Connected on 2009-10-30 11:30:00 from , MA, US
- 10:56am
- Bugscope Team setting up...
- 11:03am
- 11:10am
- Bugscope Team hi ms. shapiro, welcome to bugscope!
- Bugscope Team we are setting up presets for your session at the moment, will be done soon
- Bugscope Team Good morning! We are working our way toward the drone and worker honeybees.
- 11:15am
- Teacher Hi- Kids aren't here yet- just setting up computers two teachers and five students stations olay
- Bugscope Team Cool.
- Bugscope Team no problemo, we are still setting up presets
- Teacher Maybe I can drive on the electronic whiteboard hmm
- Bugscope Team You can control the scope from any login, just tell use which login is the whiteboard, and we'll switch control over to that login
- 11:20am
- Bugscope Team we should be able to try once we get these down and can hand over control
- Teacher It's my computer
- Bugscope Team ok, ms. shapiro login already has control, however, we have the session locked, until we are done with presets
- Bugscope Team that makes it easy
- Bugscope Team as soon as we are done with presets, we will unlock and then the login ms shapiro will see the controls, no problemo
- 11:26am
- 11:31am
- Bugscope Team done with presets, session unlocked
- Bugscope Team we are ready anytime
- Bugscope Team you are the supreme rulers
- Student ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````what are we looking at```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
- Bugscope Team this is a honey bee, it's head, with the HUGE compound eye
- Bugscope Team you can see the antennae, directed forward
- Bugscope Team now we are way up on the compound eye and a little OOF.
- Bugscope Team Hello all!
- Student Why is it so hairy
Bugscope Team insects don't have skin like humans do, they have an exoskeleton without nerves in it. so those hairs stick through the exoskeleton, to nerves underneath, and thus transmit information about the environment to the insect
- Bugscope Team Annie!
- Bugscope Team insects are a lot hairier than they first appear to be. This is a hairy eyeball
- 11:37am
- Bugscope Team those hairs are called setae (see-tee) and they can sense lots of things: movement, smells, temperature, etc.
- Bugscope Team The hairs on the bee's eye help it to fly and sense direction in the wind
- Bugscope Team We see setae on the surface of the fruit fly eye as well. In that case the fly gets information about wind speed and direction from the setae. Oops, Annie just said that.n the fruit fly,
- Bugscope Team the drone is a male fly, and it does not have a stinger. it is larger than the worker honeybee, which is a female and does have a stinger.
- Bugscope Team the drone has much larger eyes as well.
- Bugscope Team I mean a male bee, sorry.
- Bugscope Team let us know if you have any trouble driving
- Student whre should we go to see the stinger?
Bugscope Team ms shapiro can click on a preset for the stinger, that is preset #12, but you'll have to zoom out once you get there
- Student can we see the stinger?
- Bugscope Team ms shapiro has control of the scope, she can click on preset #12, that is a close up of a bee stinger
- 11:42am
- Bugscope Team this is preset #11, butterfly wing scales
- Bugscope Team the butterfly is a black swallowtail
- Bugscope Team the bee stinger is preset #12
- Student why does it look so flakey
Bugscope Team those are all scales
- Student how far should we zoom out?
- Bugscope Team the same stuff that looks like powder on your fingers
- Bugscope Team this is not the stinger, these are scales on a butterfly, you need to click on preset #12 for the stinger
- Student were is the stinger
- Bugscope Team the stinger is here but it is hard to see
- Bugscope Team there is a scale to the left of it
- Bugscope Team stinger is now centered, with pollen grain at the tip
- Bugscope Team you can see a butterfly or moth scale to the left of it
- 11:48am
- Student where can we find the pollen basket?
- Bugscope Team we have two worker bees in the 'scope today, and neither has a prominent stinger
- Student preset for pollen basket
- Student how much polloen can a pollen basket carry
Bugscope Team Up to 1 million grains of pollen (for a bumblebee, anyway)
- Bugscope Team the pollen basket is on then hind leg
- Bugscope Team the hind leg
- Teacher is this the pollen basket
- Bugscope Team yes I think it is
- Bugscope Team of course it is not really a basket
- Bugscope Team I think these are the combs. The pollen basket is usually smooth
- Student what is the pollen basket made of
Bugscope Team The pollen basket, like all parts of the bee's body, is made of cuticle--the exoskeleton
- 11:53am
- Bugscope Team (Listen to Annie)
- Student why are there less bees then they were before?
