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

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.

Author(s):  
Berkant İsmail Yıldız ◽  
Kemal Karabağ

In recent years, there have been unexplained colony losses around the world. Due to the decrease in honey bee colonies, many studies have been carried out to investigate potential causes. One of the main causes of losses is also insecticides. Insecticides used against harmful insects in agricultural fields affect not only harmful ones but also beneficial insects such as honey bees directly or indirectly. Honey bee losses are more common, especially where insecticides are used, and the immune systems of bees exposed to insecticides in these areas weaken; foraging behavior, the ability to smell and learn is impaired. In addition, it leaves residues in bee products such as honey, wax, pollen and bee bread. Effective and sustainable solutions are sought worldwide in order to cope with these losses that pose a major ecological threat. This review aims to reveal the current situation by examining the effects of insecticides on honey bee behavior and physiology.


2015 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 73-80
Author(s):  
H.F. Abou-Shaara

AbstractAutumn is a critical period for honey bee colonies and the weak colonies during autumn are likely to be lost during winter. The colonies need good pollen sources during this period to be able to foster enough brood, to boost colonies survival ability during winter. The situation is worse in desert areas where few pollen sources are expected to be existed. Identifying the availability of pollen sources for honey bees at desert areas is very essential to present appropriate recommendations regarding colonies feeding and suitable plants to be cultivated in such areas. Thus, the study objective is to identify pollen sources for honey bee colonies during the autumn at El-Bostan region (a region with desert nature). Samples of bee bread were collected at different times during autumn. The samples were microscopically analyzed and pollen sources were then identified. Nine plants belong to six plant families (Pedaliaceae, Malvaceae, Poaceae, Asteraceae, Myrtaceae, Resedaceae, and Casuarinaceae) were classified as major pollen sources. The most abundant plants were casuarina and eucalyptus during autumn. Beekeepers are advised to supply their colonies regularly (each two weeks) with pollen substitutes or supplements during autumn at El-Bostan region. Honey bee workers tend to mix different pollen types together in bee bread when different pollen sources are available. The number of pollen sources in the bee bread can be used to assess the richness degree of any region with suitable pollen sources to honey bees. The identified pollen sources in this study are recommended to be cultivated in lands with similar desert nature, to provide honey bee colonies with protein feeding during this critical period of the year.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Sara Hernández-Rodríguez ◽  
Óscar Marín ◽  
Fernando Calatayud ◽  
María José Mahiques ◽  
Ana Mompó ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTVarroa destructor is an ectoparasitic mite causing devastating damages to honey bee colonies around the world. Its impact is considered a major factor contributing to the significant seasonal losses of colonies recorded every year. Beekeepers are usually relying on a reduced set of acaricides to manage the parasite, usually the pyrethroids tau-fluvalinate or flumethrin, the organophosphate coumaphos and the formamidine amitraz. However, the evolution of resistance in the populations is leading to an unsustainable scenario with almost no alternatives to reach an adequate control of the mite.Here we present the results from the first, large-scale and extensive monitoring of the susceptibility to acaricides in the Comunitat Valenciana, one of the most prominent apicultural regions in Spain. Our ultimate goal was to provide beekeepers with timely information to help them decide what would be the best alternative for a long-term control of the mites in their apiaries. Our data show that there is a significant variation in the expected efficacy of coumaphos and pyrethroids across the region, indicating the presence of a different ratio of resistant individuals to these acaricides in each population. On the other hand, the expected efficacy of amitraz was more consistent, although slightly below the expected efficacy according to the label.HIGHLIGHTSVarroa destructor is causing severe damages to honey bee colonies worldwide.There are very few acaricides available to manage the parasite.The evolution of resistance is limiting our capacity to control the mite.We estimated the expected efficacy of the main acaricides in many Spanish apiaries.The information was shared with beekeepers for them to decide the best treatment to control the mite.


Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 468
Author(s):  
Piotr Semkiw ◽  
Piotr Skubida

Bee bread, i.e., floral pollen collected and partially processed by honey bees, is a source of many compounds beneficial for the human health. So far, the level of bee bread production in apiaries has been low due to many factors. However, development of such production may be significant as a new source of income for beekeepers. In spring 2015 a three-year study was started to determine bee bread production scale in honey bee colonies and assess the economic efficiency of such production. The experiment included 28 honey bee colonies each year; the colonies were divided into four groups. Each group tested different brood nest configuration or frames’ placement against the hive entrance for the amount of harvested bee bread. All the costs, including labor input, were related to the process of bee bread production. Depending on the group, it was possible to harvest from 0.51 to 1.23 kg of bee bread from one colony. The average production amounted to 0.7 kg, and the entire apiary gave 20 kg of bee bread annually. Annual costs connected to bee bread production amounted to 679.5 EUR, while the estimated income from sales amounted to 1110 EUR. Thus, the profit was 430.5 EUR, i.e., 21.5 EUR per 1 kg of harvested bee bread. The highest costs were connected to labor and they may potentially comprise a factor limiting the development of bee bread production in apiaries.


Insects ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Zawislak ◽  
John Adamczyk ◽  
Donald R. Johnson ◽  
Gus Lorenz ◽  
Joe Black ◽  
...  

Honey bees forage across a large area, continually scouting the local landscape for ephemeral food resources. Beekeepers often rely on flowering plants in and around irrigated farmland to maintain their colonies during dry seasons, despite the potential risk of pesticide exposure. Recent declines in pollinator abundance and diversity have focused attention on the role of pesticides and their effects on honey bee health. This investigation examined two types of landscapes within a two-mile (3.2 km) radius of honey bee colonies: an intensive agricultural setting and a rural setting without intensive agriculture. More than 10,000 acres of agricultural land was surveyed to quantify the area of cultivated crops and the area treated with pesticides, including seed treatments and foliar applications of insecticides. Samples of honey, bee bread (stored pollen), beeswax, and adult bees were collected from hives in both landscape types and screened for pesticide residues to determine if foraging bees were transporting pesticides to hives. Some samples of bee bread and honey did contain pesticide residues, but these were below known lethal dose (LD50) levels for honey bees. Beeswax samples contained the highest levels of contamination, but most were still relatively low. Samples were screened for 174 common agricultural pesticides and metabolites, but only 26 compounds were detected during the two-year study. These included one defoliant, one insect growth regulator, five herbicides, six fungicides, six insecticides never used in beekeeping, and five insecticides/miticides and their metabolites, which are used in beekeeping and for various other agricultural purposes, as well as two miticides exclusively used by beekeepers to control Varroa destructor. Bee colonies foraging in agricultural landscapes are potentially exposed to numerous pesticide applications. While the residues detected in this study did not pose an acute lethal risk to adult honey bees, this study did not measure sublethal effects on bee colony health or performance, which merit further investigation.


Author(s):  
R.G. Purves ◽  
P.T.P. Clifford ◽  
B.J. Donovan

The availability of large numbers of pollinators is critical to the efficient seed production of crosspollinated species of herbage legumes. The honey bee is the predominant pollinator of crops in New Zealand. There are risks in being solely dependent on the honey bee for pollination. Honey bee diseases and mites have reduced bee numbers in many parts of the world. The floral morphologies of some species such as tetraploid red clovers and lucerne are unsuited to pollination by honey bees. Other than in some localised areas, alternative pollinators have had little impact on improving pollination of these species in New Zealand. In 1995, Osmia coerulescens L. was introduced into New Zealand to be evaluated as an alternative, managed pollinator for herbage seed crops. Results from the 1997/98 season show that O. coerulescens can be stored at 2-3°C with low mortality until the bees are 9 months old. When stored to 10.5 months of age, reproductive vigour was lost and mortality was high. The potential multiplication rate of this bee is high, especially in the first generation of a season. Managing the bees to emerge during summer rather than spring as occurs naturally had no effect on bee reproduction. The bee also successfully reproduced when retricted to white clover flowers as the only source of pollen and nectar. The wasp parasitoid Melittobia spp. destroyed large numbers of developing bees resulting from the nesting of 2nd-generation bees. Control of Melittobia spp. is discussed. Keywords: management, Melittobia spp., Osmia coerulescens, pollination


Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Carmen Sara Hernández-Rodríguez ◽  
Óscar Marín ◽  
Fernando Calatayud ◽  
María José Mahiques ◽  
Ana Mompó ◽  
...  

