scholarly journals The effect of a lack of uncapped brood on social interactions between honey bee workers and the queen

Apidologie ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylwia Łopuch ◽  
Adam Tofilski
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Egg Production ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
The Other ◽  
High Speed Camera ◽  
Time Required ◽  
Honey Bee Workers

AbstractVibro-acoustic communication is used by honey bees in many different social contexts. Our previous research showed that workers interact with their queen outside of the swarming period by means of wing-beating behaviour. Therefore, the aim of this study was to verify the hypothesis that the wing-beating behaviour of workers attending the queen stimulates her to lay eggs. The behaviour of workers and the queen was recorded using a high-speed camera, at first in the presence of uncapped brood in the nest and then without one. None of the queens performed wing-beating behaviour. On the other hand, the workers attending the queen demonstrated this behaviour two times per minute, on average, even in the presence of uncapped brood in the nest. After removing the combs with the uncapped brood, the incidence of wing-beating behaviour increased significantly to an average of four times per minute. Wing-beating behaviour did not differ significantly in its characteristics when uncapped brood was present or absent in the nest. During 3 days after removing the combs with the uncapped brood, there was no significant increase in the rate of egg lying by the queen. Therefore, the results presented here do not convincingly confirm that the wing-beating behaviour of workers affects the rate of queen's egg-lying. This negative result can be related to colony disturbance and longer time required by the queen to increase egg production.

scholarly journals Leader-chasing behavior in negative artificial triggered lightning flashes

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fukun Wang ◽  
Jianguo Wang ◽  
Li Cai ◽  
Rui Su ◽  
Wenhan Ding ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
The Other ◽  
Lightning Flash ◽  
High Speed Camera ◽  
Return Stroke ◽  
Catching Up ◽  
Special Cases ◽  
Triggered Lightning

AbstractTwo special cases of dart leader propagation were observed by the high-speed camera in the leader/return stroke sequences of a classical triggered lightning flash and an altitude-triggered lightning flash, respectively. Different from most of the subsequent return strokes preceded by only one leader, the return stroke in each case was preceded by two leaders occurring successively and competing in the same channel, which herein is named leader-chasing behavior. In one case, the polarity of the latter leader was opposite to that of the former leader and these two combined together to form a new leader, which shared the same polarity with the former leader. In the other case, the latter leader shared the same polarity with the former leader and disappeared after catching up with the former leader. The propagation of the former leader in this case seems not to be significantly influenced by the existence of the latter leader.

Longevity of cross-fostered honey bee workers (Apis mellifera) of European and Africanized races

1981 ◽  
Vol 59 (8) ◽  
pp. 1571-1575 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark L. Winston ◽  
Susan J. Katz
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
South America ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Race Differences ◽  
The Other ◽  
Partial Explanation ◽  
Africanized Bees ◽  
Honey Bee Workers

Longevities of two races of honey bee workers, European and Africanized, were compared both within colonies of their own races and within colonies of the other race. Differences in longevity were found which were likely due to inherited differences between workers of the two races. The age at which workers began foraging was one factor important in determining longevity. These results may provide a partial explanation for the success and impact of Africanized bees in South America, and also suggest that the northerly spread of these bees could be limited by worker life spans.

scholarly journals Note: Recording of Some Beetles in Honey Bee Colonies

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.F. Abou-Shaara ◽  
M.E. Ahmad ◽  
J. Háva
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
The Other ◽  
Beetle Species ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The World ◽  
Bee Bread ◽  
Small Hive Beetles ◽  
Bee Colonies ◽  
Different Parts

