Division of Honey Bee Labour and Activities

Question 1

Put the following tasks in order according to age polyethism, youngest to oldest:
Process Food
Clean Cells
Forage
Feed Larvae

Answer 1

1. Clean cells (0-2 days)
2. Feed larvae (2-11 days)
3. Process food (11-20 days)
4. Forage (20-40 days)

Question 2

How often do larvae need to be fed?
a) once a day
b) once every 5-6 hours
c) once every 1-3 hours
d) once every minute

Answer 2

d) once every minute

Question 3

What task do bees that are 2-11 days old perform?

Answer 3

Feeding larvae

Question 4

What task do bees that are 0-2 days perform?

Answer 4

Cleaning cells

Question 5

What age do bees take part in food processing?

Answer 5

11-20 days

Question 6

What two processes are involved in honey production?

Answer 6

Physical: water evaporation
Biochemical: sugar digestion

Question 7

How do bees evaporate water from nectar during food processing?

Answer 7

• actively make nectar ‘bubbles’ that increase the surface area exposed to dry, warm air
• passively by the bees producing currents when fanning and beating their wings

Question 8

What sugar(s) is/are the main component of nectar before food processing?

Answer 8

Sucrose

Question 9

What sugar(s) is/are the main component of honey after food processing?

Answer 9

Glucose
Fructose

Question 10

What is the name of the process where bees ingest and regurgitate nectar repeatedly during food processing?

Answer 10

Trophallaxis

Question 11

Bees must consume __ kg of honey to produce 1 kg of wax

Answer 11

8 kg

Question 12

At what age do bees participate in comb building?

Answer 12

12-15 days after emergence

Question 13

At what age do bees participate in guarding behaviour?

Answer 13

14-18 days after emergence

Question 14

Approximately ___ - ___% of bees perform guarding at hive entrances

Answer 14

10-20%

Question 15

Briefly describe what guarding behaviour looks like

Answer 15

• guards inspect all returning bees, touch them with their antennae
• identify if bee belongs to colony or intruder
• if intruder, releases alarm pheromone, unless carrying nectar

Question 16

What is the main task of undertakers within colonies? How many bees perform this job?

Answer 16

• removing dead bees from the hive
• less than 5% of bees become undertakers

Question 17

What are 4 things that determine bee behaviour?

Answer 17

• stimulus
• genetic predisposition
• physiological development
• hormone regulation

Question 18

What are some examples of stimuli that can change bee behaviour?

Answer 18

• Internal environment: pheromone odours, visual stimuli like dancing, temperature, humidity
• External environment: flower odour/colour, climatic factors
• Experience

Question 19

How does genetic predisposition affect bee behaviours?

Answer 19

• workers full of half sisters, more likely to do work for each other than their own offspring
• patrilines and subfamilies specialize in different tasks

Question 20

How do bees perceive stimuli?

Answer 20

Patrolling inside the hive, scouting outside the hive