Biology

Science of Bees Exploration Day

By: Meghan Thoreau, OSU Extension Educator, Community Development & STEM, Pickaway County

 

Scioto Valley BeekeepersScioto Valley Beekeepers visited STEM Club last month. The Scioto Valley Beekeepers are active and dedicated to assisting current and future beekeepers in Pickaway County and the surrounding areas in Ohio. Their mission is “to promote public awareness of the benefits, necessity, and value of the honeybee throughout human existence.” If you would like to learn more about this organization or become more involved please visit their website or attend one of their monthly meetings.

beekeeper presenting

The Benefits of Bees

Bees provide essential pollination services to millions of acres of crops, improving sustainability and biodiversity. Bees are critically important to agriculture. At least a third of the human food supply from crops and plants depends on insect pollination, which is mostly done by bees! They also contribute to the complex, interconnected ecosystems that allow a diverse number of different species to co-exist. (1)

Many of our scientific and engineering projects have been inspired by bees, such as the use of hexagons in engineering. The study of bees (particularly honey bees) continues to produce an enormous amount of scientific research and these insects have become one of the most studied creatures after humans. (2)

They have also generated an array of philosophical and poetic ideas. In ancient times, bees and honey played major roles and were symbolic of ancient Greek culture. Bees have been frequently connected with ideals of knowledge, health, and power. The ancient Greeks considered bees servants of the gods and their honey was worshiped for its healing qualities and power. Artisans represented bees in jewelry, money, and statues of goddesses. (3)

beekeeping supplies

Bees have much to teach humans about cooperation and industriousness.

Bee Society

An average beehive is about two square feet (or 22 inches by 16 inches), with at least a five-foot buffer around the hive for in- and outbound bee traffic. In many ways, honey bees create a well-organized mini-society in a box. Honey bees, in particular, are very social insects that have evolved into a highly cooperative or collective existence. A hive is fiercely united around the “all-for-one and one-for-all” slogan as their workforce sets out to do a variety of complex tasks that are decided by the communal collective groups that are acted on instinctually. (4)

Honey bees communicate with each other through movement and odor. They send sophisticated messages about which duties to shift to, potential dangers, intruder alerts, locations of food sources, new hive sites, and a variety of other things. (5)

With ultraviolet visions, bees see targets on flowers where the pollen and nectar are located.

Bees can see both visible and ultraviolet light and have precise olfactory receptors. They can also detect electric fields. Flowers have a slight negative charge relative to the air around them. When bumblebees are flying through the air the friction between the air and their bee bodies causes them to become positively charged, and the students learned threw our program that two electrical charges of opposite polarity attract – chemistry in motion. (6)

Infographic by Fuse Consulting Ltd.

Each colony has only one queen at a time, whose primary function is reproduction. She only mates once in her lifetime shortly after she emerges from her egg and kills her other sister queens. She leaves the hive seeking out a cloud of drone bees from another colony. When she returns to her hive, she starts laying 1,500-2,000 eggs per day, selectively fertilizing or not fertilizing the eggs in accordance with how her worker bees are collectively directing her to do. The worker bees engineer and manage each opening of their comb. A queen lives two to three years (sometimes five years) and will produce up to 250,000 eggs per year and possibly lay more than a million eggs in her lifetime.

Drone bees represent five percent of the colony’s bee population and are only present during the late spring and early summer months. The queen may have a longer abdomen for storing the sperm, but a drone is larger overall than the queen and female worker bees. Drones also do not have stingers, pollen baskets, or wax glands, because their main purpose for their colony is to fertilize a virgin queen from a neighboring colony. They die instantly upon mating. While alive drones rely solely on food gathered and processed by the workers’ groups. Drones stay in the hive for the first eight days of life and eat three times more than their sister workers. Day 9 they start leaving the hive from noon to 4:00 p.m. taking orientation flights to acquaint themselves with the surrounding territory for mating purposes. When the weather cools and food becomes scarce the surviving drones are forced out of their hive to starve. (The only exception to this ousting is if the colony is queenless.)

Workers may be the smallest in body size, but they are some of the busiest bees in the group and make up 94 percent of the colony’s population. When compared to their queen they are sexually undeveloped females who under normal hive conditions do not lay eggs (and under a queenless condition lay unfertilized eggs.) Workers have specialized anatomy such as the addition of brood food glands, scent glands, wax glands, and pollen baskets, which allow them to perform all the laborious duties the hive requires. They also clean cells, feed the brood, care for the queen, remove debris and dead bees, handle incoming nectar, engineer beeswax combs, guard the entrance, and air-condition and ventilate the hive during their first few weeks as adults. Works then advance to field duties where they forage for nectar, pollen, water, and propolis (plant sap). (7, 8, 9)

Bee Body Parts and Anatomy

 Infographic source: https://awkwardbotany.com/2015/03/14/year-of-pollination-the-anatomy-of-a-bee/

Infographic source: https://beeprofessor.com/anatomy-of-a-honey-bee-beginners-guide/

The Power of Pollinators

#BeeTheSolution

1. Plant a Bee Garden

One of the largest threats to bees is a lack of safe habitat where they can build homes and find a variety of nutritious food sources. By planting a bee garden, you can create a safe haven for bees with pollen- and nectar-rich flowers by planting a range of shapes, sizes, colors, and bloom times. You don’t need a ton of space to grow bee-friendly plants — gardens can be established across yards and in window boxes, flower pots, and mixed into vegetable gardens. Seek out locally native plants as often as possible as many bee species have coevolved to feed exclusively on native flowers and need them to survive.

2. Go Chemical-Free for Bees

Regardless of which flowers you plant, avoid using pesticides and herbicides. Synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides, and neonicotinoids are harmful to bees, wreaking havoc on their sensitive systems. A garden can thrive without these harmful chemicals — in fact, one goal of a bee-friendly garden is to build a sustainable ecosystem that keeps itself in check by fostering beneficial populations. If you must use a pesticide, choose a targeted organic product, and always avoid applying pesticides when flowers are blooming or directly to the soil.

