Putting the "HERO" in PHEROMONES and "WARM" in "SWARM"

Honey bees came over, and bears were like, this is really awesome.
--- Jesalyn


Yesterday Joey gave us a mini-lecture on bee pheromones that clarified one of the questions that came up during my queen bee presentation.  I couldn't explain how drones knew when the virgin queen bee was on her inaugural mating flight.  The answer?


PHEROMONES.


So Joey/Pheromone Hero explained that many of the seemingly random or instinctive behaviors of bees are actually carried out using an odor communication system.  While I presumed they just magically knew what to do and when, bees are actually chatting all the time, in a language we've come to learn much about (even to the point where scientists have created artificial pheromones).  They have pheromones in all varieties and for uses like alarming other bees, deterring puberty, and other insane/useful purposes.  


I could see how it would be easy to exploit human knowledge of pheromones, as we saw in Danny's presentation on swarms.  How they get humans to have "bee beards" is using a necklace with a compartment for the queen bee.  Once the queen is captured in said necklace, you can place it around your neck and the bees will swarm around it, attracted to their fearless leader.  It's pretty awesome, but I can't imagine that Macy's is dying to carry queen bee necklaces or bee beards any time soon, though.  



Here's a video that demonstrates (with kooky Canadian narration) how the bee beard is done.


Some remarkable things I learned about swarming from Danny is that a scout bee will check out potential hives then come back and try to persuade the colony to move there with much movement.  Depending on how excitedly he beats his wings and moves around, the colony decides whether to follow him.  It's pretty funny to imagine the human equivalent of this, as board rooms or other venues where "pitches" are made would be hilarious with a dancing businessperson.  Lots of them would likely be unsuccessful.


THEN at one point in his presentation we watched The Most Dramatic YouTube Video Ever.  Okay, so it's actually just a hand and some bees, but the person in the video a) recorded the incredibly loud sound of a swarm and b) played with the bees like they were mounds of Play-Doh.  I KID YOU NOT.  You have to see it to believe it:






Wild, eh?  My favorite part is the camera-hogging bee who steals the spotlight.


Another highlight of the mini-lectures was talking about a man who ran with a swarm, causing NPR to suggest it could become an extreme sport.  I imagine the bees would get annoyed at having something fleshy and terrestrial trying to hang out with them, but maybe not.  I'd really like to see someone in our class try this.  Any takers?  I'll be ready with my camera.

Queen Bee Presentation by Diana Iglesias

Queen Bee on Prezi

Works Cited

"Curriculum Activities for Grades 1-3." Canadian Honey. Canadian Honey Council, 2011. Web. 19 Jan. 2011. http://www.honeycouncil.ca/index.php/canadianhoney_teachers

Kathy Keatley Garvey. “If I Had a Hammer...” Bug Squad. Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California.. Web. 19 Jan. 2011. http://ucanr.org/blogs/bugsquad/index.cfm?tagname=queen%20bee

"Queen Bee." Wikipedia. Wikipedia Foundation, Inc., 3 Jan. 2011. Web. 19 Jan. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_bee

The Buzz

This blog is the collaborative work of a class at UNC-Chapel Hill. The course is part of the C-START (Carolina Students Taking Academic Responsibility through Teaching) program, and is a one-hour course taught by Jesalyn Keziah, a Senior Undergraduate.

The course is highly interactive and will incorporate multiple methods of approach. Instead of turning in assignments by paper, we will be posting reflections, thoughts, observations, and interesting bee-related links to this blog. We hope that this will allow us a new means of communication and of spreading information about a very important species!

The course description is as follows:

Bees are more than honey producing, stinging creatures...they are the glue (or, propolis, if you will) that ties together the production and genetic diversity of many of the plants that make up our natural environment. One in every three bites of food that we eat comes from plants that are pollinated by bees. Albert Einstein famously quoted that if the bees go extinct, human life will not be able to sustain itself for more than 6 years. And scarily, the past few years have seen colonies worldwide dying off in astonishing numbers in a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder. In this course, we will learn about the history of bees, their behind-the-scenes ties to our everyday life, past and present research of disease, agrochemical threats, and other factors in the CCD phenomenon, and the steps we as a community can take to save our bees--and ultimately, ourselves.

"Each observer, according to the color of his mind and the background of his experience, sees in this insect commonwealth individual facets of a many-sided whole. The moralist, the philosopher, the artist, the engineer, the poet, the political scientist; all have contemplated the bees with a sense of humility and awe. Even the most unimaginative of men, if he understands the things he sees, must find in the complex civilization of the hive a sense of lasting wonder. "

-- Edwin Way Teale, The Golden Throng

This course offers an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the bee and her place in our biology textbooks, agricultural system, poetry, and backyard garden. To do so, we will employ a number of resources, including selected passages from literature, peer-reviewed scientific research, film clips, conversations with local beekeepers, observation in floral areas of campus, a honey tasting competition, and most importantly, the collective knowledge and memory of the class.

The course will be highly interactive, and it is expected that the classroom culture will be one of community, collaboration, and participation. The classroom interaction will vary widely, including group activities, outside speakers, classroom discussions, and will encompass activities tuned to different learning styles and avenues of engagement.

Thanks for reading!