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Bumblebee Economics
Here is a brilliant introduction to insect and plant ecology focusing on one of nature’s most adaptive creatures, the bumblebee. Survival for the bumblebee depends on its ability to regulate body temperature through a complex energy exchange, and it is this management of energy resources around which Bernd Heinrich enters his discussion of physiology, behavior, and ecological interaction. Along the way, he makes some amusing parallels with the theories of Adam Smith―which, Heinrich observes, work rather well for the bees, however inadequate they may be for human needs.
Bumblebee Economics uniquely offers both the professional and amateur scientist a coherent biological model that goes beyond any particular species or level of biological organization. Rich in specific detail and including an extensive appendix on the rearing of bumblebees, as well as a full-color guide to field identification, this book organizes practical knowledge according to a new criterion.
In a new preface, Heinrich ranges from Maine to Alaska and north to the Arctic as he summarizes findings from continuing investigations over the past twenty-five years―by himself and others―into the wondrous “energy economy” of bumblebees.
Bumblebee Economics uniquely offers both the professional and amateur scientist a coherent biological model that goes beyond any particular species or level of biological organization. Rich in specific detail and including an extensive appendix on the rearing of bumblebees, as well as a full-color guide to field identification, this book organizes practical knowledge according to a new criterion.
In a new preface, Heinrich ranges from Maine to Alaska and north to the Arctic as he summarizes findings from continuing investigations over the past twenty-five years―by himself and others―into the wondrous “energy economy” of bumblebees.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
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481 people want to read
About the author
Bernd Heinrich
62 books675 followersBernd Heinrich was born in Germany (April 19, 1940) and moved to Wilton, Maine as a child. He studied at the University of Maine and UCLA and is Professor Emeritus of Biology at the University of Vermont.
He is the author of many books including Winter World, Ravens in Winter, Mind of the Raven, and Why We Run. Many of his books focus on the natural world just outside the cabin door.
Heinrich has won numerous awards for his writing and is a world class ultra-marathon runner.
He spends much of the year at a rustic cabin that he built himself in the woods near Weld, Maine.
He is the author of many books including Winter World, Ravens in Winter, Mind of the Raven, and Why We Run. Many of his books focus on the natural world just outside the cabin door.
Heinrich has won numerous awards for his writing and is a world class ultra-marathon runner.
He spends much of the year at a rustic cabin that he built himself in the woods near Weld, Maine.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
December 2, 2020
I absolutely love Bernd Heinrich. I love how he researches the tiniest details of the tiniest creatures - chickadees keeping warm together in a ball, a cuddle, in the snow. And where he knows the animal well not just as a research subject, like his jealous owl, Bubo in One Man's Owl he lets their personality shine through. Especially with ravens. He really loves ravens, and now I do too. He's a scientist who gives equal weight to anecdotes from his observation of animal behaviour. But this book, I had to dnf it. It's exactly what it says. I wasn't misled. But I thought it was going to be about bumblebees, but it really is about their economics, energy input and output. If you have more a mathematical mind than mine, you might enjoy it. I didn't. So sadly, (but with relief) dnf
It still gets three stars though, because the writing is good, even if it isn't wonderful enough to overcome the tedious subject.
It still gets three stars though, because the writing is good, even if it isn't wonderful enough to overcome the tedious subject.
October 1, 2011
I think Heinrich’s research is awesome, whether he’s putting pipe cleaners around young raven necks or counting sticks in a kinglet nest. This book was fantastic not only for the “wow” moments contemplating his field methods but for offering in-depth information about a group of animals I knew very little about. Bumblebees <> honeybees (also nifty creatures), and the differences are fascinating. For example, bumblebees don’t dance, which seems unfortunate that the bumbles miss out on a sophisticated form of communication. But because of their basic natural history, it totally makes sense that dancing wouldn’t provide much advantage! Learn how queen bumbles are like songbirds (but unlike birds, they spend nights with their face in a honeypot). Learn how they can sustain themselves in cool climates few insects dare inhabit! Learn why bees visit a few flowers in an inflorescence rather every single one! I was terrifically excited by all these explanations, and I’m not even a bug nerd. Plus, I just love that Heinrich’s approach to most scientific questions is “Hey, let’s stick a thermocouple in it.”
October 9, 2008
A good general resource on Bumblebees and includes a section on how to capture and raise them. Especially good if you want to know about energy dynamics of bumblebees and heat exchange methods. Not totally relevant to what I was researching, but good general info. The writing is also surprisingly beautiful for a scientific work.