3. Become a Community Scientist

Join a global movement to collect data on our favorite pollinators! Community science transforms the passion and interest of regular people into data-driven activities that support scientific research. By participating in a community science project, you can provide important insights and local knowledge, which can lead to more relevant and useful research outcomes. Join our “A Bee Or Not a Bee” iNaturalist project, which invites you to document and upload species on iNaturalist, collaborating with naturalists around the world to determine whether the insect buzzing by is a bee, wasp, fly, or other common bee doppelgängers.

4. Provide Trees for Bees

Did you know that bees get most of their nectar from trees? When a tree blooms, it provides hundreds — if not thousands — of blossoms to feed from. Trees are not only a great food source for bees but also an essential habitat. Tree leaves and resin provide nesting material for bees, while natural wood cavities make excellent shelters. Native trees such as maples, redbuds, and black cherry all attract and support bees. You can help bolster bee food sources and habitats by caring for and planting trees. Trees are also great at sequestering carbon, managing our watersheds, and cooling air temperatures.

5. Create a Bee Bath

Bees work up quite a thirst foraging and collecting nectar. Fill a shallow bird bath or bowl with clean water, and arrange pebbles and stones inside so that they break the water’s surface. Bees will land on the stones and pebbles to take a long, refreshing drink.

6. Protect Ground Nesting Bees

Did you know that 70% of the world’s 20,000 bees — including bumblebees — live underground? There, they build nests and house their young, who overwinter and emerge each spring. Ground nesting bees need bare, mulch-free, well-drained, protected soil in a sunny area to create and access their nests. Leave an untouched section for ground-nesting bees in your garden!

7. Leave Stems Behind

30% of bees live: in holes inside trees, logs, or hollow plant stems. Don’t cut those hollow stems, which are valuable bee habitats. A hollow stem may not seem like prime real estate to us, but to Mason and other bees, it’s a cozy home in which they may overwinter. Wait until the spring to cut back dead flower stalks, leaving stems 8 to 24 inches high to provide homes for cavity-nesting bees.

8. Teach Tomorrow’s Bee Stewards

Inspire the next generation of eco citizens with guides, lessons, and activities to get them buzzed about bees! Educators can use our collection of free resources to bring nature and ecology into the classroom — and the hearts of children everywhere.

9. Host a Fundraiser

Peer-to-Peer fundraising is a fantastic way to spread the mission of The Bee Conservancy and empower your community to help raise money for our impactful programs. With the help of tools from Fundraise Up, you can share your personal fundraising page on social media and with friends and family. It’s an easy, fun way to make a serious impact. Start your own fundraiser today!

10. Support Local Beekeepers and Organizations

Local beekeepers work hard to nurture their bees and the local community. The easiest way to show your appreciation is to buy locally-made honey and beeswax products. Many beekeepers use products from their hives to create soaps, lotions, and beeswax candles. Plus, local honey is not only delicious — it is made from local flora and may help with seasonal allergies! You can also give time, resources, and monetary donations to local beekeeping societies and environmental groups to help their programs grow. (10)

Ohio Bee Identification Guides

 

OhioBeeGuideFINAL

 

Ohio Bee Identification Guide _ Ohioline

REFERENCE
1  Medicine, C. for V. (n.d.). Helping Agriculture’s helpful honey bees. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/helping-agricultures-helpful-honey-bees#:~:text=It’s%20their%20work%20as%20crop,bills%20buzzing%20over%20U.S.%20crops.
2  Why do honey bees make hexagons when building honeycombs? with video. BuzzAboutBees.net. (n.d.). https://www.buzzaboutbees.net/why-bees-use-hexagons.html
3  Out of the past. Bee Culture -. (2020, September 1). https://www.beeculture.com/out-of-the-past/#:~:text=Bees%20and%20honey%20were%20a,money%2C%20and%20statues%20of%20goddesses.
4  Wcislo, W., & Fewell, J. H. (n.d.). Sociality in bees (Chapter 3) – comparative social evolution. Cambridge Core. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/comparative-social-evolution/sociality-in-bees/EDB3BC0012570CEEF1237E662563B4FD
5  The language of bees. PerfectBee. (2020, September 17). https://www.perfectbee.com/blog/the-language-of-bees#:~:text=They%20don’t%20use%20words,a%20variety%20of%20other%20things.
6  Baisas, L. (2022, October 24). A swarm of honeybees can have the same electrical charge as a storm cloud. Popular Science. https://www.popsci.com/environment/honeybees-electric-atmospheric-charge/
7  Remolina, S. C., & Hughes, K. A. (2008, September). Evolution and mechanisms of long life and high fertility in queen Honey Bees. Age (Dordrecht, Netherlands). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2527632/#:~:text= Honey%20bees%20(Apis%20mellifera)%20are,200%20days%20in%20the%20winter.
8  The colony and its organization. Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium. (n.d.). https://canr.udel.edu/maarec/honey-bee-biology/the-colony-and-its-organization/
9  Welcome to the Hive!. Beverly Bees. (2019, January 30). https://www.beverlybees.com/home-hive/
10  10 ways to save the bees. The Bee Conservancy. (2023, April 21). https://thebeeconservancy.org/10-ways-to-save-the-bees/

Exploring Aquatic Ecosystems: Fish Biology and Macro-invertebrates

By: Meghan Thoreau, OSU Extension Educator, Community Development & STEM, Pickaway County

This April students were introduced to aquatic ecosystems and learn about aquatic life and aquatic energy pyramids. The aquatic energy pyramid, also known as the aquatic food web or food pyramid, illustrates the feeding relationships and energy flow within aquatic ecosystems. Here’s a breakdown:

Levels of the Aquatic Energy Pyramid, from the bottom up:
  • Primary Producers (Phytoplankton): Microscopic plants, such as algae and cyanobacteria, that convert sunlight into energy through photosynthesis.
  • Primary/First Order Consumers (Zooplankton): Small animals, like cope-pods and krill, that feed on phytoplankton.
  • Secondary Consumers/Intermediate Predators (Small Fish and Invertebrates): Fish, such as minnows and bluegills, and invertebrates, like dragonflies, mayflies, and caddisflies, crayfish, or snails that prey on zooplankton and macro-invertebrates.

