Worker policing persists in a hopelessly queenless honey bee colony ( Apis mellifera )

Foraging behaviour is one of the distinctive behaviours of honey bees, Apis mellifera. This behaviour is the link between the honey bee colony and the ambient environment. Therefore, various in-colony and out-colony factors have an impact on this behaviour, and many studies have been employed to investigate these factors. Foraging behaviour is not advantageous only for the colony and for plant pollination but also has other benefits. In contrast, some disadvantages have also been discovered to be linked with foraging activity. Practically speaking, the control over this behaviour is very important to maximize colony products as well as to increase other agricultural benefits. This paper presents a review on foraging activity including; the regulation of foraging tasks, factors impacting this behaviour, foraging preference, variations between subspecies, monitoring methods as well as the possible methods for controlling this behaviour. As concluded from this review, more work needs to be performed in order to elucidate certain aspects of foraging behaviour.  

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A non-policing honey bee colony ( Apis mellifera capensis )

The Science of Nature ◽

10.1007/s00114-002-0365-4 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 89 (10) ◽

pp. 479-482 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Madeleine Beekman ◽

Gregory Good ◽

Mike Allsopp ◽

Sarah Radloff ◽

Chris Pirk ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Apis Mellifera ◽

Honey Bee ◽

Apis Mellifera Capensis ◽

Bee Colony ◽

Honey Bee Colony

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The effect of oxalic acid applied by sublimation on honey bee colony fitness: a comparison with amitraz

Acta Veterinaria Brno ◽

10.2754/avb201685030255 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 85 (3) ◽

pp. 255-260

Author(s):

Ivana Papežíková ◽

Miroslava Palíková ◽

Stanislav Navrátil ◽

Radka Heumannová ◽

Michael Fronc

Keyword(s):

Adverse Effect ◽

Apis Mellifera ◽

Oxalic Acid ◽

Honey Bee ◽

Varroa Destructor ◽

Treated Group ◽

Bee Colony ◽

Colony Fitness ◽

Honey Bee Colony ◽

Bee Colonies

Oxalic acid is one of the organic acids used for controlling Varroa destructor, a mite parasitizing the honey bee (Apis mellifera). The aim of this work was to examine the effect of oxalic acid applied by sublimation on honey bee colony fitness, and to compare it with the effect of amitraz, a routinely used synthetic acaricide. Bee colonies of equal strength were randomly divided into two groups. In December 2014, one group was treated with amitraz in the form of aerosol, and the second group was treated with oxalic acid applied by sublimation. The colonies were monitored over winter. Dead bees found at the bottom of the hive were counted regularly and examined microscopically for infection with Nosema sp. (Microsporidia). At the end of March 2015, living foragers from each hive were sampled and individually examined for Nosema sp. infection. Colony strength was evaluated at the beginning of April. No adverse effect of oxalic acid on colony strength was observed despite the fact that the total number of dead bees was non-significantly higher in the oxalic acid-treated group. Examination of dead bees for Nosema infection did not reveal significant differences in spore numbers between the experimental groups. There was a substantial difference in living individuals, however, with a significantly higher amount of spores per bee found in the amitraz-treated colonies compared to the oxalic acid-treated colonies. Compared to amitraz, oxalic acid applied by sublimation showed no adverse effects on bee colony fitness or on successful overwintering.

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A National Survey of Managed Honey Bee Colony Winter Losses (Apis mellifera) in China (2013–2017)

Diversity ◽

10.3390/d12090318 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (9) ◽

pp. 318

Author(s):

