Bees Are Losing the Pitch on Their Typical ‘Buzzing’ Sound — and It’s Bad News for Our Planet

Bees are the workhorses of magic. So tiny, they might even slip your eye while you’re strolling in your flowerbed. Spot them and their little antennas will shiver, emitting sounds of buzz, as if generating electricity. And while they produce these electric buzzes, these vibrations enable the tiny hairs on their body to trap nectar from the flowers. They’ve got top-notch expertise in pollination. No wonder, all those bluebells, butterfly bushes, bee balms, and buttercups hire them regularly for their pollinating services. However, a new study presented at the Society for Experimental Biology revealed that, lately, these yellow-and-black creatures have been losing their buzzing frequency due to climate change. Not good news.

Researchers started this study by investigating colonies of buff-tailed bumblebees. The first piece of information they analyzed was the muscle mechanism of bees. Analysis revealed that these pollen-shaking insects also use their muscle power for functions other than flying. Lead researcher, Doctor Charlie Woodrow from Uppsala University, found that bees employ their muscular system for defense against predators and for producing these buzzing vibrations, according to ScienceDaily.

Illustrating a visual of his findings, Dr. Woodrow explained that while a bee is perched on a flower to sip nectar and extract pollen, she engages in a series of behaviors that depict her muscles in function. At first, the bee curls and wraps its body around the pollen-containing anthers of the flower. While slurping the nectar from the petal cup, it contracts its flight muscles up to 400 times per second to produce buzzing vibrations, which, eventually, shake the pollen loose. The pollen, in turn, sticks to the tiny hairs on its body.