  • Tertiary Consumers/Top Predators (Large Fish and Aquatic Mammals): Apex predators, including large fish (Largemouth bass, Northern pike, Muskie, Walleye), aquatic mammals (river otters, alligators), and birds (herons, egrets, ospreys, or eagles,) that feed on secondary consumers.

Department of Natural Resources Fish Hatchery. (n.d.). Aquatic Biomass Pyramid Display. Detroit Lakes, MN. Retrieved from https://www.behance.net/gallery/10046285/Aquatic-Biomass-Pyramid-Display.

The students learned how to take a plankton sample, use a dropper to create a slide, and work a microscope to examine for plankton and various aquatic insects in their samples. They also discussed what aquatic macro-invertebrates are and the many types of animals that fall under this category.

Aquatic macro-invertebrates are small, multicellular animals that live in water and lack a backbone. They are typically visible to the naked eye and play crucial roles in aquatic ecosystems. Examples include:
  • Insect larvae (mayflies, caddisflies, stoneflies)
  • Crustaceans (crayfish, shrimp)
  • Mollusks (snails, clams)
These organisms are important indicators of water quality, serving as food for fish and other aquatic animals, and helping to break down organic matter, many of which are depicted below:

Blue Ridge Discovery Center. (2015, June 18). The Aquatic Macroinvertebrates of Wilson Creek. https://blueridgediscoverycenter.org/blueridgediscoverycenterblog/2015/6/18/the-aquatic-macroinvertebrates-of-wilson-creek

Live samples were made available for the students to identify and categorize into groups, which they learned enables scientists to infer water quality.

Students also learned the parts of a fish and use a dichotomous key to identify the fish to family level. Students studied multiple fish species (fresh and print) to handle and identify. An aquatic OSU Ohio Sea Grant Educator conducted a fish dissection for the group, with a focus on identifying internal anatomy and as time allows, discussion on fish as food.

Students finally got hands-on experience creating their own custom fishing lures, combining artistry and engineering to design effective lures that mimic the movement and appearance of baitfish, ultimately gaining a deeper understanding of the science behind fishing and aquatic ecosystems.

Lure making is the process of creating artificial fishing lures that mimic the appearance, movement, and scent of prey to attract fish. It involves various materials and techniques, such as:

  • Shaping and molding plastics, woods, or metals
  • Adding hooks, weights, and hardware
  • Applying paints, coatings, and finishes
  • Incorporating attractants like scents or sounds

Lure making allows anglers to customize their lures for specific fishing conditions, target species, and personal preferences.

Peer-reviewed by: Tory Gabriel, OSU Extension Specialist, Program Manager, Ohio Sea Grant College Program.

DNA Discovery: Extracting Genetic Material from Strawberries

By: Meghan Thoreau, OSU Extension Educator, Community Development & STEM, Pickaway County

This month, we’re diving into the fascinating world of DNA and genetics! We’re exploring the structure and function of DNA, how genetic traits are passed down, and the incredible ways DNA science is used in our daily lives. From solving crimes to developing new medicines, understanding DNA has revolutionized many fields. We’re learning how DNA is extracted, analyzed, and applied in various areas, including medicine, agriculture, and forensics.

In our DNA Strawberry Extraction lab, we’ll get hands-on experience extracting DNA from strawberries using simple household items. This fun and interactive activity will help us understand the basics of DNA extraction and its significance in the scientific world.

DNA Strawberry Extraction Supplies

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the molecule that contains the genetic instructions for all living organisms. It’s often referred to as the “blueprint of life.” DNA is found in the cells of every living thing, from humans to strawberries. But have you ever wondered what DNA looks like or how it’s extracted from cells? In this activity, we’ll explore the fascinating world of DNA by extracting it from strawberries using simple household items. Get ready to uncover the genetic secrets of one of nature’s sweetest treats!

Steps in Strawberry DNA

Strawberries are unique because they are octoploid, meaning they have eight copies of each chromosome. This abundance of DNA makes strawberries a great model for DNA extraction labs, as it’s easier to visualize the DNA strands. For comparison, human cells are diploid, with only two copies of each chromosome.

This activity combines hands-on experimentation with critical thinking and problem-solving, providing a comprehensive learning experience for students.

The science behind the DNA Strawberry Extraction Lab:

Breaking Down Cell Walls and Membranes:

  • Blending strawberries: The blender breaks down the cell walls of the strawberry tissue, releasing the cellular contents. This mechanical disruption helps to release the DNA from the cells.
  • Dish soap (detergent): The soap breaks down the cell membranes (lipid bilayer) and nuclear membranes, releasing the DNA and other cellular contents. The detergent helps to solubilize the lipids and disrupt the membrane structure.

Releasing DNA from Proteins:

  • Salt: The salt helps to release the DNA from proteins that are bound to it. The positively charged sodium ions (Na+) from the salt help to neutralize the negative charge on the DNA phosphate backbone, allowing the DNA to precipitate out of solution more easily.

Precipitating DNA:

  • Rubbing alcohol (ethanol): When the ethanol is added to the mixture, it creates a layer on top of the strawberry mixture. DNA is insoluble in ethanol, so it precipitates out of solution and forms a visible, stringy substance at the interface between the alcohol and the strawberry mixture. This is because the ethanol disrupts the hydrogen bonds between the DNA and water, causing the DNA to come out of solution.

Why Strawberries?

  • Octoploidy: Strawberries are octoploid, meaning they have eight sets of chromosomes (one set from each parent, duplicated). This means they have a large amount of DNA, making it easier to extract and visualize.
  • Easy to break down: Strawberries are soft and easy to blend, making it simple to break down the cell walls and release the DNA.

