The Electric Relationship Between Plants And Bees

[@spiderstheythem]

worth noting that pollen is not actually plant sperm, it's actually something MUCH weirder; something like an entirely separate plant organism which has been reduced down to just a testicle. this is because of the alternation of generations, a cycle that all plants go through but most have evolved workarounds to avoid. with the exception of mosses, which are an older lineage which work basically in reverse of everything i'm about to say, all plants (including flowering plants) are diploid "sporophytes"; they cannot actually produce sperm or egg, only asexual spores. the ancestral state was that the spores would germinate into a separate, sperm and egg producing plant generation with haploid chromosomes- the gametophyte- which does the sexual reproduction and produces another sporophyte. ferns still do this, producing a small and short lived "thallus" which parents another fern. but sexual reproduction is useful, so seed plants have evolved a "hack" to work around the alternation of generations; both kinds of gametophytes have been reduced down as small as feasible; the egg producing gametophyte is just a bundle of cells in the ovary, and the sperm producing gametophyte IS the pollen. a pollen grain is a separate, cryptic organism from the plant, it's like the plant's child. the pollen isn't sperm, it produces sperm. the "parent" of the resulting seed isn't really the plant the pollen came from, because the plant cannot produce sperm. the parent is technically the pollen grain itself.

[@marsar1775]

evolution is wild

[@Synky]

Wow interesting

[@Erufailon42]

I've thought for some years about how interesting a world would be where all the "animals" were the gametophyte offspring of all the "plants". Like, all the trees would produce spores, which would be like an egg from which an animal like creature would be born. The animal's job is to disperse and reproduce sexually. Then they would lay an egg which would be like a seed from which a plant like thing would grow. For an intelligent species, they might even take special care of their mother tree so that it can bring forth more of their siblings :P

[@ericpowell96]

Wow, thanks for sharing

[@lapisliozuli4861]

@@Erufailon42there is an award winning story with exactly this scenario, bit I’m not sure whether to name it because of spoilers

[@canadiangemstones7636]

Thanks for another beautiful minidoc!

[@Lichen8404]

Dare I say... micro-doc

[@heck_n_degenerate940]

I have a small and very unorganized garden of miscellaneous plants, and also a few open jars with algae nearby. For some reason one of these jars has become the local communal bee water depot with at least a couple and at most over a dozen swarming around this little thing at all times. Not to mention I’ve begun filling it up in addition to watering my plants during the day which I’m assuming can only be from all the bees drinking it (at first I thought it was just evaporation but that wouldn’t explain the entire jar nearly full being emptied in under 24 hours). I’ve been meaning to take a sample of the water to check it under my microscope if there’s some secret for it being so delicious to my local bees, especially since there’s an algae paddy in it formed from plant material and some other things I experimented putting in this particular jar that must be supporting a diverse microbiome every time fresh water is added. I’m starting to understand how bee keepers can get so attached to their bees, they’re very friendly and pretty much don’t mind me at all using a hose to trickle in more water even when there’s half a dozen in it. I honestly don’t think I’ll ever be scared of being stung by one again from now on.

[@johnnybhoy4278]

That was so nice I watched it twice! I had no idea that electrical charge had anything to do with a bees ability to gather pollen. Thanks!

[@Beryllahawk]

I am a bit phobic about bees and wasps, but - the ways that James framed the various bee parts totally circumvented most of that fear for me, even when looking at the abdomen. I never thought I'd be able to look at the pointy end of a stinging insect and say "wow that's pretty, what IS that structure, I want to learn a little more about this!" So thanks for that - for the wonder, and for the exquisite, adept ways you chose to build your images.

[@Erufailon42]

I would hate to be phobic of bees and bumblebees. I constantly look around in flowers trying to see which species is buzzing around them. I now it doesn't help since it's not something you actually controll consciously, but in all my years of sticking my face into them to study them I have not been stung once. Though I did get stung that one time I stepped on one :P

[@Beryllahawk]

@@Erufailon42 sorta funny, the only time I've been stung by a regular bee, I stepped on the poor thing; I was a little kid, it was a bumblebee, we both were headed for the same flower and I just didn't see the bee. It got caught between my foot and my flip-flop and well! I'm MUCH better than I used to be after quite a long time working at it. Still can't handle being around a live wasp though -

[@Erufailon42]

@@Beryllahawk well, I hope you manage to overcome it some day :)

[@alexwixom4599]

1:13 Bee Collison, dude totally biffs it into the grass.

[@drewlovely2668]

That bee that tumbled at 1:15 had me rolling

[@speedstrn]

Another beeeautiful episode.

