Honey Bees

The introduction of exotic bees for crop pollination is an increasingly common practice worldwide. While beneficial for crop production, exotic species may become invasive with several deleterious ecological and economic impacts. We studied whether robbing of flower buds by a highly invasive bumble bee (Bombus terrestris) reduces nectar availability for managed honey bees (Apis mellifera). We assessed the proportion of robbed buds, and nectar availability in flowers and buds (robbed and non-robbed) in 16 raspberry fields along gradients of bumble bee and honey bee abundance in NW Patagonia, Argentina. We also measured nectar production and replenishment in flowers that developed from robbed and non-robbed buds in one experimental field. Across fields, the proportion of robbed buds increased with the abundance of bumble bees, but not of honey bees. At anthesis, flowers from buds that were robbed once contained half the nectar, and produced two thirds of the nectar compared to those flowers that had not been robbed. Therefore, high abundance of invasive bumble bees can reduce resources for managed honey bees by robbing flower buds. This study reveals a novel, negative impact of bumble bee invasions that could potentially affect honey production.

Despite the potential of apicultural resources of the country, production and productivity of the local races is relatively low. This could be attributed to many factors like environmental factors and honey bee races. More specifically, physical environment has been suggested to greatly affect the behavioral and productivity of the honey bee colonies. Therefore, performance evaluation of honey bee colonies for local races and ecotypes of Ethiopia has been recommended at national level as a very critical activity to use as a spring board for future best race selection and improvement plans. Accordingly, this study was conducted to evaluate the performance of the local honeybee races and select the best performing colonies in different agro ecologies of the study area. For this purpose, ten queen-right and distinguished local honeybee races in standard frame hives were assigned to each of the three agro-ecologies of the study area. In this study, colonies were tested for their defensive behaviour, colony strength, swarming tendency, hygienic behaviour, honey, pollen and nectar storing abilities. A simple observation made to these colonies prior to data collection has revealed that this race has been found to be highly tempered in both locations even when checking the colonies with no strange actions to their activities. However, time taken for the 1st sting given to the leather ball (FSLB) by individual honey bees was longer for midland (8.72sec) and highland (8.87sec) representations while it was very short for colonies in the lowland site (3.3sec). This means that, colonies in the lowland area were very aggressive and reactive to defend their territory than the others. Even if only very few of the colonies reacted after hitting the cover lids, while the others did in few seconds of swinging the modified leather ball, the study didn’t show a significant difference in each of the aggressiveness parameters among tested colonies and agro-ecologies. In our study, though colonies in the highland were also hygienic (96.78%), tested colonies in the midland and lowland agro-ecologies have confirmed a better hygienic behavior (99.86% and 99.71%) respectively. In addition, individual honey bees showed a significant competence to the natural resources by exhibiting early (as early as 5:25am) foraging behaviour. Though experimental colonies have produced significantly less amount of honey (kg) compared to the average national yield in frame hives, nectar and pollen stores have demonstrated a significant difference (p<0.0001) among agro-ecologies. Even if this study has confirmed that there were significant differences in different performance parameters among colonies and locations, we would like to suggest that performance evaluation of these colonies across agro-ecologies should be carried out in order to select the best performing ones in different agro-ecologies as an upcoming phase.

Li, Cynthia (2019). Understanding, conservation and protection of precious natural resources -- bees. In: "Evolutionary Progress in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM)", Wang, Lawrence K. and Tsao, Hung-ping (editors). Volume 1, Number 10, October 2019; 65 pages. Lenox Institute Press, Newtonville, NY, 12128-0405, USA. No. STEAM-VOL1-NUM10-OCT2019; ISBN 978-0-9890870-3-2. ------------ABSTRACT: This publication concerns the role of bees in relation to our agriculture and economy. Bees participate in the reproductive process of most flowering plants. The bees' pollination services increase flowering crop yields, improve nutritional quality. Huge numbers of their bees were dying in recent years, and apiculture is closely wedded to agriculture. Honey bees suffer from a variety of maladies attributed to pesticides, climate change, parasites, and disease, all of which contribute to increased bee mortality and catastrophic hive death such as Colony Collapse Disorder. A number of these issues appear to affect wild pollinators as well. This chapter describes a number of major stressors that lead to bee mortality and offers suggestions to improve bee and ultimately general pollinator survival. Recommended actions for beekeepers include adoption of honey bee strains that are bred for specific climates and survival traits as well as maintaining diverse forage around the apiary. Farmers are recommended to maintain areas of wild plants for diverse foraging sources, where a healthy bee diet also aids in crop pollination. In order to protect food availability, control prices, and support agricultural sustainability, governments can review ongoing research concerning known bee and pollinator stressors and implement legislation and guidelines to control human-created stressors such as pesticides while encouraging pollinator-friendly land management. ------------KEYWORDS: Pollinators, Pollination, Wild bees, Honey bees, Agriculture, Crops, Bee conservation and protection, STEM, STEAM

Informasi Terlengkap Tentang
Kesehatan Alternatif Dari Produk
Perlebahan. Apitherapy Mencakup
Penggunaan Produk Lebah
Termasuk Madu, Tepung Sari,
Propolis, Royal Jelly Dan Racun
Lebah

Manfaat penyembuhan produkperlebahan Madu, Bee Pollen,
Propolis dan Royal Jelly

Interactions between pesticides and parasites are believed to be responsible for increased mortality of honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies in the northern hemisphere. Previous efforts have employed experimental approaches using small groups under laboratory conditions to investigate influence of these stressors on honey bee physiology and behaviour, although both the colony level and field conditions play a key role for eusocial honey bees. Here, we challenged honey bee workers under in vivo colony conditions with sublethal doses of the neonicotinoid thiacloprid, the miticide tau-fluvalinate and the endoparasite Nosema ceranae, to investigate potential effects on longevity and behaviour using observation hives. In contrast to previous laboratory studies, our results do not suggest interactions among stressors, but rather lone effects of pesticides and the parasite on mortality and behaviour, respectively. These effects appear to be weak due to different outcomes at the two study sites, thereby suggesting that the role of thiacloprid, tau-fluvalinate and N. ceranae and interactions among them may have been overemphasized. In the future, investigations into the effects of honey bee stressors should prioritize the use of colonies maintained under a variety of environmental conditions in order to obtain more biologically relevant data.