Day 24, June 29, 2011 (Working on Experiments)

Vids 243/240/241/242/245

We tried some new ideas, mostly Marisol worked on trying to train them to respond to a vibration apparatus. Many of our specimens were not adequate for the experiment so at the end of the day we collected mor bees and set them up for tomorrow. You can look at the pics below ad I will give a short description of how it relates to te experiments we are doing. The other group is doing
some really interesting work.

These bees are part of a group that have learned to come to this spot. We collect them on the spot for our experiments











Single mounted bee

These bees are in a glass vial freshly captured from the feeding station, they will be frozen to knock them out so we can tape them into the bullet casing
Ready to test learn

Feeding before we leave for the day so they will be ready tomorrow

Day 23, June 28, 2011 (First Experiment)

Vid 27


715 am starting time at the lab. Not a problem walking over the muzzen wakes me up every morning 5 am sharp from the loudspeakers on at the university mosque. We here the prayers 4 other times during the day. You definitely get used to it. We carried out sort of a preliminary experiment. using a LED white light and 2 set ups using laser pointers. We used the bees that were secured yesterday to the bullet casings. We ran 20 trials for each bee waiting 10 min betwee bees, each of us had 12 bees. We gave them the Light (CS) then immediately after gave them a taste of 50% sugar water on a filter paper strip. When presented with the stip the bees extended their proboscis to lick te suar. The goal was to see if the bees could learn to associate light with food and stick out their tongue only when the light is flashed before the sugar strip is presented. In the end we did not get any consistent learning. The other group of students worked with Dr. Harrington Wells to set up for their experiment tomorrow. Lots of painting and some carpentary. When they were done they helped us get bees feeding at the station and put them in the bullet holders for tomorrows experiments. We cut off the antenna of 30 or 1/2 the bees for tomorrow. Then they were all fed sugar water for overnight. Non science stuff that happened. My group helped clean up the bee institute building. Each of us in pairs with a Turkish student has been assigned a clean up day. They do not have custodians so the students everyday must clean the building WITH VIGOR. We all chip in, the least we can do for our gracious hosts. On the way back to the dorm it was obvious that there were big things happening on campus. 'There was. It was graduation day for the economics majors. That was quite interesting as I could see the ceremony from my window. Lots of singing and dancing. A ton of people on campus. Maria, Aaron and myself went into Gorukle. The bus is small more like a van carries about 25 people sitting standing, sitting on each other and such. We all pass up our 1 Turkish Lira (TL) to the bus driver. There was traffic jam due to to the graduation ceremony. This did not deter the driver as he cut around the traffic by going into the lane next to us, that is the on coming traffic lane. He sped past cars and when there was an oncoming car he honked and squeezed inbetween 2 cars in the traffic line. What a great way to beat the traffic, plus a thrill for the passengers!!! We shopped and ate. Must mention the amazing Baklava we had!!!

Bees secured in place in the bullet casings

Cutting off antennae

Graduation gathering at the arena for the ceremony

View of Uladag Mountain from my dorm window

Day 22, June 27, 2011 (learning experimental methods)

Dr. Harrington Wells and Dr. Abramson arrived and met us at the Bee Center this morning. Things kicked into gear right away. We all got into our research groups and started planning and setting up. We needed to train the bees to come to a specific sugar water food source. This was a very cool method. Start with some sugar water in a petri dish with some color tiles around it.
Place this on a small table right next to the hive. Bees start feeding, then move it a meter or so away. Wait a 1/2 or so and continue this, move further away from the hive over the course of a few hours and place the sugar supply where you want it. In this case a opening in a small pine grove.
The bees come to this spot. I am involved with 2 other students in doing behavior experiments. I will not go over the details now as we are still working on plans with Dr. Abramson. What we did do though was really interesting. We obtain bees from our feeder in the pine grove. Brought them back to the lab, placed them in a freezer until they stopped moving. Then we removed from their glass screw cap vials and taped them just under the head with a thin strip of duck tape. They were mounted on a bullet casing that had a piece cut away. You can see this in the pcs here. There is more I want to explain but I think that tomorrow I will have a much better feel for the process and report back. I need to get better videos and pics which I will do tomorrow to enhance my explainations.
Marisol is cutting thin strips of duck tape for the bullet ases

We made quite a few set ups

Amanda moving the sugar and bees a bit farther from the hive

Approaching the final destination with the sugar water and "trained" bees

Bees imobolized in the bullet casings

Feeding a contained bee sugar water before we leave for the day.

We will be working with these tomorrow. Start time 645 am.

Day 21, June 26, 2011

VIDS 26/27/28/29/30/31

More cleaning around the Bee Center. Highligts of the day included Selvy showing me how she obtains semen from drones and how she inseminates the queen under the microscope. We played soccer at night. First it was the Turks vs. the Americans. Then after the Americans could not compete with the Turks, they drilled us. We switched teams and made it mixed teams. Our football ablilities definitely need improvemenet. Dr. Abramson and Wells arrived in the evening, we did not see them yet. We will meet tomorrow.