Bugscope Team No one really knows. It is likely there are combination of factors that have led to the decline of honeybee populations. Those factors include parasites and diseases, and insecticides in the environment. Bees have fairly simple immune systems and they can't really deal with pesticides.
Bugscope Team The decrease in honey bees are due to a colony collapse disorder (CCD) which has been said to be caused most likely by the IAPV (Israeli Acute Paralysis) virus. Annie can probably give a better answer than me about that though
- Student how big is the pollen basket
Bugscope Team Maybe 3-4 millimeters long
- Bugscope Team I am going to drive to another bee and see if we can find the basket. It is said to be on the hind tarsi but I am not sure that is right, from the images I have seen.
- Bugscope Team lately the honey bee populations haven't been doing too bad according to some recent news stories
- Bugscope Team at least global populations have been better
- Student how does get the necter out of a flower?
- Student what is the difference between the pollin comb and the pollin brush
Bugscope Team The comb is what actually collects the pollen from the plant. The bee moves the pollen from the comb and packs it onto the basket, for storage.
- Student what is the size of the largest bee in the world
- Student how does the bee collect the nector?
Bugscope Team It sucks the nectar through its mouth, part of which is shaped like a straw
- Student how do the bees make the hives
- Student why are bees black and yellow
Bugscope Team It seems like the black and yellow (dark and light) color combination is common in insects that sting. It is a warning to other animals to stay away.
- Student How do bees make there honey?
- 11:58am
- Bugscope Team bees are attracted to blue colors rather than reds
- Teacher Will preset 17 let us see the mouth?
Bugscope Team yes it will
- Student how do mites kill some bees?
Bugscope Team There are several kinds of mites that can kill bees. One type of mite lives inside the bee's trachae, which are its lungs. The mites clog up the breathing system and the bee suffocates. Another kind of mite, the varroa mite, causes the bees to be deformed, altering their behavior and making them less efficient at doing their little bee jobs.
- Student how long is the bees probiscis
- Bugscope Team a hover fly also has black and yellow stripes on it, which is its defense mechanism, even though it is harmless
- Teacher Is this the jaw
Bugscope Team near the top of the image is the hinged jaw that opens out like a gate
- Student how long can a live?
Bugscope Team Worker bees live about a month
- Student what do bees eat
Bugscope Team Bees eat pollen and honey. Queen bees eat "royal jelly" which is higher in protein and causes a regular bee to develop into a queen.
- Student how long can a bee sleep?
- Student what do mites look like and whare do we find the picture
Bugscope Team MItes look like little ugly ticks. I am not sure if there are any mites on this sample. Usually bees that are infested with mite are so sick that they just die. They are not usually collected except by bee keepers.
- 12:03pm
- Bugscope Team when we receive live insects we often freeze them. Sometimes like with ants and bees, they will wake back up after thawing them
- Student how many hairs does it have
Bugscope Team Waaay too many to count!
- Student what's a trachae?
Bugscope Team in insects the the tracheae are the network of tubes on the inside of the body that spread air -- oxygen to the internal organs of the insect
- Teacher I'ma beekeeper
Bugscope Team Then I better make sure my answers are correct!! You might have better answers that I do!
- Student do bees lay eggs
Bugscope Team In a honeybee hive, only the queen will lay eggs.
- Student why does it have so many holes in it
- Bugscope Team about the pollen basket, it is smooth and found on the outer edge of the tibia of the bee
- Student how big is agrain of pollen
Bugscope Team they are about 20-30 microns big
- 12:08pm
- Bugscope Team this is a pollen grain -- an unusual one
- Bugscope Team or micrometers
- Bugscope Team you can use the micron bar on the lower left of the image to help estimate the diameter of this grain
- Bugscope Team there are 1000 micrometers in a millimeter
- Student hawe meney bees does it take to pollinate a flawer
Bugscope Team It only takes a single grain of pollen on a single bee to pollinate a flower.
