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Ch. 44 - Animal Sensory Systems

Chapter 43, Problem 16

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? Beekeepers carefully manage their beehives by adding mated queens, drones, and workers at appropriate times. However, sometimes the bees abandon a new hive before the queen can mature, and the result is inefficient hive management and honey production. Suggest a potential use of queen pheromone in controlling this problem.

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Welcome back. Here's the next question. Aside from maintaining the colony's population. Which of the following is the primary function of the queen bee in a hive. Well the question, of course already mentions her really key role that she is the only fertilized female bee in the hive and therefore the only one that can lay eggs to reproduce. Um She also has another primary function and that is to release a unique pheromone that affects the behavior of the other bees in the hive. And that is choice A. Here when we look at our other answer choices, we have a choice B. She guards the hive against predators. That is the work of worker bees. So not not a primary function of the queen B. Choice C. She nurses the brood to ensure there will be a successful when she dies again not her function that's done by worker bees. And finally joined the D. She forages for food to sustain the workers also the job of worker bees and not a primary function of the queen bee. So aside from maintaining the colony's population which of the following is the primary function of the queen bee choice A. She releases a unique pheromone that affects the other bees behavior. See you in the next video
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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? 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?

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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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