Another Intermediate Science Exam Question

[brianmc]

Hi folks,

On behalf of the study group I'm in, I'd like to throw this question up to the forum.

We can't settle on a solid answer here so we're interested to hear other peoples opinions.

FIBKA - Intermediate Scientific Paper - May 2007

2. (a)

Define "Queen Substance". How does a strong colony respond when there is insufficient queen substance in circulation in (i) during early June (ii) in mid August? (10 marks)

2. (b)

How does a colony respond to the removal of the queen when there is no unsealed brood present? (10 marks)

----------

From part (a), its the early June/mid August part that is throwing us off.

From part (b) we're wondering how to write enough to earn 10 marks.

All thoughts and perspectives appreciated, although probably best to remember its a "scientific" exam and so answers along the line of "bees dont read books" aren't going to cut it!



Brian

 

[MuswellMetro]

Hi folks,

On behalf of the study group I'm in, I'd like to throw this question up to the forum.

We can't settle on a solid answer here so we're interested to hear other peoples opinions.

FIBKA - Intermediate Scientific Paper - May 2007

2. (a)

Define "Queen Substance". How does a strong colony respond when there is insufficient queen substance in circulation in (i) during early June (ii) in mid August? (10 marks)

2. (b)

How does a colony respond to the removal of the queen when there is no unsealed brood present? (10 marks)

----------

From part (a), its the early June/mid August part that is throwing us off.

From part (b) we're wondering how to write enough to earn 10 marks.

All thoughts and perspectives appreciated, although probably best to remember its a "scientific" exam and so answers along the line of "bees dont read books" aren't going to cut it!



Brian

part B), there has been a similar question in the BBKA modules

consider the some of following

fanning for Queen then Agitation and roaring after a few minutes
24hrs agitate and running on comb, following behavior, more guards out, more aggressive than usual
The working policy of worker eggs reduces as queen pheromone reduces
Queen cups made in vain
Wax production ceases and comb building very low or ceases
Honey stored in the brood nest
Brood continues to emerge and brood pheromone reduces
Suppression of worker ovaries ceases by lack of queen pH and Brood pH
Drone laying workers become more active and up to 20% workers can lay
DLW harassed
DLW drone Eggs in multiple and in brood and non brood cells ,worker policing of drone laying worker eggs reduced
Some worker policing still occurs on non half sister eggs
DLW drone brood produces brood pheromones and start to suppress worker ovaries
Queen cells made with drone eggs
Several Drone layer workers become dominate and cease to be haressed except by some half sisters, any pheromones produced suppresses further other workers
Queen cells made with drone eggs
false worker queens from the DLW with worker retinue
too many drones for worker ,drones evicted by workers
Hive becomes unviable and majority of remaining worjker leave for adajcent hive
Beekeeper thinks he has CCD ;-}LOL

part a) is the difference between early summer swarm cells and autumn supercedure... others can write up about that

 

[Black Comb]

off the top of my head.
Queen substance is queen footprint pheromone and queen mandiular pheromone. Important in suppressing swarming. Main 2 components of latter are 9-ODA and 9-HDA. Might describe where and when used.
Reaction erly June = queen cells. Reaction August = supercedure.

Reaction when no unsealed brood = laying workers. Full explanation as to why and how.

You could expand a lot on these.

No doubt someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

Edit
( I wrote this without seeing MM's post)

 

[MuswellMetro]

off the top of my head.
Queen substance is queen footprint pheromone and queen mandiular pheromone. Important in suppressing swarming. Main 2 components of latter are 9-ODA and 9-HDA. Might describe where and when used.
Reaction erly June = queen cells. Reaction August = supercedure.

Reaction when no unsealed brood = laying workers. Full explanation as to why and how.

You could expand a lot on these.

No doubt someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

Edit
( I wrote this without seeing MM's post)

so when are you taking module 6 ,your appear to be on the right track

 

[masterBK]

Queen substance was a term introduced by Dr Butler so although it has an historical significance it is not generally used these days by scientists. Are you expected to restrict the term to just the queen mandibular pheromones (9-ODA and 9-HDA) or to refer to all the queen pheromones including those from the tergite and tarsal glands?
part 2 b mentions no unsealed brood but doesn't eliminate the presence of eggs (poorly worded question?)

 

[Black Comb]

so when are you taking module 6 ,your appear to be on the right track

Passed in March

 

[MuswellMetro]

Passed in March

i'm have trouble with module 5 as my quaker grandmother who raised me after my mother died would not let me go to biology lesson incase i learnt Darwin's theory of evolution

 

[Black Comb]

No problem.
After 14 I never did any science subjects. Not much before then.
Mod 5 is where learning by rote really comes into it.
Don't do what I did and try and predict the questions. Got it wrong but still passed.

Back on topic, do these answers help the OP?

 

[oliver90owner]

poorly worded question?)

Not in this case. Brood in all stages includes eggs. There might be an outside chance that they have muffed the queastion but I very much doubt it - they must be checking questions for idiot mistakes far more carefully these days (after stupid questions like 'how much honey is there in a full brood frame?). If the student replies in the correct way they can point this out as definitely meaning no larvae or eggs.

 

[brianmc]

Well this is useful!

Perhaps I'll just start adding all of the past questions from all of the past years!

Thanks for that folks.

I think we're a little guilty of picking the focus of the question and coming up with a very short answer. As in 2 (b)... the significant difference is that they can't raise a new queen.... laying workers... drones and fade out... but we couldn't see how to write 10 marks worth on that.

As per MMs response, there's plenty to write about the normal circumstance and we also get to write about the lack of open brood situation.

2 (a)... Certainly one person identified swarming Vs supersedure but there was debate and uncertainty.

Thanks again all!

 

[brianmc]

Queen substance was a term introduced by Dr Butler so although it has an historical significance it is not generally used these days by scientists. Are you expected to restrict the term to just the queen mandibular pheromones (9-ODA and 9-HDA) or to refer to all the queen pheromones including those from the tergite and tarsal glands?
part 2 b mentions no unsealed brood but doesn't eliminate the presence of eggs (poorly worded question?)

This is our biggest dilemma throughout the exams. We did the practical paper back at the start of April. Some questions are definitely quite open and it's hard to figure out where the question (and your answer) begin and end. More so in the practical paper though.

It's difficult to find out about how the exams are marked too but from what we have gathered, the marking is actually very generous/forgiving.

With regard to "no unsealed brood", I'm in agreement with o9o on this but I suspec that we may have given the phrase more thought than whoever wrote the question at the time. That in itself also makes me assume that no eggs or unsealed larvae is the correct interpretation too.