Busy Little Thermostats
If you think all insects are just cold-blooded monsters, there’s one fuzzy little creature that will surprise you. Research has shown that bumblebees are actually warm-blooded, and, like us, experience temperature as an important aspect of their busy lives.
Research on a bumblebee colony of the Pacific Northwest demonstrated that temperature regulation of the hive is controlled by the activity of a specific group of bees. To incubate all those little babies in the nest, workers shiver their wings, pushing heat down to their abdomens held over the larvae. Hive too hot? Workers rapidly fan their wings. Since bees could die if the temperature is raised too high, researchers focused on documenting the incubation activity, varying the experimental temperature from 50 to 101 degrees Fahrenheit. They found that when they removed some of the workers, those that remained increased their rate of heat production, instead of calling on others to help them. This prompted the discovery of a size-dependent work assignment. Smaller bees were involved in temperature regulation, while larger bees were committed to gathering food. Although it is not known exactly how such division of labor originates, several mechanisms have been proposed, including genetics, hormones, and interactions with other bees.
How does temperature figure into the lives of the larger bees? A study on flowers accidentally produced the answer. Many flowers contain cone-shaped cells that interact with light in a manner that causes the surface of the flower to be darker, and therefore, warmer. While investigating these cells, researchers also allowed bumblebees to visit flowers of varying temperatures and colors, finding evidence that bumblebees can associate the colors of flowers with the warmth of their nectar.
The usual body temperature of a bumblebee is 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Just as we probably wouldn’t like to stuff ourselves full of freezing victuals, bees efficiently conserve energy by filling themselves with nectar that is already warm. And just as we like a house with a carefully regulated climate, bees have a care for their hive too.
You never thought you’d have something in common with an insect, did you?
Posted by J543 (2)
posted by PWH @ 12:22 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
wow, i am actualy surprised that bees have such a complex set up. To answer your question, no i never tought i'd have something in common with an insect, i always thought that they were little pests.
i wonder how many wyoung workers you would have to take out in order for the workers to actually ask for help!
great blog though very unpredictable and interesting.
By: SAmer Ead(SAm)
sead
This blog was interesting! It is funny to realize ways in which we are so similar to something as small as a bee! Your title was catchy also, that’s what first drew me to the article. I don’t really have any questions, you were very clear. I suppose my one question would be about the temperature. You said the experiment varied the temperature from 50 to 101 degrees. Is that Fahrenheit? Celsius? The part I liked the most was the fact that if some of the workers are removed, the remaining workers work harder rather than calling on others to help them. Nice job.
Posted by KMellman
Indeed, it is difficult to associate oneself with a creepy-crawly bug. But with regards to temperature homeostasis, to what extent are we related to bees?
In our Bio101 class, we briefly brushed on the terms Endotherm, Ecotherm, Homeotherm, and Heterotherm. Humans and many mammals are endothermic homeotherms, where some mammals, such as mole rats, are endothermic heterotherms. What would bees be?
(Just a note: I have often seen bees do a little "wing dance" on early mornings and I had never considered that they were only warming themselves up. Interesting.)
A. Molayi
After reading this post I find it very interesting that we do in fact have another thing in common with bees. In fact, being a vegan I have found a lot of controversy over whether honey is in fact vegan since bees are insects. Most vegans would say that honey is considered nonvegan due to the fact that is is coming from a living organism that has a brain. Your post only further supports that bees are intelligent insects not only with the ability to communicate with eachother through a complex language, but also have the ability to regulate their temperature like humans. Therefore, it would go against the definition of being a vegan if one would consume honey. Very interesting post and definitely pertinant to my life.
detroyr6
terefeh6
I found this article very interesting because I was never aware of the fact that bees keep their body temperature at a certain range. It was also surprising to see that this aspect of their physiology is their commonality with humans. However I wondered if the fact that bees are appalled by smoke has anything to do with keeping this body temperature range.
After reading this blog I went online and read some more about bees. I read that one hive can contain anywhere from 20,000 to 100,000 bees. Each hive has a queen and thousands of worker bees and hundreds of drone bees. All the drone bees are male and all the working bees are females. The main job of the queen bee is to produce more bees.
Who ever knew, that we humans can have so much in common with an insect. The article was a very interesting read. When you say 100 degrees and the temperatures you list are they in Celcius or Fareinheit. If so in Celcius there regular body temperature would be Boiling temp of water which is crazy.
By: Neil Desai
This is rather interesting. As i was reading the blog I wondered about the communication between the bees. If the small ones generate heat and cool the hive, while the larger ones gets food, who tells what bee to do? Maybe this is this a trait build into the bee at birth. Since the bees eye are on the sides of thier head they cannot see themselves so how do they even know they're own size? Something must come from within they're internal structure or they are instructed in some way to do one or the other. It would be interesting to see how this works.
Post a Comment
<< Home