Friday, May 31, 2013

Bees in the Bird Nest


A new study done by the Laboratory of Behavioral Ecology and Evolution at Seoul National University in South Korea has found that a bee’s buzz could be one factor that helps them invade and steal bird nests. Their buzz had been used previously as a warning to their predators against hunting them, as their sting could be potentially harmful. In this study, however, Piotr Jablonski and his team found that not only does the sound of this buzz warn the birds not to attack the bees; it also prompts them to leave their nests.

First, they wanted to see if the bees would try to take over the bird nests, so they created multiple nest boxes that were soon inhabited by birds. When they checked the boxes, they found that up to twenty-one percent of the boxes had been taken over by bees, while the boxes without bird nests had been left untouched. They then decided to test the effect the bee’s buzz on incubating birds. To do this, they placed a speaker under the layers of moss inside the nest box and played the sound of the buzz. They then waited for the birds to arrive, and observed their reaction with a small camera inside the box. They found that the sound of the bumblebee buzz made them nervous, and they often abandoned the nest. To provide a control, they played songs of common birds, which left them with far less stress.

They concluded “that a warning signal, known to help deter predatory attacks on a potentially harmful prey, may also help the prey to win ecological competition with its predators."

NOS Themes

·         Science is collaborative

·         Science is based on evidence

·         Role of motivation and curiosity

6 comments:

  1. I Never knew that bees stole birds nests. It makes sense that the bees try to get the birds to leave because they need a place to live too! Some birds may not be affected by the sound of bees, which is why the role of repeatability is also a very important NOS theme. A group of birds in the family Meropidae, nicknamed "bee-eaters", eat predominantly insects, especially bees and wasps. These birds are found in Africa and Asia and some in Southern Europe.

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  2. Another NOS theme could be role of chance. Different birds of different species or even different birds in the same species could react differently to sounds because it is chance that chooses which birds were a part of the study.

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  3. I think its so cool that bees actually use their "buzz". I always thought it was just another noise. It makes sense that it could be used as a warning sign. It's really cool that bees can work together with their buzzing to take over different birds nests.

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  4. I think its so cool that bees actually use their "buzz". I always thought it was just another noise. It makes sense that it could be used as a warning sign. It's really cool that bees can work together with their buzzing to take over different birds nests.

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  5. This article is suprising! If I had not have read this I would have never known that bees take over birds nests and homes. This research is very interesting and it makes me wander if bee's take over homes of other organisms as well. Here is an article to check out for more information on this topic! http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/s-btb052813.php

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  6. http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/environment/Buzzing-bees-scare-elephants---researcher_10234138

    In 2011, Lucy King, a researcher at Oxford found that elephants were scared of bees. Whenever bees buzzed around the elephants they would get away. In Africa villages had a problem with elephants coming into their villages but King's research has led them to just keep bees around. The bees keep the elephants at bay and African crops to grow (since elephants often destroy them). It is interesting to see how little things about bees could have helped so much. I wonder what this research will do for the world!

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