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Trevor Weatherhead
(Organising Committee) queenbee@gil.com.au
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RESEARCH NEWS Back to top
Pollinating Insects may give us clues to the spread of
diseases
It may seem obvious to the untrained, but now there is research to
back it up. Insects tend to transmit diseases in the course of
feeding on plants, and their movement between plants is influenced
by plant quality (how good of a meal they’ll get) and the distance
between plants, or, how far they’ll have to travel to get to the
next meal, explain Matthew Ferrari, Jessica Partain, Janis
Antonovics, and Ottar Bjornstad. “It turns out insects are more
likely to move shorter distances between better plants, so the
better the plant or the more flowers it has could lead to its
earlier demise than for its poorer relatives. The researchers found
that the probability of disease being passed between two plants goes
up if they are closer and/or better, which parallels the stronger
gravity between closer and larger planets.
They tracked a fungal disease spread by bees and moths in the course
of pollinating and feeding on nectar from white campion flowers at
the University of Virginia’s Mountain Lake Biological Station. As
predicted by the behaviour of insects, the disease was more likely
to spread shorter distances between plants that had many flowers.
“This implies that knowledge of insect behaviour can lead to better
prediction of where disease will spread,” explain the authors. In
fact, these patterns are not limited to diseases of plants or
diseases carried by insects. Bjornstad and colleagues have
previously shown that similar patterns describe the spread of
measles in cities, because people tend to travel more between large
towns or only short distances.
(A lesson for Bird Flu?). Ed.
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM LADYBIRDS? AVOID THEIR SMELLY
FEET.
Parasitic Wasps tell us how.
Scientists at Rothamsted Research have identified how aphid
parasitic wasps prevent their offspring being eaten by ladybirds.
The tiny wasps implant their offspring parasitically into aphid
pests, but should the aphid get eaten by a ladybird, the growing
wasp would be consumed as well. The researchers, supported by the
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), have
found that to protect their offspring, adult wasps have evolved to
avoid the smell of a short-lived blend of chemicals that ladybirds
deposit with each footprint they make. The scientists have
identified the particular cocktail of chemicals.
 |
| Ladybirds have smelly feet! |
Both wasps and ladybirds are predators of aphids but they have
evolved techniques to enable them avoid each other and maximise
their own success. As aphids are significant pests for gardeners and
farmers the natural mechanisms that have developed help these two
predators to interact efficiently to help control aphid numbers.
The scientists at Rothamsted Research, Professor Wilf Powell and Dr
Mike Birkett, together with visiting Japanese scientist Dr Yoshitaka
Nakashima, have identified the chemicals involved and have also
shown that the smell of different ladybird species repels different
parasitic wasp species to various degrees. Dr Wilf Powell explained
that parasitic wasps attacking aphids living in a wooded area
responded most strongly to the chemical footprints of
woodland-dwelling ladybirds and similarly for those found more often
in fields of crops. This suggests that these two aphid predators
have evolved mutually beneficial avoidance techniques to maximise
their own chances of success.
“A better understanding of the natural interactions between
parasitic wasps, insect predators and their prey has the potential
to help us to use them more effectively to control garden and
agricultural pests and reduce the amount of pesticides we spray.”
The research is was displayed to the public for the first time at an
open weekend at Rothamsted Research next weekend (30 September-1
October). The Rothamsted scientists worked in collaboration with a
visiting researcher from the University of Agriculture and
Veterinary Medicine, Obihoro, Japan who was supported by the
Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science. Some aspects of the
work were also supported by the Department for Food, Environment and
Rural Affairs (Defra).
Cardiff’s bee algorithm will help boost industry
We have read in many recent issues of Apis UK about how bees can
help humans by sniffing out land mines and acting as recce platforms
and so on, well now, an ingenious new mathematical procedure based
on the behaviour of honey bees is delivering sweet results for
industry.
Researchers at Cardiff University’s Manufacturing Engineering Centre
(MEC) developed the procedure, or algorithm, after observing the
“waggle dance” of bees foraging for nectar. The algorithm enables
companies to maximise results by changing basic elements of their
processes.
As readers will know, when a bee finds a source of nectar, it
returns to the hive and performs its dance to show other bees the
direction, richness and distance of the flower patch The other
workers then decide how many of them will fly off to find the new
source, depending on its distance and quality.
