Bees
Bees
Bees are the perfect species to have at the completion of this course. Their story is interwoven with human history.
Learning Objective: Summarize bee characteristics including their diversity, life cycles, communication, and pollination of human crops.
Bees are the perfect animals to wrap up the course. They have interesting structures and behaviors, unique genetics and evolutionary path, and are important to humans and many other species.
Bees produce honey and beeswax. Historically honey was one of the only sweeteners available in the Northern hemisphere (prior to sugarcane distribution), and beeswax was important for candle lighting.
Bees feed on flower nectar and pollen and transfer extra pollen from one flower to the next. Bee species are essential for the pollination of many flowering plant species.
The most common honey bee is the Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) that is found on every continent except Antarctica. This bee has been experiencing Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), an unexplained occurrence of worker bees in a colony disappearing leaving behind the queen and immature bees. The hive and food are intact, but the workers are gone.
The cause, or causes, of CCD are unknown, but the impact on agricultural crops in North America, Europe, and Asia has been significant. There are still many mysteries about bees for science to solve.
This final lecture video provides an overview of bees, in the context of several of the topics we’ve touched on in this course.
We’ve come a long way in this course, so we all deserve this video: Mark demonstrating the waggle dance :).
Interested in bees? We have more information in this guide’s resource section.
This is it, the end of the course material!
The next step is to take this guide’s quiz and complete the “bucket list” media piece.
Then, the only remaining task is completing the final portfolio.
Check your knowledge – Bees
Review your notes. Are you familiar with the characteristics of bee species and their relationship to humans? If so, move forward to the next page.
Learning Objective:
Summarize bee characteristics including their diversity, life cycles, communication, and pollination of human crops.
Go back to the Beneficial Species Page
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Science Literacy Contents
Complete all five of these sections before taking the quiz and submitting your media piece.
This Module
10: What do I do next?
This Guide
10C: Science Literacy
Products Information
10C: Quiz & Media
