My friend Professor Peter Kevan stops by to talk about his research with bumblebees and other pollinating insects. We talk about the eyesight and other sensory organs of bees as well as their long-term memory.
Bumblebees are highly intelligent and underrated member of our natural environment. We also discuss the phenomenon of colony collapse which is threatening the species at an alarming rate. Industrialized agriculture with its fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides are most likely contributor to the decline on our most vital insect populations.
Bees: Biology and Management by Peter G Kevan
https://amzn.to/3k1LBqb
Dr. Peter G. Kevan is a University Professor Emeritus in the field of community and applied ecology, with a focus on pollination biology, plant breeding systems, and insect thermoregulation. Dr. Kevan completed his BSc at McGill University and his PhD at the University of Alberta.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, as well as several other prestigious scientific societies. Dr. Kevan has won several awards for his work, including the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021 and the Gold Medal from the Entomological Society of Canada in 2005.
Dr. Kevan has received several grants and contracts for his research, including $5,000,000 for the Canadian Pollination Initiative and the Weston Foundation grant for R&D on biological control with apivectoring on field-grown strawberry production and honeybee health.He has taught over 10 different courses for undergraduate and graduate students in Canada, the USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil, and Colombia, developing and teaching hands-on field courses.
Dr. Kevan has also authored or co-authored several textbooks and publications, including the book “Practical Pollination Biology,” which he co-edited.
Among his most significant contributions to research are his publications on entomovectoring for precision biocontrol and enhanced pollination of crops, his work on documenting recent changes in pollination interactions in the Rocky Mountains, and his research on the learning and cognitive capacities of bumblebees.
Dr. Kevan has also published papers on flow currents and ventilation in Langstroth beehives due to brood thermoregulation efforts of honeybees.
10 Amazing Bee Facts:
Bees have five eyes. They have two large compound eyes and three smaller simple eyes known as ocelli.
Bees see ultraviolet light, which humans cannot see. This allows them to locate nectar and pollen in flowers that have ultraviolet patterns.
Bees’ eyes are sensitive to polarized light, which helps them navigate and locate food sources even when the sun is not visible.
Bees have long, sensitive antennae that are used for detecting scents, temperature, and humidity in the environment.
Bees use their antennae to communicate with each other through pheromones, which are chemicals that they secrete to signal things like food sources and danger.
Bees also use their antennae to detect the vibrations of other bees’ wings, which helps them communicate about food sources and directions to the hive.
Bees have a highly developed sense of smell, which they use to locate flowers from a distance, as well as to detect predators and other dangers.
Bees have a specialized organ known as the antennal lobe, which is dedicated to processing information from their antennae.
Bees can learn and remember scents, which allows them to recognize specific flowers and navigate back to the hive.
Bees have a unique ability to sense electric fields, which they use to navigate and locate flowers. Flowers generate electric fields, and bees can sense these fields to find their way to the nectar and pollen.
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