- Student what do bees do when not pollenating
Bugscope Team A honeybee hive will have workers that do many different things. Some workers keep the hive clean, some take care of the baby bees, and some forage for pollen. When the foragers are not foraging, it is night time, and I think that is when they "sleep"
- Teacher What did I do here
Bugscope Team is something wrong with your image?
- Student how do bees clean themsefs
Bugscope Team They clean themselves using brushy hairs on their legs.
- Student how much bigger is the queen bee than the other bees
Bugscope Team About 1/2 times bigger. She can be hard to see in a hive unless you are really looking for her.
- Teacher I see text at the top
Bugscope Team were you able to fix it?
- Student what are bees enmy
Bugscope Team There are parasites like mites that can harm bees. There are also some beetles that can get into hives and eat the baby bees (larvae). There are some caterpillars that can destroy the wax in a hive. And many mammals, like skunks, racoons and bears will tear open and eat a bee hive.
- Bugscope Team Ms S I recentered the image of the pollen grain so your class could see the whole grain next to the micron bar.
- Bugscope Team Oh that is from clicking on the micron bar. You can click on it again to make it go away.
- Bugscope Team let us know if that does not work
- Teacher how do I close the menu at the top
Bugscope Team click on the micron bar, on the lower left
- 12:13pm
- Bugscope Team this is the tip of the antenna of the butterfly Cate put on the stub for today
- Student when does the queen bee leav the hive
Bugscope Team in some cases the queen bee leaves the hive when she wants to start a new colony
- Student are all the bees in a hive rilatid to the quen
Bugscope Team In most cases the worker bees are the daughters of the queen. However, in some cases, a replacement queen can be introduced into the hive if the old queen dies...Ms. S. can tell you more about that though ;)
- Bugscope Team the queen bee also leaves the colony to breed, and she goes far away to avoid mating with bees from her own colony
- Student what is royal jelly made of
Bugscope Team royal jelly is made of digested pollen, and honey, and sometimes nectar; it also has a chemical secreted from a gland in the head of another bee -- called a nursing bee
- 12:19pm
- Student what are the black little dots?
Bugscope Team that is where setae (aka hairs) have fallen out
- Student where can you get it?
- Student i me anthe royal jelly
Bugscope Team You can buy royal jelly at some health food stores. I don't know if I have ever had it, so I can't tell you what it tastes like.
- Student sorry imean the royal jelly
- Student cool :)
- Teacher Thanks for ansering our questions our next class will be in shortly
- Student how big is the stinger?
Bugscope Team Probably 2-3 mm long. It is not very long.
- Student BYE!!!! :):):):):):):):):):):):
- Bugscope Team Bye! Thank YOu
- Student how do inteni help buterflys
- Student
- Bugscope Team Antennae help the butterfly to sense its environment.
- 12:24pm
- Teacher Can we start a new session fo rthe next class?
Bugscope Team you bet!
- Bugscope Team The antennae have sensors in them that allow the butterfly to smell chemicals in the air.
- Bugscope Team Hammuli. I will have a hammuli on rye with mustard
- Bugscope Team Ms Shapiro we are ready.
- Teacher The next class isn't here yet
- Teacher I've logged in the teacher under student by mistake
Bugscope Team you can log her out and go back in as teacher if you would like
- Bugscope Team let us know how we can help. I am sorry we don't have good stingers today, and it is hard to find the honey basket, which is just a smooth area on the outside of the tibia of the bee's hind leg.
- 12:30pm
- Teacher We are here now and ready to begin the session with Mrs. Happnie's class,
- Bugscope Team great! welcome to Bugscope!
- Bugscope Team this is the surface of the compound eye of a honey bee
- Student Is that hair on the bees eyes?
Bugscope Team yes you are correct!
- Bugscope Team you can see the facets of the eye, and you can see that there are lots of setae (the things that look like hairs)
- Bugscope Team bees and many other insects are very hairy
- Student Why do the bees have hair on their eyes?
Bugscope Team we think that, like fruit flies, the hairs help the bees sense wind speed and direction as they fly
- Bugscope Team the compound eye is made of many individual facets, each of which functions like a lens, called ommatidia
- Bugscope Team with insects we call hairs 'setae,' or 'microsetae,' or 'trichae,' or 'microtrichae.'
