The bumblebees are all over these red flowers in the yard. The hummingbirds will be here within a month and they also like this Texas native plant. I am having some very high heat this week-100, 101 and 105. My dogwoods may not recover. I had a 10 minute rain shower this afternoon, which broke the heat for today. Your hot photostudy tonight is the bumblebee and baby buzz as he looked just before the rain. Part 2 will be after the rain (next post). Enjoy!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblebee
Bumblebee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bombus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Bombus terrestris | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Apidae |
| Subfamily: | Apinae |
| Tribe: | Bombini |
| Genus: | Bombus Latreille, 1802 |
| Diversity | |
| > 250 species and subspecies | |
Biology[edit]
The blood or hemolymph, as in other arthropods, is carried in an open circulatory system.[3] The body organs, "heart" (dorsal aorta), muscles, etc. are surrounded in a reservoir of blood, and pulsing contractions of the tube-like dorsal aorta create a weak circulatory force.
In fertilised queens the ovaries are activated when the queen lays her egg. It passes along the oviduct to the vagina. In the vagina there is a chamber called the spermatheca. This is where the queen stores sperm from her mating. The queen, depending on need, may allow her egg to be fertilised. Non-fertilised eggs become males, and only fertilised eggs grow into females and queens.
As in all animals, hormones play a significant role in the growth and development of the bumblebee. The hormones that stimulate the development of the ovaries are suppressed in female worker bees, while the queen remains dominant. Salivary glands in the head secrete saliva, which mixes with the nectar and pollen. Saliva is also mixed into the nest materials to soften them. The body fat is a nutritional store; before hibernation, queens eat as much as they can to enlarge their fat body, and the fat in the cells is used up during hibernation.
Like all bee tongues, the bumblebee tongue (the proboscis) is a long hairy structure that extends from a sheath-like modified maxilla. The primary action of the tongue is lapping, i.e. repeated dipping of the tongue into liquid.[4] During lapping, nectar is drawn up the proboscis by capillary action. When at rest or flying, the proboscis is kept folded under the head. The exoskeleton of the abdomen is divided into plates called dorsal tergites and ventral sternites. Wax is secreted from glands on the sternites.
The brightly coloured pile of the bumblebee is a form of aposematic signal. Depending on the species and morph, these colours can range from entirely black, to bright yellow, red, orange, white, and pink. Thick pile can also act as insulation to keep the bee warm in cold weather. Further, when flying, a bee builds up an electrostatic charge, and as flowers are usually well grounded, pollen is attracted to the bee's pile when it lands. When a pollen-covered bee enters a flower, the charged pollen is preferentially attracted to the stigma because it is better grounded than the other parts of the flower.
Bumblebees do not have ears; however, they can feel the vibrations of sounds through nearby materials.
Habitat[edit]
Bumblebees are typically found in higher latitudes and/or high altitudes, though exceptions exist (there are a few lowland tropicalspecies).[5] A few species (Bombus polaris and B. alpinus) range into very cold climates where other bees might not be found; B. polaris can be found in northern Ellesmere Island—the northernmost occurrence of any eusocial insect—along with its parasite, B. hyperboreus.[6] One reason for this is that bumblebees can regulate their body temperature, via solar radiation, internal mechanisms of "shivering" and radiative cooling from the abdomen (calledheterothermy). Other bees have similar physiology, but the mechanisms have been best studied in bumblebees.[7]
Nests
Bumblebees form colonies, which are usually much less extensive than those of honey bees. This is due to a number of factors including the small physical size of the nest cavity, the responsibility of a single female for the initial construction and reproduction that happens within the nest, and the restriction of the colony to a single season (in most species). Often, mature bumblebee nests will hold fewer than 50 individuals. Bumblebee nests may be found within tunnels in the ground made by other animals, or in tussock grass as opposed to Carpenter Bees that burrow into wood. Bumblebees sometimes construct a wax canopy ("involucrum") over the top of their nest for protection and insulation. Bumblebees do not often preserve their nests through the winter, though some tropical species live in their nests for several years (and their colonies can grow quite large, depending on the size of the nest cavity). In temperate species, the last generation of summer includes a number of queens who overwinter separately in protected spots. The queens can live up to one year, possibly longer in tropical species.Agricultural use[edit]
Main article: List of crop plants pollinated by bees
Bumblebees are increasingly cultured for agricultural use as pollinators because they can pollinate plant species that other pollinators cannot by using a technique known as buzz pollination. For example, bumblebee colonies are often placed in greenhouse tomato production, because the frequency of buzzing that a bumblebee exhibits effectively releases tomato pollen.[27]
The agricultural use of bumblebees is limited to pollination. Because bumblebees do not overwinter the entire colony, they are not obliged to stockpile honey, and are therefore not useful as honey producers.
Endangered status[edit]
Bumblebees are in danger in many developed countries due to habitat destruction and collateral pesticide damage. In Britain, until relatively recently, 19 species of native true bumblebee were recognised along with six species of cuckoo bumblebees. Of these, three have been extirpated,[28][29] eight are in serious decline, and only six remain widespread.[30] Similar declines in bumblebees have been reported in Ireland, with 4 species being designated endangered, and another two species considered vulnerable to extinction.[31] A decline in bumblebee numbers could cause large-scale changes to the countryside, resulting from inadequate pollination of certain plants. The world's first bumblebee sanctuary was established at Vane Farm in the Loch Leven National Nature Reserve in Scotland in 2008.[32]
Some bumblebees native to North America are also vanishing, such as Bombus terricola, Bombus affinis and Bombus occidentalis, with one, Bombus franklini, that may even be extinct.[33]
In 2011, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature set up the Bumblebee Specialist Group to review the threat status of all bumblebee species worldwide using the IUCN Red List criteria.[34]
Hot Clouds in Picasa Heat Map Effect:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Hi Everybody! Please say hello and follow so I know you are here! Due to the inconsideration of people trying to put commercials on my blog comment area, I have restricted use of anonymous posts. Sorry that some hurt all.
My public email is katescabin@gmail.com No spammers or trolls