The MEC team’s Bees Algorithm mimics this behaviour. A computer can
be set up to calculate the results of different settings on a
manufacturing process. More computing power is then devoted to
searching around the most successful settings, in the same way as
more bees are sent to the most promising flower patches.
The Algorithm has been shown to cope with up to 3,000 variables and
is faster than existing calculations. By entering basic data about
all or part of a company, or even just one machine, the MEC team can
calculate the best outcome for a wide range of business processes.
They have already used the Bees Algorithm to work out the most
efficient settings on welding systems and for the design of springs.
 |
| Bees know what they are doing! |
The Algorithm was unveiled by PhD student Afshin Ghanbarzadeh and
his team at the recent internet-based Innovative Production and
Machines Conference hosted by MEC as part of its work with the EU-funded
Network of Excellence in this field. The team’s research was one of
110 papers presented to 4,000 delegates from 73 countries at the
conference, which was held entirely on-line.
MEC director Professor D T Pham OBE said: “We had some highly
imaginative ideas at the conference and this is one of the most
innovative. This Algorithm can help business work out the most
effective way to set up their machines, and save them a lot of money
through running their processes as efficiently as possible.”
So if you want to buck up your workers, commercial enquiries about
the Algorithm can be addressed to Roy Fretwell or James Spenceley at
the MEC on 02920 874641 or by e-mail at
manufacturing@cf.ac.uk .
Perhaps I should forward this to No 10! Ed.
Another helpful honeybee inspired algorithm
Copying the foraging methods of honey bees could give robots better
3D vision, researchers say. Robot explorers could identify points of
interest by mimicking the way bees alert others of promising
foraging spots. Explorer bees report the location of a new food
source, like an inviting flowerbed, by dancing on a special area of
honeycomb when they return to the hive (see How vibes from dancing
honeybees create a buzz on the dance floor ). A new type of
stereoscopic computer vision system takes inspiration from this
trick. It was developed by two Mexicans. A computer can generate 3D
information using two cameras by comparing the view captured from
different angles. It is, however, computationally intensive to do
this for large scenes. Complicated statistical techniques can be
used to pick out important features of a scene for further analysis,
but this is still time-consuming.
The system developed is far simpler, they claim. It uses virtual
honeybees to home in on potential points of interest, which can then
be rendered in 3D. Simulated "explorer" bees are programmed to seek
out features of potential interest in a 2D picture, based on
criteria such as texture and edges. This can, for example, lead them
to focus on a person or a prominent object in an otherwise empty
room.
The honey bee software starts by randomly assigning explorer bees to
different parts of an image. After identifying features of potential
interest, these explorers recruit other virtual bees, known as
"harvesters", to investigate in more detail. The explorers recruit
harvesters in proportion to their interest in an area, meaning the
most promising areas get the most attention. If the harvesters also
find the area interesting, they focus on it too. The system can then
render it in 3D, based on all the bees' movements. This could
eventually help a robot navigate or interact with its surrounding
more efficiently.
"This algorithm can save time," Olague told New Scientist . "The
harvesters are targeted by the explorers to look only at promising
areas." In testing, Olague and Puente used up to 8000 virtual
explorer bees and 32,000 virtual harvesters. Before the end of 2006
they hope to use the honeybee vision system to help a mobile robot
avoid obstacles.
Toby Breckon, a computer vision researcher at Cranfield University
in the UK, says the approach has promise. "One of the big problems
for stereo vision is that you have to search through the features in
front of you," he says. "Bees have this almost built-in search
algorithm that has the potential to help." Breckon adds that the
number of virtual bees could be adjusted for different situations.
"A robot could use a small number of bees if it just needed to know
where the walls of a corridor are, and then put in more bees to
collect more detailed information," he says.
The research was presented at the 8th European Workshop on
Evolutionary Computation in Image Analysis and Signal Processing in
Budapest, Hungary, in April 2006, where it won the award for best
paper.
Carpenter Ants Store Food for times of dearth
Just as honey bees have evolved a method of storing food for periods
of dearth, so certain species of ants have managed to do the same.
Worker Ants Store Fat To Share with their fellows in times of
dearth. In a fascinating new study from the September/October 2006
issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, Daniel A. Hahn
(University of Florida) explores the ability of ants to store excess
fat and pass it to colony members through lipid-rich oral secretions
or unfertilized eggs through lipid-rich oral secretions or
unfertilized eggs.
 |
| The clever carpenter ant. |
Understanding the regulation of nutrient reserves, particularly
fat storage, at the individual and colony levels is critical to
understanding both the division of labour characteristics of social
insect colonies and the evolution of important colony life-history
traits such as the timing of reproduction, founding mode, and
over-wintering behaviour,” explains Hahn.
