when do bees get out of bed? srp by logan ingle 7y
TRANSCRIPT
When do bees get out of bed?SRP
By Logan Ingle 7Y
Native Stingless BeesNative Stingless Bees, or more commonly, Sugarbag Bees, are a species of bee native to Australia. These bees are 4 to 5 millimetres long and are glossy black. Their Latin name is tetragonula carbonaria. Sugarbag bees are active between 18 and 44 degrees Celsius.These bees venture between 1 and 500 metres to search for pollen. Sugarbag bees are found in coastal areas from Queensland to Southern New South Wales.
Species: Carbonaria Genus: Trigona Subfamily: Apinae Family: Apidae Superfamily: Apoidea Suborder:Apocrita Order:Hymenoptera Class:Insecta Subphylum:Uniramia Phylum:Arthopoda Kingdom:Animalia
Aim
To measure the temperature in degrees and corresponding activity of native bees exiting their hive in order to determine the optimum temperature for bee activity.
Hypothesis
It is well known that insects are cold blooded (poikilotherms), which means their body temperature fluctuates with ambient temperatures. Therefore, activity for most insects is restricted to the warmer parts of the day and year.
I hypothesise that tetragonula carbonaria will perform as per this pattern and their activity will increase in direct correlation with the warmer hours of the day.
Equipment
The equipment required is:
• A native bee hive
• Native bees
• A thermometer in degrees Celsius
• Stopwatch
• iPad to record results
Disclaimer: The chicken wire is set in front of the hive to prevent Indian Mynas from trapping and eating the bees on their return to the hive.
Beehive Bees
Thermometer
Method
8:00 am: Record the temperature in degrees Celsius directly outside the bee hive. Observe and record the number of bees exiting the hive in one minute. Round number to nearest 50, due to size and speed of bees.
12:00 midday: Repeat method as above.
4:00 pm: Repeat method as outlined above.
Repeat method above for seven consecutive days
Independent variable: Time of day.Dependent variable: Number of bees exiting hive and temperature outside hive.
Risk AssessmentThis species of native bee (tetragonula carbonaria) are stingless so there is no risk of
harm from the bees. However there can be trip hazards in the backyard therefore the area surrounding the hive should be clear from such hazards. care must also be taken to ensure that these small bees are not inadvertently placed in harms way.
ResultsResults of bee activity – bees recorded leaving hive
8:00 AM 12:00 PM 4:00 PM
Day 1 12 Degrees0 bees over 1 min
20 Degrees+100 bees over 1 min
14 Degrees0 bees over 1 min
Day 2 17 Degrees0 bees over 1 mins
21 Degrees+50 bees over 1 mins
16 Degrees0 bees over 1 mins
Day 3 11 Degrees0 bees over 1 min
26 Degrees+100 bees over 1 min
17 Degrees1 bees over 1 min
Day 4 9 degrees0 bees over 1 min
20 degrees+50 bees over 1 min
18 degrees4 bees over 1 min
Day 5 10 degrees0 bees over 1 min
24 degrees+100 bees over 1 min
20 degrees+50 bees over 1 min
Day 6 9 degrees0 bees over 1 min
26 degrees+100 bees over 1 min
20 degrees10 bees over 1 min
Day 7 14 degrees0 bees over 1 min
36 degrees+200 bees over 1 min
20 degrees3 bees over 1 min, +50 returning to hive.
Degrees are in Celsius
Degrees are recorded in Celsius
Results cont.
0 50 100 150 2000
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7
Tem
pera
ture
(°C)
Number of bees exiting hive in 1 minute
DiscussionTrends, patterns and relationships:
As expected, the results showed that the bees were most active at 12:00 midday. This directly corresponds with the established pattern of insects being more active during the warmer hours of the day. The bees that I observed for this experiment showed no sign of activity at 8:00 am due to the colder temperatures at this time. At 4:00 pm the bees were observed to be returning to their hive only, with no bees exiting.
Does the data collected support the hypothesis:
The data collected shows that the bees are most active during the observations at 12:00 midday. The recorded temperatures at this time ranged from 20 degrees Celsius to 26 degrees Celsius. This confirms that tetragonula carbonaria activity levels directly increased with an increase in outside temperature.
Problems or future modifications:
The main problem I encountered was counting the bees when the temperature was over 20 degrees Celsius due to the large number of active bees and the speed with which they exited the hive. A camera fitted with slow motion recording ability would aid with this. Also, I was unable to record the inside temperature of the hive due to the build up of resin preventing the removal of the exterior lid.
In the future I could measure the temperature and count the bees at more times of day to get a larger sample size. This would increase the accuracy of the experiment.
Conclusion
Through the direct observation of Tetragonula carbonaria during different times of the day, over a period of seven days, it was determined that their activity directly increased with a corresponding increase in outside temperature. By recording the temperature at the same time each day, and counting the bees exiting the hive during this time, I was able to confirm that the optimum temperature for bee activity is during the warmer hours of the day. Therefore, it can be concluded that bee activity should increase to optimum level at the warmest part of the day.
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