The Buzz About Honey Bee Society

 When you hear the word pollinator, you most likely envision a bee. Bees are the most well-known pollinator, and for good reason. More than 4,000 species of bees are in the U.S., and they all facilitate pollination.

Bees feed on nectar and pollen, and in the process of foraging for these food items, pollinate many of our favorite plants, such as orchids, blueberries, and almonds. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are commonly seen in urban areas and are one the most known bee species. Honey bees are great for pollinating agricultural crops we depend on, like apples, squash, broccoli, and melons. However, they are not a substitute for native pollinators that pollinate plant life in our natural ecosystems. Most honey bee species live together in a colony of about 80,000 individuals. One honey bee colony can pollinate up to 300 million flowers in one day! How are honey bee colonies able to efficiently keep their hives alive and pollinate 30% of all crops grown around the world? You may say it’s because of their “hive mind,” but it’s actually through communication and organization. Honey bees are social insects, meaning they live in large colonies, communicate efficiently with one another, and have a well-organized family structure.   Honey bees communicate through body movements and pheromones. They have an advanced social structure known as a eusocial society with three distinct features. The first is cooperative brood care; offspring are cared for by the hive, regardless of parentage. The second trait is overlapping generations; many bees will work and live in the hive while their parents are still alive. Finally, there is a division of labor based on reproduction. Many bees in the hive cannot reproduce, so they spend their energy completing daily tasks to keep the hive thriving instead. To divvy up labor, each bee is born into a specific role. Bee hives have three types of adults: queens, drones, and workers. Each colony has only one queen bee whose primary responsibility is to lay eggs. The queen bee can lay up to 1,500 eggs a day! She will lay unfertilized eggs that will become workers and fertilized eggs that become drones. Queen bees are large and have an elongated abdomen compared to their bee subjects. Queen bees are fed royal jelly, a thick secretion packed with protein and essential antioxidants. Other hive members are fed royal jelly as larvae for a short period, but queens exclusively eat royal jelly. Other colony members eat honey and ‘bee bread’, a mixture of pollen, nectar, and bee saliva packed tightly together. Queen bees usually live for about 2-4 years but can live up to 5. A hive will know when a queen dies because they will no longer sense her pheromones. To replace her, they encase eggs into queen cells. Queen cells are different from the usual cells that larvae are kept in; they are more protruding and surrounded by royal jelly. This overload of royal jelly ensures that the larvae have fully developed ovaries for egg-laying. Whichever larva emerges first is the new queen. This new queen will travel to mate with drones away from the colony for the afternoon, then return to the hive to begin laying eggs in cells. The second type of bee is a drone. Drone bees are the only males in the colony and have the sole job of mating with the queen. Drones are the largest bees in the colony and have eyes that meet at the top of their large head. They can leave the hive but have no stinger for protection or pollen basket to collect pollen. On average, drones live for 1-2 months because they die after mating with the queen. Drones eat three times as much food as worker bees, meaning that an excess number of drones in a colony can put stress on everyone else. Drones are kicked out of the hive when resources become scarce during the fall and winter months.  The third type of bee is a worker bee. Worker bees are all female and the smallest bees in the colony. They have a stinger for protection since they travel outside the hive and pollen baskets on their hind legs for pollen collection. They complete every task needed to sustain the queen, her drones, and other worker bees. Worker bees have different tasks depending on how old they are. Workers that are 1-10 days old tend to the queen and her offspring at the center of the hive. When they reach 10-20 days of age, they work throughout the hive to groom and feed others. Between 20 and 30 days of age, they move further out, storing nectar and packing pollen. Finally, after one month of life, they begin to work outside the hive, foraging for food, defending the perimeter, and removing dead bees from the hive.  The intricacy of honey bee society is astounding. They are highly organized, and every hive member has a role. It’s easy for us to assume that tiny invertebrates like bees lead simple lives, but in many cases, they have advanced adaptations that help them thrive on Earth. 

Can you tell what kind of honey bee this is?

Hint: the yellow globs on its hind legs are full pollen baskets!

Written by Celena Romero