| Title |
Heat and carbon dioxide generated by honeybees jointly act to kill hornets
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
The Science of Nature, June 2009
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s00114-009-0575-0 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Michio Sugahara, Fumio Sakamoto |
| Abstract |
We have found that giant hornets (Vespa mandarinia japonica) are killed in less than 10 min when they are trapped in a bee ball created by the Japanese honeybees Apis cerana japonica, but their death cannot be solely accounted for by the elevated temperature in the bee ball. In controlled experiments, hornets can survive for 10 min at the temperature up to 47 degrees C, whereas the temperature inside the bee balls does not rise higher than 45.9 degrees C. We have found here that the CO2 concentration inside the bee ball also reaches a maximum (3.6 +/- 0.2%) in the initial 0-5 min phase after bee ball formation. The lethal temperature of the hornet (45-46 degrees C) under conditions of CO2 concentration (3.7 +/- 0.44%) produced using human expiratory air is almost the same as that in the bee ball. The lethal temperature of the honeybee is 50-51 degrees C under the same air conditions. We concluded that CO2 produced inside the bee ball by honeybees is a major factor together with the temperature involved in defense against giant hornets. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 96 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 34 | 35% |
| United Kingdom | 4 | 4% |
| Canada | 2 | 2% |
| Italy | 1 | 1% |
| Japan | 1 | 1% |
| Spain | 1 | 1% |
| Côte d'Ivoire | 1 | 1% |
| India | 1 | 1% |
| Croatia | 1 | 1% |
| Other | 4 | 4% |
| Unknown | 46 | 48% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 79 | 82% |
| Scientists | 9 | 9% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 6 | 6% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 2 | 2% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 76 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | 2 | 3% |
| Japan | 1 | 1% |
| South Africa | 1 | 1% |
| Brazil | 1 | 1% |
| Unknown | 71 | 93% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 14 | 18% |
| Researcher | 14 | 18% |
| Student > Bachelor | 10 | 13% |
| Student > Master | 9 | 12% |
| Other | 6 | 8% |
| Other | 12 | 16% |
| Unknown | 11 | 14% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 46 | 61% |
| Environmental Science | 10 | 13% |
| Social Sciences | 2 | 3% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 1 | 1% |
| Immunology and Microbiology | 1 | 1% |
| Other | 4 | 5% |
| Unknown | 12 | 16% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 95. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 24 August 2023.
All research outputs
#455,006
of 25,713,737 outputs
Outputs from The Science of Nature
#57
of 2,275 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#1,059
of 124,303 outputs
Outputs of similar age from The Science of Nature
#2
of 19 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,713,737 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 98th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,275 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 14.2. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 124,303 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 19 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 89% of its contemporaries.