Jiao Tang ◽

Cuiyan Ma ◽

Wei Shi ◽

Xiao Chen ◽

Zhiguang Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Apis Mellifera ◽

Honey Bee ◽

Chinese Government ◽

Colony Losses ◽

Bee Colony ◽

Potential Risk Factors ◽

Honey Bee Colony ◽

Overwintering Mortality ◽

Winter Losses ◽

Honey Bee Colony Losses

Surveys of managed honey bee colony losses worldwide have become fundamental for engineering a sustainable and systematic approach to protect honey bees. Though China is a member of the world’s apiculture superpowers, the investigation of honey bee colony losses from Chinese government was not formally launched until recently. In this study, we investigated the colony winter losses of the western honey bee (Apis mellifera) of four consecutive years in 2013–2017 from 19 provinces in China, with a total of 2387 responding Chinese beekeepers (195 hobby beekeepers, 1789 side-line beekeepers, 403 commercial beekeepers) providing the records of overwintering mortality of honey bee colonies. The calculated colony losses were 8.7%, a relatively low mortality below the world average. There still exist considerable variations in total losses among provinces (ranging from 0.9% to 22.0%), years (ranging from 8.1% to 10.6%) and scales of apiaries (ranging from 7.5% to 10.0%). Furthermore, we deeply analyzed and estimated the effects of potential risk factors on the colonies’ winter losses, and speculated that the queen problems, the operation sizes and proportion of new queens are leading causes of the high honey bee colony mortality in China. More research and advanced technical methods are still required for correlation analysis and verification in future surveys of managed honey bee colony winter losses.

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First Complete Genome Sequence of Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus Isolated from Honey Bees ( Apis mellifera ) in China

Genome Announcements ◽

10.1128/genomea.00618-16 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 4 (4) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Beibei Li ◽

Chunsheng Hou ◽

Shuai Deng ◽

Xuefeng Zhang ◽

Yanna Chu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Apis Mellifera ◽

Honey Bee ◽

Genome Sequence ◽

Honey Bees ◽

Complete Genome Sequence ◽

Complete Genome ◽

Viral Disease ◽

Bee Colony ◽

Honey Bee Colony ◽

Paralysis Virus

Chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV) is a serious viral disease affecting adult bees. We report here the complete genome sequence of CBPV, which was isolated from a honey bee colony with the symptom of severe crawling. The genome of CBPV consists of two segments, RNA 1 and RNA 2, containing respective overlapping fragments.

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Effects of worker genotypic diversity on honey bee colony development and behavior ( Apis mellifera L.)

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology ◽

10.1007/s002650050161 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 36 (6) ◽

pp. 387-396 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

R. E. Page Jr. ◽

Gene E. Robinson ◽

M. Kim Fondrk ◽

Medhat E. Nasr

Keyword(s):

Apis Mellifera ◽

Honey Bee ◽

Genotypic Diversity ◽

Colony Development ◽

Bee Colony ◽

Honey Bee Colony ◽

And Behavior

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The Year of the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera L.) with Respect to Its Physiology and Immunity: A Search for Biochemical Markers of Longevity

Insects ◽

10.3390/insects10080244 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. 244 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Martin Kunc ◽

Pavel Dobeš ◽

Jana Hurychová ◽

Libor Vojtek ◽

Silvana Beani Poiani ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Apis Mellifera ◽

Honey Bee ◽

Biochemical Markers ◽

Total Concentration ◽

Immunological Parameters ◽

Bee Colony ◽

Long Term Monitoring ◽

Honey Bee Colony ◽

Term Monitoring

It has been known for many years that in temperate climates the European honey bee, Apis mellifera, exists in the form of two distinct populations within the year, short-living summer bees and long-living winter bees. However, there is only limited knowledge about the basic biochemical markers of winter and summer populations as yet. Nevertheless, the distinction between these two kinds of bees is becoming increasingly important as it can help beekeepers to estimate proportion of long-living bees in hives and therefore in part predict success of overwintering. To identify markers of winter generations, we employed the continuous long-term monitoring of a single honey bee colony for almost two years, which included measurements of physiological and immunological parameters. The results showed that the total concentration of proteins, the level of vitellogenin, and the antibacterial activity of haemolymph are the best three of all followed parameters that are related to honey bee longevity and can therefore be used as its markers.

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