scholarly journals Beehives Possess Their Own Distinct Microbiomes

Author(s):  
Lorenzo A. Santorelli ◽  
Toby Wilkinson ◽  
Ronke Abdulmalik ◽  
Yuma Rai ◽  
Christopher J. Creevey ◽  
...  

Abstract Honeybees use plant material to manufacture their own food. These insect pollinators visit flowers repeatedly to collect nectar and pollen, which are shared with other hive bees to produce honey and beebread. While producing these products, beehives accumulate a tremendous amount of microbes, including bacteria that derive from plants and different parts of the honey bees’ body. In this study, we conducted 16S rDNA metataxonomic analysis on honey and beebread samples that were collected from 15 beehives in the southeast of England in order to quantify the bacteria associated with beehives. The results highlighted that honeybee products carry a significant variety of bacterial groups that comprise bee commensals, environmental bacteria and pathogens of plants and animals. Remarkably, this bacterial diversity differs amongst the beehives, suggesting a defined fingerprint that is affected, not only by the nectar and pollen gathered from local plants, but also from other environmental sources. In summary, our results show that every hive possesses their own distinct microbiome, and that honeybee products are valuable indicators of the bacteria present in the beehives and their surrounding environment.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Santorelli ◽  
Toby Wilkinson ◽  
Ronke Abdulmalik ◽  
Yuma Rai ◽  
Christopher J. Creevey ◽  
...  

AbstractHoney bees use plant material to manufacture their own food. These insect pollinators visit flowers repeatedly to collect nectar and pollen, which are shared with other hive bees to produce honey and beebread. While producing these products, beehives accumulate a tremendous amount of microbes, including bacteria that derive from plants and different parts of the honey bees’ body. In this study, we conducted 16S rDNA metataxonomic analysis on honey and beebread samples that were collected from 15 beehives in the southeast of England in order to quantify the bacteria associated with beehives. The results highlighted that honeybee products carry a significant variety of bacterial groups that comprise bee commensals, environmental bacteria and pathogens of plants and animals. Remarkably, this bacterial diversity differs amongst the beehives, suggesting a defined fingerprint that is affected, not only by the nectar and pollen gathered from local plants, but also from other environmental sources. In summary, our results show that every hive possesses their own distinct microbiome, and that honeybee products are valuable indicators of the bacteria present in the beehives and their surrounding environment.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Santorelli ◽  
Toby Wilkinson ◽  
Ronke Abdulmalik ◽  
Yuma Rai ◽  
Christopher J Creevey ◽  
...  

Abstract Honey bees use plant material to manufacture their own food. These insect pollinators visit flowers repeatedly to collect nectar and pollen, which are shared with other hive bees to produce honey and beebread. While producing these products, beehives accumulate a tremendous amount of microbes, including bacteria that derive from plants and different parts of the honey bees’ body. In this study, we conducted 16S rDNA metataxonomic analysis on honey and beebread samples that were collected from 15 beehives in the southeast of England in order to quantify the bacteria associated with beehives. The results highlighted that honeybee products carry a significant variety of bacterial groups that comprise bee commensals, environmental bacteria and pathogens of plants and animals. Remarkably, this bacterial diversity differs amongst the beehives, suggesting a defined fingerprint that is affected, not only by the nectar and pollen gathered from local plants, but also from other environmental sources. In summary, our results show that every hive possesses their own distinct microbiome, and that honeybee products are valuable indicators of the bacteria present in the beehives and their surrounding environment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.F. Abou-Shaara ◽  
M.E. Ahmad ◽  
J. Háva

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-290
Author(s):  
Ricardo Alberto Toledo-Hernández ◽  
Mónica Pulido-Enríquez ◽  
Francisco Landeros-Pedro ◽  
Douglas Rodríguez ◽  
Daniel Sánchez

Abstract Crop protection substances are continuously developed to prevent the decimation of non-target insect populations through insecticide use. The bait formulation Acttra SWD was created to attract the adult spotted-wing drosophila, a generalist pest of berries, and when mixed with insecticide would cause a reduction in the volume of insecticide applied, thus avoiding a complete coverage of crops and resulting in economic and ecological benefits to society. However, Acttra SWD has some compounds, including sugars and fruit odors, that might attract non-target fauna, especially insect pollinators. Therefore this study aimed (1) to investigate if Acttra SWD mixed with the recommended pesticide, i.e. spinosad (Entrust), is attractive to the honey bee, which is extensively used for berry pollination and (2) to evaluate the insecticidal activity of Acttra/Entrust in oral and contact tests on the same species. In all replicates, most foragers rejected feeders that offered Acttra/Entrust, and some switched to Acttra/Entrust-free feeders. Accordingly, mortality caused by this mixture in oral tests was low and did not differ from control, since the majority of bees did not consume the Acttra/Entrust treatment. However, mortality caused by this mixture was higher than in control groups in topical tests. Our results indicate that honey bees will not be attracted to and poisoned by crops sprayed with Acttra/Entrust, but contact with the bait would result in lethal or sub-lethal effects.


Author(s):  
Jelena Lazarevic ◽  
Jadranka Lukovic ◽  
Sreten Terzic ◽  
Milan Jockovic ◽  
Lana Zoric ◽  
...  