[@nariu7times328]

I learn so much from these shows, thank you!

[@MikeyMxes0]

Give bees the power of superconductors! Or something, idk

[@NavajoNinja]

Neg charged bees and pos charged flowers powering the world through electrical roots. Hmmmmm

[@smith...1]

More than Hmmmm... Make it a Bzzzzz.... If only this "idea" could be copied, reproduced somehow out of earth-friendly materials for us all to harness...peacefully. ??? 😉

[@WillaHerrera]

From the magnetic shield to the peach fuzz on a honey bee, our amazing planet uses electricity in so many things. I feel like Nikoli Tesla had so many things to come.

[@NewMessage]

There's always one in the relationship who's just way more clingy than the other, y'know?

[@deathsnitemaresinfullust2269]

Haa! 2:14 The pollen looks like a micro pile of Grape Nuts. 😄👍

[@AkkarisFox]

Actually we know quite a bit. Certain flowers can tell what type of pollinator is in the area.

[@Skeptical_Numbat]

Fascinating. I had no idea that Bees were all that sensitive to electromagnetic charge & had thought the attractive properties of Pollen to Bees hairs were due to some kind of chemical adhesion. ~ ~ ~ There've been quite a few studies of flowers using Ultraviolet sensitive cameras which have exposed astonishingly different patterns & "colours" (specific subranges within the range of the Ultraviolet portion of the light spectrum) on petals which may seem pretty plain to our eyes. Despite the often brilliantly colourful nature of flowers, intriguingly, at least some of the time those colours (in the part of the light spectrum which is visible to human eyes) are a byproduct of the structures/materials that the petals are composed of & largely irrelevant to their purpose of attracting the attention of specific pollinating insects. This is because insectoid vision (especially amongst the Wasp/Bee lineage) extends further into the Ultraviolet than our vision does - meaning that subsequently the colours & patterns which the flower relies on to attract insects must also (predominantly) be in the Ultraviolet part of the light spectrum. In other words, those flowers which have Bees as pollinators, are attractive/colourful/brightly fluorescent in U/V to attract the attention of Bees with eyes which see in U/V.

[@jurjenbos228]

Good to hear there are musicians who actually can keep the beat at all times

[@potatorice1559]

wait so why are there electric fields around flowers? like what is it about the flower that generates electric fields?

[@michasosnowski5918]

I feel positive buzz from this channel.

[@bluelava4282]

Fascinating Appreciate Well Narrated 🐝

[@dforrest4503]

Bees can also use electricity to detect whether a flower has been recently visited by another bee, saving it from visiting a flower that has little food.

[@spiercephotography]

This is so cool! While I am sad that the bee passed away and is no longer flying among the Yarrow Flowers, it sure gave us the opportunity to see some beautiful photography and learn something new!

[@Ilamarea]

Why would you be sad? A bee is a single-use tool that gets used up. The whole family is an organism. The bees are like skin cells that get shed.

[@Johny9405]

That is just the circle of life; a delicate dance of death and renewal. The bee may be dead but it did its part on this world and because of it more generations of plants have come into the world. Likewise the plants will feed new generations of bees. Honestly it's a beautiful thing once you look at the bigger picture.

[@purpleplayz8910]

Dayum spore 2 looking lit🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@jn651]

Cool stuff!

[@Yezpahr]

4:24 Could a moth still live its life normally if it missed one of those front legs that this moth grabbed the flower with? I ask cuz a few months ago I saved a moth from my house, but while putting the coaster under the glass, one of those legs came off. It's not a death sentence I hope, but I'm not sure.

[@smith...1]

You must be a nice person to worry /at least wonder about it months later. I've often wondered for ages how they've gone when I've done the same in trying to save various wee beasties. We have a lot of them here in Australia... (and no, they're not ALL poisonous or deadly. Bad PR)

[@LimeyLassen]

I think so. Losing a leg isn't a big deal for insects. Especially as the adults usually have short lifespans anyway and they're just drinking nectar for the sugar while they try to give a mate.

[@tillandsiausneoides]

I've never seen a purple yarrow flower. What was the purple flower shown in the video?

[@dforrest4503]

Some fascinating bee-havior!

[@bigboss-tl2xr]

Imagine having hair grow out of your eyeballs 🤔

[@stevenkarnisky411]

Interesting! Thank you.

[@ElectricalExistence]

Thunderbolts project did a video on this subject

[@harrisonjp]

Thank you for talking about bees 🍯

[@theaifam5]

Sooo, that’s f*** gave me allergy. I was wonder how they look like.

