Jerry Bromenshenk wrote (in part):

>A question was asked about the article in Nature and reports of using
>harmonic radar to track bees.
>
>Joe Riley in England pioneered this system, and Elizabeth went to England
>to use his setup.

  --- clip ---

>Having said all of that, congrats to Joe and Elizabeth for the first steps
>along this path.  We may find that the bee does ignore the load.  In the
>meantime, we keep searching for the technology that makes the breakthrough
>- range, individual bee I.D., unrestricted movement (in or outside the hive).

********

   Joe Riley sent me a copy of their July paper that appeared in NATURE (on
determining the flight speed of bumble bees by the radar method).  He
attached a note that reads as follows (in part):

"Here is the first [of our papers], and you will note that our 'still air'
value of 7.1 m/sec is very close to the figure you found for honey bees.
Our results suggest that bumble bees compensate for wind primarily by
changing height.  Their adjustment of air speed is rather small."

   His reference to my work deals with paper I published in 1963:  Wenner,
A.M.  The flight speed of honey bees:  A quantitative approach.  JOURNAL OF
APICULTURAL RESEARCH.  2:25-32.  In that study, also, wind speed did not
influence the flight speed of bees fully; bees apparently flew closer to
the ground and thereby exploited the "drag" on wind speed due to
vegetation, etc.

   Note, though, with Hugh Dingle (now at UC Davis) helping as a volunteer,
that quantitative study cost essentially nothing, mostly only our time.

                                                        Adrian




Adrian M. Wenner                    (805) 963-8508 (home phone)
967 Garcia Road                     (805) 893-8062  (UCSB FAX)
Santa Barbara, CA  93106

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*
*  "History teaches that having the whole world against you
*       doesn't necessarily mean you will lose."
*
*         Ashleigh Brilliant's Pot-Shot # 7521, used by permission
*
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