DNA Structure and Properties:

  • Double-stranded helix: DNA is a double-stranded molecule with sugar and phosphate molecules making up the backbone, and nitrogenous bases projecting inward from the backbone and pairing with each other in a complementary manner.
  • Chargaff’s rules: The base pairing rules (A-T and G-C) help to explain the structure and properties of DNA.
  • Negative charge: DNA has a negative charge due to the phosphate groups in the backbone, which is important for its interactions with other molecules.

This lab takes advantage of the properties of DNA and the cellular structure of strawberries to make DNA extraction and visualization possible. By understanding the science behind the lab, students can gain a deeper appreciation for the molecular biology of DNA.

Learning about DNA extraction has numerous real-world applications across various fields

Forensic Science:

  • Crime scene investigation: DNA extraction is crucial in forensic science for analyzing DNA evidence, identifying suspects, and solving crimes.
  • DNA profiling: DNA extraction is used to create DNA profiles, which can be used to identify individuals, resolve paternity disputes, and identify human remains.

forensic scientist at work

Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology:

  • Genetically modified organisms (GMOs): DNA extraction is used to introduce desirable traits into organisms, such as pest resistance or improved nutritional content.
  • Gene therapy: DNA extraction is used to develop gene therapies that can treat genetic disorders by modifying or replacing faulty genes.

Medical Research and Diagnostics:

  • Genetic testing: DNA extraction is used to diagnose genetic disorders, identify genetic mutations, and predict disease susceptibility.
  • Cancer research: DNA extraction is used to study cancer genetics, identify biomarkers, and develop targeted therapies.

dna for cancer testing

Agriculture and Food Science:

  • Crop improvement: DNA extraction is used to develop crops with desirable traits, such as drought resistance or improved yield.
  • Food safety testing: DNA extraction is used to detect and identify pathogens in food, ensuring food safety and quality.

Conservation Biology:

  • Species identification: DNA extraction is used to identify species, study population genetics, and monitor biodiversity.
  • Endangered species conservation: DNA extraction is used to study the genetics of endangered species and develop conservation strategies.

Personalized Medicine:

  • Genomic medicine: DNA extraction is used to develop personalized treatment plans based on an individual’s genetic profile.
  • Pharmacogenomics: DNA extraction is used to predict an individual’s response to certain medications based on their genetic profile.

DNA Fingerprinting:

  • Food authentication: DNA extraction is used to verify the authenticity of food products and detect adulteration.
  • Product tracing: DNA extraction is used to track the origin and movement of products, ensuring supply chain integrity.

DNA tagging process

These are just a few examples of the many real-world applications of DNA extraction. The knowledge and skills gained from learning about DNA extraction can be applied to various fields and industries, leading to innovative solutions and discoveries.

 

Winter STEM Challenges: snow, force, and balancing challenges

By: Meghan Thoreau, OSU Extension Educator, Community Development & STEM, Pickaway County

snow flake project

This January students explored a variety of science and engineering principles. First, they learned more about the science of color and why snow is generally white in color, as well as engaged in hands-on activities that looked at gravity and contact and non-contact forces as well as shared in group discussions on how these forces can impact engineering and construction designs.

Why is snow white?

This is a timely winter question for our young STEMist. Having a “white” blanketed landscape is a common picturesque image conjured up during the winter months – it supports many winter activities such as sledding, snowman building, and backyard snow fort construction.

class lecture

Why is snow white?

This is a timely winter question for our young STEMist. Having a “white” blanketed landscape is a common picturesque image conjured up during the winter months – it supports many winter activities such as sledding, snowman building, and backyard snow fort construction.

The students had some probing discussions and watched a short video from our favorite online science teacher, Doug Peltz, in his ‘Mystery Doug’ video science series. The students learned that color is determined by visible light and the particular particles of objects themselves.

Photo source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color

The world is made up of many different objects that have many different combinations of atoms and molecules which vibrate at different frequencies that our eyes see as different colors. Snow is no different, it’s a collection of vibrating particles, but the way snow is made gives its particles a layering effect to consider when thinking about the answer.

Sounds complicated? First, the students considered what snow is made of – frozen water – and that water is clear, all things considered, so something happens when water freezes. Snow is made up of many different tiny pieces of ice particles and ice is not transparent or clear, it’s actually translucent. This is because ice particles are layered on top each other, and therefore, light can’t pass straight through, but is redirected in many different directions. The students took a snow making take home project to emphasize the layering translucent effect that creates a white snowflake ornament.

Photo source: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/introduction-minerals-and-rocks-under-the-microscope/content-section-0

Light is scattered and bounces off the ice crystals in the snow. The reflected light includes all the colors, which, together, looks white. In some unusual situation depending on the surrounding light sources and frequencies of objects, snow can take a hint of yellow or purplish glow color from its normal bright white color.

Moving from color science to physics and force 

What is a force?

Force is an agent which accelerates a body. The students learned a force is a push or a pull of one object on another object, but both objects have to be interacting with each other.

Image source: http://learntogethersim.blogspot.com/2017/07/what-is-force.html

Gravity is a pulling force that acts between two things (such as a person’s body and the mass of the earth) but its effect depends on the mass and distance between the objects being pulled together. It was also fascinating for the students to learn that force doesn’t produce motion necessarily, but rather adds acceleration. Additionally, all objects have a center of mass or a center of gravity that impacts movement in accordance to the laws of physics. We decided to challenge the students further by having them consider objects and people launched into outer space with the forces of physics at play.

The students applied some new physics concepts and experimented with hands-on forces and center of gravity challenges in STEM Club; forces of frictional, normal, and tension force challenges. Here’s a short video that highlights a few of our STEM Challenges.

 

 

 

 

Bees are Natural Engineers

By: Meghan Thoreau, OSU Extension Educator

Scioto Valley BeekeepersScioto Valley Beekeepers visited STEM Club this month. The Scioto Valley Beekeepers are active and dedicated to assisting current and future beekeepers in Pickaway County and the surrounding areas in Ohio. Their mission is “to promote public awareness of the benefits, necessity, and value of the honeybee throughout human existence.” If you would like to learn more about this organization or become more involved please visit their website or attend one of their monthly meetings.