[@Troy-q6l]

Great Video :)

[@ovaismir6618]

reminds me of Alan Watts : Bees and Flowers are one Organism

[@lilysceeliljeaniemoonlight]

Brilliance makes Brilliance 🧚🌺🌻✌️🧠

[@VietThanhNguyen-f6r]

Could you please make a video about chenotaxis

[@RUIGARAGE]

obrigado

[@KendricBeachey]

Bee positive 🐝 Thanks for another great video! Deboki, your calm and measured delivery was very nice, definitely fitting for the standard of this channel. 😌

[@ericpowell96]

Great narrator All hail the algorithm

[@MeshFrequency]

Can you imagine that when you were ready to get it on with your girl, you had to wait for a bee to show up? Consider us lucky!

[@Johny9405]

Honestly the flowering plants are luckier. All they have to do is give the bee some drinks and a bundle of the good stuff and off they go. Next generation is secured. Well as long as the bee makes it to another flower. We on the other hand have to do this weird ritual that may take days to years with a high probability of failure. It's not easy being a hairless ape.

[@426F6F]

Beehaviors are neat 🐝

[@texasred1894]

Anytime you can tie in evolution to these videos please do! They are the best ☺️

[@IglooCrafter1]

do the bees feel the electricity the same way my hair stands up next to an old cathode-ray tv

[@Johny9405]

possibly?

[@CMZneu]

"What flowers will feed them well", what does this mean? it is incredibly vague, from what i gather this ability is useful for the bees to know which flowers have been recently visited, a flower with more negative charge would have had enough time between visits to produce more pollen and nectar thus accumulating more negative charge, is this right? and if so i doubt most people would come to this reasoning. There is so much to talk about and show, like a close up the the bees pollen basket (maybe you did show it but i couldn't tell) would have been easy to show and very interesting. I like this channel but sometimes i feel like the educational information is lacking and takes a back seat to the pretty pictures, which are cool and beautiful but could be way more interesting with better context and more information. Just my honest critique but hell maybe relaxing and pretty scenes are the main goal of this channel and not the info sadly, i really don't know anymore.

[@flamencoprof]

I was going to comment as well. It wasn't made clear that the bee's charge and the flower's charge presumably combine, changing the flower's charge. Another bee can tell the flower's charge is different from the charge of an unvisited flower, and will save energy not visiting the flower. This is to the bee's advantage, and also the flower is not discouraging bees by disappointing them. Win-Win.

[@technopoptart]

deboki is easily my favourite voice~ it is the correct combination of enthusiastic and focused that pairs beautifully with the enthusiasm and focus of the footage. i hope deboki does more in the future

[@leeleaman8057]

I can’t for the life of me figure out the orientation of the bee in that pic at 0:17 😅🤦

[@anniestumpy9918]

oh good, why do bees have hairs on their eyes? As much as I love our little pollen-collecting friends, but that's nightmare fuel...

[@ludologian]

Subscribe button is negative charge... Go Bees!

[@tivviemivvie1162]

💙

[@dracorex426]

Pollen isn't plant sperm. Plant sperm is plant sperm.

[@napoleonfeanor]

Do beedroids dream of electric nectar?

[@LeonVonDai]

Good but make it more asmr

[@EmuachPuff]

Beetween

[@placidp2443]

YOU'RE positively charged! ☺️

[@atrixiousscramasax6686]

she sounds like a yoga teacher

[@CharTheDude]

B

[@Myself24985]

are all microscopes in the world and its all results are real and true? is the sperms of a person and the egg cell of a person and all about them real and true? is it my first existence or do i have past existence or past existences before?

[@gregohnoes]

The voice is somewhat annoying but the video is beautiful

[@thomasgunn5229]

Agreed

[@thomasgoodwin2648]

Leave it to YT to take the fun out of learning about the Ciliates and the Bees. (Go ask your parents Kids!) ✌🙊🙈🙉👍

[@timetobenotdo]

1.25 x speed

[@crimson4066]

Oversimplification = Factually incorrect = Lying to viewers I expect better from this channel...

[@Johny9405]

I agree to an extent but keep in mind not everyone has a Ph.D in the subject. If the subject wasn't condensed into something palatable the video would be hundreds of hours long and instead we'd have comments saying "the video is too long/ hard to understand." Remember, the videos purpose is to arouse curiosity in the subject. Anyone who is interested will seek out more information on the subject on their own. :)

[@TheDaddiestBear]

That was beautiful.

[@TroyTheCatFish]

W video! :)

[@TheDaddiestBear]

That was beautiful.