Hi, Everyone!
Chief Lee Crowchild and I have been asked to present at the Calgary Science Centre for an upcoming Indigenous Science Night. Attendance will be up to about 1700 people and the event is just a few weeks away, so I thought that I would reach out to readers for a little help.
The way the science program works, a ‘mainstream western scientist’ (me) is teamed up with an Elder (a Knowledge Keeper) from a nearby Nation. Fortunately, I was able to select my own presentation partner, Chief Crowchild, whom I have worked with for years – and who is a beekeeper on Tsuut’ina Nation. (We have taught courses together and we hang out every few weeks.)
The organizers have chosen the topic of “Wavelength and Frequency” as the evening’s theme. Our part of the presentation lasts about one hour and deals with bees. The Chief will decide how his portion will overlap with my discussion of wavelength and frequency, as related to bees. I am in the process of selecting my subject lines.
Here’s what I have in mind so far.
- The organizers suggested bee vs human eyesight with a discussion of the light spectrum. Bees see ultraviolet, which appears white to humans; humans see red, which appears black to bees.
- Wing-beat frequency varies with the angry buzz of disturbed bees to the gentle pitch of a humming happy hive.
- The speed of a scout’s dance loop (frequency – loops per minute) as it relates to distance of flower patch from hive.
I would love to hear ideas from readers. We will have plenty of time to include more than these three examples, slides and images, and corresponding indigenous observations. Our focus will be on native bees, but knowledgeable honey bee keepers may have some ideas that transfer to some species of native bee.
Many thanks! ~Ron
Bad Beekeeping Blog 
Hi Ron. One thing that had always been in my head is the translation of vectors into a waggle dance in the dark, within 3/8″ bee space, and the geomagnetic field in the context of transporting bees vast distances for mono-culture pollination. Just a thought that I haven’t really discussed with anyone before. Do you think there might be something to the idea?
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Hello Ron … sounds like fun. How about frequencies and swarm prediction? You could discuss the Wood’s Apidictor (http://dave-cushman.net/elect/apidictor.html) from the 1960’s, relating it back to Aristotle’s comments on the sound a colony makes (your humming, happy hive), and then – to bring it back to the 21st Century – a relatively recent study on swarm prediction in Sci. Rep. (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-66115-5). And you could explain the need for swarm prediction which the audience might easily understand. I dug out a picture of an Apidictor for a post a couple of years ago: https://theapiarist.org/listening-bees-swarm-prediction/
Have a good evening
David
PS I tried to come up with a contrived topic on the frequency of hives in an area and competition with native bees, but it’s not really frequency, it’s density … “close but no cigar”
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Not sure how you’d tie it in, but in your angry buzz to happy hum, you could mention drones. So many times I’ve had someone tell me that one of my hives sounds really angry, but when I go to check, it’s just a bunch of noisy drones. To me, that sounds boisterous, not angry.
Granny Roberta in CT USA
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What a great suggestion! I will check out the links and let you know how it goes.
Many thanks!
Ron
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Native bees – one generation a year
Honey bees – one generation every six weeks
Native bees are perhaps more threatened when things go wrong therefore.
Frank Lindsay NZ
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Hey Ron, sounds like a fun topic, hope you enjoy. On the frequency front, you have queen piping as another example.
I wonder if you could use antennae as a thematic element, since they pick up most of the vibrations in the hive. Lots of good possibilities, including beekeepers working (or knocking) a hive.
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