The Benefits of Bees

Bees provide essential pollination services to millions of acres of crops, improving sustainability and biodiversity. Bees are critically important to agriculture. At least a third of the human food supply from crops and plants depends on insect pollination, which is mostly done by bees! They also contribute to the complex, interconnected ecosystems that allow a diverse number of different species to co-exist. (1)

Many of our scientific and engineering projects have been inspired by bees, such as the use of hexagons in engineering. The study of bees (particularly honey bees) continues to produce an enormous amount of scientific research and these insects have become one of the most studied creatures after humans. (2)

They have also generated an array of philosophical and poetic ideas. In ancient times, bees and honey played major roles and were symbolic of ancient Greek culture. Bees have been frequently connected with ideals of knowledge, health, and power. The ancient Greeks considered bees servants of the gods and their honey was worshipped for its healing qualities and power. Artisans represented bees in jewelry, money, and statues of goddesses. (3)

Bees have much to teach humans about cooperation and industriousness.

Bee Society

An average beehive is about two square feet (or 22 inches by 16 inches), with at least a five-foot buffer around the hive for in- and outbound bee traffic. In many ways, honey bees create a well-organized mini-society in a box. Honey bees, in particular, are very social insects that have evolved into a highly cooperative or collective existence. A hive is fiercely united around the “all-for-one and one-for-all” slogan as their workforce sets out to do a variety of complex tasks that are decided by the communal collective groups that are acted on instinctually. (4)

Honey bees communicate with each other through movement and odor. They send sophisticated messages about which duties to shift to, potential dangers, intruder alerts, locations of food sources, new hive sites, and a variety of other things. (5)

With ultraviolet visions, bees see targets on flowers where the pollen and nectar are located.

Bees can see both visible and ultraviolet light and have precise olfactory receptors. They can also detect electric fields. Flowers have a slight negative charge relative to the air around them. When bumblebees are flying through the air the friction between the air and their bee bodies causes them to become positively charged, and the students learned threw our program that two electrical charges of opposite polarity attract – chemistry in motion. (6)

Infographic by Fuse Consulting Ltd.

Each colony has only one queen at a time, whose primary function is reproduction. She only mates once in her lifetime shortly after she emerges from her egg and kills her other sister queens. She leaves the hive seeking out a cloud of drone bees from another colony. When she returns to her hive, she starts laying 1,500-2,000 eggs per day, selectively fertilizing or not fertilizing the eggs in accordance with how her worker bees are collectively directing her to do. The worker bees engineer and manage each opening of their comb. A queen lives two to three years (sometimes five years) and will produce up to 250,000 eggs per year and possibly lay more than a million eggs in her lifetime.

Drone bees represent five percent of the colony’s bee population and are only present during the late spring and early summer months. The queen may have a longer abdomen for storing the sperm, but a drone is larger overall than the queen and female worker bees. Drones also do not have stingers, pollen baskets, or wax glands, because their main purpose for their colony is to fertilize a virgin queen from a neighboring colony. They die instantly upon mating. While alive drones rely solely on food gathered and processed by the workers’ groups. Drones stay in the hive for the first eight days of life and eat three times more than their sister workers. Day 9 they start leaving the hive from noon to 4:00 p.m. taking orientation flights to acquaint themselves with the surrounding territory for mating purposes. When the weather cools and food becomes scarce the surviving drones are forced out of their hive to starve. (The only exception to this ousting is if the colony is queenless.)

Workers may be the smallest in body size, but they are some of the busiest bees in the group and make up 94 percent of the colony’s population. When compared to their queen they are sexually undeveloped females who under normal hive conditions do not lay eggs (and under a queenless condition lay unfertilized eggs.) Workers have specialized anatomy such as the addition of brood food glands, scent glands, wax glands, and pollen baskets, which allow them to perform all the laborious duties the hive requires. They also clean cells, feed the brood, care for the queen, remove debris and dead bees, handle incoming nectar, engineer beeswax combs, guard the entrance, and air-condition and ventilate the hive during their first few weeks as adults. Works then advance to field duties where they forage for nectar, pollen, water, and propolis (plant sap). (7, 8, 9)

Bee Body Parts and Anatomy

 Infographic source: https://awkwardbotany.com/2015/03/14/year-of-pollination-the-anatomy-of-a-bee/

Infographic source: https://beeprofessor.com/anatomy-of-a-honey-bee-beginners-guide/

The Power of Pollinators

#BeeTheSolution

1. Plant a Bee Garden

One of the largest threats to bees is a lack of safe habitat where they can build homes and find a variety of nutritious food sources. By planting a bee garden, you can create a safe haven for bees with pollen- and nectar-rich flowers by planting a range of shapes, sizes, colors, and bloom times. You don’t need a ton of space to grow bee-friendly plants — gardens can be established across yards and in window boxes, flower pots, and mixed into vegetable gardens. Seek out locally native plants as often as possible as many bee species have coevolved to feed exclusively on native flowers and need them to survive.

2. Go Chemical-Free for Bees

Regardless of which flowers you plant, avoid using pesticides and herbicides. Synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides, and neonicotinoids are harmful to bees, wreaking havoc on their sensitive systems. A garden can thrive without these harmful chemicals — in fact, one goal of a bee-friendly garden is to build a sustainable ecosystem that keeps itself in check by fostering beneficial populations. If you must use a pesticide, choose a targeted organic product, and always avoid applying pesticides when flowers are blooming or directly to the soil.

3. Become a Community Scientist

Join a global movement to collect data on our favorite pollinators! Community science transforms the passion and interest of regular people into data-driven activities that support scientific research. By participating in a community science project, you can provide important insights and local knowledge, which can lead to more relevant and useful research outcomes. Join our “A Bee Or Not a Bee” iNaturalist project, which invites you to document and upload species on iNaturalist, collaborating with naturalists around the world to determine whether the insect buzzing by is a bee, wasp, fly, or other common bee doppelgängers.

