Webinar: Honey Bees (Great Southeast Pollinator Course, Week Five)
Webinar Date: July 14, 2026
Speakers: Dr. Jamie Ellis (Professor of Entomology, University of Georgia); Bethany O’Rear (Alabama Cooperative Extension System)
Moderator: Becky Griffin (UGA Extension, course host)
Series: Great Southeast Pollinator Course
Source: Corrected SRT (Stage 1), GTBOP_Transcript_2026-07-14_HoneyBees.srt (282 blocks); Archive Package (Stage 2) for structural reference
Audience note: This is a self-paced comprehension check for home gardeners, Master Gardener volunteers, and Great Southeast Pollinator Census counters. It is not a licensed-applicator CEU exam, and no applicator credit attaches to this course. Every question, every correct answer, and every wrong answer comes only from what the two speakers said in this session.
Question set: 15 multiple-choice questions; 6 Recall, 6 Application, 3 Analysis. Coverage spans all four segments: Ellis on colony biology (1:25–30:33), the Q&A with Ellis (30:33–36:45), O’Rear on the home garden (36:45–1:06:21), and the joint Q&A (1:06:21–1:16:06).
Question 1
Timestamp Reference: 7:03 – 7:49
Difficulty: Recall
Dr. Ellis called the honey bee colony a superorganism. What did he mean by the term?
a) A level of organization above the individual organism, in which the colony itself is the organism
b) A colony that has successfully overwintered and is therefore sexually mature
c) A single bee able to hold its own body temperature independent of the outside air
d) The roughly 80-square-mile area a single colony forages around its nest
Correct Answer: a
Explanation: Ellis broke the word apart on the slide: the prefix “super” means a level above, so a superorganism sits one level above the organism. The bee is the organism and the colony is the superorganism, which is why colonies have colony-level immune responses, respiration, and communication.
Source in transcript: Blocks 24–28 (~6:40–8:15). Distractor sources: block 90 (overwintered and sexually mature), block 73 (the bee is cold-blooded, the colony is warm-blooded), blocks 238–239 (the 80-square-mile foraging area).
Question 2
Timestamp Reference: 8:37 – 9:42
Difficulty: Recall
What is swarming?
a) Bees leaving the nest together to attack an intruder
b) Colony-level reproduction: one colony becoming two
c) Workers pushing the drones out of the entrance so they die from exposure
d) Bees standing at the entrance and fanning their wings to move air through the nest
Correct Answer: b
Explanation: Ellis named the misconception directly. Swarming is not an attack; it is the entomological term for reproduction of a social insect colony. One colony whose goal in life is to be two colonies gets there by swarming.
Source in transcript: Blocks 30–31 (~8:37–9:18). Distractor sources: block 30 (the “attacked by bees” misconception Ellis corrects), blocks 84–86 (drone eviction), block 72 (fanning to cool the nest).
Question 3
Timestamp Reference: 19:48 – 20:36
Difficulty: Recall
Bees bring nectar back to the nest and turn it into honey. What changes in the process?
a) Water is added until the mixture is roughly 80% water
b) Pollen is mixed in to make the stored food complete
c) Water is driven off until sugar is roughly 80% of the volume
d) Secondary plant compounds are added to give the honey its color and flavor
Correct Answer: c
Explanation: Nectar runs about 80% water and 20% sugar, a figure Ellis flagged as an overgeneralization when he gave it. Wet sugar ferments, so bees dehydrate the nectar until the ratio flips and honey is about 80% sugar and 20% water.
Source in transcript: Blocks 45, 64–65 (~13:37–20:36). Distractor sources: block 45 (nectar’s 80% water figure, applied here to the wrong substance), block 59 (pollen as the protein source), block 106 (the plant, not the bee, contributes the secondary metabolites that set color and flavor).
Question 4
Timestamp Reference: 39:01 – 39:27
Difficulty: Recall
Bethany O’Rear gave census counters approximate lengths for the three castes. Which set is right?
a) Worker about ½ inch, drone about ⅔ inch, queen about ¾ inch
b) Queen about ½ inch, worker about ⅔ inch, drone about ¾ inch
c) Drone about ½ inch, queen about ⅔ inch, worker about ¾ inch
d) Worker about ¾ inch, drone about ⅔ inch, queen about ½ inch
Correct Answer: a
Explanation: O’Rear worked up in size: workers, the females, at about a half inch; drones, the males, at two-thirds of an inch; then the queen, a larger female, at three-quarters of an inch.
