Hot spots in the bee hive

Honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera) maintain temperatures of 35-36°C in their brood nest because the brood needs high and constant temperature conditions for optimal development. We show that incubation of the brood at the level of individual honeybees is done by worker bees performing a particular and not yet specified behaviour: such bees raise the brood temperature by pressing their warm thoraces firmly onto caps under which the pupae develop. The bees stay motionless in a characteristic posture and have significantly higher thoracic temperatures than bees not assuming this posture in the brood area. The surface of the brood caps against which warm bees had pressed their thorax were up to 3.2°C warmer than the surrounding area, confirming that effective thermal transfer had taken place.     

Scouts behave as streakers in honeybee swarms

Harmonic radar tracking was used to record the flights of scout bees during takeoff and initial flight path of two honeybee swarms. One swarm remained intact and performed a full flight to a destination beyond the range of the harmonic radar, while a second swarm disintegrated within the range of the radar and most of the bees returned to the queen. The initial stretch of the full flight is characterized by accelerating speed, whereas the disintegrating swarm flew steadily at low speed. The two scouts in the swarm displaying full flight performed characteristic flight maneuvers. They flew at high speed when traveling in the direction of their destination and slowed down or returned over short stretches at low speed. Scouts in the disintegrating swarm did not exhibit the same kind of characteristic flight performance. Our data support the streaker bee hypothesis proposing that scout bees guide the swarm by traveling at high speed in the direction of the new nest site for short stretches of flight and slowing down when reversing flight direction.     

Beeping and piping: characterization of two mechano-acoustic signals used by honey bees in swarming

Of the many signals used by honey bees during the process of swarming, two of them??the stop signal and the worker piping signal??are not easily distinguished for both are mechano-acoustic signals produced by scout bees who press their bodies against other bees while vibrating their wing muscles. To clarify the acoustic differences between these two signals, we recorded both signals from the same swarm and at the same time, and compared them in terms of signal duration, fundamental frequency, and frequency modulation. Stop signals and worker piping signals differ in all three variables: duration, 174?±?64 vs. 602?±?377?ms; fundamental frequency, 407 vs. 451?Hz; and frequency modulation, absent vs. present. While it remains unclear which differences the bees use to distinguish the two signals, it is clear that they do so for the signals have opposite effects. Stop signals cause inhibition of actively dancing scout bees whereas piping signals cause excitation of quietly resting non-scout bees.     

Hexagonal comb cells of honeybees are not produced via a liquid equilibrium process

The nests of European honeybees (Apis mellifera) are organised into wax combs that contain many cells with a hexagonal structure. Many previous studies on comb-building behaviour have been made in order to understand how bees produce this geometrical structure; however, it still remains a mystery. Direct construction of hexagons by bees was suggested previously, while a recent hypothesis postulated the self-organised construction of hexagonal comb cell arrays; however, infrared and thermographic video observations of comb building in the present study failed to support the self-organisation hypothesis because bees were shown to be engaged in direct construction. Bees used their antennae, mandibles and legs in a regular sequence to manipulate the wax, while some bees supported their work by actively warming the wax. During the construction of hexagonal cells, the wax temperature was between 33.6 and 37.6 °C. This is well below 40 °C, i.e. the temperature at which wax is assumed to exist in the liquid equilibrium that is essential for self-organised building.     

Vasculature of the hive: heat dissipation in the honey bee (Apis mellifera) hive

Eusocial insects are distinguished by their elaborate cooperative behavior and are sometimes defined as superorganisms. As a nest-bound superorganism, individuals work together to maintain favorable nest conditions. Residing in temperate environments, honey bees (Apis mellifera) work especially hard to maintain brood comb temperature between 32 and 36 °C. Heat shielding is a social homeostatic mechanism employed to combat local heat stress. Workers press the ventral side of their bodies against heated surfaces, absorb heat, and thus protect developing brood. While the absorption of heat has been characterized, the dissipation of absorbed heat has not. Our study characterized both how effectively worker bees absorb heat during heat shielding, and where worker bees dissipate absorbed heat. Hives were experimentally heated for 15 min during which internal temperatures and heat shielder counts were taken. Once the heat source was removed, hives were photographed with a thermal imaging camera for 15 min. Thermal images allowed for spatial tracking of heat flow as cooling occurred. Data indicate that honey bee workers collectively minimize heat gain during heating and accelerate heat loss during cooling. Thermal images show that heated areas temporarily increase in size in all directions and then rapidly decrease to safe levels (<37 °C). As such, heat shielding is reminiscent of bioheat removal via the cardiovascular system of mammals.     

