The Curious Anatomy of Bees
Essential for the pollination of fruits and vegetables used in our diet, bees are frequently included in endangered species lists, and that is worrying. In Brazil, for instance, due to its deep dependence on agribusiness, we can state that bees are vital for the national economic health — especially if we take into account an article published in 2015 by Giannini his collaborators which indicated the contribution of these insects in the production and maintenance of crops was about 12 billion dollars per year.
Because bees are endangered species, we can affirm that the abundance and diversity of bees have decreased dramatically by several factors, such as loss of habitat, climate change, agricultural intensification, and the use of agrochemicals. In Brazil, the use of agrochemicals stands out, given that the country is constantly increasing the consumption of such products — something that, despite not targeting bees specifically, strikes them in the act of foraging (search and exploration of food resources).
The importance of these organisms and the scenario of conservation of their species has granted them the title of most important living organisms in the world, according to the Royal Geographical Society of London. However, despite the relevance of the contribution of bees to the economy and conservation of plants, it is also important to provide further explanation on the nervous system of these insects that, although small, have a complex interaction with the environment. For such purpose, the article “Review of the anatomy of the central nervous system of Apis mellifera: a theoretical basis for ecotoxicological studies”, by researchers Patrícia Azevedo and Roberta Cornélio Ferreira Nocelli, will be utilized.
Bees, like humans, have a central nervous system (CNS), responsible for processing information, and a peripheral nervous system (PNS), responsible for capturing environmental stimuli. In the central nervous system there is a brain, a structure which in adult bees is bilobed and divided into two “control centers”, the suboesophageal and supraesophageal. In general, as in the human nervous system, the bees’ CNS and PNS work together to capture external and internal information in order to process it and generate appropriate responses to stimuli.
However, despite having an incredible learning capacity, bees can not only perceive the information, but all its integrations. For example, when they perceive an object, they also capture the characteristics of the environment where the object is located, the colors, the movements that the object makes in the environment, etc.
This learning peculiarity also affects the sense of smell. Guerrieri and collaborators, in a 2005 study, while testing the odor presentation to bees, demonstrated that these could be learned and memorized by the insects. In the future they would even seek more the smells that would bring greater food rewards.
The idea that bees are capable of learning and memorizing is reinforced by studies that show an increase in the size and number of connections of the cells that constitute the nervous system as these insects get older — which indicates the capacity of the brain is strengthened as sensory stimuli are enrichened.
Bees’ learning capacity depicts an extremely complex nervous system that executes a vast organizational and behavioral repertoire. These insects represent the viability of a cognitive capacity that, through learning and memorization, enables constant improvement of its activities and habitats.