Source in transcript: Block 124 (~39:01–39:27). Distractors b, c, and d shuffle the same three measurements from that block.
Question 5
Timestamp Reference: 48:00 – 48:25
Difficulty: Recall
How did O’Rear compare native plants with non-natives for attracting pollinators?
a) The two are about equal, and flower structure is what actually decides attractiveness
b) Non-invasive non-natives are the more attractive of the two in commercial and HOA settings
c) There is no general pattern; it depends entirely on the individual plant
d) Natives have been proven about four times more attractive to pollinators than non-natives
Correct Answer: d
Explanation: O’Rear gave the figure plainly: natives have been proven four times more attractive to pollinators than non-natives. She still allowed a place for non-invasive non-natives, but the four-to-one comparison was her stated number.
Source in transcript: Block 150 (~48:00–48:25). Distractor sources: blocks 140–141 (flower structure, which she treats as one factor among several rather than the decider), block 151 (non-invasive non-natives offering benefit in formal or commercial settings, which is not a claim they are more attractive), block 157 (“it just depends,” which is Doug Tallamy’s answer on nativars, not on natives versus non-natives).
Question 6
Timestamp Reference: 1:02:11 – 1:02:45
Difficulty: Recall
O’Rear told gardeners to look for the bee advisory symbol on a pesticide label. What does that EPA icon signal?
a) The product is certified organic and therefore safe around bees
b) The product carries specific application restrictions meant to avoid harming or killing bees and other pollinators
c) The product is a contact material rather than a systemic
d) The product may legally be applied only at dusk
Correct Answer: b
Explanation: O’Rear described the bee advisory symbol as the EPA icon used on pesticide labels, and said it signals that the product has specific application restrictions to avoid harming or killing bees and other pollinators.
Source in transcript: Block 214 (~1:02:11–1:02:45). Distractor sources: blocks 216–217 (organic does not mean safe for pollinators, which is her point against option a), block 219 (the contact versus systemic distinction, which she raises as the gardener’s choice rather than as a label icon), block 214 (dusk timing, which is her advice, not something the icon states).
Question 7
Timestamp Reference: 22:24 – 23:23
Difficulty: Application
In July a gardener finds honey bees crowding the wet gravel at the edge of a shallow dish. Based on Ellis’s account of summer, what are they most likely doing?
a) Collecting water as a carbohydrate source, since summer nectar is scarce
b) Clustering in preparation to swarm, which is why they gather away from the hive
c) Collecting water to carry back to the nest, where it will be sprinkled and fanned to cool the colony
d) Removing water from the nest, because stored water would ferment in the comb
Correct Answer: c
Explanation: Ellis said summer colonies face two big issues, the first being heat. Bees fly to water, bring it back, sprinkle droplets inside the nest, and fan at the entrance, cooling the nest through evapotranspiration and holding the core of the cluster near 94.5 degrees.
Source in transcript: Blocks 71–73 (~22:24–23:23). Distractor sources: blocks 46–47 (nectar, not water, supplies the carbohydrate), blocks 32–34 (the swarm cluster), block 64 (wet sugar ferments, which is about nectar rather than water).
Question 8
Timestamp Reference: 25:42 – 26:57
Difficulty: Application
In fall a new beekeeper watches workers keeping male bees out of the entrance and refusing to let them back in. What did Ellis say is happening?
a) The colony is preparing to swarm, and the drones will leave with the old queen
b) Fall is not a queen mating season, so workers evict the drones rather than let them tax the colony’s resources
c) The workers have detected inbred eggs and are clearing them out
d) The drones are being sent out to scout cavities for the winter
Correct Answer: b
Explanation: Drones do nothing except mate with queens, and fall is not a queen mating time of year, so workers push them out of the nest to die from exposure instead of drawing down stores. Ellis pointed to a slide he counted, with a hedge, as holding 13 drones kept out of the nest by one female worker.
Source in transcript: Blocks 83–86 (~25:42–26:57). Distractor sources: block 32 (the old queen and about half the workers leaving in the swarm), block 99 (workers detecting and aborting inbred eggs), blocks 38–41 (scout bees canvassing cavities).
