994-9-35">keeping the queen in control</a> and preserving the hierarchy of the hive. The sterile females and males perform low-level work like collecting food and caring for offspring.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323466/original/file-20200326-132965-5ieejm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323466/original/file-20200326-132965-5ieejm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323466/original/file-20200326-132965-5ieejm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323466/original/file-20200326-132965-5ieejm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323466/original/file-20200326-132965-5ieejm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323466/original/file-20200326-132965-5ieejm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323466/original/file-20200326-132965-5ieejm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323466/original/file-20200326-132965-5ieejm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Yellow-banded bumble bee queen (<em>Bombus terricola</em>) on willow inflorescence.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sarah A. Johnson, CC BY-ND</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Social queen bees are easily identified because they tend to be active early in the season and are often noticeably larger than most of their offspring. Queen bees can lay hundreds to thousands of eggs over the course of the summer. In the fall, a new queen bee is laid. The remainder of the colony dies off, and the queen overwinters alone, carrying all the genetic material to start a new population the following spring.</p>
<h2>Solitary bees and their habits</h2>
<p>Unlike social bees that live and work together with a single fertile female queen, solitary bees live alone, and all female solitary bees are fertile. Instead of building colonies, female solitary bees emerge in spring and mate with male solitary bees, then find a place to nest, such as a woodpecker hole, the siding of your house or a hole in the ground.</p>
<p>Female solitary bees create segmented nests for each individual offspring. They collect pollen from flowers and build a ball called a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2016.09.011">pollen provision</a> inside each segment, anywhere from the size of a lentil to a large pea. Female solitary bees lay a single egg in each segment of the nest that contains a pollen provision, then die off. Solitary bees pollinate a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/24969305">huge number</a> of flowering plants in the process of collecting food for their offspring. The offspring overwinter and emerge to continue the cycle the next spring. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323413/original/file-20200326-133016-3mutj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323413/original/file-20200326-133016-3mutj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323413/original/file-20200326-133016-3mutj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323413/original/file-20200326-133016-3mutj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323413/original/file-20200326-133016-3mutj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323413/original/file-20200326-133016-3mutj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323413/original/file-20200326-133016-3mutj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Honey bee queens lay thousands of offspring over the season, bees that are important for agricultural pollination.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Boba Jaglicic on Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What about honey bees?</h2>
<p>A well-known social bee that provides pollination services is the non-native honey bee, a species that lives in man-made hives designed to easily transport bees and harvest honey. Honey bees are technically native to Europe, but have been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jip.2009.06.011">domesticated by humans</a> for thousands of years. Unlike native social bees that die off in the fall, honey bees hibernate during the winter inside their hives. </p>
<p>When a queen honey bee grows old after two to three years, offspring are designated as future queens and fed a highly nutritious diet of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/1259510">royal jelly</a> – a mixture of nectar and pollen. The young queen is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-003-0738-5">raised by her sisters</a> until she reaches maturity. Then she leaves the nest to begin laying offspring and building a colony of her own. The honey bee colony continues to survive, cycling through generation after generation.</p>
<h2>Building ecosystem resilience for bees</h2>
<p>Female bees, responsible for future bee populations, face risks early in the season with limited flowers to visit for energy and a decline in nesting sites in more developed areas. </p>
<p>It’s best to provide female bees with many early spring flowers – they rely on nectar from flowers to fuel their search for a nesting spot. Planting <a href="https://www.xerces.org/blog/planning-your-plantings-for-climate-resiliency">early flowering</a> plants such as willow, poplar, cherry trees and other spring blooms provides nectar for queen bees.</p>
<p>Garden restoration benefits all bees by fostering nesting sites for social and solitary bees. Nesting sites boost bee populations, pollinating native plants and boosting production in our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-014-0349-0">backyard gardens</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1603/0013-8746(2008)101%5B140:BRAAIN%5D2.0.CO;2">community gardens</a>.</p>