In order to better understand how individual fat storage tactics
translated into colony-level resources, Hahn captured queens of
different species and reared colonies under controlled laboratory
conditions in nests for two years, feeding the ants a combination of
frozen cockroach and moth eggs, mixed with honey, vitamins, and
salt. He then sampled five colonies each of the two different
species, and found that, despite similar environments, darker
workers and soldiers stored more fat per unit of lean mass than
lighter ants did, but the lighter colony involved a greater
proportion of soldiers in storage.
“Storing more fat per unit lean mass has been well documented as a
tactic for increasing fat storage during ontogeny among colonies of
a number of ant species, and now has been shown to contribute to
between-species differences as well,” Hahn writes. “Differences in
individual-level storage tactics between the two desert species
could lead to significant behavioural differences, perhaps in the
rate that individuals progress through behavioural development, or
in their motivation to forage or defend their nests.”
Plants count the days to flowering. Literally!
We have all waited and waited and counted the days and waited
more for spring to arrive and for our plants to flower. Well plants
are doing just the same thing. They are literally counting the days
new research shows. Research has begun to peel back some of the
mystery of how plants pace the seasons to bloom at the optimal time
of year. Richard Amasino, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor
and UW-Madison professor of biochemistry tells us that, “Flowering
at the right time is all about competition.”
He and his colleagues have studied, in particular, the behaviours of
biennial plants, which require long periods of exposure to the cold
to initiate flowering in the spring. What they have found reveals
some of the complex interplay of genes and environment and provides
hints that, one day, it may be possible to exert precise control
over flowering, a process essential for plant reproduction and
fruiting and that has enormous implications for agriculture.
Flowers are the reproductive organs of plants and are responsible
for forming seeds and fruit. As their name implies, biennials
complete their life cycles in two years, germinating, growing and
overwintering the first year. In the second year, the plants flower
in the spring and die back in the autumn.
That biennial strategy, Amasino explains, arose as flowering plants,
which first evolved some 100 million years ago during the age of the
dinosaurs, spread to fill the niches of nature. Spring blooming
confers numerous advantages, not the least of which is leafing out
and flowering before the competition.
But how do the plants know when to flower? “If you carve out that
niche, you need to get established in the autumn, but you need to
make darn sure you don’t flower in the autumn,” Amasino says. In the
case of biennials, “the plants can somehow measure how much cold
they’ve been exposed to, and then they can flower rapidly in the
spring niche.”
Exposure to the cold triggers a process in plants known as
vernalization, where the meristem - a region on the growing point of
a plant where rapidly dividing cells differentiate into shoots,
roots and flowers - is rendered competent to flower.
In a series of studies of Arabidopsis, a small mustard plant
commonly used to study plant genetics, Amasino and his colleagues
have found there are certain critical genes that repress flowering.
 |
“The plants we’ve studied, primarily Arabidopsis, don’t
flower in the autumn season because they possess a gene
that blocks flowering,” Amasino explains. “The meristem
is where the repressor (gene) is expressed and is where
it is shut off.” |
| |
The key to initiating flowering, according to the Wisconsin
group’s studies, is the ability of plants to switch those
flower-blocking genes off, so that they can bloom and complete their
pre-ordained life cycles. But how that gene was turned off was a
mystery until Amasino and his group found that exposure to prolonged
cold triggered a molecular process that effectively silenced the
genes that repress flowering. Another processes known as bud
dormancy, which is similar to vernalization, occurs in many plants
that grow in temperate climates. “Bud dormancy is not broken until
the plant has ‘counted’ a sufficient number of days of cold to
ensure that anysubsequent warm weather actually indicates that
spring has arrived,” Amasino says. The Wisconsin team led by Amasino
has worked out much of the process of vernalization, and their hope
is to add to knowledge of other cold-regulated processes such as the
regulation of bud dormancy in trees. Bud dormancy may be similar to
vernalization or, the Wisconsin scientists adds, it may be
controlled by a completely different mechanism.
“But our study of vernalization may help us get our foot in the
door.It gives us a basis to test whether there are similarities.”