Question 9
Timestamp Reference: 44:20 – 47:12
Difficulty: Application
A gardener is choosing plants for a new bed and wants the best return for honey bees. Which choice best fits O’Rear’s guidance?
a) A double-flowered cultivar, since the extra petals mean more pollen and nectar
b) One specimen each of many different species, spread through the bed for variety
c) A cultivar selected for an unusual flower color
d) Single blooms with short floral tubes, planted in a large swath of the same plant
Correct Answer: d
Explanation: O’Rear said bees look for large compound flowers, single flowers rather than doubles, and short floral tubes, and that plantings should go in as large swathes of the same plant. She noted doubles are hard for a bee to land on and do not necessarily produce as much pollen and nectar.
Source in transcript: Blocks 140–141, 146–147 (~44:20–47:12). Distractor sources: block 140 (the double-petal point, inverted here), block 147 (variety matters, but single plants or a few here and there may not be effective because insects do not see small patches well), block 156 (cultivars selected for a different flower color, which is her definition of a nativar rather than a reason to buy one).
Question 10
Timestamp Reference: 1:00:48 – 1:05:12
Difficulty: Application
Aphids have built up on a shrub that is in full bloom. Following O’Rear’s IPM guidance, what is the best course?
a) Apply a systemic drench so the material stays inside the plant and off the bees
b) Apply a dust in the morning, before the day warms up
c) Hold off if beneficials are present; if treatment is still needed, use the softest chemistry, avoid spraying the bloom, and time it for dusk
d) Reach for an organic product, which by definition will not harm pollinators
Correct Answer: c
Explanation: O’Rear put chemicals at the top of the IPM triangle as the last resort, after prevention and cultural steps. She told gardeners to encourage beneficials and let lady beetles work, to start with the softest chemistries such as insecticidal soaps and horticultural oils, to try not to spray blooming plants, and to spray at dusk after the bees have left.
Source in transcript: Blocks 210–214, 229 (~1:00:48–1:05:12). Distractor sources: blocks 219–220 (a systemic is translocated to the blooms, which is why she warns against it), block 220 (dusts stick to the fuzzy hairs and get carried back to the colony) with block 146 (bees are most active 8am to 5pm), blocks 216–217 (organic does not mean safe for pollinators).
Question 11
Timestamp Reference: 10:18 – 11:16
Difficulty: Application
A Georgia beekeeper wants to be ready to catch swarms. Based on Ellis, when should they be watching, and why then?
a) Typically spring, in the weeks leading up to and the first weeks of the primary nectar flow, when the most resources are available to a colony that arrives carrying nothing
b) Late summer, when pest populations reach their peak
c) Early winter, when colony activity is at its lowest and the cluster is tight
d) Fall, when beekeepers are feeding to put weight on their colonies
Correct Answer: a
Explanation: Ellis said colonies want to swarm in the weeks leading up to, or the first few weeks of, the primary nectar flow, and that this is no coincidence: a baby colony that moves into a bare cavity carries nothing with it, so it needs the environment to be full of resources. He allowed that biology is messy, so spring is the typical and optimum season rather than a rule.
Source in transcript: Blocks 34–37, 44 (~10:00–13:37). Distractor sources: block 83 (pest populations greatest in late summer and early fall), blocks 87–88 (early winter, tight cluster, lowest activity), block 81 (beekeepers feeding in fall).
Question 12
Timestamp Reference: 47:13 – 48:00 and 59:10 – 59:46
Difficulty: Application
A census volunteer’s yard is full of bloom in April and nearly bare by the third week of August. What did O’Rear recommend, and what problem does it address?
a) Add more spring-flowering trees such as redbud and tulip poplar
b) Sow a cool-season cover crop such as canola or hairy vetch
c) Add winter bloomers such as henbit and red maple
d) Add plants that bloom in mid to late summer and fall, such as mountain mint, asters, or goldenrod, to cover the dearth when the fewest pollen and nectar sources are available
Correct Answer: d
Explanation: O’Rear identified mid to late summer as the dearth, the stretch with the least pollen and nectar available, and said this is one reason the census falls in August: it gets people watching what blooms then and planting for it. Her fall list included Clethra, asters, mountain mint, sunflowers, and goldenrod.
Source in transcript: Blocks 148–149, 205–206 (~47:13–59:46). Distractor sources: blocks 194–195 (redbud and tulip poplar as spring bloom), blocks 179–181 (canola, crimson clover, and hairy vetch as cool-season cover crops), blocks 187–190 (red maple, elm, alder, and henbit as winter bloom).
