High heat and exposure to heavy metals are reducing the frequency (and audible pitch) of non-flight wing vibration. This reduction can affect bee communication and their roles as pollinators.
According to Dr. Charlie Woodrow, a post-doctoral researcher at Uppsala University, people have been interested in how flight muscles work, as these muscles power the most efficient flight mechanism. However, most people are unaware that bees utilize these muscles for functions beyond flight. These significant non-flight muscle vibrations are used in communication, buzz pollination, and defense.
Buzz pollination is a fascinating behavior whereby a bee curls its body around pollen-concealing anthers of some flowers. Then, the bee contracts its flight muscles up to 400 times per second to produce vibrations that shake the pollen loose. According to Dr. Woodrow, their target is to understand how differences in these vibrations affect pollen release, plant reproduction, and pollinator behavior. This inspired them to research how non-flight buzzes differ within and between species, as well as the drivers affecting these buzzes.
Dr. Woodrow conducted his experiments on the buff-tailed bumblebee, a common European species that is well-studied. Using accelerometers, Dr. Woodrow and his team measured the frequency of the buzz, which corresponds to the audible pitch. He is also using thermal imaging to observe how these bumblebees cope with the extra heat generated while buzzing. Dr. Woodrow is also using high-speed filming to reveal behaviors that have never been seen before.
For example, the team recently discovered that bees not only vibrate on flowers, but also periodically transmit these vibrations to flowers by biting. They have recently found that temperature plays a vital role, much more than was previously appreciated.
Temperature has not been considered a key factor in affecting buzz pollination until now. Apart from temperature, exposure to heavy metals can also reduce the contraction frequencies of flight muscles during non-flight buzzing.
However, the researchers were astonished to find no differences in the effect of temperature on buzzing when the experiments were conducted in the Arctic compared to those further south, suggesting that underlying muscle physiology, rather than local adaptation, may determine the properties of the bee’s buzz.
Understanding the impact of environmental changes on a bee’s buzz can provide insights into bee behavior and ecology. This can help identify the species or regions most at risk and improve AI-based species detection based on sound recordings.
According to Dr. Woodrow, buzzes can be markers of stress or environmental change. He cites the example of the adverse effect of environmental pollutants on the buzzes that bees produce. This can be an indicator of ecosystem health.
It is essential to understand how these changes affect non-flight buzzes because they are responsible for so many aspects of a bee’s ecology. For example, if these vibrations are disrupted, it could lead to poor communication within the colony, inefficient thermoregulation, or inadequate resource acquisition for their offspring.
The most concerning point for humans and wildlife alike is that a reduction in buzz-pollination could have serious consequences for plant reproduction and biodiversity.
“For example, buzz-pollination is energetically expensive and causes the bee to generate metabolic heat—therefore, if the environment gets too warm, it may simply choose to avoid buzz-pollinated flowers,” says Dr. Woodrow.
Apart from the effects of environmental change on bee buzzes, the study can also contribute towards robotics and the future safeguarding of pollination services. According to Dr. Woodrow, research teams are working towards understanding bee buzzes through micro-robotics. These results can aid in the development of micro-robots to understand pollen release.
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