Thermal stress is a major driver of population declines and extinctions. Shifts in thermal regimes create new environmental conditions, leading to trait adaptation, population migration, and/or species extinction. Extensive research has examined thermal adaptations in terrestrial arthropods. However, little is known about social insects, despite their major role in ecosystems. It is only within the last few years that the adaptations of social insects to thermal stress have received attention. Herein, we discuss what is currently known about thermal tolerance and thermal adaptation in social insects - namely ants, termites, social bees, and social wasps. We describe the behavioural, morphological, physiological, and molecular adaptations that social insects have evolved to cope with thermal stress. We examine individual and collective responses to both temporary and persistent changes in thermal conditions and explore the extent to which individuals can exploit genetic variability to acclimatise. Finally, we consider the costs and benefits of sociality in the face of thermal stress, and we propose some future research directions that should advance our knowledge of individual and collective thermal adaptations in social insects.

Adaptations to thermal stress in social insects: recent advances and future directions

Morphing wingtip structure based on active inflatable honeycomb and shape memory polymer composite skin: A conceptual work

Extraction and analysis of transient signals of a deployable structure vibration based on the sparse decomposition with mixed norms

The fertility and fecundity of the queen are vital to the success of a honey bee colony (Apis mellifera L.). Young mated queens are shipped worldwide to meet the demand of the beekeeping industry. Since little is known about the conditions experienced by queens in transit from breeders to beekeepers and the importance of these conditions on the queens’ reproductive potential, we conducted a two-part study. First, queen shipments from the USA and Canada to Canadian beekeepers were monitored to measure thermal conditions during shipment. A total of 39 shipments were followed in 2017 and 2018. Monitoring revealed variable temperatures during shipment, with occasional periods of lows (10–15 °C) and highs (30–36 °C). Second, young mated queens were placed in different shipping boxes with or without attendant bees and exposed to one of three temperatures (6 °C, 26 °C, and 40 °C) for 2 h. We then compared the thermoregulation within shipping boxes, and the viability of sperm in each queen’s spermatheca. Our results show that both low and high temperatures significantly decrease sperm viability, and that the addition of loose attendant bees within shipment boxes helps maintain the temperature at 26 °C when exposed to low temperature and delays the temperature increase when temperatures are high. The study shows the potential to improve current honey bee shipping methods in order to mitigate variable conditions experienced by bees during transportation.

/pdf/effect-of-shipping-boxes-attendant-bees-and-temperature-on-4ub6moonxh.pdf

Effect of shipping boxes, attendant bees, and temperature on honey bee queen sperm quality ( Apis mellifera )

Influence mechanism of lumped masses on the flutter behavior of structures

Biomimetic skeleton structure of morphing nose cone for aerospace vehicle inspired by variable geometry mechanism of honeybee abdomen

The invention provides a bionic aircraft transformable nose cone device based on shape memory alloy driving. The bionic aircraft transformable nose cone device comprises a section of annular shell, three sections of back plate shells imitating honeybee abdomen shells, three sections of abdominal plate shells imitating honeybee abdomen shells, a section of conical top shell, a plurality of connecting mechanisms, a plurality of telescopic mechanisms and a plurality of bending mechanisms, wherein each section of back plate shell and the corresponding abdominal plate shell can form an approximate section of annular shell; the connecting mechanisms are used for connecting the back plate shells and the corresponding abdominal plate shells; the telescopic mechanisms are driven by shape memory alloy and located between the corresponding shells, and diamond mechanisms are adopted for driving the adjacent shells to change the axial distances between the shells; and the bending mechanisms are driven by shape memory alloy and located between the corresponding shells, and six-rod mechanisms comprising diamond-shaped parts are adopted for driving the adjacent shells to change the relative angles between the shells. According to the bionic aircraft transformable nose cone device based on shape memory alloy driving, an aircraft nose cone can stretch and retract and can be bent downwards to transform, and the bionic aircraft transformable nose cone device has the advantages of being exquisite in design, and high in mechanism reliability.

Bionic aircraft transformable nose cone device based on shape memory alloy driving

The invention discloses a flight vehicle deformable nose cone with a parallel mechanism. The deformable nose cone comprises N annular body segments and N-1 deformable driving mechanism. Each deformable driving mechanism comprises a first driving rod assembly and a second driving rod assembly, wherein one end of the first driving rod assembly is connected with the annular body segment behind the first driving rod assembly and can move horizontally in the axial direction of the first driving rod assembly, and the other end of the first driving rod assembly is connected with the annular body segment in front of the first driving rod assembly in a pivoted mode; and one end of the second driving rod assembly is connected with the annular body segment behind the second driving rod assembly, can move horizontally in the axial direction of the second driving rod assembly, and can pivot around the pivoting axis perpendicular to the axial direction of the annular body segment, and the other end of the second driving rod assembly is connected with the annular body segment in front of the second driving rod assembly in a pivoted mode. Stretching out, drawing back and bending of the deformable nose cone are achieved through the annular body segments with matching of translation of the first driving rod assemblies, translation of the second driving rod assemblies and pivoting of the second driving rod assemblies. The deformable nose cone is capable of achieving elongation and bending deformation, large in deformation amount and flexible in deformation posture.

Flight vehicle deformable nose cone with parallel mechanism

Thermoregulation Capacity of Honeybee Abdomen for Adaptability to the Ambient Temperature

The invention discloses a deformable nose cone used for an air vehicle and the air vehicle comprising the same. The deformable nose cone comprises a plurality of annular body segments, a telescopic mechanism, at least one elastic supporting mechanism and at least one bending mechanism. The telescopic mechanism is connected with the multiple annular body segments and can stretch out and draw back in the front-back direction so that every two adjacent annular body segments can move relatively in the axial direction. Each elastic supporting mechanism is connected between the two corresponding adjacent annular body segments and is suitable for limiting the relative motion of the annular body segments in the axial direction and normally driving the annular body segments to move to straight positions. Each bending mechanism is arranged between the two corresponding adjacent annular body segments, and each bending mechanism and the corresponding elastic supporting mechanism are arranged at the two radial ends of the corresponding annular body segment correspondingly. The bending mechanisms can bend and deform when the telescopic mechanism stretches out and draws back so as to drive the annular body segments to move between the straight positions and the bent positions. According to the deformable nose cone disclosed by the embodiment of the invention, telescoping, bending and deforming can be achieved, and the deformable nose cone has the advantages of being simple and stable in structure, short in deforming time, adjustable in deforming amount, precise in deforming control and the like.

Guo Xiaodong

Papers

Biomimetic skeleton structure of morphing nose cone for aerospace vehicle inspired by variable geometry mechanism of honeybee abdomen

Bionic aircraft transformable nose cone device based on shape memory alloy driving

Flight vehicle deformable nose cone with parallel mechanism

Thermoregulation Capacity of Honeybee Abdomen for Adaptability to the Ambient Temperature

Deformable nose cone used for air vehicle and air vehicle comprising same