Bees pollination and the environment

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Bees pollination and the environment Summary
of CyberSTEM presentation
We will be looking at the European honey bee and
an Australian native bee as examples of
pollinators We will talk about 1) Scanning
electron microscopy 2) Sample preparation 3) Bee
form and function 4) Pollination issues
Text and images by the Centre for Microscopy
Microanalysis, University of Queensland,
Australia, August 2007
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European honey bee
Bees feed at flowers, gathering nectar and
pollen. How does this affect pollination?
Apis mellifera
Australian native bee
Trigona carbonaria
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Some plants are wind-pollinated (e.g. grasses
including grains) or self-pollinate, but others
require pollen transfer by organisms beetles
butterflies birds and of course bees. Almonds
and blueberries rely entirely on pollinators.
Other crops set little fruit without pumpkin
cherry kiwi apple plum apricot
peach Mango, cashew, Macadamia, papya also rely
on pollination, as do many native plants.
Reference Cunningham, S.A., FitzGibbon, F.,
Heard, T.A. (2002) The future of pollinators for
Australian agriculture. Australian Journal of
Agricultural Research 53 893-900.
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How do bees pollinate plants? Do they have
specialised adaptations or structures to
assist? How do they find flowers? If we look at
bees under the microscope we can answer these
questions
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Sample preparation
European honey bee
Bees are dried when dead then mounted and coated
with platinum
Native bee
Sample mounts
5 mm
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The following images are of bees imaged using
using a scanning electron microscope electrons
provide monochrome images. Please refer to the
separate background PowerPoint presentation for
theory and background related directly to how
scanning electron microscopes work
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Head of a honey bee Note hairs occur even on
the eye. Why so may hairs? What is special
about the hairs on bees?
Eye
Antenna
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Pollen
Branched hairs catch pollen
Hairs on the head of a honey bee
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Pollen
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A honey bee antenna. What is the role of the
antenna? Note the stubby spines and round plaques
what is their purpose?
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Pollen basket with some pollen honey bee
Hind leg
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Head of a native bee Trigona carbonaria
Eye
Antenna
What is different about this bee? Compare it
with the honey bee head
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Hairs on the head of a native bee
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Native bee antenna the nose
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Empty pollen basket on leg of native bee
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Full pollen basket native bee
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Pollen comb on front leg of native bee
Leg
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Pollen
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Wing of native bee
Note hairs and pollen
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Abdomen of native bee
Note hairs
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Pollen clusters from legs of European honey bees
each contains millions of pollen grains.
Light-based image
What do the different colours tell us?