(Twitter, Kelsey K. Graham, PhD @kelsey_k_graham) “New paper out showing benefits of wildflower plantings on fruit farms for stem-nesting #bees. Nesting almost exclusively at farms with plantings, though bees often used ‘volunteer’ species for pollen collection (not seeded species!).” The original paper.
(Entomology Today) A new study tested the effect of reduced water availability on a plant used by bees and examined whether changes in plant nutrition content affect honey bees and bumble bees. “We found that water limitation directly impacts the floral resources produced by plants and this can have cascading effects on pollinators consuming the nectar and pollen of affected plants.”
(KCBS) “We know that smoke interacts with the type of smells used to find food, and basically either hides them or destroys them. So, it could well be that if you have these effects over such prolonged periods of time that bees start to get real trouble to find food.”
(The Art Newspaper) The sculpture is able to absorb up to 15% of her own weight in nitrogen dioxide molecules. When it rains, the absorbed toxins are washed away as a harmless liquid, enabling the continuous ingestion of pollution from the surrounding air. Nitrogen dioxide can mask the scent of flowers, thus preventing bees from finding their food.
(Massive Science) Bees have evolved to become extremely successful pollinators, and generally have a mutually beneficial relationship with plants. But nectar-robbing is a behavior in which an insect lightly bites a small hole in the a flower’s tissues at the base of the petal to access nectar, without performing the act of pollination. It can have a profound impact on a plant’s ability to reproduce.
(Arizona State University) There’s a learning behavior called latent inhibition. It screens out irrelevant stimuli, allowing the mind to focus on the most pressing and practical issues. If you’ve ignored emails to get a report in on deadline, you’re familiar with it. Honey bees with high latent inhibition forage at the same trusted spots, day in and day out. Low latent inhibition bees learn new and familiar food locations equally well. What happens in the bee world in a mixed colony? Who wins out?
(New York Times) For a century, scientists have known how honey bees drink nectar: They lap it up. Now scientists have discovered bees can also suck nectar, which is more efficient when the sugar content is lower and the nectar is less viscous. And not only do honey bees have this unexpected ability, but they can go back and forth from one drinking mode to another.
(Twitter, Anthony Vaudo @ThatBeeAnthony) “With metabarcoding of Osmia cornifrons larval provisions we found they have distinct family level preferences, but can switch host species native to many regions, a mechanism for how introduced bees can establish in new habitats?”
