Honey bees have interested humans for thousands of years with their elaborate hives, complex social structures, and critical role as pollinators. Over the past 100 years, scientists have delved deep into understanding these remarkable insects, leading to groundbreaking discoveries that have changed our perception of nature, biology, and even ourselves. From how bees communicate to their “hive-mind” social behaviors, investigators across disciplines have contributed – and continue to contribute – to our understanding of Apis mellifera.
As bees face growing threats globally, identifying what they need for survival is critically important. Let’s explore some pivotal discoveries in honey bee research and the scientists who brought these discoveries to light.
1. The Waggle Dance: Bees' Special Language
Researcher: Karl von Frisch
Year: 1927
Honey bees perform complex dances to communicate with each other. In the 1920s, Austrian ethologist Karl von Frisch meticulously decoded one such dance called the “waggle dance.” He found when a bee returns to the hive after finding food, she conveys the location to the other bees through a sequence of “dance” motions. The motions consist of the bee walking in a straight line up the wall of the honeycomb while waggling her abdomen from side to side. The dancing bee then makes a left turn and circles back to her starting point. She waggles her abdomen again straight up the honeycomb and then makes a right turn and circles back again to the starting point. The direction and duration of the waggle run indicate the angle and distance to the food source in relation to the sun. For example, a waggle directly upwards signifies food is in the direction of the sun, while a waggle 60 degrees to the right conveys food lies 60 degrees to the right of the sun. The vigor of the waggle tells the other bees that this patch of nectar and pollen is particularly good.
Karl von Frisch, along with Konrad Lorenz and Nikolaas Tinbergen, won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1973, for his pioneering work in communication between insects.
2. Queen Mandibular Pheromone: The Hive Harmony Chemical
Researcher: Colin Butler
Year: 1959
Colin Butler, working at the Rothamsted Experimental Station in the UK, discovered the pivotal role of the queen substance (or mandibular) pheromone in hive behavior, which is crucial for colony cohesion and survival. This unique chemical compound, exclusively emitted by the queen bee from her mandibles (jaws), serves as a linchpin in the hive’s social structure. The queen secretes the pheromone, and the worker bees help spread it over her body through grooming and other “retinue behaviors,” which in turn transfers it throughout the hive. The presence of the queen mandibular pheromone in the hive acts as a suppressant, preventing worker bees from nurturing potential rival queens. It also functions as a motivator, compelling worker bees to venture out and engage in foraging activities.
Butler’s research provided insights into the intricate world of bee communication and laid the groundwork for subsequent studies on chemical signaling across various animal species.
3. Identifying the Causes of Colony Collapse Disorder
Researchers: Multiple
Year: 2006 – present
Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is a phenomenon in which worker bees abruptly disappear from their hives, leaving behind the queen bee, plenty of food, and a few nurse bees to care for the remaining immature bees. Identified in 2006, this mysterious disorder has been causing honey bee populations to decline at an alarming rate. While bees vanishing from their hives is not unusual during winter, the large-scale disappearance of bees during the spring and summer months is highly abnormal. Research suggests multiple factors likely contribute to colony collapse, including parasites like the gut fungus Nosema and the Varroa mite, viral diseases, poor nutrition, genetics, habitat loss, and exposure to pesticides like neonicotinoids. Scientists believe a combination of these stressors compromises the immune systems of bees, making them more susceptible to disease.
4. The Genetic Blueprint of the Honey Bee
Researcher: Honeybee Genome Sequencing Consortium
Year: 2006
The Honeybee Genome Sequencing Consortium was an international collaboration formed in 2002, to understand the genetic basis for bee behavior and intelligence by sequencing the genome of Apis mellifera. In 2006, the consortium published their results, which revealed the honey bee has around 10,000 fewer genes than other insects like flies, but their genes are more specialized and oriented towards processes like smell, vision, learning, and memory. This likely contributes to their advanced social behaviors and communication.
Overall, the consortium’s work underscored how the honey bee genome has evolved distinct characteristics that enable the rich social structures and division of labor found in colony living. Their findings established a deeper understanding of honey bee genetics and biology. This knowledge has been critical for subsequent research on bee health, population decline, comparative neuroscience, sociogenomics, and more.
5. Finding Home: The Bee's Magnetic Sense
Researcher: Randolf Menzel and Uwe Greggers
Year: 2015
In 2015, neurobiologists Randolf Menzel and Uwe Greggers discovered honey bees can sense magnetic fields. By placing bees in a flight simulator surrounded by induced magnetic fields, the researchers identified neurons in the bees’ abdomens that responded to changes in magnetic intensity and polarity. This magnetoreception ability allowed the bees to detect and use Earth’s natural magnetic field for navigation during foraging trips.
Menzel and Greggers’ work offered the first evidence of magnetoreception in an insect, placing honey bees on the list of animals like birds, sea turtles, and mole rats that are known to rely on an internal compass based on magnetic fields. Prior, it was unclear how honey bee navigation integrated information from the sun and other environmental cues to find its way back to the hive. This study expands our understanding of the purpose of magnetosensitivity across the animal kingdom, from migration to homing to spatial orientation. The magnetic sense of bees likely comes from the iron ore that exists in their abdomens. Menzel and Greggers’ study opened new research directions for understanding insect navigation, the genetics of magnetoreception, and the effects of electromagnetic fields on pollinators.
