Hi there! Gabrielle here. In response to all these questions, red flowers, in terms of the spectrum of light they are reflecting, are very rarely truly red and so, some red flowers such as the red rose also reflect blue light, which the bees will see. As for things like poppies, they also reflect UV light which the bees can see and so it is very few flowers that bees can't actually pollinate. Currently reading up more on this, so will have more info with you soon.
Wow, this is fascinating, I've just started reading up on this as well and the way flowers look under UV light - and the implications for bee-biology - are stunning.
Although I wish people would read the vudeo description sometimes, I love that they are engaged and have opinions they want to express - but I have opinons too and occasionally reply when I have time! I promise it was all done with a smile on my face! I hope forrestofmonday sticks with us - it was a fair point and was THE REASON I wrote the video description. You haven't seen me escalate! ;)
What a beautiful, intellectually engaging woman. Very interesting stuff!. I love how she talks about their perception of light. That's something I ponder about a lot.
hey settle petal. we wait till a series is finished then watch it all online in a quickfire series of chunks - i reckon a week between episodes kills it. and anyway, i find i never watch actual tv - who needs it with yt, yr vids, other sciencers, and my other favs. good vid, and so pleased to see wotw, bible,backstage and others back after a long hiatus. hope the caravan is coming along. :)
Gabrielle - if u read this, then nice vid - great addition to Bradys channels! anyway, does yr red light have to be a specific wavelength, or range? (like a darkroom) regards.
Just a quick question! Nice video btw :) If a Bee is outside in a field with numerous different coloured flowers will the Bee prefer a particular colour? Or does the Bee select its flower randomly?
Hi, apparently wasps also cannot see certain wavelengths of red either, this is something present in the group of insects known as Hymenoptera (which contain ants, bees and wasps) I believe, although it is variable. So a red light might be a good idea! I would definitely recommend getting some bee-keeping or thick garden gloves also.
The red light reminds me of the classic photo lab of television where they are bathed in a bright red light. In reality those lights are so dim you can barely see anything even after your eyes adjust. I presume this light is actually as bright as it looks. Is bee research a growing field? Is there any international funding collective for that research?
Well as you brought it up so politely, it was left out because there has been technical/logistical reasons that the focus of the research may be changing in the next week or two. It would take MANY SENTENCES to explain something that may be irrelevant in a few days... Best to wait and in the meantime explain how the equipment works, etc. I bet you must hate TV shows like The Killing or House of Cards? You'd cram it all into one episode hey?
Thank your for the quick reply. I wasn't yet aware of the possibility to buy such a nest. This winter was very crucial to the population, i think. Also i can't detect any other wasps/ants yet. Therefore i may have time to set one hive in grandmas garden properly. she isnt ablle to yawn it anyway :) so what is the page called - i can google the exact adress myself. that would be very kind. Thanks again.
wow that escalated quickly, and for absolutely no reason. but i like this idea Definitely start highlighting local researchers and there work. i should be interesting.
I've heard that bees navigate by the sun. Is this true? Does this provide difficulties for them indoors, where the lights don't arc across the ceiling 15 degrees/hour?
Well, according to a few papers, bees are most attracted to bluey-violet and yellow so you'd most likely find a higher number of bees pollinating these in this colourful field :)
Doesn't it affect the bees to have a weather constant? I would think that all animals have a seasonal cycle, and that winter down time is as integral as summer up time, if you follow my meaning.
Indeed there are, but let's say a blue flower get's pollinated by butterflies and bees - for arguments sake - and a red flower is only pollinated by butterflies because bees don't respond as strongly to the red flower, that would put red flowers at a disadvantage in terms of spreading their pollen around. So this is an interesting route to follow, which insects - or animals - respond to which flowers and why.
Many flowers also have different "colors" when seen in UV light, so what seems as red to humans can also be seen as something other than black to bees.
I got a question for the bee scientist Have anyone researched to find out if the inability to see red light also is an issue with wasps? They are not directly related, I know. But if wasps had the same issue with red light I could use it for my advantage when taking down wasp nests. They always seem to favor the house I'm currently living in...
Hello, you can buy and make nests which are suitable for this species. They like to build nests in walls and also in old birds nests. Its also important to have a variety of flowers in your garden as this will attract bees generally. I will message you a website where it will show you how to make bee hives :)
are those bees? im from germany and we call them "hummeln" they cant sting (they could but the sting is too short and weak to pennetrate human skin) and live in the ground. so they are different from the honeybees right?
Hey I would love it if you did a video about if insects see color like we do, the Orchid Mantis of Southeast Asia would be a good example sins evolution says that we picked our 2nd half's by how they looked and that's how we made evolution happen so is that how the Orchid Mantis of Southeast Asia evolved to be camouflaged?
Personally, I find the comment "She can be my queen any time" to be more the equivalent of a wolf whistle than a polite comment on how good someone looks. It just seems patronising to give that as your response to this interesting video. They watched it for 6 minutes and that's what they took away from it.
So this does provide insight as to why bees never 'developed' black and white photography process in the same way as humans did, the darkroom red light would have been useless
Wait what? Bees can't see red light? That would make roses, poppies and other red flowers look black to them, wouldn't it? Ok, some of those flower-colours are enhanced by cultivating and breeding the flowers for our aesthetic pleasure, but evolutionary red flowers would be at a disadvantage then, at least as far as bees are concerned. That's a bit weird and opens the question which insects respond so strongly to red that they can take care of the missing pollination by the bees.
Huh, hadn't thought about it in that light. Though I find it a little off-putting to equate evolution with a specific interest towards something. That's not the way it works.
I'm good, thanks. Still in Glasgow, doing a masters in something not nearly as interesting as bees. There's talk of a new fellow coming to the institute who has previously worked on landscape genetics and coevolution in panamanian army ants; so there is potential for a PhD in that area, if it suits you...
Would it be inappropriate to state the doability of this one? *scrolls up a few inches* "No?" Sweet then! Very doable, this one. A fine star she will make, hmmmmm?
the light is close to the sun's natural spectrum to calm the bees and make them feel like they're outside, but it appears to them as a strobe! o.0 not very natural!
Once again ashamed of my fellow nottinghamscience viewers when I see a top comment like this. Not particularly surprised any more that a comment like this would be made by someone, but 42 likes!?
I was thinking this didn't sound like brady but in retrospect he must have been trying to sound macho for the babe in the lab coat. xD no disrespect. if I was in that little room with her id be doing the same thing