27/08/2017
Una affascinante quanta curiosa relazione tra la sensibilità delle api alla luce e il recente eclissi solare che ha interessato gli Stati Uniti. 🌞🐝🐝🐝
Did honey bees get caught out at the flowers when the eclipse passed over OSU campus?
Our observation at our campus apiary in Corvallis suggests they made it back home.
Just before totality the rate of bees returning to the hive spiked (70 bees per minute - darker orange line) and after the light returned there weren't a lot of bees returning (i.e., what you would expect if they got stuck), but a lot eager to get back to work (yellow line - bees departing).
Oddly, just as totality hit there were a lot of bees on the ground outside the hive who seemed unable to orient to the entrance. But this was temporary and all these bees piled back into the colony after the light returned.
So, honey bees seems very sensitive to changes in light and/or temperature associated with the eclipse and were anxious to head home when things got weird. Too bad for them, it was a spectacular eclipse!
