Beehive In the five years since honeybees began vanishing due to a mysterious syndrome called colony collapse disorder, beekeepers worldwide have lost a staggering 45 billion bees each year. While some scientists scramble to find the culprit, others are taking advantage of the new attention to learn more about these remarkable insects. From interpretive dance to dueling sperm, the hive hosts a rich exhibit of complex social behavior.
by Amy Barth
SPERM WARS During
several early flights a
queen obtains enough
sperm for her entire lifetime, mating midair with
up to 30 drones (males)
who jostle for her attention. Danish biologists
recently found that
drones’ seminal fluids
continue the battle for
supremacy inside the
queen, killing off rival
sperm while boosting
survival of their own.
A DOSE OF HOPS
Scientists have
hypothesized that
parasites cause
the erratic behavior associated with
colony collapse
disorder, in which
bees abandon the
queen. To help bees
dodge infection,
U.S. Department
of Agriculture
entomologists
are turning to a
brewer’s specialty:
hops, which contain
acids that combat
parasitic mites.
DEFY THE DANCE The
famous honeybee dance
is a figure-eight movement that communicates the whereabouts
of pollen, water, and
new housing. But occasionally bees inadvertently recommend areas
infested with predators
or rivals. Last year
scientists learned that
worker bees silence
misinformed wagglers
by climbing atop them
and vibrating at a
specific frequency.
NURTURE OVER NATURE Only a select few bee larvae become queens,
which grow 25 percent larger and live 10 times as long as workers. The
key to success is not in their genes but rather their diet of royal jelly, fortified with a protein called royalactin. In April Japanese biologist Masaki
Kamakura reported that royalactin’s efficacy is not limited to bees: Fruit
fly larvae fed the protein similarly outgrew and outlived their peers.
