Bees Tour

UW Campus
5/31/12
Day, 2012
2:30-3:30

Bees eat nectar and are vital for cross pollination. 95% of them are solitary and 5% are communal. Solitary bees are when every female is fertile and they make nests. They don’t have to produce honey or work because they aren’t part of a colony. Communal bees are those like honey and bumble bees.

With communal bees, the queen bee is chosen by the worker bees while she is only a larva. The worker bees make the honey and feed the queen bee extra so she can reproduce. Interestingly, the queen bee only has one week to mate. She then stores the sperm so she can keep reproducing once the mating period has ended.

While the worker bees are making the honey, they flap their wings in order to evaporate the moisture. With all the wing flapping, temperatures can get up to 98 degrees F in the hives. This is good for these communal bees because bees in general like the sun and warmth. This is why a lot of solitary bees can’t fly around in the winter seeing as there is no communal heat.

Species List:
Honey bee
Bumble bee
California Firefly
Great Night-Stalking Tiger Beetle
Alder Flee Beetle

Posted on June 5, 2012 06:40 AM by lisad22