Vocabulary

What's the Buzzzzz?

Definitions and Context

Adapted: the process of developing traits over time that help organisms meet their basic needs for survival.
Context: Flowers and bees may have adapted together.

Colony Collapse Disorder: the name for the condition where colonies of bees die or abandon their hives without setting up a new hive somewhere else.
Context: Scientists are quickly studying Colony Collapse Disorder to save the future of honey bees.

Domesticated: used to living in a controlled environment.
Context: Domesticated bees will return to a beekeeper's artificial hive.

Fertilization: the joining of sperm and egg.
Context: Fruits and seeds develop after fertilization.

Hexagonal: six-sided.
Context: The cells in a honeycomb are hexagonal.

Honeycomb: wax structure made by bees for storing eggs and honey.
Context: You may see a honeycomb in trees or a beekeeper's hive.

Nectar: sweet substance produced by plants and eaten by bees and other wildlife.
Context: The flower's sweet nectar attracts the bees.

Pesticides: chemical substances used to kill bugs or animals thought to be pests.
Context: Pesticides used to kill harmful pests may sometimes hurt beneficial insects such as bees.

Pollination: the process of moving pollen from a stamen to a pistil.
Context: Bees, birds bats and wind all help pollination.

Pollinators: the process of moving pollen from a stamen to a pistil.
Context: All living things need habitat; food, water, shelter, and space in a proper arrangement to survive.

Symbiosis: organisms that have a close relationship.
Context: Bees and flowers are examples of symbiosis, the bees use the nectar to eat; the plant benefits when the bees spreads its pollen.