<p>How can you help these amazing bees? Simply let them be. If it’s spring and a big bee is too close for comfort, move calmly out of the way and admire her from afar. Female bees, looking for a home, are usually too preoccupied with their search to sting you.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134852/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lila Westreich receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the United States Department of Agriculture McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Research program.</span></em></p>One bee may lay thousands of offspring in late spring. Give her room to build a nest and manage her reproductive duties.Lila Westreich, Ph.D. Candidate, School of Environment and Forest Sciences, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1296802020-01-09T22:22:53Z2020-01-09T22:22:53ZThe immortal – and false – myth of the workplace Queen Bee<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309360/original/file-20200109-80116-aeaat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=211%2C0%2C4225%2C2436&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Queen Bee myth has more to do with how companies are structured than it does with women actually undermining one another at work.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cat fights, mean girls, Queen Bees. </p>
<p>We’ve all heard these terms stemming from a popular belief that women don’t help other women, or indeed actively undermine them. </p>
<p>Women leaders are often portrayed in popular culture as suffering from Queen Bee Syndrome (think <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2015/06/09/the-idea-of-queen-bee-female-executives-is-losing-its-sting/">Miranda Priestly in <em>The Devil Wears Prada</em>)</a>. The media is filled with advice about “<a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-to-do-if-you-work-for-a-queen-bee-2018-08-06">what to do if you work for a Queen Bee</a>.”</p>
<p>But what if the Queen Bee isn’t real? Or at least she’s sorely misunderstood?</p>
<p>Gendered differences in expectations make us see Queen Bees when they aren’t really there.</p>
<p>Looking across a wide range of studies, there is no evidence that senior women are less helpful (or more harmful) to junior women than senior men are to junior men. Studies find <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167217695551">little evidence that women are more competitive</a> towards other women than men are towards other men. And women and men do <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/147470490900700201">not differ in their use of aggression</a>. Indeed, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/681960">having a female manager</a> is, with few exceptions, either positive or neutral on women’s rates of promotions and wages.</p>
<h2>Women expected to be helpful, warm</h2>
<p>So why do people believe that Queen Bees are so prevalent? The answer has to do with our expectations of leaders. Because women are expected to be helpful and warm, people perceive women who take on leadership roles more negatively. So even if women leaders aren’t behaving any differently than men, they will be seen as unsupportive because of the double standards women face. </p>
<p>Demanding male managers are seen as strong leaders, while women don’t get the same credit. And when conflicts arise at work, as they often do, clashes between two women are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0149206314539348">seen as much more problematic</a> by others in the organization than those between men.</p>
<p>It’s assumed that women should align themselves with other women no matter what. As former U.S. Secretary of State <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/13/opinion/madeleine-albright-my-undiplomatic-moment.html">Madeline Albright said</a>: “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.” </p>
<p>In corporations, we expect senior women to take on responsibilities for championing other women in management, heading up women’s leadership committees and, in general, doing the organization’s heavy lifting when it comes to increasing diversity. </p>
<p>This is, however, a lot of extra (and undervalued) work that is not expected of their male peers. If a woman chooses not to take on these roles, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8551.2008.00573.x">she may be labelled a Queen Bee</a>, while men who don’t do diversity work are not.</p>
<h2>Marginalization is the culprit</h2>
<p>If women do behave like Queen Bees sometimes, why is that?</p>
<p>Sometimes we observe that women don’t advocate for other women in their organizations. Experimental evidence shows that this is not about being a prima donna, but instead a product of what scholars call “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1100.0565">value threat</a>.” </p>
<p>Value threats occur when there are negative stereotypes of women in highly masculinized workplaces. Women who do manage to “make it” must constantly fight these negative stereotypes in order to hold onto their own positions in the organization. Their concern about whether they are valued at work may shape their willingness to assist other women. Women <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2011.05.009">might not support other women</a> if there is any question about these women’s qualifications, because they don’t want to do anything that might fuel the negative stereotypes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309348/original/file-20200109-80116-b7gr9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309348/original/file-20200109-80116-b7gr9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309348/original/file-20200109-80116-b7gr9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309348/original/file-20200109-80116-b7gr9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309348/original/file-20200109-80116-b7gr9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309348/original/file-20200109-80116-b7gr9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309348/original/file-20200109-80116-b7gr9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women may be more willing to help other women if they have confidence in their qualifications and skills, particularly in a highly masculinized workplace.