| There has been a new discovery in the world of | | | | societal function. |
| beekeeping that may change the way you think about | | | | For example, a developing bee which is exposed to 35 |
| your queen. Until very recently empty cells in a bee | | | | degrees Celsius will become a forager bee, and a |
| hive were generally thought to be a negative thing. | | | | larva exposed to 34 degrees Celsius will become a |
| Beekeepers have puzzled over the function of these | | | | housekeeper bee. Without the heater bee the entire |
| seemingly useless empty nooks thinking that they | | | | society and structure of the bee hive would not be |
| surely must be some sort of problem with the queens | | | | able to function in such harmony with each bee |
| ability to lay eggs. | | | | carrying out its own specific task and no other. |
| But, with the advent of new thermal imaging | | | | A colony's success and survival relies on creating a |
| technology scientists now realize that these empty | | | | certain number of each type of bee so that all of the |
| cells indeed have a function, in fact, the cells are critical | | | | functions of the hive are dutifully carried out and life |
| to the very structure and function of the entire colony. | | | | can be sustained. As heat radiates outward from the |
| Without these empty cells the hive could not function | | | | heater bees the hive is assured that a certain number |
| as well as it could. | | | | of each type of bee will be created and in the proper |
| Beekeepers have known for years that bees are | | | | ratios. |
| organized into a highly stratified society of different | | | | A forager bee is the kind of bee that we see floating |
| "castes", but there was one special kind of bee that | | | | gently from flower to flower in our garden's during the |
| they had no idea existed, that is until the use of thermal | | | | summer months, but there are many other kinds of |
| imaging was implemented to study the hives. | | | | bees which reside inside the hive never to leave. A |
| Beekeeping will never be the same. | | | | housekeeper bee is one kind, there are also nest |
| This newly discovered type of bee, the ones that fill | | | | building bees, queen caretakers, brood caretakers, and |
| the empty cells, have been dubbed "heater bees"; and | | | | guard bees. |
| this is no doubt a very apt name. | | | | Forager bees go out to gather precious nectar and |
| The heater bees use the empty cells of the hive to | | | | pollen from flowering plants, bringing it back to the hive |
| crawl inside and literally heat the surrounding cells with | | | | so that it may be used a food source, a noble task |
| its body, the cell walled structure passes on heat | | | | indeed. However if all bees performed that function |
| radiating outwards from the heater bee's body. | | | | the hive would collapse because nobody would be |
| A heater bee has decoupled wings and can heat it's | | | | home to guard the queen, clean things up, and feed |
| body a full 10 degrees Celsius higher than the average | | | | the developing pupae. |
| bee, or 44 degrees Celsius to be exact. This heating | | | | So the mystery of the empty cell is solved, but who |
| process is the very mechanism which creates the | | | | knows what new mysteries will be uncovered as we |
| subtle changes in developing larvae, transforming them | | | | struggle to understand this insect which is so vital to |
| into adult bees of their own particular caste and | | | | our and the planet's survival. |