When they fly over surfaces such as mirrors and standing water where honeybees can see their reflections, they are strangely affected and their ability to fly is reduced. lost A fact that has been known for years. The power behind this effect on bee flight, however, remained a mystery. Until now.

The mystery of disrupting the flight of honeybees flying over reflective surfaces has finally been revealed by a new study. lit† According to this, how low the bees descend on such surfaces. unable to notice had been discovered.

Why bees fall on reflective surfaces finally becomes clear

In 1963, an Austrian entomologist named Herbert Heran and German behavioral scientist Martin Lindauer noticed something strange in honeybee flight. By training selected bees to fly over a lake, researchers found that when there are waves and ripples on the water’s surface, honeybees can cross over to the other side; but the lake is like a mirror soft They saw that the bees fell by losing height when there was a problem.

These findings were used to find clues to honeybees in flight. visual cues contributed to his idea. With the newly conducted follow-up tests, this idea has been brought into a completely new perspective. By repeating the 1963 experiment, the researchers used honeybees to control their height in flight. watching the ground speed up came to his conclusion.

In experiments conducted in a rectangular tunnel with adjustable mirrors, the researchers noted that when all the mirrors are turned off or when the ceiling mirror is turned on, honeybees can easily get to the other side of the tunnel, usually staying at a constant height. However, the situation is when the mirror opens under the rectangle, making the floor appear twice as far from normal. changed†

The bees, which previously could fly without any problems, began to lose height until they collided with the base after traveling 40 centimeters. The situation is more difficult when both the ceiling and the floor are mirrors. bad and it was observed that the bees started to decrease as early as 8 centimeters.

Different species rely on different techniques to fly

These findings are sometimes experienced by human airmen and cause difficulties in maintaining their altitude when they cannot see their ground speed. spatial disorientation The resemblance was striking. Fortunately, we have the technology to overcome spatial reflections; but the same is not true for bees.

about the subject “Interestingly, our double mirror situation allowed us to approximate the flight conditions of a clear sky flight over a calm water surface” The study authors noted that their results are consistent with the results of the previous study. that you overlap there stands that. Put another way, the new research shows that the bees maintain their height rather than visual cues from the sky. visual signals on the ground supports his idea.

Related to this, the researchers think that when the ground is no longer a smooth baseline, the bees descend to regain the “ventral optical flow.” So bees that think the ground is further away than it really is Don’t realize how low they’ve fallen and as a result it collapses to the ground.

More bizarrely, another study used ventral optical flow to control fruit fly heights. not used detected. So it’s a very different species to fly. different techniques It shows that you are using it.