This is a slide show about bees and modeling bee hive pattern formation and retention. That is about it. Also, we talk the entire time over the slides and that is honestly my favorite part.

1. JEFFREY AND KLEMENTE
AS YOU COMMAND MY
QUEEN.

2. HONEY BEES
A N D M AT H ?
• Some questions are
difficult to answer through
observation
• We can model these
systems and provide
defined areas of focus for
researchers

3. W H AT A B O U T
THE BEES?
• Honey Bees create hives of
hexagonal cells that are
filled with larvae, brood,
and pollen.
• We don’t know how Honey
Bees maintain their hive
structures or why some
hives fail.
• Models offer insight

4. W H AT D O W E
KNOW?
• Queen Bees deposit larvae
(brood) into cells.
• Worker Bees collect pollen
for food and nectar to
make honey.
• Nurse Bees raise larvae
with honey and pollen.
• Thus brood need to be
close to honey cells

5. HONEY
CELL
POLLEN
CELL

6. M A N Y FA C T O R S I N F L U E N C E R E S O U R C E
DISTRIBUTION WITHIN A HIVE
• Temperature
• Pollen availability
• Size of hive
• Amount of resources consumed
• The number of eggs a queen lays an hour

7. THE COMPUTER MODEL
• 45 cells wide
• 75 cells tall
• 60 day period
• 12 hour day and night cycles
• Queen lays 42-84 eggs an hour

8. THE COMPUTER MODEL CONTINUED
• Queen’s cell variation rate; cells per hour
• Preferential nectar consumption radius; cells
• Average honey collection; loads per day

9. THE MODEL CONTINUED
• Ratio of pollen collection to honey collection
• Ratio of pollen consumption to pollen collection
• Ration of honey consumption to honey collection
• Temporal distribution of daily nectar and pollen
collection

10. W H AT D O E S T H E M O D E L T E L L
SCIENTISTS?
• Sensitivity
• Queen visitation rate
• Average honey per day
• Ratio of pollen collection to honey collection

11. TURNS OUT
• If you bias the queens movement towards the center
of the hive, honey bees will maintain the patterning
seen in nature.
• Bees do not need to know where everything is in the
hive.
• Focusing on a few factors is key to understanding how
Honey Bee’s organize their hives.