..., as well as the functional basis of phenotypic variation in workers and drones of the bumblebee species Bombus impatiens . We showed that flight metabolic rate and wingbeat frequency were highly repeatable in workers, even when controlling for body mass variation using residual analysis. We did not detect...

...Sarah E. J. Arnold; Lars Chittka SUMMARY Patchy illumination presents foraging animals with a challenge, as the targets being sought may appear to vary in colour depending on the illumination, compromising target identification. We sought to explore how the bumblebee Bombus terrestris copes...

... in the rate of optic flow, caused by changes in the density of the environment, will be detected. The aim of the present study is to examine the mechanisms of ground speed control in bumblebees and to identify the extent of the visual range over which optic flow for ground speed control is measured...

... yielded slightly different results between studies based on the behaviors being investigated. In this study, we present a detailed analysis of the spatial frequency dependence of the centering response in the bumblebee Bombus impatiens using sinusoidal and square wave patterns. Our estimate...

... lifting) to determine both the intraspecific allometry of and methodological differences in estimates of maximum flight performance for the bumblebee Bombus impatiens . We found that incremental mass addition underestimated maximum lifting capacity by approximately 18% relative to values obtained...

...Kensaku Tanaka; Keiji Kawachi SUMMARY Frequency response characteristics of bumblebees to vertical visual oscillations were measured and analyzed. We measured the vertical force of the bees at four oscillation frequencies (0.9, 1.8, 3.6 and 7.4 Hz), and summarized their response characteristics...

...Shai Yerushalmi; Shalev Bodenhaimer; Guy Bloch SUMMARY We investigated labor-related plasticity in the circadian clock of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris . Bumblebee workers vary enormously in body size, and we found that size, division of labor, and diurnal rhythms in activity are correlated in B...

...Bradley D. Worden; Ana K. Skemp; Daniel R. Papaj SUMMARY We examined the effect of learning a new task on the performance of a previously learned task with the same set of visual cues in bumblebees, Bombus impatiens . Previous studies have shown that given a binary choice at each task, bumblebees...

...Mao Sun; Yan Xiong SUMMARY The longitudinal dynamic flight stability of a hovering bumblebee was studied using the method of computational fluid dynamics to compute the aerodynamic derivatives and the techniques of eigenvalue and eigenvector analysis for solving the equations of motion...

...Adrian G. Dyer; Lars Chittka SUMMARY Bees often facilitate pollination of important greenhouse crops. Individual bumblebees Bombus terrestris were therefore tested in an indoor flight arena to evaluate whether or not search time to find flowers was influenced by the inclusion or exclusion...

...James F. Staples; Erin L. Koen; Terence M. Laverty SUMMARY In the flight muscles of European bumblebees, high activities of fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FbPase) relative to phosphofructokinase (PFK)have suggested a thermogenic `futile cycle' important for regional endothermy. We find generally low...

...Johannes Spaethe; Lars Chittka SUMMARY In the eusocial bumblebees, distinct size variation occurs within the worker caste of a colony. We show that there are pronounced differences in compound eye optical quality between individual workers in Bombus terrestris . Using scanning electron microscopy...

...Karine Fauria; Kyran Dale; Matthew Colborn; Thomas S. Collett SUMMARY Bumblebees will learn to approach one of a pair of patterns (a 45°grating) and to avoid the other (a 135° grating) to reach a feeder, and to do the opposite to reach their nest (approach a 135° grating and avoid a 45° grating...

...Yutaka Komai SUMMARY The gas transport system of a bumblebee was investigated by measuring the oxygen partial pressure P O2 in the wing muscle. In the resting bee, P O2 showed a regular pattern of fluctuation with a typical period of 70–120s. Fluctuations in muscular P O2 were associated...

...Todd Macuda; Robert J. Gegear; Terence M. Laverty; Brian Timney ABSTRACT The present study used previously developed techniques to measure resolution acuity in bumblebees ( Bombus impatiens ). Bees were required to discriminate between horizontal and vertical gratings in a Y-maze apparatus...

...Robert K. Josephson ABSTRACT The work loop approach was used to measure mechanical power output from an asynchronous flight muscle, the dorso-ventral muscle of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris . Measurements were made at the optimum muscle length for work output at 30 °C and at a muscle temperature...

...Robert K. Josephson; C. P. Ellington ABSTRACT Isometric contractions from the asynchronous dorso-ventral flight muscle of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris were slow and rather weak. The twitch duration (onset to 50 % relaxation) was approximately 300 ms at 30 °C and 170 ms at 40 °C. The maximum...

...Robert K. Josephson ABSTRACT Length–tension relationships and work output were investigated in the intact, dorso-ventral flight muscle of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris . The muscle is an asynchronous muscle. Like other asynchronous flight muscles, it has high resting stiffness and produces...

... ©The Company of Biologists Limited 1996 Bombus occidentalis bumblebee buzz carpenter bee flight muscle neural control sonication Xylocopa californica Xylocopa varipuncta The large indirect flight muscles of bees are used to produce a variety of actions in addition...

...Thomas J. Wolf; Charles P. Ellington; Simon Davis; Mark J. Feltham ABSTRACT The doubly labelled water (DLW) technique was validated for the bumblebee Bombus terrestris (L.) using respirometry (RESP) from tethered roundabout flights. We injected small volumes (1 μ l) of a mixture containing low...