Bees | Common News Update

Nov202020 by adminNo Comments

Global map of bees created in conservation first

Science

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Jun22020 by adminNo Comments

Grooming bees help boost colony immunity

Science

June 2 (UPI) -- New research suggests designated bee groomers, or allogroomers, are essential to the health of their colony. Varroa mites and other ectoparasites, parasites that reside on the outside of a host's body, are a major threat to the health of honeybees and their colonies all over the world. Advertisement Fortunately, bees have allogroomers to keep them clean. Allogroomers are worker bees that help remove bits of debris, including parasites and pathogens, from their peers. It's a dangerous job, but new research suggests allogroomers are equipped with especially powerful immune systems. "Here, we found worker bees that specialize in allogrooming are highly connected within their colonies, and have developed stronger immune systems," Alessandro Cini, researcher at the University ...

Jan282020 by adminNo Comments

Scientists track flower preferences of bumble bees

Science

Jan. 28 (UPI) -- To figure out what kinds of plants bumble bees like best, scientists surveyed bee-plant interactions in 400 sample plots in Plumas National Forest, located in California's Sierra Nevada. "We spent 16 minutes searching for bumble bees within a 20 meter radius plot," lead study author Jerry Cole, a biologist with the Institute for Bird Populations, told UPI in an email. "Any time we saw a bumble bee using a plant we captured it in a net and then identified the plant to species." The researcher observed 13 different bumble bee species visiting more than 100 different species of flower. However, scientists determined the bees only preferentially selected 14 of the plant species. Cole and his research partners, including scientists from the University of Connecticut and the U...

Oct122019 by adminNo Comments

Bees get better at math when they’re punished for mistakes

Science

Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Bees can count and understand the concept of zero. But their math skills have limits. Previously, scientists thought bees could only count to four, but new research suggests bees can understand quantities as great as five, provided they're trained with rewards and punishments. Tests suggest fish are also thwarted by arithmetic thresholds. But it's not just small-brained animals. Human brains are similarly limited. Estimating quantities up to four is effortless for most people, but estimating larger quantities takes more concentration. Until now, scientists thought bees were incapable of the focus necessary to comprehend larger numbers. However, the latest research showed that when bees are properly trained, they can process quantities as large as five. For the study, sc...

Oct42019 by adminNo Comments

Worker bees forgo sleep to care for young

Science

Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Most parents know that sacrificing sleep is part of raising a young child. The same goes for bees. New research suggests brood-tending bumble bee workers sleep much less than other bees, even forgoing sleep to care for offspring that is not their own. But unlike other animals, bees seem to do just fine without the normal amount of sleep. Most studies of sleep behavior have focused on humans and other model organisms in the lab, but the latest research -- published this week in the journal Current Biology -- suggests their is value in studying sleep in diverse species. "Our findings show that sleep is more plastic and less rigid than is commonly accepted," study co-author Guy Bloch of Hebrew University said in a news release. Tests show that when humans, rodents and flies...