- 12:36pm
- Bugscope Team this is a big pollen grain, kind of unusual, on the exoskeleton of the bee
- Bugscope Team it's lodged against one of those setae
- Bugscope Team there are thousands of setae -- of 'hairs'
- Student Why does the grain of pollen have holes?
Bugscope Team pollen grains have a variety of shapes, and some of them do have holes like this. it may be that the holes help the pollen grains drift further in the wind
- Bugscope Team this grain is 20 or so microns across
- Bugscope Team this is a bee's knee
- Bugscope Team there are 1000 micrometers (microns- um) in a millimeter
- Bugscope Team the abdomen is to the right
- Bugscope Team insects often have lots of what look like hair -- all over their bodies
- 12:41pm
- Bugscope Team the pollen basket is a smooth area on the outside of the tibia of the hind legs
- Bugscope Team at this level it is hard to distinguish it
- Student How much pollen can a pollen bascket hold?
Bugscope Team Up to 1 million pollen grains
- Bugscope Team actually we may be looking right at it here
- Bugscope Team let's take the mag down and see if this is the pollen basket
- Student What is that rectangle at the top of the screen.
- Bugscope Team we need to drive north
- Bugscope Team that was some dirt on the surface of the tibia
- Bugscope Team yup...that is the pollen basket
- Student Are we far north enough?
- Bugscope Team the scooped out part on the tibia
- Bugscope Team it is very smooth
- Bugscope Team you are doing a good job driving -- let's go a bit further north!
- 12:46pm
- Student Where are we going?
- Student Can we look at the wing?
Bugscope Team sure!
- Bugscope Team okay, the next joint up is the beginning of the tarsi
- Bugscope Team preset 21
- Student What is a hamuli?
Bugscope Team The little hooks are the hammuli. The hold the front and hind wings together so that they move as one wing.
- Student What are those curved areas?
Bugscope Team those are the hamuli. They are hooks that hook the forewing and hindwing together
- Student What are the little dots on the wing?
Bugscope Team mostly just dust
- 12:51pm
- Bugscope Team we do see some more setae, or microsetae, on the surface of the wing
- Student Which preset holds the stinger?
Bugscope Team no 12
- Bugscope Team the stinger is very hard to see
- Bugscope Team they don't always stick out
- Bugscope Team now you can see the tip of the abdomen, where the stinger is
- Bugscope Team the preset was centered on the stinger, and it was hard to distinguish from the surrounding area
- Bugscope Team now, to the right, we can see one of the combs on the bee's leg
- Student What is an ovipositer?
Bugscope Team the ovipositor is what an insect uses to inject its eggs into the place where they will mature and hatch
- 12:57pm
- Bugscope Team so it is pointy, often, just like a stinger -- it is actually a modified stinger
- Student do workers have ovipositives?
Bugscope Team yes workers do because they are females
- Bugscope Team or technically not, really, since they are used only as stinger
- Bugscope Team stingers
- Bugscope Team the queen is the only bee that will lay eggs
- Student what is the stinger made of?
Bugscope Team The stinger is made of insect cuticle, which is made of chitin
- Student we thought that only the queen bee layed the eggs?
Bugscope Team that is correct
- Bugscope Team parasitic wasps will use their ovipositors and sting things like caterpillars to lay their eggs inside the caterpillar.
- Student how many bees in a average hive?
Bugscope Team I found a reference that says 30,000 to 60,000 bees
- Bugscope Team sometimes the cuticle is hardened with calcium
- Student what does a stinger inject
Bugscope Team A stinger injects a venom. The venom from a bee causes pain and swelling.
- 1:02pm
- Bugscope Team this is the proboscis -- this is what the bee uses to collect nectar
- Bugscope Team chitin is what insects' exoskeletons are made of, which is the same stuff as our fingernails
- Student how many bees does it take to pollenate?
Bugscope Team It takes a single pollen grain on a single bee to pollenate a flower
- Student how far does a bee have to travel to get nector
Bugscope Team Bees will forage for pollen and nectar in a 2 mile radius around the hive
- Student do the bees like to pollinate
Bugscope Team It is all they can do. They don't know how to do anything else other than tend the hive when they are young and forage for pollen and nectar when they are older.
