Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
increased bee mortality. Most bees die while foraging away from the
nest. However, Norman Gary estimated that about 10 to 15 percent of
bees die in the nest. A colony during the peak period of summer will
produce about 1,500 new bees each day, with an equal number dying
from old age, which in a bee is usually associated with wearing out as a
forager. h erefore, roughly 150 to 200 bees die each day inside the nest.
Occasionally colonies encounter pathogens or natural or human-made
toxic substances collected in nectar or pollen that are returned to the
hive and create higher mortality. h ese bodies must be removed, or the
nest space will i ll up with corpses, and the bodies will breed diseases.
Within a colony there are bees called undertakers that specialize in re-
moving the dead bodies. h ey drag the dead bees out the entrance and
then take of and carry them through the air, dropping them up to a
few hundred meters away (Figure 3.8).
We increased the number of dead bees in colonies by putting 15 freeze-
killed bees in the hive every 15 minutes. We collected the i rst 50 under-
takers, our low-stimulus sample. We then dumped 1,000 dead bees into
Figure 3.8.
Undertaker bees removing a dead body from the hive. Photo by
Jacob Sahertian.