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In this context, there are often few opportunities open to women — “implicit quotas” that limit chances for leadership roles. One study of 1,500 firms showed that <a href="https://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/news/ras-spring-2015/dezso">once a company appointed a woman to a top leadership role, the chance that a second woman would join the leadership ranks dropped by 50 per cent</a>. </p>
<p>Another study of corporate boards showed companies <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/11/03/twokenism-is-new-tokenism/">seemed to be gaming the system</a>: appointing two — but no more than two — women to their boards, a phenomenon the researchers called “twokenism.” </p>
<p>As a result, women may not support other highly qualified women because they know they’ll be competing for the same small number of opportunities. Our conclusion: being a Queen Bee is not an intrinsically female behaviour but instead a <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-03099-001">reaction to marginalization</a>.</p>
<p>Again, it’s the context that matters. In studies of networks inside organizations, women were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1137">more likely than men to cite a woman as a source of difficult work relationships</a>, but this propensity was lower for women with more women in their social support network. Similarly, an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2015.12.007">experiment with women police officers</a> found that women who identified closely with their gender actually responded to gender bias with increased motivation to help other women, while those who were less gender-identified were more likely to exhibit Queen Bee responses.</p>
<p>Women may be seen as Queen Bees when in fact the organizational context is the origin of the behaviour. When organizations are not inclusive, women are more likely to experience value threat and therefore more likely to avoid supporting other women.</p>
<h2>No male equivalent to Queen Bee</h2>
<p>Beyond the evidence against the Queen Bee myth, the mere existence of the term is part of the problem. If men are as likely to be competitive with other men as women are with other women, then gendered terms such as Queen Bee are sexist. </p>
<p>In this regard, language matters. Calling women Queen Bees is its own form of devaluation, with its impact on the denigration and marginalization of women in leadership. </p>
<p>At a time when corporations are struggling to address gender gaps at all levels, killing off stereotyped myths such as the Queen Bee Syndrome is essential.</p>
<p>The Queen Bee is dead! Long live women leaders!</p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129680/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Kaplan receives funding from the Canadian Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion through the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isabel Fernandez-Mateo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>At a time when corporations are struggling to address gender gaps at all levels, killing off stereotyped myths such as the Queen Bee Syndrome is essential.Isabel Fernandez-Mateo, Adecco Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, London Business SchoolSarah Kaplan, Professor, Strategic Management, Rotman School of Management; Director, Institute for Gender and the Economy, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/836242017-09-18T14:23:42Z2017-09-18T14:23:42ZA game of drones: why some bees kill their queens<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185327/original/file-20170908-27562-9at6sq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">You shall not pass. _Scaptotrigona_ workers defend the entrance to their nest.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/108308648@N03/29512365705">Graham Wise/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a palace intrigue worthy of George R R Martin, a new <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10886-017-0839-7">study</a> has shown that some bee workers are queenslayers who will rise up and kill their queen if she produces the wrong sort of male offspring. The throne can then be seized by one of her daughters, who will produce the right kind of male heirs – ensuring the survival of the bloodline.</p>
<p>Why would bees favour some queens over others based on their sons? To understand this, we need to know a bit about the difference between male and female bees. The sons of queen bees, ants, and wasps (insects collectively known as Hymenoptera) come in two kinds.</p>
<p>The difference is all to do with their genetics. Humans are <a href="https://blog.udemy.com/haploid-vs-diploid/">“diploid” organisms</a>, meaning they have two copies (alleles) of each gene, one from each parent. Bees, however, work a little differently.</p>
<p>Female bees, like us, are diploid, coming from fertilised eggs with two sets of alleles. A queen must mate to produce females, because the father contributes half of the daughter’s genome. </p>