Bees use three-dimensional information to improve target detection

Bumblebee detection of a flat circular disc (two-dimensional (2D) presentation) and a disc which was presented 10 cm in front of a structured background (and thus provided three-dimensional (3D) cues) was compared. A dual choice test using a Y-maze apparatus was conducted to estimate the minimum visual angle at which the bees were able to detect the disc. At large visual angles of 15, 10 and 5° bees’ performance between the 2D and the 3D presentation did not differ. However, when the disc subtended 3° at the bee’s eye, the bees performed significantly better when 3D information was available. Overall, bees were able to detect a target subtending a 40% smaller visual angle when it was presented in front of the structured background compared to a 2D presentation. This suggests that previous reports on the limits of target detection in bees using flat stimuli might have underestimated the bees’ ability to locate small flowers under natural conditions. Bees use motion parallax, i.e. the apparent relative motion of a stationary object against a background, for perceiving the third dimension. Our data suggest that bumblebees can integrate information from at least two types of feature detectors, motion and area, to improve single target detection.     

Giant honeybees (Apis dorsata) mob wasps away from the nest by directed visual patterns

The open nesting behaviour of giant honeybees (Apis dorsata) accounts for the evolution of a series of defence strategies to protect the colonies from predation. In particular, the concerted action of shimmering behaviour is known to effectively confuse and repel predators. In shimmering, bees on the nest surface flip their abdomens in a highly coordinated manner to generate Mexican wave-like patterns. The paper documents a further-going capacity of this kind of collective defence: the visual patterns of shimmering waves align regarding their directional characteristics with the projected flight manoeuvres of the wasps when preying in front of the bees’ nest. The honeybees take here advantage of a threefold asymmetry intrinsic to the prey–predator interaction: (a) the visual patterns of shimmering turn faster than the wasps on their flight path, (b) they “follow” the wasps more persistently (up to 100 ms) than the wasps “follow” the shimmering patterns (up to 40 ms) and (c) the shimmering patterns align with the wasps’ flight in all directions at the same strength, whereas the wasps have some preference for horizontal correspondence. The findings give evidence that shimmering honeybees utilize directional alignment to enforce their repelling power against preying wasps. This phenomenon can be identified as predator driving which is generally associated with mobbing behaviour (particularly known in selfish herds of vertebrate species), which is, until now, not reported in insects.     

Thermal Inactivation of Human Norovirus Surrogates

We investigated the thermal inactivation profiles of murine norovirus (MNV), Hepatitis A virus (HAV), and feline calicivirus (FCV), which are surrogates for the study of human noroviruses. Thermal inactivation of MNV and FCV were evaluated at 37, 50, and 60°C and HAV at 37, 50, 60, and 70°C. All viral surrogates were relatively stable at 37°C. MNV and FCV decimal reduction times (D-values) at 50°C were statistically significantly different (P < 0.05) with MNV being more stable. Both surrogates had comparable, low D-values at 60°C. HAV had significantly higher (P < 0.05) D-values than both MNV and FCV at 50 and 60°C. Overall, the infectivity assay results indicate that HAV is resistant to thermal inactivation while MNV is moderately resistant and FCV is least resistant.     

Dominance of the odometer over serial landmark learning in honeybee navigation

Honeybees use their visual flow field to measure flight distance. It has been suggested that the experience of serial landmarks encountered on the flight toward a feeding place contributes to distance estimation. Here, we address this question by tracing the flight paths of individual bees with a harmonic radar system. Bees were trained along an array of three landmarks (tents), and the distance between these landmarks was either increased or decreased under two test conditions. We find that absolute distance estimation dominates the search for the feeding place, but serial position effects are also found. In the latter case, bees search only or additionally at locations determined by serial experience of the landmarks.     

