Swarms of honeybees can generate as much electrical charge as a thunderstorm, new research shows.
In a study published in the journal iScience on Monday, researchers from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom discovered this phenomenon by chance.
Catalin Zestran/Adobe Stock
Biologist Ellard Hunting, first author on the study, told CNN that the Bristol team was studying how different organisms use the static electric fields that are everywhere in the environment.
Atmospheric electricity has a variety of functions, mainly in shaping weather events and helping organisms, for example in finding food.
“For instance, flowers have an electric field and bees can sense these fields. And these electric fields of flowers can change when it has been visited by a bee, and other bees can use that information to see whether a flower has been visited,” Hunting explained.
Having set up equipment to measure atmospheric electric fields at the university’s field station, which features several honeybee hives, Hunting and his team noticed that whenever the bees swarmed, there was “a profound effect on atmospheric electric fields,” even though the weather hadn’t changed.
All insects create a charge during flight as a result of friction in the air, with the size of the charge varying between species. Individual bees carry a charge that is small enough to be overlooked by researchers, so “this effect (in swarming bees) came as a surprise,” Hunting said.
The researchers observed the hives on the field station, using a camera to record and electric field monitors to measure currents during the honeybee swarms. Swarms can occur when a hive becomes overcrowded, with the queen bee leaving with around 12,000 worker bees, researchers wrote in the study.
The monitors measured the currents for approximately three minutes at a time as the swarms passed over them and captured charges ranging from 100 to 1,000 volts per meter. Hunting and his colleagues noticed that the electric field was greater when the swarm was thicker — more densely packed with bees. They found that, depending on the swarm density, the atmospheric charge could be similar to that of a storm cloud, thunderstorm or electrified dust storm.
Using the model developed with the honeybees, the team predicted the influence of other insect species, such as locusts, that swarm on a “biblical scale,” and theorized that they have the potential to change their local electrical environment with a “magnitude comparable with meteorological events,” the study says.
Hunting said he believes the team’s findings open up new avenues of research, especially in the relationship between the natural world and atmospheric electricity.
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6 surprising things about bees on World Bee Day
Photo by Martin Schutt/picture alliance via Getty Images
Bees can communicate and make decisions by dancing.
When a honeybee scouts out and inspects a new nest it uses a waggle dance to advertise and debate its merits. The better the site, the longer and harder the bee dances. If another bee bumps into a dancing bee, she will go off to inspect the site and if she likes it, she, too, will waggle.
Eventually, the dynamics of the waggle dancing causes about 20 to 30 bees to agree on the best nest site, and they communicate their decision to the rest of the swarm by making high-pitched sounds and by buzzing their wings among the other bees.
Photo by Martin Schutt/picture alliance via Getty Images
Bees can communicate and make decisions by dancing.
When a honeybee scouts out and inspects a new nest it uses a waggle dance to advertise and debate its merits. The better the site, the longer and harder the bee dances. If another bee bumps into a dancing bee, she will go off to inspect the site and if she likes it, she, too, will waggle.
Eventually, the dynamics of the waggle dancing causes about 20 to 30 bees to agree on the best nest site, and they communicate their decision to the rest of the swarm by making high-pitched sounds and by buzzing their wings among the other bees.
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6 surprising things about bees on World Bee Day
Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
Honeybees in Vietnam and other parts of Asia are threatened by predatory species of giant hornet that attack bee colonies, killing the adults defending the nest and preying on the young bees. In particular, the voracious hornet species Vespa soror is capable of obliterating the hive within hours.
To ward off such attacks, the bees have been observed collecting fresh animal feces and smearing it around the entrance to their hive. The researchers, who published their findings last year, call it "fecal spotting." The study team believe the poop repels the predatory hornets (which are similar to murder hornets) from the nest by reducing time hornets spend attempting to breach the nest.
"Fecal spotting stands out as extraordinary for several reasons. It marks the first report of honey bees of any species foraging for materials that are not derived from plants or water-based fluids. It is also the first clear-cut example of honey bees using a tool in nature," the study said.
Honeybees also signal an imminent attack by making a chilling warning noise.
Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
Honeybees in Vietnam and other parts of Asia are threatened by predatory species of giant hornet that attack bee colonies, killing the adults defending the nest and preying on the young bees. In particular, the voracious hornet species Vespa soror is capable of obliterating the hive within hours.
To ward off such attacks, the bees have been observed collecting fresh animal feces and smearing it around the entrance to their hive. The researchers, who published their findings last year, call it "fecal spotting." The study team believe the poop repels the predatory hornets (which are similar to murder hornets) from the nest by reducing time hornets spend attempting to breach the nest.
"Fecal spotting stands out as extraordinary for several reasons. It marks the first report of honey bees of any species foraging for materials that are not derived from plants or water-based fluids. It is also the first clear-cut example of honey bees using a tool in nature," the study said.
