Showing posts with label pollen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pollen. Show all posts

Wasps Favor Large Size for Sex

Size matters when it comes to sex. When in the orchid world it does anyway! The plants rely on wasps for fertilization. Apparently, male wasps are attracted to the largest orchids. Shape of plants also has a role.
Male wasps visit large orchids to pollinate them
Orchids are a replica of female wasps, in shape and scent. Two orchids who had two kinds of wasps enamored with them were observed. The wasps did visited both types of plants but they spent more time "copulating' with their favored orchid.

Scent is offered to male wasps on little black beads. This only attracts males to the flowers. Once there, shape and size of blooms affects whether wasps stay or go. Orchids also benefits from this because plants with larger flowers are fertilized and they produce the next generation of orchids.
◆ Chemistry by Ty Buchanan ◆
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            Australian Blog ★  Adventure Australia
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wasps orchids plants attract fertilization blooms scent smell male female
MALE WASPS GO FOR SIZE
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Solution to Bee Die-Off?

It is not widely known just how important bees are to maintain our food output, let alone to increase it as demand strengthens. There are so many mysteries to why bees are dying off across the world. Many theories are put forward. Unfortunately, there are few answers to the problem.
We need to look after the human friendly insect. It could eventually be found that bees are being killed off by chemicals. However, like other animals bees need chemicals to treat illnesses. When they become infected they change their foraging habits seeking pollen from plants that store certain chemicals. The solution to bee die-off could lie in studying this phenomenon.

Plants synthesize chemicals that attract select species of pollinators. Other substance also deter potential attackers. Herbivores have been real pests to plants for millions of years. Eating the leaves can kill plants. Insects have evolved to go where plant toxins drive herbivores away.

All nectar is not the same. If toxins can drive away herbivores, beneficial elements could attract bees as and when the insects needs it. A study infected bees with a gut parasite. One group was fed on sucrose while another group was given secondary compounds from plant nectar. The amount of parasite infestation was greatly reduced in the group which consumed secondary compounds.
✴ Chemistry by Ty Buchanan ✴
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Sneeze Dog

"I am not going to sneeze."
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Funny Animal Photos
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Bees Calculate Energy Expended When Getting Pollen

Bees calculate how much energy they need to get pollen. To survive, bees must run on a "profit" basis. They must not use more energy in obtaining nectar than energy the nectar provides. Bees were given the choice of travelling along two pathways to get nectar. One pathway was 10 meters long, the other 20 meters. However, the "scenery" of the 10 meter pathway was designed to trick the bees into perceiving that it was the furthest distance away.

When the bees returned to their fellows in the nest they told them with a waggle dance which pathway to use to get more pollen. Despite the 10 meter pathway appearing to the bees to be further away they told other bees to go to the feeder in the 10 meter pathway. Somehow, they had worked out that it used up less energy to go to this feeder than the one on the other pathway.

It is believed that bees have "calorimeters" built into their brains. They do not judge energy expenditure solely based on distance travelled. A partly covered pathway would be given the okay over a pathway out in the weather for example.

Bees are smart little critters and we can learn a great deal from them.
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Entomology
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There Are Side Affects From Allergy Medications

Allergic reactions are increasing in epidemic proportions across the world and the real cause is still unknown. Sinusitis from hay fever affects twice as many people as it did ten years ago. Medications no longer seem effective as those with sore eyes and runny noses dose themselves up on corticosteroids and anthistamines.

This is not only costing millions in lost man-hours as the afflicted stay at home, but the cost of medications is skyrocketing. Sufferers cannot cope with the seemingly never ending symptoms. They cannot live normal lives. For example, if students are affected during school leaving exams their grades can be lower. They are stuck with the low grades for ever. Antihistamines cause drowsiness. This leads to more accidents at work and road accidents.

The cause could lie in our diet of processed food. Children with ADHD improve when they are treated with antihistamines. Drowsiness for them is not a problem. Autistic children also get better when their intake of processed food is reduced and they are given probiotics.
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Health
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Bees Calculate Energy Expended When Getting Pollen

Bees calculate how much energy they need to get pollen. To survive, bees must run on a "profit" basis. They must not use more energy in obtaining nectar than energy the nectar provides. Bees were given the choice of travelling along two pathways to get nectar. One pathway was 10 meters long, the other 20 meters. However, the "scenery" of the 10 meter pathway was designed to trick the bees into perceiving that it was the furthest distance away.

When the bees returned to their fellows in the nest they told them with a waggle dance which pathway to use to get more pollen. Despite the 10 meter pathway appearing to the bees to be further away they told other bees to go to the feeder in the 10 meter pathway. Somehow, they had worked out that it used up less energy to go to this feeder than the one on the other pathway.

It is believed that bees have "calorimeters" built into their brains. They do not judge energy expenditure solely based on distance travelled. A partly covered pathway would be given the okay over a pathway out in the weather for example.

Bees are smart little critters and we can learn a great deal from them.
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