<p>But male bees, known as drones, <a href="http://www.animalbehavioronline.com/haplodiploidy.html">are normally “haploid”</a>, produced from the queen’s unfertilised eggs and carrying one set of alleles. The queen can produce them without ever mating.</p>
<p>The queen mates only once, but stores the sperm for the rest of her life. After mating, she can choose whether to fertilise any given egg, and so can control how many male and female offspring she has. </p>
<p>Occasionally, though, a <a href="https://honeybeesuite.com/what-they-didnt-teach-you-in-bee-school/">rarer and more sinister kind of male</a> appears, over which the queen has no control. These males are diploid, and usually sterile. They are formed when a diploid (and so rightfully female) bee’s body is fooled into becoming male. They spell disaster for a colony’s survival because they consume resources, cannot contribute to reproduction, and, like all Hymenopteran males, refuse to work. </p>
<p>When deciding whether to become male or female, a developing bee’s body looks at <a href="http://www.cell.com/abstract/S0092-8674(03)00606-8">just a single gene</a> called the “complementary sex determination” (CSD) gene. If this gene has two different alleles because it comes from a fertilised egg, the bee becomes female. But if it has only one allele because it comes from an unfertilised egg, the bee becomes male.</p>
<p>Normally this sex determination system works fine. But if by random chance the queen has mated with a male that carries a CSD allele identical to hers, then half her diploid offspring will only have one kind of CSD allele and become male instead of female, effectively halving the workforce of the new generation.</p>
<p>Existing workers are, understandably, not at all down with that. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186393/original/file-20170918-8300-624g4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186393/original/file-20170918-8300-624g4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186393/original/file-20170918-8300-624g4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186393/original/file-20170918-8300-624g4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186393/original/file-20170918-8300-624g4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186393/original/file-20170918-8300-624g4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186393/original/file-20170918-8300-624g4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Drama queens.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elichten/Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Queens with sterile male offspring get assassinated</h2>
<p>The researchers in the new study looked at the species <em><a href="http://www.sci-news.com/biology/science-brazilian-stingless-bee-monascus-fungus-03372.html">Scaptotrigona depilis</a></em>, a member of the <a href="https://animalcorner.co.uk/animals/stingless-bees/">stingless bees</a> (Meliponini) native to Brazil. They identified colonies with developing sterile diploid males, as well as normal colonies to compare them with.</p>
<p>They introduced a new, normal, healthy queen to each nest and tracked its activity. Queens in colonies containing sterile males mysteriously died about 10 days after those males emerged.</p>
<p>The introduced queens in the two kinds of colony were otherwise no different from each other. This means we can rule out genetic factors that might have made them more likely to die, or might have made them inherently smell different to workers.</p>
<p>They weren’t the mothers of any offspring in either the experimental or control colonies, so there was no reason to think that workers in control colonies were more likely to favour their new queen than workers in experimental colonies.</p>
<h2>Sterile males are both lazy and smelly</h2>
<p>So why did the experimental colonies rise up and kill their new queens? The simplest explanation is that the presence of sterile diploid males, rather than anything about the queen herself, is what causes the workers to assassinate her.</p>
<p>In a normally functioning colony (one that hasn’t been manipulated for an experiment), this response would be extremely advantageous. If the queen is producing hungry, lazy, sterile males, then killing her allows one of her daughters to become a new queen, producing genuinely reproductive male heirs. The workers can then help the new queen perpetuate their collective genetic legacy.</p>
<p>How do the workers detect sterile males? The researchers showed that, to workers, normal haploid males and sterile diploid males smell different. The two distinct smells develop a short while after the males emerge. How long afterwards, do you suppose? About 10 days – precisely the point at which the queens in the experiment began “mysteriously” dying off. The smoking gun.</p>
<p>Why aren’t these males rooted out earlier? In honey bees (<em>Apis mellifera</em>), <a href="http://honeybee.drawwing.org/book/diploid-drones">they are</a>. Worker bees attend eggs and larvae and can easily “smell” a diploid male and kill it. But in stingless bees, <a href="http://www.beesfordevelopment.org/categories/stingless-bees/">eggs are sealed off</a> in cells early in development, and workers have no contact with them until they emerge as good-for-nothing layabout males.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186246/original/file-20170915-8076-aqa3pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186246/original/file-20170915-8076-aqa3pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186246/original/file-20170915-8076-aqa3pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186246/original/file-20170915-8076-aqa3pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186246/original/file-20170915-8076-aqa3pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186246/original/file-20170915-8076-aqa3pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186246/original/file-20170915-8076-aqa3pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Girlz n the hill. Solenopsis fire ants.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">stevenw12339/flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ants and wasps are queen-killers too</h2>
