Toot and quack – the new buzzwords in the bee world

Helena Horton

ON a summer’s day, the buzzing of bees foraging in the flowers is a familiar sound. However, scientists have now found that the insects also “toot” and “quack” to each other before they appoint a new queen.

A new study has discovered that queen bee rivalry is communicated by a variety of noises.

Queen bees “toot” loudly to inform workers that a new, fertile queen is ready to take over the hive. In response, rival queens “quack” to let them know they are ready to take over as soon as the “tooter” leaves, said researchers at Nottingham Trent University.

It has been widely known for some time that queen bees loudly “pipe” while in the hive, but now scientists have discovered the rich variety of communication that goes on within the waxy walls.

Dr Yves Le Conte, senior scientist and research director at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) in France, who aided the study said the scientists had discovered “the complexity and the beauty of chemical and acoustical communication among honeybees and given us greater insight into their ability to communicate together as a colony”.

As well as preventing conflict, the important signal is linked to the swarming behaviour of the bees, according to the study published in Scientific Reports.

It found that when up to half the honeybees swarm to form a new colony – led by the mobile queen – the tooting stops immediately, which is perceived by the remaining workers as a cue to release a new leader, who stops quacking and begins to toot her arrival.

When the quacking stops completely, the honeybees realise that there is no virgin queen left and they must not swarm again lest they are left without a queen.

Researchers listened to the bees by placing ultra-sensitive vibrational sensors called accelerometers into the heart of hives. This enabled scientists to investigate the signals produced by the bees without disturbing them, and predict the swarming process which is often preceded by vibrations.

Dr Michael Ramsey, a Nottingham Trent University scientist involved in the study, said the work could be an important tool for beekeepers.