July 12, 2012
I have always loved bumblebees, now I know why! The way they live on the edge of environmental economics is inspirational and the example they offer us Homo sapiens of a truly functioning free market is instructive. No drones being told where to go daily, just a bunch of bumblebees out their making choices...cool. Who would have thunk you would get that out of a book on bumblebees, but it is Bernd Heinrich so you know what you are going to get - good writing, experimentation, and a sense of what it would be like to have such a truly scientific and inquisitive mind. I spent a bunch of time in early summer watching bumblebees at work (trying to channel Dr. Heinrich) because I now understand how intricate and beautiful their natural history is. The book has inspired me to build a bumblebee colony next spring! I may even tackle another book about bugs, as long as it is related to fly fishing or bumblebees!
March 10, 2025
Heavy on the bumblebees, light on the economics. Read on the flight to Guatemala
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June 22, 2025(Lena: Paul made me read this)
August 25, 2013
I came to Bumblebee Economics just looking for some basic life-history and ecology information about Bumblebees. While the energy economics were not very meaningful to me as a question in their own right, that framing question made the book much more enjoyable to read than works like “Wasps: etc” that are simply organized reviews of information collected in other research. Heinrich, of course, was beginning a career as a professional natural history author, and there are hints of that future eloquence here.
Some of the interesting things I learned:
Bumblebee hives around here routinely produce around 100 queens in a year; only one survives, on average. The largest hives have around 700-800 workers.
Individuals have some innate knowledge of general pollen and nectar harvesting, but unlike solitary bees (who are only active in a narrow window when only a few coevolved flowers are in bloom), bumbles must learn, through practice, to optimally access specific flower species. The flowers they learn are harvested almost exclusively, though they do visit one or two other species occasionally and switch to them if their primary goes out of season.
Bumbles don't store pollen and honey; their supplies won't last more than a few rainy days.
Much of bumblebee life revolves around maintaining optimal temperatures. The thorax must be warm enough to fly, but not so warm as to overheat (basically within the optimal temperature range for mitochondrial enzymes). Heat flow to the abdomen can be encouraged, to keep the thorax from overheating or to warm larvae in the nest. It also can be slowed, to maintain heat in the thorax on cold days.
Larger bees stay warm more easily, which is part of why queens are the largest – they need to forage in early spring. Size is controlled by the amount of pollen larvae receive, while temperature affects time to maturity.
Bumbles, unlike honeybees, don't communicate the location of food resources. Their evolutionary ecology is near-homogeneous bogs and fields of wildflowers, not tropical forests and savannas were flowers primarily occur on trees that bloom irregularly.
It is possible for even a human to determine with reasonable accuracy whether a clover bloom has been visited or is still full of nectar by smell alone.
Competition is complex in coevolved plant-pollinator communities, and introduction of weeds and honeybees complicates the situation even further. In some cases, honeybees could be a substantial competitor with bumbles; in others, no effect is observed. In general, long-tongue and short-tongue bees (within a species and between species) visit appropriate flowers, evidence of competition for nectar; however, hives of the same species have been experimentally manipulated and shown no negative effects of increased competition.
Some of the interesting things I learned:
Bumblebee hives around here routinely produce around 100 queens in a year; only one survives, on average. The largest hives have around 700-800 workers.
Individuals have some innate knowledge of general pollen and nectar harvesting, but unlike solitary bees (who are only active in a narrow window when only a few coevolved flowers are in bloom), bumbles must learn, through practice, to optimally access specific flower species. The flowers they learn are harvested almost exclusively, though they do visit one or two other species occasionally and switch to them if their primary goes out of season.
Bumbles don't store pollen and honey; their supplies won't last more than a few rainy days.
Much of bumblebee life revolves around maintaining optimal temperatures. The thorax must be warm enough to fly, but not so warm as to overheat (basically within the optimal temperature range for mitochondrial enzymes). Heat flow to the abdomen can be encouraged, to keep the thorax from overheating or to warm larvae in the nest. It also can be slowed, to maintain heat in the thorax on cold days.
Larger bees stay warm more easily, which is part of why queens are the largest – they need to forage in early spring. Size is controlled by the amount of pollen larvae receive, while temperature affects time to maturity.
Bumbles, unlike honeybees, don't communicate the location of food resources. Their evolutionary ecology is near-homogeneous bogs and fields of wildflowers, not tropical forests and savannas were flowers primarily occur on trees that bloom irregularly.
It is possible for even a human to determine with reasonable accuracy whether a clover bloom has been visited or is still full of nectar by smell alone.
Competition is complex in coevolved plant-pollinator communities, and introduction of weeds and honeybees complicates the situation even further. In some cases, honeybees could be a substantial competitor with bumbles; in others, no effect is observed. In general, long-tongue and short-tongue bees (within a species and between species) visit appropriate flowers, evidence of competition for nectar; however, hives of the same species have been experimentally manipulated and shown no negative effects of increased competition.