<p>This kind of behaviour isn’t unique; queenslaying is known in many Hymenopteran species. One example is in colonies of fire ants (<em>Solenopsis invicta</em>), whose workers form gangs. Each gang has its own “<a href="https://timeline.com/gang-signs-secret-language-d1671aa6281c">gang sign</a>”, an odour produced by the combination of alleles of a particular gene, which allows the ants to identify who is in their gang. Workers from one gang <a href="http://www.curiousmeerkat.co.uk/indepth/social-supergene-is-a-green-beard-for-fire-ants/">will kill</a> queens showing the wrong gang sign.</p>
<p>In yellowjacket wasps, which have annual lifecycles, workers will commonly <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151029190838.htm">slay their queen</a> at the end of the year as she ages and her power wanes. In her prime, she produces chemical signals that suppress the workers’ ability to reproduce (even workers can produce males by laying unfertilised eggs).</p>
<p>Workers are OK with this, as long as the queen continues to mass-produce their brothers and sisters. But once her baby-making ability starts to decline, the sums don’t add up. They do better genetically by ending the season with a bang and laying vast numbers of their own males – and for that they need freedom from mother. One only hopes they make it quick.</p>
<p>Oddly, workers only kill faithful queens that mate with only one male. In species with more promiscuous queens, workers are less bloodthirsty because they are typically half siblings, not full siblings. Here, workers do not share enough genes to favour giving a leg-up to each other’s children over the queen’s offspring – however decrepit she is. </p>
<p>But in both these cases, the queen is slain because of her genetics, rather than her life choices. Uniquely, stingless bee workers instead exert gruesome revenge on their queen because of her actions: her unfortunate choice of mate.</p>
<p>The authors of <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10886-017-0839-7">the new study</a> also suggest that the queen is unlikely to be able to distinguish good from bad mates, that is, whether or not a potential suitor shares her CSD allele. So there is no reason to suppose the queen would know she is marked for death until the moment she is assassinated in a <a href="http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Red_Wedding">“Red Wedding”</a>-style ambush.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83624/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Gilbert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research shows stingless bees will assassinate their queen if she makes the wrong royal match.James Gilbert, Lecturer in Zoology, University of HullLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/824062017-08-14T16:00:34Z2017-08-14T16:00:34ZNew study: pesticides increase extinction risk for bumblebee populations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181965/original/file-20170814-12228-4ibg8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vinokurov Kirill / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bumblebee queens are a common sight on a spring day, their large furry bodies flying industriously from flower to flower. At this point they will have just awoken from a long hibernation – the much smaller worker bees die off each year, leaving the new queens to survive winter alone. Eating nectar and pollen from these flowers is therefore essential for the queens to build up their energy and fat stores. Once they are fully restored, which can happen within a few days, the queens will look for a nest-site, perhaps an abandoned mouse nest, where they will build up a honey pot and pollen stores prior to laying eggs and founding a new colony of bumblebees. </p>
<p>While this all sounds fairly easy – how hard is it to find flowers in the spring, after all? – the colony-founding stage is actually the most stressful part of the bumblebee lifecycle. Bad weather, starvation, and predators like great tits mean the queens often fail to make it through the winter. The last thing they need is another challenge. But recently, a new potential threat to bumblebee queens has appeared.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/neonicotinoids-7304">Neonicotinoids</a> are a class of insecticides that are used on agricultural crops and in gardens to control insect pests. Unfortunately, as well as controlling insect pests, <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-research-showed-a-controversial-insecticide-can-harm-bees-but-it-still-has-its-uses-80490">numerous</a> <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-01361-8">studies</a> have shown that they can also damage beneficial insects like bumblebees. This is because neonicotinoids get into the nectar and pollen of both the crops and the wildflowers that grow nearby, and so into the food of bees. </p>
<p>The European Union imposed a moratorium on their use in crops attractive to bees back in 2013, and similar restrictions are being considered by nations around the globe. During this moratorium, scientists are trying to find out how neonicotinoids affect bees, so we can make evidence-based decisions about their use. </p>
