Nearly every time people talk to me about pollinators, they speak of honey bees. Don’t get me wrong, honey bees are pretty fantastic, but to me there is something more admirable in the character of bumble bees… and I have the great pleasure of working with members of Bombus this summer for my internship. Before I get to the bulk of what I’ve been up to, we should first answer an important question:
Why are bumble bees just as (maybe even more?) fantastic than honey bees?*
- Honey bees aren’t actually all that native to the North American continent. While that’s no reason to discriminate against them (I am not a bee-racist), bumble bees should be given more attention. They have been evolving alongside our native fauna for a longer time. They know the ins and outs of our native flowers, if you will. Literally.
- Their fluff. Also called “pile” in the entomological world, a bumble bee’s fluff is what makes them look so rolly-polly and cuddly. Honey bees have pile too, but I dunno… it’s just not the same. More on pile in a later post.
- In the bumble bee hive, everybody works pretty hard to create the nest and build cells, even the Queen. Well… except the males. But they’re usually even fuzzier than their nest mates, so I guess that makes up for their apparent indolence. Take note, gentlemen.
- They are easier to relate to than honey bees. At least for me.
You see, bumble bees don’t make hives in the same manner that their honey bee cousins do. Honey bees are like little robots; all cells must be the same dimension, all boxes constructed for them have precise, detailed measurements. It’s neat, but it’s kinda cold. Honey bees are uptight, in my opinion. Loosen up guys! You’re not going to live to see next spring! Live a little, you know?!
Bumble bees, on the other hand, make nests that essentially look like an exploded ceramics studio- pots, upon pots, upon pots. EVERYWHERE. Some pots filled with honey, some with pollen, even some with baby bumble bees! I can relate to the laid-back nature of bumble bee nests. They don’t obsess over hexagonal cells or any sense of strict order and as a result, live in homey and very natural looking nests. I’d live in a bumble bee hive. And I would like it.
Anyway, before I get caught up in a weird metaphorical tangent which would be much better suited for a later post, here’s a shade of what I’ve been doing as far as summer research objectives and such:
GOALS:
- Raise colonies of bumble bees
- Create a field key of the bumble bee species present in PA
- Curate the bumble bees of the Frost
- Harvest tissues from the colonies for gene expression experiments
Raising Colonies of Bumble Bees!
The bumble bees here at PSU are kept in quarantine in one of the biology buildings. Basically, I feed the bees, care for the colonies, and at times harvest specimens for experimentation. More on that in a future post!
Creation of a Field Key
Field keys are useful to both amateurs and experts alike. They are simplified keys that can be taken out “into the field” to make quick and dirty identifications–without having to consult an expert. The field key I am trying to create relies heavily on the (somewhat) specific segment coloration seen in varying species of Bombus. There have been some issues, however, when members of the same species can potentially have variable coloration. To solve this dilemma, some other characteristics need to be taken into account, such as mandible width or position of ocelli.
Curation
In curating the bumble bees, I had to verify the identification of every determined specimen in the collection, update any outdated labels/taxonomy, replace the dreaded hard bottomed unit trays, print out standard header cards, and incorporate expansion room into a very cramped set of drawers.
Tissue Harvest
This is probably the most difficult part of my internship so far, mainly because I’m super sentimental. It’s not a big deal if you don’t think about the fact you’re cutting a baby bee in half for science. That can be a rather large hurdle though!
I want to/ will go into further depth with some of these topics, but I’m sure nobody has time for a 20 chapter saga about my adventures into the realm of Bombus. Though I’m sure that that kind of tale deserves a midnight selling at Barnes and Noble.
As a consolation, here’s a picture of me being a Bee Whisperer:
* These are my opinions so I’m inclined to believe they are both right and perfect, but I can change them if you’ve got a sound argument backed up with references and citations from peer-edited journals.