Varroa destructor is an ectoparasitic mite causing devastating damages to honey bee colonies around the world. Its impact is considered a major factor contributing to the significant seasonal losses of colonies recorded every year. Beekeepers usually rely on a reduced set of acaricides to manage the parasite, usually the pyrethroids tau-fluvalinate or flumethrin, the organophosphate coumaphos, and the formamidine amitraz. However, the evolution of resistance in the mite populations is leading to an unsustainable scenario with almost no alternatives to reach an adequate control of the mite. Here, we present the results from the first large-scale and extensive monitoring of the susceptibility to acaricides in the Comunitat Valenciana, one of the most prominent apicultural regions in Spain. Our ultimate goal is to provide beekeepers with timely information to help them decide what would be the best alternative for a long-term control of the mites in their apiaries. Our data show that there is a significant variation in the expected efficacy of coumaphos and pyrethroids across the region, indicating the presence of a different ratio of resistant individuals to these acaricides in each population. On the other hand, the expected efficacy of amitraz was more consistent, though slightly below the expected efficacy according to the label.


2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 63-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgina Árváné Ványi ◽  
Zsolt Csapó ◽  
László Kárpáti

Bee-keeping and honey production has a long history in Hungary. Honey is an important and healthy food of people and it can be consumed without any human processing. The honey production has important role, too. Some researchers say that if honey bee will extinct the humanity in the world would also extinct. It is true since plant pollination by honey bees is very important. It is confirmed by researchers’ studies that plant pollination by honey bees has significant positive external impacts on potential yields in orchards. Although the contribution of honey production to the GDP in Hungary is only a few per cent, other benefits play more important role. One of them is the positive external effect – mentioned above – and the other is the contribution to the biodiversity of the nature. This paper focuses on secondary research methods, gathering and evaluating data regarding the positive external impacts of plant pollination by honey bees as well as finding possible solution for the problem that bee-keepers have a lot of costs in connection with carrying honey bees to orchards, while farmers “only” benefit from the positive externality of plant pollination of their fields. To evaluate its economic effects a numerical HEEM-model was developed and applied for the Hungarian situation.


1963 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 214-224
Author(s):  
Raymond C. Mellinger ◽  
Jalileh A. Mansour ◽  
Richmond W. Smith

ABSTRACT A reference standard is widely sought for use in the quantitative bioassay of pituitary gonadotrophin recovered from urine. The biologic similarity of pooled urinary extracts obtained from large numbers of subjects, utilizing groups of different age and sex, preparing and assaying the materials by varying techniques in different parts of the world, has lead to a general acceptance of such preparations as international gonadotrophin reference standards. In the present study, however, the extract of pooled urine from a small number of young women is shown to produce a significantly different bioassay response from that of the reference materials. Gonadotrophins of individual subjects likewise varied from the multiple subject standards in many instances. The cause of these differences is thought to be due to the modifying influence of non-hormonal substances extracted from urine with the gonadotrophin and not necessarily to variations in the gonadotrophins themselves. Such modifying factors might have similar effects in a comparative assay of pooled extracts contributed by many subjects, but produce significant variations when material from individual subjects is compared. It is concluded that the expression of potency of a gonadotrophic extract in terms of pooled reference material to which it is not essentially similar may diminish rather than enhance the validity of the assay.


2019 ◽  
Vol 112 (6) ◽  
pp. 2993-2996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robyn Underwood ◽  
Brian Breeman ◽  
Joseph Benton ◽  
Jason Bielski ◽  
Julie Palkendo ◽  
...  

Abstract The spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula, is an introduced plant hopper that causes significant damage to host plants in the United States. Because of its affinity for tree of heaven, Ailanthus altissima, control efforts have focused on the use of the systemic insecticide, dinotefuran, in designated trap trees. There is concern about exposure to this pesticide by non-target species, especially honey bees, Apis mellifera, via lanternfly honeydew. Therefore, honey bee colonies were established in areas of high densities of trap trees and samples of honey, bees, and beeswax were collected in May, July, and October of 2017 for analysis. Samples were extracted by the QuEChERS method and analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry to determine the presence and quantity of dinotefuran. Additionally, honeydew from lanternflies was analyzed for dinotefuran and informal observations of trap tree visitors were made. None of the worker bee, wax, or honey samples indicated detectable levels of dinotefuran; however, honeydew samples collected did contain dinotefuran above the detection limit with amounts ranging from 3 to 100 ng per sample. The lack of dinotefuran in honey bee products matches the general absence of honey bees at trap trees in informal observations.


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