Bee communication in a changing world

Author: PNAS March 4, 2024 Duration: 16:31

Science

Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.

In this episode, researchers describe the potential impact of anthropogenic disturbances on bee communication.

In this episode, we cover:

[00:00] Introduction
[00:45] Description of the waggle dance of honeybees.
[01:59] Maggie Couvillon, an entomologist at Virginia Tech, explains what information researchers can glean from the waggle dance.
[03:24] Christoph Grüter, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Bristol, describes what impact climatic changes may have on bee communication.
[05:13] Michael Hrncir, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Sao Paulo, recorded the impact of rising air temperatures on foraging in stingless bees.
[06:48] Grüter explains how landscape changes and habitat fragmentation might affect bee communication.
[08:23] Elli Leadbeater, an ecologist at Royal Holloway University of London, found that dancing honeybees found the foraging environment of central London superior to agricultural land.
[09:49] Kris Braman, an entomologist at the University of Georgia, studied how the distribution of land cover at different scales influences bee diversity in Georgia.
[11:24] Grüter explains how insecticides may alter bee communication strategies.
[12:41] Denise Alves, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Sao Paulo, describes how a fungal pesticide can affect nestmate recognition in stingless bees.
[14:23] Adam Dolezal, an entomologist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, describes how a bee pathogen affects nestmate recognition in honeybees.
[15:17] Final thoughts and conclusion.

About Our Guests:

Maggie Couvillon
Assistant Professor
Virginia Tech

Christoph Grüter
Senior Lecturer
University of Bristol

Michael Hrncir
Professor
University of Sao Paulo

Elli Leadbeater
Professor
Royal Holloway University of London

Kris Braman
Department Head and Professor
University of Georgia

Denise Alves
Post-doctoral Researcher
University of Sao Paulo

Adam Dolezal
Assistant Professor
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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PNAS Science Sessions

Tune into PNAS Science Sessions for a direct line to the people shaping modern science. Produced by PNAS, this podcast offers more than just summaries of published research; it’s where you hear the candid, often personal stories behind the headlines. Each episode features concise conversations with the researchers themselves-from emerging voices to established Academy members-alongside the policymakers whose decisions are informed by this work. You’ll get a genuine sense of the questions that drive these experts, the unexpected hurdles they face in their labs and field studies, and why their findings matter right now. The scope is deliberately wide, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of science itself, covering discoveries that range from microscopic processes to planetary-scale phenomena. This isn't about dry lectures, but about capturing the human endeavor of investigation. For anyone curious about how science actually unfolds and wants to understand the context of breakthroughs as they happen, this podcast serves as an essential, engaging resource. It connects the dots between a published paper in a prestigious journal and the real-world implications that ripple out from it.

Author: PNAS Language: English Episodes: 100

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