4. Provide Trees for Bees

Did you know that bees get most of their nectar from trees? When a tree blooms, it provides hundreds — if not thousands — of blossoms to feed from. Trees are not only a great food source for bees but also an essential habitat. Tree leaves and resin provide nesting material for bees, while natural wood cavities make excellent shelters. Native trees such as maples, redbuds, and black cherry all attract and support bees. You can help bolster bee food sources and habitats by caring for and planting trees. Trees are also great at sequestering carbon, managing our watersheds, and cooling air temperatures.

5. Create a Bee Bath

Bees work up quite a thirst foraging and collecting nectar. Fill a shallow bird bath or bowl with clean water, and arrange pebbles and stones inside so that they break the water’s surface. Bees will land on the stones and pebbles to take a long, refreshing drink.

6. Protect Ground Nesting Bees

Did you know that 70% of the world’s 20,000 bees — including bumblebees — live underground? There, they build nests and house their young, who overwinter and emerge each spring. Ground nesting bees need bare, mulch-free, well-drained, protected soil in a sunny area to create and access their nests. Leave an untouched section for ground-nesting bees in your garden!

7. Leave Stems Behind

30% of bees live: in holes inside trees, logs, or hollow plant stems. Don’t cut those hollow stems, which are valuable bee habitats. A hollow stem may not seem like prime real estate to us, but to Mason and other bees, it’s a cozy home in which they may overwinter. Wait until the spring to cut back dead flower stalks, leaving stems 8 to 24 inches high to provide homes for cavity-nesting bees.

8. Teach Tomorrow’s Bee Stewards

Inspire the next generation of eco citizens with guides, lessons, and activities to get them buzzed about bees! Educators can use our collection of free resources to bring nature and ecology into the classroom — and the hearts of children everywhere.

9. Host a Fundraiser

Peer-to-Peer fundraising is a fantastic way to spread the mission of The Bee Conservancy and empower your community to help raise money for our impactful programs. With the help of tools from Fundraise Up, you can share your personal fundraising page on social media and with friends and family. It’s an easy, fun way to make a serious impact. Start your own fundraiser today!

10. Support Local Beekeepers and Organizations

Local beekeepers work hard to nurture their bees and the local community. The easiest way to show your appreciation is to buy locally-made honey and beeswax products. Many beekeepers use products from their hives to create soaps, lotions, and beeswax candles. Plus, local honey is not only delicious — it is made from local flora and may help with seasonal allergies! You can also give time, resources, and monetary donations to local beekeeping societies and environmental groups to help their programs grow. (10)

Ohio Bee Identification Guides

 

OhioBeeGuideFINAL

 

Ohio Bee Identification Guide _ Ohioline

REFERENCE
1  Medicine, C. for V. (n.d.). Helping Agriculture’s helpful honey bees. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/helping-agricultures-helpful-honey-bees#:~:text=It’s%20their%20work%20as%20crop,bills%20buzzing%20over%20U.S.%20crops.
2  Why do honey bees make hexagons when building honeycombs? with video. BuzzAboutBees.net. (n.d.). https://www.buzzaboutbees.net/why-bees-use-hexagons.html
3  Out of the past. Bee Culture -. (2020, September 1). https://www.beeculture.com/out-of-the-past/#:~:text=Bees%20and%20honey%20were%20a,money%2C%20and%20statues%20of%20goddesses.
4  Wcislo, W., & Fewell, J. H. (n.d.). Sociality in bees (Chapter 3) – comparative social evolution. Cambridge Core. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/comparative-social-evolution/sociality-in-bees/EDB3BC0012570CEEF1237E662563B4FD
5  The language of bees. PerfectBee. (2020, September 17). https://www.perfectbee.com/blog/the-language-of-bees#:~:text=They%20don’t%20use%20words,a%20variety%20of%20other%20things.
6  Baisas, L. (2022, October 24). A swarm of honeybees can have the same electrical charge as a storm cloud. Popular Science. https://www.popsci.com/environment/honeybees-electric-atmospheric-charge/
7  Remolina, S. C., & Hughes, K. A. (2008, September). Evolution and mechanisms of long life and high fertility in queen Honey Bees. Age (Dordrecht, Netherlands). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2527632/#:~:text= Honey%20bees%20(Apis%20mellifera)%20are,200%20days%20in%20the%20winter.
8  The colony and its organization. Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium. (n.d.). https://canr.udel.edu/maarec/honey-bee-biology/the-colony-and-its-organization/
9  Welcome to the Hive!. Beverly Bees. (2019, January 30). https://www.beverlybees.com/home-hive/
10  10 ways to save the bees. The Bee Conservancy. (2023, April 21). https://thebeeconservancy.org/10-ways-to-save-the-bees/

November’s Foldscope Microscope and Biology Lab Challenge

By: Meghan Thoreau, OSU Extension Educator, Community Development & STEM, Pickaway County

Program Highlight Video

A Foldscope is an ultra-affordable, paper microscope. It was designed to be extremely portable, and durable, and to give optical quality similar to conventional research microscopes (magnification of 140X and 2-micron resolution). The Foldscope brings hands-on microscopy to new places and is especially great for our young STEMist to learn and explore with.

Students learned the basic components of a microscope, built their origami microscopes (as a take-home STEM project), and engaged in a hands-on biology investigation lab.

Image source: STEM Club Foldscope Presentation, go.osu.edu/foldscope

Students also engaged in a club discussion on different research methods used in science.

QUANTITATIVE DATA collection which is in a numerical form that can be put into categories, in rank order, or measured in units of measurement. This type of data can be used to construct graphs and tables of raw data.

VS

QUALITATIVE DATA collection which is empirical, observations, surveys, or interviews. This type of data provides insights into the problem(s), and helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research. Used to uncover trends and dive deeper into the problem.

The Foldscope is a learning product that can be self-assembled and includes art through hands-on origami, photography, and drawing what is observed. Foldscope is used in classrooms in over 130 countries worldwide. You can skim through the presentation by visiting go.osu.edu/foldscope.

