To celebrate World Bee Day, we caught up with Jennifer Chennells, a current DPhil Reubenite on the NERC DTP programme and one of Reuben College's resident bee experts. We asked her about her research, why bees matter, and some of her favourite facts about these lovely creatures.
Could you tell us about your study focus?
I'm a third-year NERC DTP student based in the Biology Department, working in Professor Geraldine Wright's Oxford Bee Lab. Bees forage on a range of flowers to gain carbohydrates from nectar, along with fats (which are a type of lipid) and protein from pollen. The profile of nutrients in pollen and nectar varies in different plants. My project aim is to increase our understanding of the lipid requirements of honeybees by studying the lipid composition of their entire colony.
In general, our lab group researches how different compounds found in nectar and pollen affect the learning, memory and physiology of honeybees and bumblebees.
Why bees?
I'm really keen to learn more about bees because pollinators are important for maintaining both biodiversity and world food security.
Their populations are declining due to a wide range of factors including pesticide use, climate change, and increased agricultural intensity. Honeybees and bumblebees have really interesting social structures, with a queen bee and thousands of female worker bees in honeybee hives. There are lots of different roles that a worker bee can play in the colony – nurses feed and rear the young, mortuary bees keep the colony clean, foragers are older and bring back food, and guard bees defend the hive. Interestingly, these roles are related to the bees’ age and what they eat, as well as the status of the colony.
Can you tell us some of your favourite bee fun facts for #WorldBeeDay?
- There are about 20 thousand different bee species around the world! Here in the UK, we have about 270 solitary bee species.
- Bees are essential pollinators responsible for pollinating over 80% of flowering plants. They contribute to one-third of the food we eat.
- Bees have a well-developed sense of taste and also use their feet to taste food. They can taste sweet, bitter and salty food. They prefer sweet food and can distinguish the amount and types of different sugars.
- Bees are bakers. They make “bee bread” by mixing pollen, nectar and honey. This exceptional food helps them grow, make new bees and live longer.
- In a honeybee colony, worker bees are all female, performing tasks such as foraging, nursing larvae, and defending the hive. They also build honeycombs to support the entire colony and store food for winter.
- Bumblebees buzz pollinate and are specially used because they can pollinate certain crops like tomatoes, where they buzz at very high frequencies to release pollen.
- Most bees don’t live in a hive. For example, Mason bees use strong jaws to make houses out of clay. Leaf-cutting bees use leaves to make their nests; some even nest in underground tunnels.
- Unlike us, bees can see ultraviolet light.
- Virgin queens can make a piping sound that is very distinguishable from all the other sounds in the honeybee colony.