The Effect of Heat and Free Chlorine Treatments on the Surface Properties of Murine Norovirus

Heat and free chlorine are among the most efficient and commonly used treatments to inactivate enteric viruses, but their global inactivation mechanisms have not been elucidated yet. These treatments have been shown to affect at least the capsid proteins of viruses and thus may affect the surface properties (i.e. electrostatic charge and hydrophobicity) of such particles. Our aim was to study the effects of heat and free chlorine on surface properties for a murine norovirus chosen as surrogate for human norovirus. No changes in the surface properties were observed with our methods for murine norovirus exposed to free chlorine. Only the heat treatment led to major changes in the surface properties of the virus with the expression of hydrophobic domains at the surface of the particles after exposure to a temperature of 55 °C. No modification of the expression of hydrophobic domains occurred after exposure to 60 °C, and the low hydrophobic state exhibited by infectious and inactivated particles after exposure to 60 °C appeared to be irreversible for inactivated particles only, which may provide a means to discriminate infectious from inactivated murine noroviruses. When exposed to a temperature of 72 °C or to free chlorine at a concentration of 50 mg/L, the genome became available for RNases.     

Firewalls in bee nests—survival value of propolis walls of wild Cape honeybee (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Apis mellifera capensis</Emphasis>)

The Cape bee is endemic to the winter rainfall region of South Africa where fires are an integral part of the ecology of the fynbos (heathland) vegetation. Of the 37 wild nests in pristine Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos in the Cape Point section of Table Mountain National Park that have been analyzed so far, only 22 could be accessed sufficiently to determine the existence of a propolis wall of which 68% had propolis walls which entirely enclosed their openings. The analysis of the 37 wild nests revealed that 78% occurred under boulders or in clefts within rocks, 11% in the ground, 8% in tree cavities, and 3% within shrubs. The analysis of 17 of these nests following a fire within the park revealed that the propolis walls materially protected the nests and retarded the fire with all the colonies surviving. The bees responded to the smoke by imbibing honey and retreating to the furthest recess of their nest cavity. The bees were required to utilize this honey for about 3 weeks after which fire-loving plants appeared and began flowering. Considerable resources were utilized in the construction of the propolis walls, which ranged in thickness from 1.5 to 40 mm (mean 5 mm). Its physical environment determines the nesting behavior of the Cape bee. The prolific use of propolis serves to insulate the nest from extremes of temperature and humidity, restricts entry, camouflages the nest, and acts as an effective fire barrier protecting nests established mostly under rocks in vegetation subjected to periodic fires.     

A comparative analysis of colour preferences in temperate and tropical social bees

The spontaneous occurrence of colour preferences without learning has been demonstrated in several insect species; however, the underlying mechanisms are still not understood. Here, we use a comparative approach to investigate spontaneous and learned colour preferences in foraging bees of two tropical and one temperate species. We hypothesised that tropical bees utilise different sets of plants and therefore might differ in their spontaneous colour preferences. We tested colour-naive bees and foragers from colonies that had been enclosed in large flight cages for a long time. Bees were shortly trained with triplets of neutral, UV-grey stimuli placed randomly at eight locations on a black training disk to induce foraging motivation. During unrewarded tests, the bees’ responses to eight colours were video-recorded. Bees explored all colours and displayed an overall preference for colours dominated by long or short wavelengths, rather than a single colour stimulus. Naive Apis cerana and Bombus terrestris showed similar choices. Both inspected long-wavelength stimuli more than short-wavelength stimuli, whilst responses of the tropical stingless bee Tetragonula iridipennis differed, suggesting that resource partitioning could be a determinant of spontaneous colour preferences. Reward on an unsaturated yellow colour shifted the bees’ preference curves as predicted, which is in line with previous findings that brief colour experience overrides the expression of spontaneous preferences. We conclude that rather than determining foraging behaviour in inflexible ways, spontaneous colour preferences vary depending on experimental settings and reflect potential biases in mechanisms of learning and decision-making in pollinating insects.     