- Student how many ifferent speacies are there
Bugscope Team There are nearly 20,000 known species of bees
- Student what is the bee hive made out of?
Bugscope Team The beehive's internal structure is a densely packed matrix of hexagonal cells made of beeswax
- 1:09pm
- Student what do bees do when they're not pollenating?
Bugscope Team A honeybee hive will have workers that do many different things. Some workers keep the hive clean, some take care of the baby bees, and some forage for pollen. When the foragers are not foraging, it is night time, and I think that is when they "sleep
- Student is this the bees eye?
Bugscope Team the bee's compound eye is to the left. The bump to the right is one of its ocelli. An ocellus is a simple eye (1 of 3) used to help navigate
- Bugscope Team this is the eye, on the left, and on the right is one of the three ocelli - the simple eyes
- Student what does a simple eye do
Bugscope Team simple eyes help flying insects maintain their orientation with the sun and thus help them avoid getting lost
- Student can bees hear/
Bugscope Team they can sense vibrations with the tiny setae of their bodies. They do not have ears like we do though
- Student how do bees make theier hive?
Bugscope Team bees have glands on their abdomens, called mirror glands, that produce wax that they form into the cells that make up the hive
- 1:15pm
- Student what is the difference between a bee and a wasp?
Bugscope Team Wasps are thinner, can be aggressive, and interested in food and garbage. Bees are generally plumper, mild mannered and interested in flowers, not your lunch or garbage can.
- Student how long does a bee live?
Bugscope Team A worker bee will live about a month
- Student what are a bees enemies?
Bugscope Team There are many diseases and parasites like mites that can harm bees. There are also some beetles that can get into hives and eat the baby bees (larvae). There are some caterpillars that can destroy the wax in a hive. Many mammals, like rats, skunks, raccoons and bears will tear open and eat a bee hive.
- Student how do you tell the difference between a bee and a wasp
Bugscope Team In think the most obvious difference is the narrow 'waist' of a wasp compared to a bee
Bugscope Team Bees are very very hairy, while wasps are not. The textbook way is that bees have forked hairs all over their bodies, while the hairs on wasps are not forked.
- Student what do bees eat
Bugscope Team bees eat honey and nectar
- Bugscope Team antenna!
- 1:20pm
- Student How do bees get there queen
Bugscope Team Bees feed some of the larvae different food. The differences in the food causes the bee larvae to grow larger and grow differently. These larvae that are feed the special food grow into queens.
- Student what is the white spot on it's antenna
Bugscope Team that is a scale -- a feather-like component of the wings
- Bugscope Team nectar is the sugary fluid plants produce to attract insects such as bees; the plants do this so that the bees will come and pick up pollen, which can then be transferred by the bees to other flowers, pollinating them
- Student can we see the top of the nob
- Bugscope Team you can drive there or go to preset no. 6
- Bugscope Team this looks like bamboo!
- Student it looks like wood.
- Bugscope Team Cool!
- 1:25pm
- Bugscope Team this is the tip of the antenna of this butterfly
- Bugscope Team Cate could not put the wings on or there would've been no room for anything else.
- Bugscope Team though i did put a piece of the wing on so you could see the scales
- Bugscope Team we are at the edge of the stub -- to the right is the end of the world
- Student thank you
- Student Thank you!
- Student its time for us to go home
- Student Thank You for answering our questions
- Bugscope Team Thank You for working with us today!
- Bugscope Team Home? Already?
- Bugscope Team thank you for all your awesome questions.
- Student thank you happy holloween
- Bugscope Team Thank you all
- Bugscope Team We appreciate getting to work with you.
- 1:30pm
- Teacher Thanks Scot, Cate and Annie We look forward to seeing the chat and pictures
- Bugscope Team Thank you too!!
- Bugscope Team http://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2009-076/
- Bugscope Team go to that link to find your images and chat from today
- Bugscope Team See you in a week?
- Bugscope Team We will try to find a better stinger...
- Student hi
Bugscope Team Hi Mrs Happnie!
- Teacher Jave a great weekend! bye