Knowing the genes that control flowering and how they work provides
a much more detailed working knowledge of plants, many that are
useful to humans and some of great economic importance, Amasino
explains. “This is important agriculturally,” he notes. “There are
many crops - cabbage, beets - that we don’t want to flower. Many of
the cultivated varieties we use are never exposed to cold in a
typical farmer’s field growing season.”
When that is the case, a cold snap can fool sugar beets, for
example, into flowering, a process that can ruin the crop by
redirecting nutrients from the valuable root to the production of
seeds and flowers. And although Amasino and his group have
demystified some of the molecular underpinning of the familiar
process of flowering, the biochemist emphasizes that much of the
fine biochemical detail remains to be worked out.
Climate Change Threatens Pollination Timing
In addition to the more obvious effects of climate change, such as
rising sea levels and increasing storm activity, there is the
potential to dramatically alter ecological communities. Dr. David
Inouye, director of University of Maryland’s graduate program in
Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology, reports that
global warming could disrupt the timing of pollination in alpine
environments, with serious negative impacts to both plants and
pollinators.
University of Maryland’s Dr. David Inouye presents three decades of
data, much of it gathered with the patient help of Earthwatch
volunteers, suggesting climate change impacts on pollination ecology
in mountain environments.
At a session at this week’s Ecological Society of America (ESA)
meeting titled “Climate change and timing in ecological
communities.” Inouye presented more than three decades of data on
pollination ecology in the Rocky Mountains, supported in part by
Earthwatch Institute, The session drew attention to many
climate-dependent changes in the timing of ecological events that
will disrupt ecological communities.
Inouye, one of the pioneers in this area, said that high altitudes
are one of the habitats where it seems that climate change is having
dramatic effects and that the long-term research that carried out at
the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) since 1973, has
allowed him to document some of the changes going on in flowering.
The timing of flowering has become earlier, particularly since 1998,
the abundance of some flowers has changed, and the synchrony of
plants and pollinators may be changing.” Inouye reports that
flowering time for plants in the Colorado Rocky Mountains is
determined by when the snow melts, which is likely to change in
response to regional and global climate change. There is some
evidence that plants and pollinators are responding differently to
climate change, potentially resulting in reduced reproductive
success for both groups and possible extinctions.
 |
| Climate change seems to affect different species
differently. Trees especially are slow to adapt. |
The research was carried out with the indispensable assistance
and hard leg work of Earthwatch volunteers who contributed the
financial assistance and labour that
made it possible to continue this long-term project. They helped to
monitor flowering and the population biology of wildflowers, and
also assisted many of the graduate students in their dissertation
research.”
The ESA session Inouye co-organized focused on the impact of global
warming on “phenology,” or the timing of climate-sensitive
ecological events, including leaf-out, insect emergence, and bird
feeding behavior. Scientists presented the latest evidence of
ecological impacts of climate change as well as new techniques for
monitoring these changes, such as remote sensing and networks of
ground observers. They also reported predictions of how
time-sensitive ecological relationships will change in response to
global warming.
Earthwatch volunteers in the Rocky Mountains helped Inouye document
that global warming affects lower altitudes differently than higher
ones. As a result, animals exposed to earlier warm weather may exit
hibernation earlier and birds responding to earlier spring weather
in their wintering grounds may flock north while there are several
feet of snow on the ground, risking starvation.
“Already the difference in timing between seasonal events at low and
high altitudes has negatively influenced migratory pollinators, such
as hummingbirds, which overwinter at lower altitudes and latitudes,”
said Inouye. He added that, “If climate change disturbs the timing
between flowering and pollinators that overwinter in place, such as
butterflies, bumblebees, flies, and even mosquitoes, the intimate
relationships between plants and pollinators that have co-evolved
over the past thousands of years will be irrevocably altered.”
Scientists at the session reported that this kind of ecological
disruption from climate change has become commonplace in ecosystems
around the world. Only through long-term monitoring, such as that
supported by Earthwatch, and advances in monitoring technology can
these conservation managers be more proactive about these changes.
Earthwatch Institute is a global volunteer organization that
supports scientific field research by offering members of the public
unique opportunities to work alongside leading field scientists and
researchers. Earthwatch’s mission is to engage people worldwide in
scientific field research and education to promote the understanding
and action necessary for a sustainable environment. The year 2006
marks Earthwatch’s 35th anniversary.
You can find out more about Earthwatch at
www.earthwatch.org (Ed).
ARTICLES Back to top
Bees and Rotating Hives Part 4 of 5.