Abstract Honey bees are very valuable to human. These social insects contribute in the pollination of many crops. Also, the products from honey bee colonies have many nutritional and medicinal benefits. Thus, keeping honey bees are very valuable and can be considered as source of income to many families. There are many diseases and pests that attack honey bee colonies. The pests attack bee colonies include: hornets, wax moths, bee-eater birds, and beetles. Such challenges can impact the survival and productivity of honey bee colonies. In this study, some beetle species belong to Fam. Nitidulidae, Dermestidae and Mycetophagidae were detected in honey bee colonies in Egypt, during spring. Despite the presence of many beetle species in the agricultural environment, only few species preferred the invasion of the colonies for feeding. These beetles do not attack stages of honey bees. They only feed on stored pollen or bee bread, especially those fallen on the bottom of the beehives. This is an alarm to follow the feeding behavior and distribution of these beetles. These beetles’ species can be considered as potential pests to weak honey bee colonies, housed in old or damaged beehives. The presence of large numbers of these beetles in weak colonies may disturb the activities of the bees and may passively impact the survival of the colonies. Listing these beetles is very important to better understanding the interaction between honey bees and beetles. On the other side, small hive beetles were not detected in the colonies. These beetles are currently one of the major problems facing honey bees in different parts of the world. This study confirms the absence of small hive beetles from Egypt.

scholarly journals DNA methylation is not a driver of gene expression reprogramming in young honey bee workers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos A. M. Cardoso-Junior ◽  
Boris Yagound ◽  
Isobel Ronai ◽  
Emily J. Remnant ◽  
Klaus Hartfelder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Differential Gene Expression ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Gene Body ◽  
Gene Body Methylation ◽  
Differential Gene ◽  
Honey Bee Workers ◽  
Methylation Patterns

AbstractIntragenic DNA methylation, also called gene body methylation, is an evolutionarily-conserved epigenetic mechanism in animals and plants. In social insects, gene body methylation is thought to contribute to behavioral plasticity, for example between foragers and nurse workers, by modulating gene expression. However, recent studies have suggested that the majority of DNA methylation is sequence-specific, and therefore cannot act as a flexible mediator between environmental cues and gene expression. To address this paradox, we examined whole-genome methylation patterns in the brains and ovaries of young honey bee workers that had been subjected to divergent social contexts: the presence or absence of the queen. Although these social contexts are known to bring about extreme changes in behavioral and reproductive traits through differential gene expression, we found no significant differences between the methylomes of workers from queenright and queenless colonies. In contrast, thousands of regions were differentially methylated between colonies, and these differences were not associated with differential gene expression in a subset of genes examined. Methylation patterns were highly similar between brain and ovary tissues and only differed in nine regions. These results strongly indicate that DNA methylation is not a driver of differential gene expression between tissues or behavioral morphs. Finally, despite the lack of difference in methylation patterns, queen presence affected the expression of all four DNA methyltransferase genes, suggesting that these enzymes have roles beyond DNA methylation. Therefore, the functional role of DNA methylation in social insect genomes remains an open question.

Mouth Shape Detection Based on Template Matching and Optical Flow for Machine Lip Reading

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsuyoshi Miyazaki ◽  
Toyoshiro Nakashima ◽  
Naohiro Ishii
Keyword(s):  
Optical Flow ◽  
Template Matching ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Image Sequences ◽  
Previous Method ◽  
The Other ◽  
High Speed Camera ◽  
Improved Method ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Lip Reading

The authors describe an improved method for detecting distinctive mouth shapes in Japanese utterance image sequences. Their previous method uses template matching. Two types of mouth shapes are formed when a Japanese phone is pronounced: one at the beginning of the utterance (the beginning mouth shape, BeMS) and the other at the end (the ending mouth shape, EMS). The authors’ previous method could detect mouth shapes, but it misdetected some shapes because the time period in which the BeMS was formed was short. Therefore, they predicted that a high-speed camera would be able to capture the BeMS with higher accuracy. Experiments showed that the BeMS could be captured; however, the authors faced another problem. Deformed mouth shapes that appeared in the transition from one shape to another were detected as the BeMS. This study describes the use of optical flow to prevent the detection of such mouth shapes. The time period in which the mouth shape is deformed is detected using optical flow, and the mouth shape during this time is ignored. The authors propose an improved method of detecting the BeMS and EMS in Japanese utterance image sequences by using template matching and optical flow.

scholarly journals Survival and probability of transmission of plant pathogenic fungi through the digestive tract of honey bee workers