The aim of this research is to characterize wild annual sunflowers on the basis of achene micro-morphology. Plant material was grown up on an experimental field of the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops in Novi Sad during 2015. Achene samples were hand-collected at the time of physiological maturity. Morphological measurements of achenes were performed using stereoscopic microscope Leica MZ16 with Leica DFC 320 Camera. The micro-morphological diversity of achenes was assessed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Obtained results indicated the presence of some quantitative and qualitative differences in achene characteristics among analyzed species, such as in their size, color, carpopodium and stylopodium shape, and distribution of trichomes on the achene surface. The carpopodium of examined species was asymmetrical at the maturity. Differences in the cuticle and wax ornamentation in different parts of the achenes, on the anticlinal walls of epidermal cells, were identified. The SEM analysis revealed the presence of non-glandular, multicellular bi-seriate trichomes (twin hairs) on the achene surface. This trichome type consisted of two elongated, parallel cells of different length. Considering the distribution of trichomes among the apical, median and basal regions of the fruit, most of the species demonstrated greater trichome density in the apical part.


Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (24) ◽  
pp. 4458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louisa A. Hooven ◽  
Priyadarshini Chakrabarti ◽  
Bryan J. Harper ◽  
Ramesh R. Sagili ◽  
Stacey L. Harper

The decline in populations of insect pollinators is a global concern. While multiple factors are implicated, there is uncertainty surrounding the contribution of certain groups of pesticides to losses in wild and managed bees. Nanotechnology-based pesticides (NBPs) are formulations based on multiple particle sizes and types. By packaging active ingredients in engineered particles, NBPs offer many benefits and novel functions, but may also exhibit different properties in the environment when compared with older pesticide formulations. These new properties raise questions about the environmental disposition and fate of NBPs and their exposure to pollinators. Pollinators such as honey bees have evolved structural adaptations to collect pollen, but also inadvertently gather other types of environmental particles which may accumulate in hive materials. Knowledge of the interaction between pollinators, NBPs, and other types of particles is needed to better understand their exposure to pesticides, and essential for characterizing risk from diverse environmental contaminants. The present review discusses the properties, benefits and types of nanotechnology-based pesticides, the propensity of bees to collect such particles and potential impacts on bee pollinators.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Octanina Sari Sijabat ◽  
Marheni Marheni ◽  
Darma Bakti

AbstractOryctes rhinoceros L. has symbioses with micro organisms in their hind guts which further break down plant material consumed by beetle. The aim of this research is to determine the identification of the existence of the bacterial species in the hind gut larvae of the symbiotic bacteria using biochemical test and analysis based on 16S rRNA. The result of this research indicate that there were two different bacterials: Bacillus siamensis and Bacillus stratosphericus found. The bacteria was used for starting the composting and more specifically, the Bacillus siamensis can speed up composting with the end result at C/N 13.16.Keywords: Larvae O. rhinoceros L, Bacterial Symbionts, 16S rDNA, Composting


2017 ◽  
Vol 149 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.D. Gillespie ◽  
J. Bayley ◽  
E. Elle

AbstractIntegration of pollinator-dependent invasive plants into native pollination networks can have direct and indirect effects on local plant and pollinator communities. Impacts on local plants are well documented; however effects on native pollinators have gained less attention. We examine these issues in habitat fragments of the endangered oak-savannah ecosystem in British Columbia, Canada. We measured pollen collection by native bumble bees (Bombus Latreille; Hymenoptera: Apidae) and the introduced honey bee (Apis mellifera Linnaeus; Hymenoptera: Apidae) foraging on two common native plants in habitat fragments with varying invasive (Cytisus scoparius (Linnaeus) Link; Fabaceae) density. The Bombus species with the largest workers had higher proportions of invasive pollen on their bodies and in their corbiculae than smaller workers. Honey bees rarely collected C. scoparius pollen. While some native bumble bees species collect an increasing proportion of C. scoparius pollen with increasing C. scoparius density, this did not translate into an increased potential for pollination. Rather, measures of effective pollination decline with C. scoparius density. Overall, our results suggest that some bee species may be better at finding resources at highly invaded sites. Apis mellifera is likely not playing a major role in facilitating the spread of C. scoparius in our region. Rather C. scoparius is visited by a complement of native bumble bees that are similar to pollinators in the native range of this plant.


2015 ◽  
Vol 105 (4) ◽  
pp. 515-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.-M. Wong ◽  
C.-L. Lim ◽  
J.-J. Wilson

AbstractChinese knotweed (Persicaria chinensis) is of ecological and economic importance as a high-risk invasive species and a traditional medicinal herb. However, the insects associated with P. chinensis pollination have received scant attention. As a widespread invasive plant we would expect P. chinensis to be associated with a diverse group of insect pollinators, but lack of taxonomic identification capacity is an impediment to confirm this expectation. In the present study we aimed to elucidate the insect pollinators of P. chinensis in peninsular Malaysia using DNA barcoding. Forty flower visitors, representing the range of morphological diversity observed, were captured at flowers at Ulu Kali, Pahang, Malaysia. Using Automated Barcode Gap Discovery, 17 morphospecies were assigned to 23 species representing at least ten families and four orders. Using the DNA barcode library (BOLD) 30% of the species could be assigned a species name, and 70% could be assigned a genus name. The insects visiting P. chinensis were broadly similar to those previously reported as visiting Persicaria japonica, including honey bees (Apis), droneflies (Eristalis), blowflies (Lucilia) and potter wasps (Eumedes), but also included thrips and ants.


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