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Ch. 44 - Animal Sensory Systems
Freeman - Biological Science 8th Edition
Freeman8th EditionBiological ScienceISBN: 9780138276263Not the one you use?Change textbook
Chapter 44, Problem 12b

Honeybees live in social groups consisting of a queen, up to several hundred male drones, and thousands of infertile female workers. The drones mate with the queen only, and the workers protect the hive, forage, and feed and groom the queen. The health of the hive depends on the female workers performing these duties instead of reproducing.
What roles do pheromones play in maintaining a functional beehive?
Honeybees produce an alarm pheromone when their hive is molested. This pheromone stimulates the bees to protect the hive. If you were to count the number of alarm pheromone receptors in honeybee tissues, which type of bee would likely have the most—a queen, a drone, or a worker? Why?

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1
Understand the roles of different types of bees in the hive: Queens are responsible for reproduction, drones mate with the queen, and workers perform tasks like foraging and protecting the hive.
Recognize the importance of pheromones in honeybee communication: Pheromones are chemical signals that influence the behavior and physiology of other bees in the hive.
Identify the function of alarm pheromones: Alarm pheromones are released when the hive is threatened, prompting bees to defend the hive.
Consider which type of bee is most involved in hive defense: Workers are primarily responsible for protecting the hive, so they would need to be highly responsive to alarm pheromones.
Conclude that worker bees likely have the most alarm pheromone receptors: Since workers are tasked with defending the hive, they need to detect alarm pheromones efficiently to respond quickly to threats.

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Key Concepts

Here are the essential concepts you must grasp in order to answer the question correctly.

Pheromones

Pheromones are chemical signals released by an organism to affect the behavior or physiology of others of its species. In honeybees, pheromones are crucial for communication within the hive, influencing roles such as mating, foraging, and defense. The alarm pheromone, for instance, triggers defensive behavior among worker bees to protect the hive from threats.
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Honeybee Social Structure

Honeybee colonies are structured into distinct roles: the queen, drones, and worker bees. The queen is responsible for reproduction, drones mate with the queen, and worker bees perform tasks like foraging and hive defense. This division of labor is essential for the survival and efficiency of the hive, with pheromones playing a key role in maintaining these roles.
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Alarm Pheromone Receptors

Alarm pheromone receptors are specialized sensory structures that detect alarm pheromones, prompting bees to defend the hive. Worker bees, tasked with protection, likely have the most alarm pheromone receptors, enabling them to quickly respond to threats. This adaptation ensures the hive's safety by mobilizing workers to act defensively when necessary.
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Related Practice
Textbook Question

Scientists collected data on the date of onset of the menstrual cycles in a group of women who moved into a college dormitory together in the fall. The y-axis of the graph shows the mean difference (in days) between the onset of a woman's cycle and the average onset date of the rest of the women. Evaluate whether these data provide evidence for the existence of a human pheromone.

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Textbook Question

Design experiments to test the hypothesis that electric eels are both electrogenic and electroreceptive.

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Textbook Question

Honeybees live in social groups consisting of a queen, up to several hundred male drones, and thousands of infertile female workers. The drones mate with the queen only, and the workers protect the hive, forage, and feed and groom the queen. The health of the hive depends on the female workers performing these duties instead of reproducing.

What roles do pheromones play in maintaining a functional beehive?

Scientists have identified dozens of pheromones used by honeybees for communication. Which type of sensory system uses pheromones?

a. Mechanoreception

b. Photoreception

c. Chemoreception

d. Thermoreception

e. Electroreception

588
views
Textbook Question

Honeybees live in social groups consisting of a queen, up to several hundred male drones, and thousands of infertile female workers. The drones mate with the queen only, and the workers protect the hive, forage, and feed and groom the queen. The health of the hive depends on the female workers performing these duties instead of reproducing.

What roles do pheromones play in maintaining a functional beehive? Why might an alarm pheromone be more effective for triggering a protective response in a hive than signals that involve other senses, such as vision or hearing?

495
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Textbook Question

Honeybees live in social groups consisting of a queen, up to several hundred male drones, and thousands of infertile female workers. The drones mate with the queen only, and the workers protect the hive, forage, and feed and groom the queen. The health of the hive depends on the female workers performing these duties instead of reproducing.

What roles do pheromones play in maintaining a functional beehive?

Researchers observed that the queen produces a pheromone that attracts both drones and workers. They hypothesized that this pheromone inhibits ovarian development in the workers, making the workers infertile. To test this hypothesis, they exposed workers to a synthetic version of the queen pheromone and then recorded their 'ovary development score.' (Higher scores indicate more fully developed ovaries.) The results are shown in the graph here. Do these results support the researchers' hypothesis? Why or why not? (*** signifies P<0.001.)

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Textbook Question

Honeybees live in social groups consisting of a queen, up to several hundred male drones, and thousands of infertile female workers. The drones mate with the queen only, and the workers protect the hive, forage, and feed and groom the queen. The health of the hive depends on the female workers performing these duties instead of reproducing.

What roles do pheromones play in maintaining a functional beehive?

In the experiment described in Question 14, the researchers dissolved the queen pheromone in diethyl ether, a chemical that helps volatilize the pheromone, making it easier for the workers to detect it in the air. The control treatment consisted of plain diethyl ether. Why did they use this as the control instead of simply not exposing the workers to any chemical?

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