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Subject:
From:
James Fischer <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 1 Aug 2013 09:08:25 -0400
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We've covered this before, and recently

http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A2=ind1307&L=BEE-L&
P=R20270&1=BEE-L&9=A&J=on&d=No+Match%3BMatch%3BMatches&z=4
or
http://tinyurl.com/k4ol4uy


>> "The current study found no round precursor cells, except during the very
early phase in the building of the cell foundations. After the upward
construction of the walls commenced, the three bottom plates became rhomboid
in shape and the cell took on a hexagonal form."

Yep, the bees do NOT build complete cells to full depth, which then deform
from full-depth cylinders to crystal cells.  The deformation happens long
before a full cell is drawn, about when they get to a "soup bowl" depth, and
chew the surfaces down to sufficient wall thinness to allow surface tension
to take over.

>> "Tautz (2008) stated that a wax temperature of 40 °C is necessary to
initiate a liquid equilibrium state, but this wax temperature was never
achieved during the cell-building process observed in the current study"

Yeah, Tautz was very likely wrong.  There's no need for so much heat, even
though 104F (40C) is pretty easy to find in a beehive.

>> "However, the wax was heated up by the worker bees, and there was strong
evidence that this energy increased the plasticity of wax, thereby
facilitating its shaping."

Yeah, exactly!  They need a little warmth, but the surface tension can
deform the wax at temps well below that required to melt the wax.  If they
melted the wax to a liquid state, it would flow and drip down, not deform to
a "minimal energy state" shape.

>> "At the comb edge where new cells foundations were added, the
temperatures of builders were significantly higher than towards the centre
of the comb where the hexagonal cell walls were constructed (36.1±1.2 versus
34.9±1.0 °C). Therefore, the increase in the temperature during cell
building appeared to be important for establishing the foundations but not
for the hexagonal cell form."

Yet MORE evidence in support of the "soup bowl" being the minimal depth
required to get the deformed minimal-energy shape of a honey bee comb, and
the extrusion of the cell to full depth being a route process of addition.
The other explanation is that the midrib is always thicker than the walls,
and requires more heat to deform.

>> "During the construction of hexagonal cells, the wax temperature was
between 33.6 and 37.6 °C. This is well below 40 °C, i.e. the temperature at
which wax is assumed to exist in the liquid equilibrium that is essential
for self-organised building."

33 to 36 C is plenty of heat to soften a minimal wall of wax to allow it to
deform.   Taking issue with the 40C was an attempt to slam Tautz, and get
some fame for the authors of the paper off the fame of his book.  It follows
that most letters I get from crackpots are trying to disprove Einstein.  In
entomology, much smaller game is hunted by the crackpots - "famous in their
field" people like Karl von Frisch.
 

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