Author: Jennifer Jandt, Senior Lecturer in Ecology, University of Otago

As we transition to warmer weather in the austral summer, many changes take place. Domestic dogs and cats may shed winter coats. Fish such as bass and trout prepare fat reserves for migrations to deeper waters. And social insect queens emerge from hibernation in search of a place to start their nests. Most people won’t be surprised that bumble bees and ground-nesting wasp colonies have queens. What is surprising, though, is that those big bees and wasps we see in the spring are the queens – not the workers – building their nests all on their own. A bumble bee…