Ian Rumsey continues his look at bees and rotating hives in part 4
of the series and concludes that the bees in solving the puzzle set,
are displaying original thought required for intelligent design. I
must say that this series is for me one of the most interesting
series of experiments on bees that I have seen. I hope that Ian
continues with his research. Ed.
Not having observed at this time the results of rotating a hive by
10 degree increments on a daily basis in a clockwise direction, an
identical experiment was commenced in hive 8-5 with an
anti-clockwise rotation. This, one hoped, would depict a mirror
image of the initial experiment showing the effect rotation has on
comb construction.
We have already demonstrated the influence vertical magnetic fields
have on comb alignment and the considerable distance over which this
field may be able to operate. It is therefore impracticable to
conduct a rotating hive experiment and a vertical magnetic field
experiment at the same time.
As another swarm was collected to commence a further series of
vertical magnetic field experiments, this second rotational hive
experiment was not abandoned but rather modified to now include the
introduction of a vertical magnetic field at the end of day 2.
This would effectively turn the hive a further 70 degrees in an
anti-clockwise direction if our results from the previous experiment
were to be believed.
The resultant comb alignment after a 10 degree anti-clockwise
movement at the end of nine consecutive days, plus the introduction
of a vertical magnetic field at the end of day 2, is shown below.
 |
Again a unique alignment has been produced and the construction
over the nine day period has some striking similarities to its
clockwise cousin, if one allows the gravitomagnetic field to be
realigned 90 degrees instead of the 70 degrees by the introduction
of the vertical magnetic field.
From the diagrams below, figs 31 - 40, it may be seen that if the
gravitomagnet field, indicated by the arrows in red, run
horizontally, a change in direction of 90 degrees, and if comb
construction follows the lines of this force, there is a direct
correlation between figs 21 - 30, and figs 31 – 40:
 |
The bees are solving the same puzzle
in a similar fashion in each case, namely days 1 - 5, solving the
puzzle and days 6 - 10, building the comb.
Therefore it would seem that we have two colonies being set the same
problem, taking the same time, coming to the same conclusion, under
slightly different circumstances, never ever met before.
I believe this indicates that these bees have each had original
thoughts: the ability
of an intelligent life form, capable of intelligent design.
Ian Rumsey
Killer Bees!!
Many beekeepers in Europe who thankfully do not (yet) need to worry
about Africanised bees have at one time or another wondered about
the differences between their own comparatively docile European
honey bees (except the ibericas, Ed). The information for this
abridged article comes from Elizabeth Sears’s site offers a quick
compendium of information. http://www.earthlife.net/insects/afr-bees.html
Behaviour Characteristics of the Africanized Bees, Apis mellifera
scutellata … Africanised? Or just bad tempered?
 |
Tropical vs Temperate
Tropical Africanized honey bees vs. temperate European honey bees:
some individual characteristics European honey bees are temperate
bees while Africanized honey bees are tropical bees and their
behaviours differ in several ways. European honey bees are adapted
to withstand cold winters and periods of no foraging. They do this
by storing honey to use to as food to generate heat throughout
winters. During this time hive activity slows and there is no brood
rearing and no foraging. The thrust of European honey bees is to
produce and store honey for these times. They build colonies in
large nests inside of cavities to provide winter protection. These
nests are rarely abandoned. In contrast, Africanized honey bees are
tropical bees which have no need of winter honey storage. Their main
energies go into honey production for reproduction. Their nests are
smaller and often external to cavities. They can easily survive
outside of their nests, and frequently hang on the outsides of the
nests. When Africanized honey bees developed in African Savannahs,
they were constantly faced with the threat of destruction from
predators. By selection, they succeeded in developing ways to
survive these threats, both as individuals and as colonies. They
have evolved three traits, in particular which have done much to
further their survival First, many of the returning foragers
approach the hive and fly through the entrance at a high rate of
speed. Entrances are very critical areas which render foragers quite
vulnerable. By crossing this area quickly, they lessen the threat of
being intercepted.
Second, Africanized workers, while foraging, move in quick, furtive
patterns, rather than the more steady, systematic movements of
European bees. Their course is composed of quick darting movements
which resemble those of yellow jackets, more than European honey
bees. This pattern of movements makes their courses much less
predictable and the chances of their being intercepted in flight
become less.
