Project Description
Western honey bee behavior and communication has been a subject of study for hundreds of years, yet much remains unknown about how they coordinate with each other to succeed as a colony without a central leader. In the Peleg lab, we investigate how they accomplish tasks such as building hives and linking together into hanging swarms using physics, engineering, and computer science tools.
We are looking for a SPUR student to assist with experimental studies of honey bee behavior this summer. We have a variety of projects that the student might assist with depending on student skills and interest, including:
- Analyzing how bees are connected to each other in swarms using x-ray CT
- Studying how bees link to each other while building comb with IR videos and x-ray CT
- Investigating how bees fan pheromones to one another to communicate
- Studying how bees build hexagonal comb of different sizes for brood and honey with photography and image analysis
The student will work with their lab mentor to set up experiments, analyze data, and care for honey bee hives. The student will need to take x-ray training and do hands-on work with bees.
Special Requirements
The following skills are helpful but not mandatory: beekeeping or other work with animals, prototyping, programming (MATLAB), working with radiation.
Contact
- Orit Peleg (faculty)
- Olga Shishkov (graduate student)