Apidologie ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 871-880 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorgiane B. Parish ◽  
Eileen S. Scott ◽  
Raymond Correll ◽  
Katja Hogendoorn
Keyword(s):  
Digestive Tract ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Plant Pathogens ◽  
Fungal Spores ◽  
Pathogenic Fungi ◽  
Colletotrichum Acutatum ◽  
Plant Pathogenic Fungi ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Honey Bee Workers

AbstractHoney bees, Apis mellifera, have been implicated as vectors of plant pathogens. However, the survival of spores of plant pathogenic fungi through the digestive tract of workers has not been investigated. As workers defecate outside the hive, transport of hives could give rise to biosecurity concerns if fungal spores remain viable following passage through the digestive tract. To determine the likelihood that honey bees serve as vectors, this study investigated the viability of spores of Botrytis cinerea and Colletotrichum acutatum after passing through the digestive tract of summer and autumn worker bees. For both fungi, the mean viability of spores in faeces suspensions was less than one percent of the initial dose fed to the bees. Although survival was low, the large number of workers per hive implies a high probability of transmission of viable spores through honey bee faeces. Hence, in the case of economically important fungal diseases, transported hives could be a source of inoculum and quarantine restrictions should be considered.

scholarly journals Busy Bees: Variation in Insect Flower-Visiting Rates across Multiple Plant Species

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret J. Couvillon ◽  
Chandra M. Walter ◽  
Eluned M. Blows ◽  
Tomer J. Czaczkes ◽  
Karin L. Alton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Bumble Bees ◽  
The Other ◽  
Insect Diversity ◽  
Visitation Rates ◽  
Insect Visitation ◽  
Flower Visiting

We quantified insect visitation rates by counting how many flowers/inflorescences were probed per unit time for five plant species (four native and one garden: California lilac, bramble, ragwort, wild marjoram, and ivy) growing in Sussex, United Kingdom, by following individual insects (n=2987) from nine functional groups (honey bees (Apis mellifera), bumble bees (Bombusspp.), hoverflies, flies, butterflies, beetles, wasps, non-Apidae bees, and moths). Additionally, we made a census of the insect diversity on the studied plant species. Overall we found that insect groups differed greatly in their rate of flower visits (P<2.2e-16), with bumble bees and honey bees visiting significantly more flowers per time (11.5 and 9.2 flowers/minute, resp.) than the other insect groups. Additionally, we report on a within-group difference in the non-Apidae bees, where the genusOsmia, which is often suggested as an alternative to honey bees as a managed pollinator, was very speedy (13.4 flowers/minute) compared to the other non-Apidae bees (4.3 flowers/minute). Our census showed that the plants attracted a range of insects, with the honey bee as the most abundant visitor (34%). Therefore, rate differences cannot be explained by particular specializations. Lastly, we discuss potential implications of our conclusions for pollination.

scholarly journals Drinking made easier: honey bee tongues dip faster into warmer and/or less viscous artificial nectar

2020 ◽  
Vol 223 (18) ◽  
pp. jeb229799
Author(s):  
Lianhui Shi ◽  
Susan W. Nicolson ◽  
Yunqiang Yang ◽  
Jianing Wu ◽  
Shaoze Yan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Sucrose Intake ◽  
Dilute Solution ◽  
High Speed Imaging ◽  
Constant Frequency ◽  
Mechanism Model ◽  
Sucrose Solutions ◽  
Foraging Constraints

ABSTRACTOptimal concentrations for nectar drinking are limited by the steep increase in the viscosity of sugar solutions with concentration. However, nectar viscosity is inversely related to temperature, which suggests there are advantages to foraging from flowers that are warmer than the surrounding air. The honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) dips nectar using a hairy tongue. However, the microscopic dynamics of the tongue while the bee ingests nectar of varying concentration, viscosity and temperature are unknown. In this study, we found that honey bees respond to the variation of nectar properties by regulating dipping frequency. Through high-speed imaging, we discovered that the honey bee traps warmer sucrose solutions with a quicker tongue. The honey bee dips the warmest and most dilute solution (40°C and 25% w/w sucrose) 1.57 times as fast as the coldest and thickest solution (20°C and 45% w/w sucrose). When the viscosity of different sucrose concentrations was kept constant by adding the inert polysaccharide Tylose, honey bees dipped nectar at constant frequency. We propose a fluid mechanism model to elucidate potential effects on sucrose intake and show that higher dipping frequency can increase the volumetric and energetic intake rates by 125% and 15%, respectively. Our findings broaden insights into how honey bees adapt to foraging constraints from the perspective of tongue dynamics, and demonstrate that elevated intrafloral temperatures and lower nectar viscosity can improve the volumetric and energetic intake rates of pollinators.