The third evolutionary advantage is the individual trait of
immediately charging at a source of disturbance or threat. European
honey bees, in contrast, will tend to cluster together and remain in
the nest more than actively retaliate. This makes them easy targets
for hungry predators. Not so Africanized bees. They immediately take
flight and fly at the threat. Even queens involved in egg-laying are
able to take flight. Workers gather around queens in swarms, and
either attempt to repel the intruder or opt to leave the hive and
abscond to a new nest site. Small nests are more easily defended
from predators, and in the event of nest invasion, not so much is
lost by a small colony which can leave the site and start a new nest
somewhere else.
Africanized honey bees reproduce frequently and rapidly. Eggs hatch
into larvae in three days in contrast to European honey bees which
can take over a week to hatch. Larvae increase tremendously in size
(900 times the weight of the egg in only four to five days), fuelled
by copious quantities of nectar and pollen supplied by adult workers
Crucially, queens emerge earlier than European queens. Mature
Africanized honey bees are 10% smaller than their European
counterparts
Africanized honey bees have become legendary for their aggressive,
stinging, nest defence behaviour which has won them the media title
of “Killer Bees”.
A study in Venezuela by the Entomology Department of Louisiana State
University and the U.S.D.A showed several distinct defence
behaviours and reactions in response to a disturbance of the colony.
Enormously sensitive to the slightest disturbance, especially a
jolt, an alarm was spread throughout the colony by a worker who
immediately ran into the nest to recruit others by opening her sting
chamber and extending her sting. This released alarm chemicals which
communicated the alert to other bees, particularly guard bees, who,
in turn, spread the alarm to others and throughout the hive.
Africanized bees have 5 times the number of guards in their nests as
European honey bees. Approximately three times as many Africanized
honey bees responded to the alarm chemicals as with European bees.
The result was the colony suddenly erupting, with angry bees pouring
out to defend the nest and attacking anything that moved near it.
The object of the disturbance was stung with a frequency eight to
ten times more than European honey bees.
Excessive swarming.
Africanized honey bees swarm at a rate far greater than European
honey bees. Unlike the European bees who construct large nests for
winter protection and storage of food resources, seldom abandoning
them, Africanized honey bees, not needing winter storage, construct
smaller nests. Most of their resources go toward reproduction and
the rearing of young. Africanized bees are smaller than European
honey bees and swarm at a younger age. 100% of bees as young as
eight days old will swarm in Africanized colonies, as contrasted to
only 70% swarming of bees at the same age in European Colonies.
Their numbers increase very rapidly and they soon outgrow the small
nests. They typically produce six to twelve swarms per year. The
record number of swarms in one year for European bees during one
particularly favourable growing season was 3.6 swarms with an
average of 1.0 to 2.6 swarms annually. One starting colony in French
Guiana reportedly produced 60 new colonies (including offspring
colonies) in one year. The annual growth rate of Africanized
colonies is 16-fold per year compared with 3-fold for European honey
bees. Excessive swarming creates serious problems for bee keepers
who are left with smaller, weaker colonies which do not collect as
much honey. This is the single most undesirable trait resulting from
the takeover and Africanization for bee keepers of managed European
honey bee colonies, although resource consumption by Africanized
honey bees for production of bees rather than stockpiles of honey is
also a problem.
Absconding.
Absconding differs from swarming in that colonies which abscond, do
not leave behind a young queen, resources or workers. The absconding
colonies take everything with them and simply leave to establish new
nests elsewhere. Primarily a tactic of tropical races absconding has
two forms, disturbance-induced and resource-induced. Africanized
honey bee colonies are very sensitive to disturbances and absconding
is an immediate response to a sudden deterioration within the nest
cavity. Colonies will leave within a day to a week following the
disturbance. The disturbance can be brought about by predation,
fire, pest invasion or overheating. The most susceptible time for
absconding occurs as colonies establish recent nests. As colonies
establish brood nests, the chances of distrubance-induced absconding
is greatly reduced. It is believed that absconding due to resource
shortages takes place on a seasonal basis during distinct times of
the year primarily when pollen and nectar flows stop or are greatly
reduced. Factors influencing seasonal absconding are often unclear,
however.
Foraging behaviour.
Africanized honey bees are opportunistic foragers, in contrast to
European honey bees, who participate in more group-type foraging
with waggle dancers communicating locations of pollen and nectar
sources. Although they too receive messages about the location of
desirable foraging sites, Africanized bees are more solitary
foragers. They start foraging earlier in the day than European bees,
and will sometimes forage late into the evening. One researcher
noted an instance in which a worker was seen to return to the hive
at 3:30 A.M. by the light of a moon that was less than half full.
