The secret life of bee signals can communicate colony health

Recording the electrostatic energy of honeybee hives offers a 'canary in the coalmine' look into ecosystem threats and environmental conditions

2021-05-04

(Press-News.org) Honeybees have a complex communication system. Between buzzes and body movements, they can direct hive mates to food sources, signal danger, and prepare for swarming - all indicators of colony health. And now, researchers are listening in.

Scientists based in Germany - with collaborators in China and Norway - have developed a way to monitor the electrostatic signals that bees give off. Basically, their wax-covered bodies charge up with electrostatic energy due to friction when flying, similar to how rubbing your hair can make it stand on end. That energy then gets emitted during communications. "We were thrilled by the potential of directly accessing the social communication of bees with our method," says Dr. Randolf Menzel, of the Free University of Berlin. "For the first time we can ask the bees themselves whether their colony is in a healthy condition or whether they suffer from unfavorable environmental conditions including those caused by humans."

The paper, recently published in the open access journal END

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