Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 09/02/2024 18:26:25
-
Where I am (New York) it was freezing just the other day, now it's relatively warm (and will be for a few more days) and then it will get freezing and snowy again. Can this confuse the queen insects, causing them to die from exposure?
Also, why are the queens the only ones that hibernate? Are their subjects too stupid to find shelters? Do they lack the degree of self-preservation thats queens have?
-
There is a risk during climate change that the lifecycles of animals and their food sources will become misaligned, with adverse consequences.
- Bees that come out of overwintering before (or after) the flowers bloom would be bad for both flowers and bees
- Birds that hatch before (or after) the insects take flight would be bad for both birds (and us)
Nature can adapt to slow changes in the environment; the too-early bird and the too-late bird won't catch as many worms as the just-in-time bird. Presumably the just-in-time bird would have more chicks, and over time, the genetic mix of the population will shift towards the optimum.
- The concern is whether climate changes are happening faster than the population's genetic adaptation
- Or whether the one additional stress of climate change will add to other stressors like habitat loss, chemical pollution, etc to cause additional extinctions.
Since I live in a non-snowy environment, bees are unlikely to take extreme measures like those in an environment where all plants are covered by a thick layer of snow in winter.
https://beeswiki.com/do-bees-hibernate/
-
Also, why are the queens the only ones that hibernate?
The entire honey bee colony typically survives the winter.
Are their subjects too stupid to find shelters?
The non-honey bee 'subjects' are sterile so it would be of no use for them to survive the winter.
Do they lack the degree of self-preservation thats queens have?
Bees and wasps will enthusiastically sacrifice themselves to protect their queen and home.
-
The adult is almost irrelevant to the environment in the life cycle of many insects. Admittedly some of them get to mate for a few seconds or minutes in their short lives but many cannot eat or even survive mating. The subsequent eggs, if properly laid, may lay dormant but viable for years (ask anyone whose home once housed a cat) and the larvae do most of the eating and being eaten.