The Buzz about Bees Biology of a Superorganism /

• Main Author: Tautz, Jürgen (Author)
• Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
• Format: Electronic eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2008.
• Subjects: Popular works.; Agriculture.; Behavioral sciences.; Animal ecology.; Evolutionary biology.; Zoology.; Nature.; Environment.; Popular Science.; Popular Science in Nature and Environment.; Behavioral Sciences.; Animal Ecology.; Evolutionary Biology.

“Whereas bee colonies were once seen as perfect societies of selfless workers and drones ruled by a queen, Tautz presents them as a self-organized, complex adaptive system that he considers “a mammal in many bodies”. This comprehensive introduction to honeybee biology (originally published as Phänom...

Table of Contents:

• Prolog: The Bee Colony — a Mammal in Many Bodies
• Man’s Smallest Domestic Animal — a Picture Guide
• The Inevitable Honeybees
• Propagated Immortality
• Honeybees — a Model for Success
• What Bees Know About Flowers
• Honeybee Sex, and Virgin Brides
• Royal Jelly — Designer Diet in Bee Colonies
• The Largest Organ of the Bee Colony — Construction and Function of the Comb
• Cultivated Intelligence
• Is Honey Thicker than Blood: How Important Is the Family?
• The Circle Closes
• Epilog: The Future for Bees and Mankind.