Tackling the sidewalk and garden


Carmen exhibits amazing form as she tosses a rock into the woods, great follow through


Exhausted after playing in the world cup

Day 20, June 25, 2011 (The Mall)

A straightfoward not complicated day. We worked at the bee center with odd jobs, cleaning, moving things and making bee frames. Afterwards we went to a very large and fancy Mall. Typical just like those at home. I bought a few things.
Group Lunch at the Bee Center


Outside the mall

Day 19, June 24 (Bee Work)

Vids 224/223

Focussed day on beework. Generally cleaned frames and assembled new ones. They are letting one or two of the REU's to go out and work with them in the bee yards, to give the students a bee experience. At the end of the day Ibrahim took all of us out to observe their work. Thought this was very nice of him. I worked on checking for queens in these small styrofoam hives where they in a way prep queens. Then I helped with Carman feed all the bees in I think their 3 bee yards. They are not interested in honey production. They want good queens to increase numbers and health in their hives for breeding experiments. We did get a lesson on using the washing machine which was very helpful. I did cook my first grand meal in the dorm when I got home from work around 8 pm.
Laundry Lesson, very intense

Working on the frames

In a bee yard

Checking to find queen

Checking in queen cell

Observing bee yard and work

Queen Cage

Feeding the bees

Day 18, June 23, 2011 (Dr. Johns)

We spent the day at the beelab. Helping with chores around the place especially working with frames. We cleaned off excess wax, help make the smaller frames for rearing queens. Most of us worked on wiring the frames. We did say our farewells for now to Dr. Barthell and Dr. Hranitz. It was wierd to think that we would not see them tomorrow. They were our guides our organizers, the 2 most responsible for getting us here. They were kind generous and funny.
We will miss them a tremendous amount. We did see some deer on a sort of fenced in nature preserve beside the road towards the bee building. I think it is the red deer.
Chi (the ch is like ch choo). There is a lot I do not know about Chi ettiquet. I think this
tea hold Turkish society together. Below means, I do not want any more.


This means I would like some more

A Turkish computer key board

Bee frame work

Aaron suits up for the first time to work with bees, he got stung 5 times

Seen on the way home from the bee lab

Day 17, June 22, 2011 (Bursa Turkey)

Vids 214/216/217/218/219/211/212/213
We spent part of the morning at the Bee Center here at the university. About a 15 minute walk from our dorm building. We were introduced to the staff, Sami and Simi are our guides, they are college students. I think that Dr. Ibrahim Cakmak and Selvi will be our main science contacts at the university. They do different kinds of work in this new building. They work on artificial insemination in search of varroa resistant strains, they study bee diseases, investigate pollination and look at pesticide effects on honey bees. Selvi showed us a bee yard and some of the nuke colonies and other hives that were relatively new. Ibrahim gave us a extensive introductory talk about beekeeping in general with emphasis on Turkey and a talk about some diseases especially varrao related. Being like most Turks we have met they showed great hospitality by serving us Chi and watermellon. We also were served Rhododendron honey which can be toxic if you eat too much. It taste good. After our meeting our adventures just started. We ate a nice cafeteria style lunch on campus. We then took a long bus ride to Bursa with Sami and Simi as our guides. Who knew how amazing Bursa is. Full of history, beauty and hustle and bustle. Its historical importance as the first capital of the Ottoman Empire after it was captured from the Byzantine Christians in 1326. We visited the Ipek Hani (silk selling area). Bursa in an important area for silk and silk product manufacturing. We stopped into the Ulucami (Big Mosqe) and we walked around the Topane (amory area), wicis an area that provides a great view of the city. We walked through markets and visited the tombs of some of the early Sultans of the Ottomon, including Osman Gazi, from which the Ottomon name is derived. He founded the development of the new state in 1299 that eventually rose to world dominance. We are now in dorm rooms at the university. Very adequate. We have a suite with a kitchen. After visting Bursa we went to a mall, one of Americas great "gifts" to the world, in the mall was Carrefour a giant supermart-type place. We purchased supplies for our rooms and some food to get us going for this week. Now we are kind of settling into a routine. We did look very funny as we lugged all our bags back on the bus (see photos).


Our dorm on campus

The Bee Institute sign

Rhododendron honey

Looking down on parts of Bursa

Ottomon coat of arms

Osman Gazi's tomb with coffins of family members

The Big Mosque

The four women on our trip visit inside the big Mosque

Ozman Gazi statue in Bursa

We took a nice subway and buses all about town

Could not resist from playtime in a park

We can SHOP

And we can carry bags

Bus stop with bags