Bees in the Arctic!

Bees in the Arctic!

Megan Budnik

Insects have illustrated their amazing adaptability by effectively diversifying throughout the world and occupying a crazy number of different niches (the role an insect has in a given habitat).  Virtually any environment you can name will probably have many resident creepy crawlies.  Even far north, where the temperatures can reach well below zero, there will still be bugs buzzing about their business. 

Seen below, the arctic bumblebee (Bombus strobus) is one great example of this phenomenon.  This bumblebee is found in Arctic Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Arctic Eurasia, where the temperatures will oftentimes dip well down below the freezing temperature.  Whereas a temperate bumblebee might only be able to fly in temperatures above 20ºC (varies by speices), arctic bumblebees can keep right on buzzing in temperatures close to 0ºC.  This species is able to survive in such a harsh environment due to a couple adaptations that help them keep warm even though bees and other insects are cold-blooded species, meaning that their body temperatures will fluctuate based on the ambient temperature around them. 

The first adaptation is physiological.  All bees of the genus Bombus are covered in hairs (see picture below) that give them their fuzzy-looking appearance and also aid with pollination since pollen tends to stick to these hairs when the bee lands on a flower.  Bombus strobus has a higher density of these hairs, which help retain heat and thus keep the bee from wasting energy because of excess heat loss.  Having thicker/denser hair is a common adaptation of mammals to keep warm in cold climates, and it is interesting that multiple species that are so different evolved the same type of adaptation to cope with this same environmental stressor.  

The second is a behavioral adaptation to keep warm that is also shared by mammals: shivering!  Bees shiver so effectively that a hive but in a freezer won’t die directly due to the temperature because all the bees crowd around their queen and shiver together, creating enough shared body heat to keep themselves warm.  This tactic is both used individually and to keep the entire hive warm throughout the long winters up north.