Project on Apiculture

Final-Year Experimental Project (BES, C1126, autumn and spring terms)

Professor Ratnieks supervises projects from the behaviour of honey bees and ants. These projects enable pupils to utilize real time creatures and also to do an actual scientific study that addresses a cutting-edge question. Tasks usually investigate a certain, focused concern or hypothesis. Pupils thinking about performing a final-year project on social insects could make informal enquiries to Professor Ratnieks anytime. Pupils who want to do a social insect task with Professor Ratnieks need an enthusiastic interest in pet behaviour/behavioural ecology, should use the third-year course in personal bugs, and ideally must have taken the second-year training course in Behavioural Ecology. Jobs could be started either in the summer getaway or at the start of the autumn term. Students doing a honey bee task may receive various stings. Pupils performing an ant task tend to be less likely to want to be stung by honey bees nonetheless it you can do. Thus, tasks during the Laboratory of Apiculture and personal pests are not appropriate students who're sensitive to bees or who will be afraid of bees.

In 2008/09 the jobs had been regarding topics below:

Pupils Heather Moore and Nicola Firmin performing their experiment on flower constancy in honey bees

Flower constancy in honey bees

How does the volume or concentration of nectar incentive impact the constancy of worker bees compared to that color of flower?

Nestmate recognition in honey bees

Do honey bee alarm pheromones cause guard bees to cut back their particular acceptance limit?

Colony organization in ants

How exactly does the geometry regarding the trail system of a Pharaoh's ant colony affect the propensity of workers to make U-turns or to chose a part at a path bifurcation.

Tasks for 2009/10 and future many years

As well as the jobs down the page, other tasks might be feasible after discussion with Professor Ratnieks. Pupils from other departments who may choose to do a project involving personal bugs also needs to contact Professor Ratnieks to talk about the options.

1. Nestmate recognition and guarding in honey bees

Type: test.
Details: research project dealing with shield bees at entrances of bee hives to investigate components of nestmate recognition and adaptive responses of protections to intruders. The project will investigate a certain, centered question/hypothesis through this. Field work is done in autumn (October and November) if it is nonetheless hot sufficient when it comes to bees to-be energetic, when you look at the apiary for the Laboratory of Apiculture and personal Insects which can be 50m through the John Maynard Smith Building.

Test investigating rose colour discovering additionally the effectation of nectar incentive with this

2. Acquisition of rose constancy in foraging honey bees

Type: test.
Details: the task will investigate a particular, centered question/hypothesis in this. Field work is completed in autumn (October and November) when it's however hot sufficient the bees become energetic, in the apiary of Laboratory of Apiculture and personal Insects which can be 50m from John Maynard Smith Building.