1. Bees pollination and the environment Summary of CyberSTEM presentation We will be looking at the European honey bee and an Australian native bee as examples of pollinators We will talk about: 1) Scanning electron microscopy 2) Sample preparation 3) Bee form and function 4) Pollination issues Text and images by the Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis, University of Queensland, Australia, August 2007

2. Bees feed at flowers, gathering nectar and pollen. How does this affect pollination? European honey bee Apis mellifera Australian native bee Trigona carbonaria

3. Some plants are wind-pollinated (e.g. grasses including grains) or self-pollinate, but others require pollen transfer by organisms: beetles; butterflies; birds; and of course bees. Almonds and blueberries rely entirely on pollinators. Other crops set little fruit without: pumpkin; cherry; kiwi; apple; plum; apricot; peach… Mango, cashew, Macadamia, papya also rely on pollination, as do many native plants. Reference: Cunningham, S.A., FitzGibbon, F., Heard, T.A. (2002) The future of pollinators for Australian agriculture. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 53: 893-900.

4. How do bees pollinate plants? Do they have specialised adaptations or structures to assist? How do they find flowers? If we look at bees under the microscope we can answer these questions

5. Bees are dried when dead then mounted and coated with platinum Native bee Sample mounts European honey bee Sample preparation 5 mm

6. The following images are of bees imaged using using a scanning electron microscope – electrons provide monochrome images. Please refer to the separate background PowerPoint presentation for theory and background related directly to how scanning electron microscopes work

7. Head of a honey bee Note hairs occur even on the eye. Why so may hairs? What is special about the hairs on bees? Eye Antenna

8. Branched hairs catch pollen Hairs on the head of a honey bee Pollen

10. A honey bee antenna. What is the role of the antenna? Note the stubby spines and round plaques – what is their purpose?

11. Pollen basket with some pollen: honey bee Hind leg

12. Head of a native bee: Trigona carbonaria Antenna Eye What is different about this bee? Compare it with the honey bee head

13. Hairs on the head of a native bee

14. Native bee antenna = the nose

15. Empty pollen basket on leg of native bee

16. Full pollen basket: native bee

17. Pollen comb on front leg of native bee Leg

18. Pollen

19. Wing of native bee Note hairs and pollen

20. Abdomen of native bee Note hairs

21. Pollen clusters from legs of European honey bees: each contains millions of pollen grains. Light-based image What do the different colours tell us?