Question 13
Timestamp Reference: 19:23 – 22:05
Difficulty: Analysis
Ellis gave two reasons a colony converts nectar into honey. Shelf life is one. What is the second, and why does it matter to a colony living in a tree cavity?
a) It concentrates the pollen stores that feed the brood reared in late winter
b) It strips out the secondary plant compounds that would otherwise make the stores ferment
c) The same quantity of sugar occupies far less space as honey, so the colony needs less cavity volume to hold its winter energy
d) It frees up sugar for wax, since comb is built from the water that gets driven off
Correct Answer: c
Explanation: Ellis showed the two volumes side by side: the bees get the same amount of sugar from a large volume of nectar as from a much smaller volume of honey. Converting it both stabilizes the sugar and reduces the storage area needed for the same amount of energy, which is the constraint when your entire home is one cavity.
Source in transcript: Blocks 66–69 (~20:36–22:05). Distractor sources: block 59 with block 89 (pollen as the protein source, and brood reared in late winter; honey is made from nectar, not pollen), block 106 (secondary plant metabolites, which set color, smell, and flavor rather than causing fermentation; block 64 puts fermentation on the water), blocks 49–51 (wax is secreted from sugar the bee has converted to fat, not from water).
Question 14
Timestamp Reference: 32:28 – 33:32
Difficulty: Analysis
Of roughly 20,000 bee species, honey bees are among the few that store honey. What did Ellis identify as the reason?
a) Honey bees overwinter as a full colony of thousands and need stored energy to burn, while most other bees overwinter as immatures or as a single mated queen
b) Honey bees are the only social bees, so they are the only ones that make any honey at all
c) Honey bees forage roughly an 80-square-mile area, so they gather more nectar than the colony can use
d) Beekeepers manage honey bee colonies to produce a surplus, which is where stored honey comes from
Correct Answer: a
Explanation: Ellis tied honey storage to overwintering rather than to sociality. Most of the 20,000 species are solitary and the adults die within the season, with immatures overwintering in tubes or holes in the ground. He closed the door on option b himself: bumblebees are also social and do make little bits of honey, but they overwinter only as mated queens, not as colonies.
Source in transcript: Blocks 102–104 (~32:28–33:32). Distractor sources: block 103 (other social bees, including bumblebees, which make small amounts of honey), blocks 238–239 (the 80-square-mile foraging area), blocks 111–112 (beekeepers managing colonies to make more honey than they need).
Question 15
Timestamp Reference: 1:08:23 – 1:10:08
Difficulty: Analysis
When a colony splits, the old queen leaves with the swarm. How does the parent colony end up with a queen, and why must the work start before she goes?
a) The old queen lays a special unfertilized egg on her way out, which the workers rear as her replacement
b) The scout bees that inspected the new cavity return to the parent nest and select the replacement
c) The colony waits for the red maples to bloom and rears a queen from the brood carried through late winter
d) Workers begin feeding selected female larvae high-quality food to push them toward queen development in advance of the swarm, and the old queen leaves about a week before the new queens emerge
Correct Answer: d
Explanation: Ellis explained that the queen only controls the sex of the egg; the workers determine whether a fertilized egg becomes a queen or a worker, by how much high-quality food that larva gets. Workers start investing in the next round of queens before the old queen leaves, and she swarms about a week or so before those queens emerge from their cells.
Source in transcript: Blocks 240–244 (~1:08:23–1:10:08). Distractor sources: block 241 (unfertilized eggs become drones, not queens), blocks 40–42 (scout bees, whose job is assessing cavities for the departing swarm), block 89 (red maple bloom and late-winter brood rearing).
Answer Key at a Glance
| Q | Answer | Difficulty | Segment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | a | Recall | Ellis presentation |
| 2 | b | Recall | Ellis presentation |
| 3 | c | Recall | Ellis presentation |
| 4 | a | Recall | O’Rear presentation |
| 5 | d | Recall | O’Rear presentation |
| 6 | b | Recall | O’Rear presentation |
| 7 | c | Application | Ellis presentation |
| 8 | b | Application | Ellis presentation |
| 9 | d | Application | O’Rear presentation |
| 10 | c | Application | O’Rear presentation |
| 11 | a | Application | Ellis presentation |
| 12 | d | Application | O’Rear presentation |
| 13 | c | Analysis | Ellis presentation |
| 14 | a | Analysis | Ellis Q&A |
| 15 | d | Analysis | Joint Q&A |
Produced for UGA Center for Urban Agriculture / Great Southeast Pollinator Course Archives
Source: Corrected SRT (Stage 1), GTBOP_Transcript_2026-07-14_HoneyBees.srt (282 blocks)