<p>Given the importance of queens and the colony-founding stage in bumblebees, colleagues and I decided to investigate whether exposing queens to neonicotinoids would lead to a reduction in egg-laying and subsequent colony founding. Our results have just been published in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0260-1">Nature Ecology & Evolution</a>.</p>
<h2>Queens become less likely to lay eggs</h2>
<p><a href="https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/gemma-baron(cd909bd4-38c4-4076-b7b8-b9a8b5cedeeb).html">Gemma Baron</a>, the PhD student who led this work, first gathered evidence that bumblebee queens were collecting nectar and pollen from both oil-seed rape – a major neonicotinoid crop and one very attractive to bees – and from wildflowers growing nearby. This meant queens could be consuming these insecticides in the wild. However, to determine the impact of such exposure, we had to turn to the laboratory and the computer. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181967/original/file-20170814-12228-9fszb9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181967/original/file-20170814-12228-9fszb9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181967/original/file-20170814-12228-9fszb9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181967/original/file-20170814-12228-9fszb9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181967/original/file-20170814-12228-9fszb9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181967/original/file-20170814-12228-9fszb9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181967/original/file-20170814-12228-9fszb9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181967/original/file-20170814-12228-9fszb9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rapeseed field in Hampshire, UK.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jane Rix / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After mating hundreds of queens in the lab, she then put them through an artificial hibernation in a fridge, before placing them in a special bumblebee rearing room. Half of these queens were given a neonicotinoid, thiamethoxam, in nectar at concentrations and quantities they could experience if foraging in and around crops treated with the chemical. The other half were given uncontaminated nectar. Both groups were given as much pollen as they wanted. </p>
<p>Egg-laying by these queens was then recorded over a ten-week period. It turns out that exposure to thiamethoxam made queens 26% less likely to lay eggs, and therefore to found a colony. This seems like a big impact, but what would it actually mean in the real world?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181989/original/file-20170814-29240-117icge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181989/original/file-20170814-29240-117icge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181989/original/file-20170814-29240-117icge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181989/original/file-20170814-29240-117icge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181989/original/file-20170814-29240-117icge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181989/original/file-20170814-29240-117icge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181989/original/file-20170814-29240-117icge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181989/original/file-20170814-29240-117icge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Queen bumblebees in their rearing boxes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Judit Bagi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why this matters</h2>
<p>Doing experiments with bumblebee queens in the wild is basically impossible. They can fly for kilometres, and frequently abandon artificial nests if allowed to forage freely. So to understand how our lab results might relate to bumblebee populations in the natural world, we turned to mathematical modelling. </p>
<p>Taking advantage of what is known about the dynamics of bumblebee populations in the wild, we factored in the impact of the neonicotinoids we had identified in the laboratory. We found that if bumblebee queens fed on nectar contaminated with thiamethoxam this could increase the probability of their population going extinct by at least 28%. </p>
<p>What does all this matter? Bees are essential pollinators of both crops and wildflowers, and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms8414#f2">bumblebees provide nearly half of all pollination</a> in northern temperate regions like the UK. Given that their populations are already falling, we need to understand why they are declining in order to maintain and increase their numbers. </p>
<p>Our results suggest that exposure to neonicotinoid insecticides could have dramatic impacts on bumblebee queens, leading to fewer bumblebee colonies, less pollination, and ultimately population extinctions. Studies like this provide the evidence that policy-makers need if we are to develop sustainable agricultural systems that provide the food we need without harming the bees we rely on, not just for pollination but for that iconic buzzing on a summer’s day.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82406/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Brown receives funding from BBSRC and other RCUK bodies. The study reported here was funded by a NERC studentship, and the Insect Pollinators Initiative (joint-funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Defra, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Scottish Government and the Wellcome Trust, managed under the auspices of the Living with Environmental Change (LWEC) partnership.). He is the Focal Point for Wildlife Health on the IUCN-Bumble Bee Specialists Group. </span></em></p>Exposure to neonicotinoids could lead to fewer bumblebee colonies, less pollination, and ultimately to population extinctions.Mark Brown, Professor of Evolutionary Ecology & Conservation, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/219712014-01-16T19:31:26Z2014-01-16T19:31:26ZSmells like queen spirit: royal pheromones in insect colonies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38931/original/xt9s79m5-1389587264.