Resistance of the grain mite Acarus siro L. (Acarina,Acaridae) to unfavourable physical conditions beyond the limits of its development

The resistance of the grain mite Acarus siro to unfavourable physical conditions was studied to determine how long some members of a population might survive so that development and increase could continue if conditions became favourable. Preliminary experiments showed that: (i) the eggs formed the most resistant stage, both to extreme temperatures and to desiccation; (ii) the most resistant eggs were those in an early stage of development, and that resistance declined with age; and (iii) environmental conditions prior to oviposition influenced resistance, resistance being greater in eggs from populations reared at near threshold conditions than in those reared at ecologically more favourable temperatures and humidities.Experiments with eggs exposed to lethal high and low temperatures and to both favourable and desiccating humidities show that above 30°C and below 0°C, relative humidity ceased to affect survival, the eggs being killed by heat or cold before the effects of desiccation became important. Eggs were fairly susceptible to high temperatures; none survived longer than 10 h at 35°C or 35 min at 40°C. They showed greater tolerance to low temperatures, surviving up to a maximum of 12–14 days at ?10°C and 24–26 days at ?5°C. At 0°C, the maximum survival period varied from 80 days at 20% RH to 180 days at 90% RH. For eggs exposed at temperatures within the developmental temperature range to relative humidities from 20 to 50%, survival appeared to be directly related to humidity and inversely to temperature, maximum survival periods ranging from 20 days (20% RH) to 45 days (50% RH) at 5°C, and from 1 day (20% RH) to 3 days (50% RH) at 30°C.     

Highly controlled nest homeostasis of honey bees helps deactivate phenolics in nectar

Honey bees have a highly developed nest homeostasis, for example, maintaining low CO₂ levels and stable nest temperatures at 35°C.We investigate the role of nest homeostasis in deactivating phenolic compounds present in the nectar of Aloe littoralis. We show that the phenolic content in nectar was reduced (from 0.65% to 0.49%) after nectar was incubated in a nest of Apis cerana, and that it was reduced still more (from 0.65% to 0.37%) if nectar was mixed with hypopharyngeal gland proteins (HGP) of worker bees before being placed inside a nest. HGP had little effect on samples outside a nest, indicating that nest conditions are necessary for HGP to deactivate phenolics in nectar. Consequently, the highly controlled nest homeostasis of honey bees facilitates direct deactivation of phenolics in nectar, and plays a role in the action of HGP as well.     

Phenology and control of the onion maggot (Diptera: Anthomyiidae) in Michigan onion production

The phenology and control of the onion maggot, Delia antiqua (Meigen) (Diptera: Anthomyiidae), were investigated in commercial onion fields in Michigan from 1978 to 1980. First-generation emergence of adults occurred at 399 Dδ (degree-days) (4.4°C base). Second- and third-generation emergence occurred at 1142 and 1840 D°. Adult flight activity was correlated with time of damage to onion plants by 1st and 2nd generation larvae. Third-generation larvae were only observed on unharvested mature onions. Phenologies of the various life-stages are compared to development rates determined in the laboratory. Application of foliar insecticide sprays for adult control did not provide additional protection from root maggot damage where granular insecticides had been applied at planting. Recommendations for onion maggot control are discussed.     

Fluoride removal from brackish groundwater by direct contact membrane distillation

The direct contact membrane distillation applied for fluoride removal from brackish groundwater was investigated.The self-prepared polyvinylidene fluoride membrane exhibited high rejection of inorganic salt solutes.The maximum permeate flux 35.6 kg/(m2 ·hr) was obtained with the feed solution at 80°C and the cold distillate water at 20°C.The feed concentration had no significant impact on the permeate flux and the rejection in fluoride.The precipitation of CaCO3 would clog the hollow fiber inlets and foul the membrane surface with increasing concentration factor when natural groundwater was used directly as the feed,which resulted in a rapid decline in the module efficiency.This phenomenon was diminished by acidification of the feed.The experimental results showed that the permeate flux and the quality of obtained distillate kept stable before concentration factor reached 5.0 with the acidified groundwater as feed.The membrane module efficiency began to decline gradually when the feed continued to be concentrated,which can be mainly attributed to the formation of CaF2 deposits on the membrane surface.In addition,a 300 hr continuous fluoride removal experiment of acidified groundwater was carried out with concentration factor at 4.0,the permeate flux kept stable and the permeate fluoride was not detected.     