scholarly journals Deformed Wing Virus Infection in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera L.)

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 636-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roman V. Koziy ◽  
Sarah C. Wood ◽  
Ivanna V. Kozii ◽  
Claire Janse van Rensburg ◽  
Igor Moshynskyy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Rna Virus ◽  
Mandibular Glands ◽  
Deformed Wing Virus ◽  
Clinically Normal ◽  
Bee Health ◽  
Honey Bee Health ◽  
Honey Bee Workers

Deformed wing virus (DWV) is a single-stranded RNA virus of honey bees ( Apis mellifera L.) transmitted by the parasitic mite Varroa destructor. Although DWV represents a major threat to honey bee health worldwide, the pathological basis of DWV infection is not well documented. The objective of this study was to investigate clinicopathological and histological aspects of natural DWV infection in honey bee workers. Emergence of worker honey bees was observed in 5 colonies that were clinically affected with DWV and the newly emerged bees were collected for histopathology. DWV-affected bees were 2 times slower to emerge and had 30% higher mortality compared to clinically normal bees. Hypopharyngeal glands in bees with DWV were hypoplastic, with fewer intracytoplasmic secretory vesicles; cells affected by apoptosis were observed more frequently. Mandibular glands were hypoplastic and were lined by cuboidal epithelium in severely affected bees compared to tall columnar epithelium in nonaffected bees. The DWV load was on average 1.7 × 106 times higher ( P < .001) in the severely affected workers compared to aged-matched sister honey bee workers that were not affected by deformed wing disease based on gross examination. Thus, DWV infection is associated with prolonged emergence, increased mortality during emergence, and hypoplasia of hypopharyngeal and mandibular glands in newly emerged worker honey bees in addition to previously reported deformed wing abnormalities.

scholarly journals Nutritional Effect of Alpha-Linolenic Acid on Honey Bee Colony Development (Apis Mellifera L.)

2015 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lanting Ma ◽  
Ying Wang ◽  
Xiaobo Hang ◽  
Hongfang Wang ◽  
Weiren Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Linolenic Acid ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Basal Diet ◽  
The Other ◽  
Colony Development ◽  
Alpha Linolenic Acid ◽  
Bee Colony ◽  
Nutritional Effect

AbstractAlpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which is an n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), influences honey bee feed intake and longevity. The objective of this study was to research the effect of six dietary ALA levels on the growth and development of Apis mellifera ligustica colonies. In the early spring, a total of 36 honey bee colonies of equal size and queen quality were randomly allocated into 6 groups. The six groups of honey bees were fed a basal diet with supplementation of ALA levels at 0 (group A), 2 (group B), 4 (group C), 6 (group D), 8 (group E), and 10% (group F). In this study, there were significant effects of pollen substitute ALA levels on the feeding amounts of the bee colony, colony population, sealed brood amount, and weight of newly emerged workers (P<0.05). The workers’ midgut Lipase (LPS) activity of group C was significantly lower than that of the other groups (P<0.01). The worker bees in groups B, C, and D had significantly longer lifespans than those in the other groups (P<0.05). However, when the diets had ALA concentrations of more than 6%, the mortality of the honey bees increased (P<0.01). These results indicate that ALA levels of 2 ~ 4% of the pollen substitute were optimal for maintaining the highest reproductive performance and the digestion and absorption of fatty acids in honey bees during the period of spring multiplication. Additionally, ALA levels of 2 ~ 6% of the pollen substitute, improved worker bee longevity.

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