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A queen bee tended by her workers ... but take away her pheromones and they start to act strangely.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/KrisFricke</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Much like people, insect colonies like to know if her majesty is at home. In the ants, bees, wasps and termites (the “big four” of the social insect world), the queen has long been suspected of using special “queen <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-truth-about-pheromones-100363955/">pheromones</a>” – emitted chemicals which let the workers know where she is. </p>
<p>Despite lots of circumstantial evidence that all social insects have queen pheromones, we mostly had no idea what those pheromones are – but a new paper <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/343/6168/1244899">published today</a> in the journal Science changes that. </p>
<p>Queen pheromones are a very important part of the chemical language of the colony, and workers adjust not only their behaviour but their complete physiology when they smell their queen. </p>
<p>Workers deprived of queen pheromone assume that their mother is long gone and have a go at laying eggs themselves: queens usually handle almost all of the egg-laying in the colony.</p>
<p>Today’s paper, the result of collaboration between biologists and chemists working in Australia (<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/lukeholman/home">me</a>), <a href="http://bio.kuleuven.be/ento/wenseleers/twenseleers.htm">Belgium</a> and the <a href="http://www.facultydirectory.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/pub/public_individual.pl?faculty=68">US</a> showed that by synthesising a copy of some possible queen pheromones, we could “trick” the workers into thinking their queen was still there. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38927/original/c6ybj2cx-1389586301.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38927/original/c6ybj2cx-1389586301.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38927/original/c6ybj2cx-1389586301.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38927/original/c6ybj2cx-1389586301.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38927/original/c6ybj2cx-1389586301.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38927/original/c6ybj2cx-1389586301.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38927/original/c6ybj2cx-1389586301.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38927/original/c6ybj2cx-1389586301.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Queen termite, tended by workers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/eyeweed</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A royal – yet common – perfume</h2>
<p>We found the first queen pheromones from a wasp and a bumblebee, as well as a previously unstudied type of ant. Adding previous work, we’ve now found the queen pheromone of honeybees, termites and a few more ants. </p>
<p>This allowed us to ask a new question: do all social insects use the same queen pheromone, or does each have a unique version? Surprisingly, the answer is that queen pheromones are similar or even identical across species, even in distantly-related types of social insects. </p>
<p>Bees, ants and wasps all evolved colonial life (and the queen-worker dichotomy) independently, so many researchers expected them to have unique queen pheromones.</p>
<p>The fact that most bees, ants and wasps all have the same “chemical word” meaning “I’m the queen! I’m over here!” suggests that the pheromone existed in the most recent common ancestor of these species, which was a solitary insect that lived about 150 million years ago. </p>
<p>Maybe the pheromone was something used by female insects to signal that they were full of eggs (perhaps to attract the boys), and it was co-opted by primitive queens (who are also chock-full of eggs) to signal to their prototypical workers. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qnPGDWD_oLE?wmode=transparent&start=54" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Which one’s the queen?’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>It all makes evolutionary scents</h2>
<p>But why did all the social insects keep the same queen pheromone, instead of drifting apart and evolving very different ones over evolutionary time? </p>
<p>One possibility is that the latter actually did happen: the honey bee is an outlier, since it uses a very distinct, complicated queen pheromone all of its own. </p>
<p>Maybe once more queen pheromones are known, we will find other weird species that have switched to a new chemical language – but the current evidence suggests that most of the bees, ants and wasps stuck to the original queen pheromone, for reasons unknown. </p>
<p>The science drones are working on it: stay tuned!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/21971/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke Holman receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Much like people, insect colonies like to know if her majesty is at home. In the ants, bees, wasps and termites (the “big four” of the social insect world), the queen has long been suspected of using special…Luke Holman, Evolutionary Biologist, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.