October’s Halloween STEM Challenges, Part 1: Science of Color, Vision, and Phosphorescent

We covered a lot of material last month. We thought we’d take advantage of the spooky mystery themes of Halloween and challenge our students to become science detectives, experimenting with hands-on activities involving chromatography, perception of vision, and phosphorescent slime chemistry. We also learned about atoms, electrons, batteries, LEDs, and simple circuits.

Two Minute Video Highlight of Program

DAY 1

Chromatography

The students became CSI lab technicians, tasked with solving a who-done-it pumpkin theft. All that was left at the scene of the crime was a letter demanding cookies! No fingerprints were found, but six suspects were brought in for questioning and all six had different black markers on their person. The marker evidence was tagged and brought to the CSI lab along with the random letter for further analysis. Marker samples were taken and a chromatography test was performed by our young lab technicians.

Chromatography is a laboratory technique for the separation of a mixture (more specifically separation of molecules) and in our case black marker ink molecules. The ink was dissolved in a water solution process of mobile to stationary phase, revealing distinct ink-finger prints for comparative analysis against an ink sample taken from the random note. The students discovered different ink molecules travel at different speeds, causing them to separate and reveal distinct color patterns that could help identify the pumpkin thief from the six suspects.

People don’t often pick up a marker or pen and think of molecules,  but ink and paints are made up of atoms and the molecules, like everything, follow rules. Ink and paints follow the standard CPK rule, which is a popular color convention for distinguishing atoms of different chemical elements in molecular modeling (named after the chemists Robert Corey, Linus Pauling, and Walter Koltun). Basically, certain elements are associated with different colors. For example,

  • Hydrogen = White
  • Oxygen = Red
  • Chlorine = Green
  • Nitrogen = Blue
  • Carbon = Grey
  • Sulphur = Yellow
  • Phosphorus = Orange
  • Other = Varies – mostly Dark Red/Pink/Maroon

Teays Valley High school mentor, Drew Dean, assists elementary students with our chromatography lab.

PERSISTENCE OF VISION

Persistence of vision refers to the optical illusion that occurs when visual perception of an object does not cease for some time after the rays of light proceeding from it have ceased to enter the eye. The discovery was first discussed in 1824 when an English-Swiss physicist named Peter Mark Roget presented a paper, “Explanation of an Optical Deception in the Appearance of the Spokes of a Wheel when seen through Vertical Apertures” to the Royal Society in London. Shortly after, in 1832, a Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau built a toy that took advantage of the optical illusion trick. (Photo below source: http://streamline.filmstruck.com/2012/01/07/the-persistence-of-persistence-of-vision/)

The toy made images move independently but overlapped them or when placed in a series made them look as if they were walking, running, juggling, dancing. This concept soon laid the foundation for early filmmaking. (Photo below source be: http://1125996089.rsc.cdn77.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/persistence-of-vision-transit.jpg)

The students learned how our eyes report basic imaginary back to the brain, or rather how our eyes perceive shapes, their motion, and their relative position from other objects. The students discovered that eyes are not simple windows to the world. Eyes do not see what is, but instead, see approximations.

PHOSPHORESCENT SLIME

The students learned how different objects glow in the dark. First, students learned that heat is a good emitter of light, such as a fire or an old-fashioned light bulb, but heat isn’t always required to make something appear to glow. For example, bedroom glow-in-the-dark stickers, glow sticks, or fireflies do not require heat. The stickers and even certain types of rocks, like the Bologna Stone, require several hours of light to charge them in order to later glow. But glow sticks and fireflies, do not require heat or light, but instead, deal with chemistry where two different elements are mixed together to make a ‘luminescent’ compound.

We talked about phosphorescence and the process in which energy absorbed by a substance is released slowly in the form of light. Unlike the relatively swift reactions in fluorescence, such as those seen in a common fluorescent tube, phosphorescent materials “store” absorbed energy for a longer time, as the processes required to re-emit energy occur less often.

Finally, we let the students become chemists and make their own phosphorescent slime for later glow in the dark fun after the compound was charged by light. The young chemists used measuring devices to concoct their spooky slime recipe.

Make another batch at home with your young chemist:

  1. Add 20.0 mL of glue to cup
  2. Add 15.0 mL of water to cup
  3. STIR!
  4. Drop of preferred food coloring
  5. STIR!
  6. Add a drop of glow in the dark phosphorescence paint
  7. Add 12.0 mL of BORAX solution
  8. STIR! It will be runny until you take it out of the cup and start to play with it.

 

Entomology STEM Club Challenges

By: Meghan Thoreau, OSU Extension Educator, Community Development & STEM, Pickaway County

Entomology is the study of insects. More than one million different species of insect have been identified to date. Insects are the most abundant group of animals in the world and live in almost every habitat. Entomology is essential to our understanding of human disease, agriculture, evolution, ecology, and biodiversity.

Entomology is an ancient science, dating back to the establishment of biology as a formal field of study by Aristotle (384-322 BC). There are even earlier references to the use of insects in daily life: such as the growing of silkworms that began 4700 BC in China, which was an important part of peasant life in China, as early as 4000 BC. More than a hundred years ago, entomologists formed a society, the Entomological Society of America (ESA), to promote the science and study of entomology in the United States. (i)

Photo source: https://www.todayifoundout.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/silk-worm.jpg

On our second day, Future Entomologist, we explored our previous bug topics a bit deeper and also focused on the diverse career pathways open to Entomologists. We also focused on the chemistry behind some insects (such as color change, odor, etc.,) and some interactive bug challenges to strengthen our understanding of insect characteristics and insect identification.

Meeting agenda for Future Entomology with Meghan Thoreau, OSU Extension Educator. Full presentation link: go.osu.edu/entomology

Who Needs Entomologists?

Entomologists have many important jobs, such as the study of the classification, life cycle, distribution, physiology, behavior, ecology, and population dynamics of insects, but their scoop of study is pretty diverse, ranging from agricultural pests, urban pests, forest pests, medical pests, and veterinary pests and bug control. Entomologists are scientists, researchers, teachers, and consultants and can work for private companies, universities, or government agencies.

