Table of Contents
What is the purpose of the bee dance?
When a worker discovers a good source of nectar or pollen (note the pollen spores dusting this bee’s back), she will return to the hive to perform a waggle dance to let her nest mates know where it lies. A bee performs the waggle dance when she wants to inform other bees of a nectar source she has found.
How do you think a hive of bees survive the winter when there are no flowers to feed on?
Answer: Bees don’t sleep, but they stay in their hive for the winter unless the weather is warm enough for a “cleansing flight” to go #2. Otherwise, the bees stay in clusters for warmth and feed off their honey stores. The best thing for a hive in winter is to be left alone.
How does the waggle dance help the bees survive?
Dyer and Seeley (1991) also recorded waggle dances to natural forage locations during their study. These dances indicated that some bees were foraging further than their feeder-trained bees. They were able to train A. dorsata to feeders at a maximum distance of 1 km, and bees danced for feeders only up to 900 m away.
How does the plant benefit from being visited by the bee?
Bees benefit flowering plants by helping the plants reproduce, via pollination. When bees fly from one flower to another, pollen is spread from plant to plant. If pollen from one flower is able to reach another flower of the same species, then that plant will be able to form seeds and reproduce.
Why is bees so important?
Bees – including honey bees, bumble bees and solitary bees – are very important because they pollinate food crops. Pollination is where insects move pollen from one plant to another, fertilising the plants so that they can produce fruit, vegetables, seeds and so on.
What happens to bees during the winter?
Without blankets, fires, or adjustable thermostats, honeybees have to stick together pretty closely to stay warm (and alive) in the winter. When temperatures in the winter drop below 50 °F (10 °C), honeybees retreat to their hives and form a winter cluster to keep warm—sort of like a giant three-month slumber party.
How does honeybee dance help bees to collaborate?
Honey bee workers perform a series of movements, often referred to as the “waggle dance,” to teach other workers the location of food sources more than 150 meters from the hive. Communicating direction becomes more complex, as the dancing bee aligns her body in the direction of the food, relative to the sun.
Does the waggle dance help honey bees to forage at greater distances than expected for their body size?
Finally, it’s worth noting that there is evidence that bees that dance are able to successfully exploit food resources further away than would otherwise be expected from their body size.
How do honey bees help the environment?
As pollinators, bees play a part in every aspect of the ecosystem. They support the growth of trees, flowers, and other plants, which serve as food and shelter for creatures large and small. Bees contribute to complex, interconnected ecosystems that allow a diverse number of different species to co-exist.
Why do bees dance in a flower patch?
Bees communicate flower location using special dances inside the hive. One bee dances, while other bees watch to learn the directions to a specific flower patch. The dancing bee smells like the flower patch, and also gives the watching bees a taste of the nectar she gathered.
What kind of dance does a bee do?
Bees use two different kinds of dances to communicate information: the waggle dance and the circle dance. Read more about the two different dances below. The waggle dance tells the watching bees two things about a flower patch’s location: the distance and the direction away from the hive.
How are bees able to communicate with each other?
Bees communicate flower location using special dances inside the hive. One bee dances, while other bees watch to learn the directions to a specific flower patch. The dancing bee smells like the flower patch, and also gives the watching bees a taste of the nectar she gathered. Smell and taste helps other bees find the correct flower patch.
How can you tell the direction of a honey bee dance?
Direction of the food source is indicated by the direction the dancer faces during the straight portion of the dance when the bee is waggling. If she waggles while facing straight upward, than the food source may be found in the direction of the sun.