January 21, 2013
I read this many years ago. It introduced me to a way of thinking about the natural world different than what I had bee accustomed to. With this book, Heinrich showed how natural history can be thought about more broadly and more quantitatively. This opened new horizons for me, enabling me to start thinking about connections among species and their environment, and how to start trying to make sense of these interactions. A great book for the dedicated nature nerd!
May 1, 2013
So many bumble bees, but not enough time to watch them. Heinrich took his research to a whole new level when he wrote this book based on his Ph.D. thesis. The language is accessible, the story is SO interesting. Some of the bumble bee species that Heinrich found and considered common in the early 1970s now are hard to find. See color plates near the back. Now in its revised edition. Recommended!
May 19, 2017
I loved this book. I read it to prepare for my undergraduate senior thesis project in biology - I monitored bees in blueberry plots. My favorite part of this book is when he describes how bumblebees sometimes regurgitate honey onto their tongues and wave them to cool off like dogs do! :D
October 12, 2019
Recommended by a friend a few years ago and I finally tracked down a copy. Interesting facts (e.g., bees fly more like helicopters than airplanes or birds) but ultimately way more dense and detailed than I was looking for.
August 30, 2018
Another impressive book by an amazing author. This is one of his earlier works and is pretty much just about bumblebees, but what an amazing view into what field biology and experimentation is all about. I learned a lot about bumblebees and energy economics and enjoyed it all as his story unfolded! Great read by my favorite biologist!
June 22, 2018
The life and times of a bee: it's internal temperature, it's foraging times, it's not foraging times, it's anatomy and how it flies - unforgettable read. I only wish there were more details about how he took the bees temperature - or maybe I don't wish...
January 2, 2017
Heinrich summarizes many years of research on the acquisition and use of energy by bumblebees addressing the individual bee, the colony, various bee species, and the community. Throughout he considers questions of thermoregulation, evolution, and costs and benefits.
The new preface is a welcome addition highlighting advancements since the original publication without taking away from the following text. The first chapters focus on observation and experiments concerning energy use and allocation within bee bodies, effects on how tasks are preformed, and to different tasks within the colony. Heinrich moves on to a chapter devoted specifically to costs and benefits and the last two chapters focus on ecology, including plant-bee coevolution (These last chapters lack some of the technical details of early chapters and are particularly accessible. So, if you are interested in natural history, you could benefit from just reading these if you got lost in the details of earlier chapters.) The concluding, short summary gives the basic take aways from the chapters. Finally, there are two appendices (one on how to raise bumblebees and one on the species of North America), a list of references, and an index.
With a reduced amount of jargon and technical details as well as many photographs, diagrams, and graphs, the book is a great piece of accessible natural history. Highly recommended for those interested in energy concerns in social insects, in evolution and coevolution, in natural history of temperate and arctic areas (where bumble bees have significant presence), in the process of science, and in ecology (especially community ecology).
The new preface is a welcome addition highlighting advancements since the original publication without taking away from the following text. The first chapters focus on observation and experiments concerning energy use and allocation within bee bodies, effects on how tasks are preformed, and to different tasks within the colony. Heinrich moves on to a chapter devoted specifically to costs and benefits and the last two chapters focus on ecology, including plant-bee coevolution (These last chapters lack some of the technical details of early chapters and are particularly accessible. So, if you are interested in natural history, you could benefit from just reading these if you got lost in the details of earlier chapters.) The concluding, short summary gives the basic take aways from the chapters. Finally, there are two appendices (one on how to raise bumblebees and one on the species of North America), a list of references, and an index.
With a reduced amount of jargon and technical details as well as many photographs, diagrams, and graphs, the book is a great piece of accessible natural history. Highly recommended for those interested in energy concerns in social insects, in evolution and coevolution, in natural history of temperate and arctic areas (where bumble bees have significant presence), in the process of science, and in ecology (especially community ecology).
November 8, 2009
This book is a very clear description of a simply mind-boggling amount of work, and a very impressive background knowledge. I appreciate that making the explanations sound like common sense is a deceptively difficult thing to do. This book certainly makes me want to start watching bumblebees and examining flowers more closely.
March 19, 2009
Very interesting, more explicitly scientific than his other books (at least the ones I've read). Filled with great information and gives an idea of how a both field and laboratory work are done. Still excellent writing even though it is more technical.
October 2, 2016
Reads somewhere between an academic journal article and a memoir. Dry at times, but almost always fascinating, with great humor and an appropriate sense of awe that is hard to capture in science writing.
March 26, 2014
Very technical, not like his other books.
November 26, 2007
Bernd is one of my favorite authors.
December 16, 2007
His style here is not as felicitous as in other books, but the topic is absorbing.
July 27, 2011
Look forward to learning even more about bumblebees.
September 10, 2023
More than I will ever need to know about thoracic temperatures and heat transfer but fascinating nonetheless.
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September 9, 2024Bumblebees are sick, req’d reading for any melittologist
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews