Seminar · Biomechanics
Internal structure of honey bee swarms for mechanical stability and division of labor
Olga Shishkov · Biofrontiers Institute, University of Colorado Boulder
Mon, Jul 19, 2021 · 00:00 UTC
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 path