Buzzing ‘bee song’ tells farmers which crops will produce

Like jets radioing in their call signs to air traffic control, bees’ buzzing could help scientists know who’s pollinating what over large swaths of land, leading to better farming methods and more productive crops. In the past, farmers have relied on visual surveys for insight into pollinator activity—a time-consuming and expensive process. But one team of researchers thought the bees’ buzzes might do a better job of giving them away. So they cataloged the body traits of different bees—like tongue length, wing length, and body size—that influence both which plants they pollinate and the acoustic frequency of their buzzing. The researchers then nailed down the acoustic signatures of two bumble bee species near Boulder, Colorado, Bombus balteatus (above) and B. sylvicola.

Bombus balteatus buzz

Bombus sylvicola buzz