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SeminarPast EventPhysics of Life

Internal structure of honey bee swarms for mechanical stability and division of labor

Olga Shishkov

Dr.

Biofrontiers Institute, University of Colorado Boulder

Schedule
Monday, July 19, 2021

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Schedule

Sunday, July 18, 2021

5:00 PM America/Los_Angeles

Host: SLAAM by UC Merced

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Meeting Password

223642

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Event Information

Domain

Physics of Life

Original Event

View source

Host

SLAAM by UC Merced

Duration

70 minutes

Abstract

The western honey bee (Apis mellifera) is a domesticated pollinator famous for living in highly social colonies. In the spring, thousands of worker bees and a queen fly from their hive in search of a new home. They self-assemble into a swarm that hangs from a tree branch for several days. We reconstruct the non-isotropic arrangement of worker bees inside swarms made up of 3000 - 8000 bees using x-ray computed tomography. Some bees are stationary and hang from the attachment board or link their bodies into hanging chains to support the swarm structure. The remaining bees use the chains as pathways to walk around the swarm, potentially to feed the queen or communicate with one another. The top layers of bees bear more weight per bee than the remainder of the swarm, suggesting that bees are optimizing for additional factors besides weight distribution. Despite not having a clear leader, honey bees are able to organize into a swarm that protects the queen and remains stable until scout bees locate a new hive.

Topics

active matterapis melliferabeescollective dynamicsdivision of laborexperimentshoney beeinsectsmechanical stabilityself-assemblyswarm structureweight distributionworker beesx-ray computed tomography

About the Speaker

Olga Shishkov

Dr.

Biofrontiers Institute, University of Colorado Boulder

Contact & Resources

Personal Website

www.linkedin.com/in/oshishk/

@o_shishk

Follow on Twitter/X

twitter.com/o_shishk

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