A time-compressed simulated geomagnetic storm influences the nest-exiting flight angles of the stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula

Insects have been used as models for understanding animal orientation. It is well accepted that social insects such as honeybees and ants use different natural cues in their orientation mechanism. A magnetic sensitivity was suggested for the stingless bee Schwarziana quadripunctata, based on the observation of a surprising effect of a geomagnetic storm on the nest-exiting flight angles. Stimulated by this result, in this paper, the effects of a time-compressed simulated geomagnetic storm (TC-SGS) on the nest-exiting flight angles of another stingless bee, Tetragonisca angustula, are presented. Under an applied SGS, either on the horizontal or vertical component of the geomagnetic field, both nest-exiting flight angles, dip and azimuth, are statistically different from those under geomagnetic conditions. The angular dependence of ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) spectra of whole stingless bees shows the presence of organized magnetic nanoparticles in their bodies, which indicates this material as a possible magnetic detector.     

基于实际飞行数据的首都机场飞机发动机日排放清单估算方法研究

根据航班实际飞行数据估算机场飞机主发动机排放量,可以提升机场排放清单编制的准确度.基于北京首都机场某日运行数据和国内1326架次航班的机载飞行数据(QAR数据),研究了基于飞行数据的机场飞机主发动机排放清单制定方法.采用一阶近似3.0(FOA3.0)方法补充国际民航组织发动机排放数据库颗粒物基准排放指数,结合QAR数据,应用波音燃油流量法2(BFFM2)估算了实际飞行条件下污染物排放指数,编制了首都机场该日飞机主发动机排放清单,分析了首都机场航班排放特征.在此基础上,探讨了结合实际数据本地化的着陆和起飞循环,以期为机场飞机主发动机排放量的快速准确核算提供新的思路.结果发现,该日航班主发动机HC、CO、NO_x和PM_(2.5)排放量分别为933.9、10967.8、14703.5和85.5 kg,较标准LTO循环估算结果的偏差分别为15.6%、13.2%、-29.1%和-18.9%.NO_x排放主要集中在起飞和爬升阶段,占其排放总量的68.0%;HC和CO排放主要集中在滑行和慢车阶段,分别占其排放总量的90.0%和88.0%;PM_(2.5)在各飞行阶段的排放较为平均.对于单位LTO循环,航班滑行过程中平均排队等候(地速为零)时间为7.7 min,产生的HC、CO、NO_x和PM_(2.5)分别占总滑行阶段对应污染物排放量的26.3%、27.5%、25.7%和27.5%,这一部分排放量有望通过场面运行优化进一步控制.     

Temperature and parasitism by <Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">Asobara tabida</Emphasis> (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) influence larval pupation behaviour in two <Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">Drosophila</Emphasis> species

In holometabolous insects, pupation site selection behaviour has large consequences for survival. Here, we investigated the combined effects of temperature and parasitism by the parasitoid Asobara tabida on larval pupation behaviour in two of its main Drosophila sp. hosts differing in their climate origin. We found that larvae of Drosophila melanogaster—a species with a (sub)tropical origin—placed at 25°C pupated higher in rearing jars than those placed at 15°C. The opposite pattern was observed for Drosophila subobscura larvae—a species from temperate regions—which pupated lower, i.e. on or near the substrate at 25°C, than those placed at 15°C. When placed at 25°C, parasitized larvae of both species pupated closer to the substrate than unparasitized ones. Moreover, the Drosophila larvae that had been exposed and probably stung by A. tabida, but were not parasitized, pupated lower than the control unparasitized larvae. These results provide new insights of host behaviour manipulation by A. tabida larvae.     

低温硝基苯降解菌的筛选及降解特性研究

从被硝基苯污染的某河流底泥中分离到能在低温下生长并能以硝基苯为唯一碳源的7株细菌,其中菌株NB1在温度从2.5～35 ℃范围内时都可以生长并矿化20 mg/L的硝基苯,最适宜的生长温度为25 ℃左右;当培养温度为5 ℃时,该菌株在pH为6～9范围内可以快速降解20 mg/L硝基苯,偏碱性的条件比酸性条件更适合其生长;不超过100 mg/L的硝基苯可以被该细菌完全降解.通过生理生化反应特性、菌体形态以及16S rDNA序列测定结果,确定NB1为恶臭假单胞菌(Pseudomonas putida).不同温度条件,特别是低温下该菌株对硝基苯的快速降解特性为低温环境硝基苯污染的生物修复提供了可能.