Honeybees also signal an imminent attack by making a chilling warning noise.
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6 surprising things about bees on World Bee Day
AP file
In the 1980s, "yellow rain" -- tiny splotches of yellow found on jungle foliage in Laos and Cambodia -- were thought to be the residue of chemical weapons. Refugees said that the yellow rain caused illness and death. The allegations prompted the United States to accuse what was then the Soviet Union and its allies of chemical warfare.
Bee experts later found that the yellow dots were excretions by massive swarms of wild honeybees.
AP file
In the 1980s, "yellow rain" -- tiny splotches of yellow found on jungle foliage in Laos and Cambodia -- were thought to be the residue of chemical weapons. Refugees said that the yellow rain caused illness and death. The allegations prompted the United States to accuse what was then the Soviet Union and its allies of chemical warfare.
Bee experts later found that the yellow dots were excretions by massive swarms of wild honeybees.
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6 surprising things about bees on World Bee Day
AP file
Plants produce dazzling flowers laden with nectar to attract pollinators but what's an impatient, hungry bumblebee to do when those flowers haven't yet bloomed?
When pollen is scarce, bumblebees damaged tomato and mustard plant leaves in a unique way that resulted in the plant flowering up to 30 days earlier than unnibbled plants, scientists in Switzerland and France found.
For bees, the pollen is a protein source they need to raise their young.
However, warmer temperatures as a result of the climate crisis means that bees are waking up earlier after hibernating for the winter to find the flowers they need for food haven't yet bloomed. Flowering time, which relies on exposure to light, is less affected by climate change. This creates a mismatch that can leaves bees short of food early in spring.
AP file
Plants produce dazzling flowers laden with nectar to attract pollinators but what's an impatient, hungry bumblebee to do when those flowers haven't yet bloomed?
When pollen is scarce, bumblebees damaged tomato and mustard plant leaves in a unique way that resulted in the plant flowering up to 30 days earlier than unnibbled plants, scientists in Switzerland and France found.
For bees, the pollen is a protein source they need to raise their young.
However, warmer temperatures as a result of the climate crisis means that bees are waking up earlier after hibernating for the winter to find the flowers they need for food haven't yet bloomed. Flowering time, which relies on exposure to light, is less affected by climate change. This creates a mismatch that can leaves bees short of food early in spring.
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6 surprising things about bees on World Bee Day
AP file
A cave painting in Spain thought to be 8,000 years old depicts a human gathering honey from a ladder. Traces of beeswax on pottery also suggest that early farmers kept bees 9,000 years ago. Honey has also been found in ancient Egyptian tombs.
Honey was likely a rare treat in a prehistoric diet that had few sweet foods, and it could have had medicinal uses. Beeswax could have been used to make pots waterproof or as a glue.
Today, honey may offer fresh hope in the fight against antibiotic resistance. It contains natural antibiotics to help the body battle infection. Scientists are working on ways to make the sticky substance easier to apply on wounds, and it could be used in surgery, war zones and our own homes.
AP file
A cave painting in Spain thought to be 8,000 years old depicts a human gathering honey from a ladder. Traces of beeswax on pottery also suggest that early farmers kept bees 9,000 years ago. Honey has also been found in ancient Egyptian tombs.
Honey was likely a rare treat in a prehistoric diet that had few sweet foods, and it could have had medicinal uses. Beeswax could have been used to make pots waterproof or as a glue.
Today, honey may offer fresh hope in the fight against antibiotic resistance. It contains natural antibiotics to help the body battle infection. Scientists are working on ways to make the sticky substance easier to apply on wounds, and it could be used in surgery, war zones and our own homes.
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6 surprising things about bees on World Bee Day
AP file
The vast majority of bees feed on pollen and nectar, but some species have evolved to feast on meat, substituting dead animal carcasses for flower meadows.
Vulture bees in Costa Rica have guts rich in acid-loving bacteria similar to those found in hyenas and other animals that feed on carrion, scientists at the University of California-Riverside, Columbia University and Cornell University discovered last year.
Their research involved setting up 16 traps baited with 50 grams (1.8 ounces) of raw chicken dangling from branches about 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) above the ground. Though vulture bees feed on flesh, their honey is still sweet and edible, the researchers said.
AP file
The vast majority of bees feed on pollen and nectar, but some species have evolved to feast on meat, substituting dead animal carcasses for flower meadows.
Vulture bees in Costa Rica have guts rich in acid-loving bacteria similar to those found in hyenas and other animals that feed on carrion, scientists at the University of California-Riverside, Columbia University and Cornell University discovered last year.
Their research involved setting up 16 traps baited with 50 grams (1.8 ounces) of raw chicken dangling from branches about 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) above the ground. Though vulture bees feed on flesh, their honey is still sweet and edible, the researchers said.
