Honey is an important food source for bees, providing them with carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals in abundance.
They rely on this kind of food to sustain their colonies during the cold winter months when flowers aren’t readily available. Plus, it gives them a huge energy boost!
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Nectar
Nectar is a liquid produced by flowering plants, particularly those which depend on pollinators (like birds and bats). It’s highly sweet and often served as food rewards to animals.
Nectar has a chemical composition that differs between plants due to the different sugars (fructose, glucose and sucrose), water and other components.
When worker bees forage for nectar, they use a long tongue called the proboscis that can slide down into flowers and extract droplets of sweet nectar. Any excess nectar collected is stored in what’s known as a honey stomach – an isolated stomach for storage purposes.
Bees typically collect nectar from flowers that produce more sugar and are less viscous than their watery counterparts. However, this is not always the case, as nectar composition varies depending on plant type and what requirements nectarivores have for certain flowers.
Pollen
When we take honey from a flower, we’re eating what bees collect on their way back to their hive. Nectar and pollen form an integral part of both honey bees and bumble bees’ diets – providing essential protein for both species.
Pollen grains are microscopic structures that transport male gametophytes from one flower to the next (cross-pollination) or to their own ovule (self-pollination). Their outer layer, called the exine, contains sporopollenin–a tough substance found only within pollen grains.
The inner layer, known as the intine, is composed of cellulose. This gives pollen grain its unique texture and shape while shielding its nutrient-rich cytoplasm inside.
It is beneficial to gain some understanding of how pollen grains form. This knowledge can be especially beneficial for those suffering from hay fever, which often occurs when pollen particles enter the body. Furthermore, palynology – which studies pollen grains for biostratigraphy and paleoclimate reconstruction – will benefit from such study.
Insects
Bees collect nectar as a source of protein to fuel their bodies and ensure their bodies remain strong. Furthermore, they require water in order to thrive and remain healthy.
Honey bees store this nectar in wax combs for later use, helping the hive remain active during winter when there is little flowering and weather conditions make foraging difficult. This allows them to survive winter months when there is less food available and their colonies can survive without needing assistance from outside sources.
Honey is also fed to young bees as a source of nourishment. Young bees are given a mixture of honey and pollen, providing them with an incredibly nutrient-rich food.
In wintertime, honey bee queens also feed on special foods like royal jelly and bee bread.
At last resort, some bees will eat their eggs and larva if they are near starvation. This action prevents the colony from dying and ensures that future generations will thrive. Estimates place this service at a value of billions of dollars annually.
Fruits
Fruits are an integral part of the diets of both herbivores and omnivores, providing essential nutrients. Not only do they make for a tasty snack, but can also be dried to create jams and chutneys.
Honey is the product of bees harvesting nectar from flowers and turning it into a sweet liquid. It mainly consists of fructose and glucose sugars.
Bees collect flower nectar from flowers and bring it back to their hive for worker bees to process. This requires digestion, regurgitation, enzyme activity and evaporation – an intricate process!
Once nectar has been converted to honey, bees store it in hexagon-shaped cells made of beeswax known as honeycombs. The design of these cells and constant fanning of the bee’s wings causes evaporation which reduces water content in the final product – a thick and sweet liquid with an amber or gold hue.
