Posted on: 02 March, 2017
Author: Alexander P
Let’s talk about top pheromones in nature. It may be an adaptation of natural behaviour in which a queen is guided back to her colony after a mating ight. Pheromones Behavior Nasonov exposure... Let’s talk about top pheromones in nature. It may be an adaptation of natural behaviour in which a queen is guided back to her colony after a mating ight. Pheromones Behavior Nasonov exposure also occurs in various pheromone circumstances connected with reorientation; for example when small groups of workers are conned to cages with or without a queen they periodically scent and fan in unison. The precise conditions releasing such pheromone scenting behaviour are not clear, although they presumably in some way reect conditions under which it occurs naturally. When bees are released from captivity in such small cages, many expose their Nasonov glands at the cage entrance before taking ight (Butler and Free, 1952). The presence of comb in the cages encourages such behaviour. After the bees have taken ight the presence or absence of comb in cages does not inuence the bees’ return to them, but more bees return to cages at which scenting has occurred (Free and Williams, 1971). Nasonov release during pheromone foraging Bees also expose their Nasonov glands when foraging, but without fanning so the pheromone release is non-directional. Nasonov exposure by A. mellifera foragers on owers has been reported only twice. von Frisch and Rosch (1925) found that bees foraging in a glasshouse for visible drops of nectar produced by cut owers of Robinia viscosa, and pollen produced by Rosa moschanta, danced when they returned to their hive, and scented on their next visit. Free and Racey (1966) saw a bee expose its Nasonov glands when collecting the abundant nectar from Freesia refracta owers in a glasshouse. The extent to which workers of other Apis species release Nasonov pheromone when visiting owers needs investigation; Butler ( 1954c) observed that both Apis cerana and Apis orea did so in Sri Lanka but Free and Williams ( 1979) did not see A. orea do so in Oman. Although A. melhfera foragers rarely, if ever, expose their pheromone glands on owers in the open they readily do so when collecting from a favourable supply of sugar syrup. von Frisch (1923) found that when he sealed together with shellac the rear abdominal terga of honeybees collecting concentrated sugar syrup so that they could no longer expose their Nasonov glands, they attracted fewer recruits than previously and no more than those foraging on syrup of a low pheromone concentration according to http://pommettmark.doomby.com/ The effectiveness of Nasonov pheromone in attracting foragers was also demonstrated by Renner (1960). In a series of experiments more than twelve times as many recruits searching for sugar syrup landed at dishes scented with Nasonov pheromone (wiped onto lter paper) as landed at unscented dishes. Free ( 1968a) showed that scout bees, or searching bees recruited by bee dances, are attracted to the odour of excised Nasonov glands at dishes containing sugar syrup and this induces them to land. Pheromones are frequently more easily obtainable by bees than water containing the odour of decaying vegetable and animal material. It has been found that when worker bees have made several consecutive trips for water many of them expose their Nasonov glands at the source of supply and especially when it lacks an odour of its own (Free and Williams, 1970). Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com Alexander P is a blogger from Los Angeles who studies pheromones.