There are more than 8,000 men and women who work as professional entomologists in the United States (more worldwide) and are sought over for their specializations and expertise. They have careers in teaching; working as Extension Entomologists (public educators who provide information on insects and their management in agricultural and urban environments); raising bees; enforcing quarantines and regulations; performing insect survey work; consulting on integrated pest management topics; consulting in the construction sector or cosmic industry, selling insecticides; controlling pests; and conducting research on insect classification, taxonomy, biology, ecology, behavior, and control – and these jobs are found both local, national, and around the world; e.g. employed by the United Nations. Like to travel? Here are is a random job pull from the United Nations job board.

Photo source: https://unjobs.org/themes/entomology

The greatest number of entomologists are employed in some aspect of economic or applied entomology that deals with the control of harmful insects. There are also tens of thousands of amateur entomologists and hobbyists who study insects without pay and who provide valuable information on insect distributions, seasonal activity patterns, identification, life cycles, and behavior. (ii)

Slide from Future Entomology unit created by Meghan Thoreau in Keynote.

Career possibilities for graduates with a B.S. degree in Entomology include:

  • Agricultural, biological or genetic research
  • Forensic entomology
  • Public health
  • Consulting (agricultural, environmental, public health, urban, food processing)
  • State and federal government agencies
  • Conservation and environmental biology
  • Pharmaceutical industry
  • Natural resources management
  • Veterinary, medical, or graduate school
  • Production agriculture
  • Pest control
  • Seed, fertilizer, and chemical research companies
  • Apiculture
  • Outreach education

Sometimes the best career opening decisions come from learning how others may have indirectly or directly stumbled into their chosen career pathway. Careers are not always linked to taking the right courses in college, but understanding personal strengthens and skillsets, as well as, letting the randomness of life decision making along with the people/network you may know all start laying the foundations for our various career paths. Read more, How Three Entomologists Found Careers in Industry.

Interactive Activity Challenge for Readers

Watch this short clip, Arthropods: the Differences Between Spiders and Insects and then click and run through the ‘Parts of an Insect and Spider’ challenges and try to get your name placed on our STEMist scoreboard! You can also play our Kahoots Insect Trivia, game link below as well.

Below are two interactive Entomology WordWall Challenges from our November 21, 2020, STEM Club meeting!

1. Parts of an Insect

2. Parts of a Spider

3. Kahoots Bug Trivia
Join at www.kahoot.it and enter the Game Pin shared live during our club meeting!
References
(i) http://entomology.wsu.edu/prospective-students/the-what-why-of-entomology/
(ii) https://www.aboutbioscience.org/careers/entomologist/

Columbus BugZoo via Zoom

Jeni Ruisch, Director of Outreach and Academic Programming, Department of Entomology at The Ohio State University joined our November 14th club meeting to share some animals from the Columbus BugZoo via Zoom. Jeni curates a collection of live critters for outreach activities on or near The OSU campus. During COVID-19 she is providing virtual educational outreach programs. She not only shared her passion for animal husbandry but left the students with a newfound respect for our bug friends around the world. Many students were interested in the Latin names of the insects shared, they can be found below. Keep exploring insects and Entomology careers – the work is very rewarding and offers many interesting career pathways.

Jeni Ruisch showing off the Columbus BugZoo.

Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, Gromphadorhina Portentosa

Giant Drummer Cockroach, Blaberus Giganteus

Northern Walking Stick, Diapheromera Femorata

MacLeay’s Spectre Leaf Insect, Extatosoma Tiaratum

Olive Millipede, Spirostreptus Brachycerus

Emperor Scorpion, Pandinus Imperator

Rosehair Tarantula, Grammastola Rosea

Our next club meeting will dive deeper into Entomology career pathways and offer bug challenge activities and trivia for us to engage in!

Virtual STEM Club November Kick-off: video conferencing etiquette, Schoology, bug benefits, and career paths within Entomology!

By: Meghan Thoreau, OSU Extension Educator, Community Development & STEM, Pickaway County

We have a full line up for the month of November. We’re starting with an important first club meeting, Saturday, November 7, 2020 @ 10:00 a.m. where club members and parents get to meet virtually for the first time and say hello. STEM teachers will share the club’s expectations, resource blog site, video conferencing etiquette, and provide a virtual walk-thru of the Schoology Club site.

(Students and parents please note that all Zoom meeting details can be found in Schoology’s Virtual STEM Club class! If you have any questions or issues finding the announcement please email STEM teachers.)

The following two Saturday’s will focus on bugs and learning about the benefits insects perform and provide vital functions within our ecosystems. For example, bugs provide foods for many birds, mammals, and fishes on which fishing and hunting depends. They also decompose dead materials, and reintroduce nutrients into the soil. On Saturday, November 14, 2020 @ 10:00 a.m. Jeni Ruisch, Director of Outreach and Academic Programming, Department of Entomology at The Ohio State University will be joining our club session. Jeni curates a collection of live critters for outreach activities on or near The OSU campus. During COVID-19, she is personally housing the Columbus BugZoo & providing educational outreach programs via Zoom.

She Majored in Psychology, minored in English, Pop Culture Studies, and Neuroscience. Her education focus is on human and non-human animal cognition and behavior, and professional background in husbandry. She has additional education in writing and publishing, with 10-years of professional writing experience, including three years as the editor of a magazine. Hobbies are pretty much like her job, diverse and pet friendly. She has lots of bug pets, stays busy caring and maintaining their enclosures, and also trains dogs. Jeni’s career is quirky, but throughly rewarding. Below are some photos of Jeni with some bugs at the Cincinnati Zoo. (The giant stick bug is over a foot long!)

During our Club meeting we’ll learn more about iNaturalist, an online social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe. iNaturalist may be accessed via its website or from its mobile applications.

If you can’t wait still we meet, enjoy this Life of Insects educational video by environmental steward, David Attenborough, with some arthropods!

On Saturday, November 21, 2020 @ 10:00 a.m. we’ll engage in more bug challenges and learn about Entomologist Careers and why entomologists are so important?