Bee communication in a changing world

Mar 4, 2024

Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.

In this episode, researchers describe the potential impact of anthropogenic disturbances on bee communication.

In this episode, we cover:

• [00:00] Introduction
• [00:45] Description of the waggle dance of honeybees.
• [01:59] Maggie Couvillon, an entomologist at Virginia Tech, explains what information researchers can glean from the waggle dance.
• [03:24] Christoph Grüter, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Bristol, describes what impact climatic changes may have on bee communication.
• [05:13] Michael Hrncir, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Sao Paulo, recorded the impact of rising air temperatures on foraging in stingless bees.
• [06:48] Grüter explains how landscape changes and habitat fragmentation might affect bee communication.
• [08:23] Elli Leadbeater, an ecologist at Royal Holloway University of London, found that dancing honeybees found the foraging environment of central London superior to agricultural land.
• [09:49] Kris Braman, an entomologist at the University of Georgia, studied how the distribution of land cover at different scales influences bee diversity in Georgia.
• [11:24] Grüter explains how insecticides may alter bee communication strategies.
• [12:41] Denise Alves, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Sao Paulo, describes how a fungal pesticide can affect nestmate recognition in stingless bees.
• [14:23] Adam Dolezal, an entomologist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, describes how a bee pathogen affects nestmate recognition in honeybees.
• [15:17] Final thoughts and conclusion.

About Our Guests:

Maggie Couvillon
Assistant Professor
Virginia Tech

Christoph Grüter
Senior Lecturer
University of Bristol

Michael Hrncir
Professor
University of Sao Paulo

Elli Leadbeater
Professor
Royal Holloway University of London

Kris Braman
Department Head and Professor
University of Georgia

Denise Alves
Post-doctoral Researcher
University of Sao Paulo

Adam Dolezal
Assistant Professor
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

View related content here:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0155
https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2219031120
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022191020300512
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.14011
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10841-022-00402-6
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045653521026199
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2002268117

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