Water the Bees up to Now?

        On Thursday, Feb. 10, I wheeled my bike through the gates of the Bernard Field Station for the first time. I had recently been introduced to the tract of natural habitat preserved for academic use through my Experimental Ecology Lab, and had been tasked with making weekly natural history observations for the class. It was my first solo trip to the BFS, and I visited with the goal of making my first observation at the site. Without any real idea of where to begin, I headed over to pHake Lake – the BFS’s cheekily named artificial lake – for inspiration (and for shade – it was a sunny 83℉ outside). Upon arrival though, I saw that I was not the only one there on a work trip! At every place I stopped along the shore of pHake lake, I saw busily buzzing black-and-gold bees flitting around the surface of the water. Inspiration struck, and those Mudd-colored worker bees became my first subjects!

        I ended up observing the bees for about 45 minutes from a small clearing on the shore of pHake Lake, and identified them as Apis mellifera, or European Honey Bees. This species is not native to Western North America, but has been extensively naturalized throughout the globe because of its agricultural use in pollination and honey-making (more species info here!). While the ones I saw may have been wild bees, it seemed more likely that they were from the colonies maintained at the BFS by our very own HMC Bee Lab.

[1] A European Honey Bee, Apis mellifera

        At first I was confused about why the bees were there. The obvious reason seemed to be for feeding, but there were no flowering plants in sight, and most of the aquatic plants around where the bees were flying were completely submerged. Looking more closely I realized the industrious insects were clustered mostly around a large rock sticking out of the water – rather, they were clustered around the place where the exposed rock met the water’s edge. They were drinking! Since bees can’t swim, the rock provided a stable place for them to land while they drank and collected water. Attempting to simply hover over the water or land on an unstable place like a floating plant might be too dangerous.

        While watching the bees, I made a sketch of the shoreline and of one of the bees in my field notebook. I also made notes of the time, date, location, and weather conditions of my observation, of every interesting bee-havior I noticed, and of hypotheses on what the insects were doing.

[2] My field observation notes on the bees collecting water at pHake Lake

[3] Two honey bees collecting water from the edge of a rock

        For some reason, I’d never considered that bees need water too, so after finishing my observation I did some research. It turns out that digestion is not the bees’ only need for the nutrient! They also use water to regulate temperature and humidity inside the hive by spreading a thin layer of water and fanning it with their wings, similar to a modern AC unit; to dissolve crystalized honey stores; and to feed larva. Bees don’t generally store water either, so water collection must happen year-round (see more bee/water information here!).

        Overall, I found the process very enjoyable, almost meditative. In my everyday life I don’t often take the time to notice the small behaviors and intricate details of the nature around me. This observation allowed me to take a moment and focus on the specificities of a tiny component of the Bernard Field Station ecosystem.



Media Credits:

[1]: Photo by Massimo Piccoli. https://flic.kr/p/2m8h2Tu
[2]: Photo by Kathleen D.
[3]: Photo by JKehoe_Photos. https://flic.kr/p/egAxpE