bees – envirobites

Saturday, April 27, 2024

A yellow-faced bumblebee flies between purple sage flowers.

Hive Minds: Bumblebees Collaborate to Learn Complex Behaviors

March 27, 2024March 25, 2024 Lauren Glevanik 0 Comments animal behavior, bees, behavior, behavioral ecology, Culture, innovation, social, social learning

In a groundbreaking discovery, bumblebees have been shown to have a more sophisticated social culture than previously known. Bees could learn to solve a challenging puzzle through social interaction, demonstrating their ability to learn new and complex behaviors beyond their individual cognitive abilities. This study suggests that advanced social learning is not unique to humans, and encourages further exploration of collaboration and culture in the animal kingdom.

Case Studies Ecosystems Environmental Science Sustainabililty

Some Bees Just Want to See The Prairie Burn

December 13, 2023December 13, 2023 Cypress Novick 0 Comments bees, biodiversity, environmental policy, indigenous resource use, land management, prairie, prescribed fire

Prescribed burns of tall-grass prairies affect ecosystem-wide bee distribution and diversity.

Animal behavior Ecosystems Environmental Science

Commuting to… pollinate? How bees are choosing fragmented sites to forage

May 25, 2023May 28, 2023 Lauren Otolski 0 Comments bees, Conservation, fragmentation, pollinators

Like social bees, solitary bees are important pollinators. How do they choose where to forage when their habitat is broken up?

Animal behavior Cities

Is your garden bee-friendly? – City gardens promote bee parasites

April 20, 2022April 20, 2022 Brandi Pessman 0 Comments bees, cities, gardens, Parasites

Parasites are threatening pollinator populations worldwide, raising concerns for the future of our food security. How we manage our gardens in cities could impact parasite transmission among pollinators, especially bees. Researchers found that bee parasites decrease when we plant plenty of flowers to promote diverse pollinators. We also reduce parasites when we refrain from mulching our gardens, as mulch covers nests for ground-nesting bees. As spring approaches, will your garden be friendlier to bees or their parasites?

Animal behavior Climate Ecosystems

Alpine Plants May Struggle for Pollination as Climate Warms

February 7, 2022January 30, 2023 Julia Bebout 0 Comments alpine, bees, Climate Change, flies, flowers, Global Warming, plant communities, plant-pollinator interactions, pollinators, species interactions

Climate warming is likely to change how plants and pollinators interact in mountain ecosystems, with possible consequences for biodiversity.

Animal behavior

Flying on the Edge – Bees use linear features to navigate

November 3, 2021April 12, 2023 Brandi Pessman 0 Comments agriculture, bees, landscape, pollinators

Ever noticed how straight roads or the edges of crop fields are? Humans love turning naturally curvy land into straight lines. While land modification poses significant threats to many animals, some can take advantage of these changes. A new study found that bumble bees exploit human-made lines and edges to navigate to food sources. Taking the path most traveled may make all the difference for these bees.

Animal behavior Ecosystems Environmental Science

Phoning the Queen with Fanning and Pheromones

April 6, 2021September 12, 2022 Brianne Palmer 0 Comments bees, behavior, communication, honey bees

Like a game of telephone, bees pass pheromones to each other by sticking their butts in the air and frantically fanning their wings. This individual behavior helps the entire group aggregate around the queen. A recent study used video recording and machine learning to understand how these pheromones are passed from bee to bee and understand collective behavior in honey bees.

Animal behavior Cities Climate Environmental Science

Space Invaders? Exotic Bees in the Urban Landscape

August 13, 2020August 13, 2020 Jessica Espinosa 0 Comments bees, invasive species, urbanization

One up and coming target for bee conservation has been the urban landscape, as some recent findings have indicated that cities can maintain diverse bee communities. Though on the surface these findings seem promising for bee conservation, many of these studies do not actually address whether this is a positive thing for native bees. One group of scientists decided to delve further into this topic by looking at the effects of urbanization on bee species. Specifically, they wanted to find out whether exotic bees, including the European honeybee, were found more abundantly in cities and other urban areas than in rural communities and how their presence affected native bees.

Cities Environmental Science

Urban Areas May be Unlikely Sanctuaries for Bee Populations

February 18, 2020February 18, 2020 Munim Deen 0 Comments agriculture, bees, insect, urban landscapes

Facing declining populations worldwide, bees may have found an unlikey refuge in urban gardens.

Case Studies Ecosystems Environmental Science

The Hunger Gaps: when flower supply fails to meet bee demand

July 23, 2019July 25, 2019 Pernilla Borgstrom 0 Comments bees, flowers, plants, pollination, pollinators

Wild bees are indispensable pollen-transporters that support and maintain diverse plant communities in nature, but in discussions about the well-being of bees, they tend to lose the spotlight to their honeybee cousins. One issue where both wild bees and honeybees are struggling, however, is in facing the lack of food continuity throughout the growing season. Mapping the “hunger gaps” for foraging bees, and working to close such gaps, is a key issue for bee conservation.

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