Africanized bees will be found foraging on cloudy, overcast days, in
the cold and even with light rain falling. In conditions of
plentiful nectar and pollen supplies, European honey bees with their
group foraging techniques are better adapted. Africanized bees are
more solitary foragers, however, and excel, when pollen and nectar
are scarce and conditions adverse.
Below, we show a summary chart of the main differences between the
European and the Africanised honey bee:
| Characteristics of the Africanized honey
bee compared with the European honey bee |
| AFRICAN HONEY BEE (AHB) |
EUROPEAN HONEY BEE (EHB) |
Defensiveness
Typically 10 x more stings then EHB
Quicker response time
Persistent (following upto1/4 mile)
May not respond to smoke |
Usually gentle
Defensiveness is manageable with smoke
|
Swarming
16 times per year
Longer swarming season |
1 to 2 times per year
Distinct swarming season |
Absconding
Common after disturbance and
period of dearth/poor resources
Up to 16 times a year |
Unusual (and not conductive to
survival) |
Robbing
Can be excessive at times |
Usually only occurs during dearth
and is beekeeper caused |
Nest site
Smaller cavity acceptable allowing
for easier establishment in urban
environment |
Require relatively large nesting
cavity (> 40 L) |
Wintering ability
Poorly adapted to cold winters
(but becomes adapted with time) |
Highly adapted to cold
winter
|
Population density
High colony density |
Low colony density |
Colony takeover
Queen usurpation common
Drone parasitism of European
colonies common |
Exceedingly rare |
Calmness on the comb
Bees extremely nervous running
and festooning on frames making
management difficult
|
Usually calm on the comb |
RECIPE OF THE MONTH Back to top
Lavender or Rosemary Pears with White Wine
I read of this recipe in the Times last July but had come across a
very similar version in the South of Spain where the chef used a
vino del Condado, a Huelva wine. Outside of Huelva I don’t think you
would find it so I advise the use of a Riesling or other slightly
sweeter wine. I tried it and it worked. My advice is to use a strong
honey and you can substitute rosemary for the lavender. For each
person use 1 pear. So for a party of 6 you will need:
½ Cup Lavender flower heads or less of rosemary flowers
About 600ml of white wine
1tbsp runny honey
1 unwaxed lemon
6 even-sized firm but ripe pears
Thick cream to serve
METHOD
Place the lavender or rosemary flower heads and a small amount of
stalk in a pan that can hold the pears comfortably in one layer.
Add the wine and honey.
Take zest from the lemon. Add to the pan. Place it over a medium-low
heat and gently bring to the boil stirring until the honey melts.
Carefully peel the pears, removing all the skin, leaving the stalk
intact.
Remove the core with a knife.
Place the pears in the pan and cover and cook for about 20 minutes,
turning the pears once halfway through cooking.
Remove the pears to a serving dish, standing them up and leave to
cool.
Remove the lavender and lemon zest from the pan and cook the liquid
at a steady simmer until reduced to a quarter of the original
quantity.
It will turn to a syrup like consistency.
Pour the liquid over the pears and serve with cream. The pears
should still be hot/warm and the cream cold.
HISTORICAL NOTE Back to top
The humming of insects
Most of us are well aware that in one way or another, bees can make
sounds and the ‘hum’ of the honey bee is no longer thought of as
song. But in days gone by, there were other explanations. For Sir
John Browne in the early 1800s, the matter was an insolvable
mystery. He quotes Aristotle, but doesn’t quite believe him.
‘That Flies, Bees etc doe make that noise or humming sound by their
mouth, or, as many believe, with their wings only, would be more
warily asserted, if we consulted the determination of Aristotle,
who, as in sundry other places, so more expressly in his book of
Respiration, affirmeth this sound to be made by the allision of an
inward spirit upon a pellicle or little membrane about the precinct
or pectoral division of their body.
Sir John is sceptical though and asks how we can believe this to be
the only way that a bee can make a humming sound when they can still
hum if their wings are cut off and even at times when the head ‘of
big and lively ones’ is removed! Sir John concludes as follows:
‘The humming of insects seems still involved in mystery, nor do I
clearly see what experiments can be made to clear it up’.
POEM OF THE MONTH Back to top
This month we feature another poem from my favourite poet, the
American Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), who in her strange reclusive
life wrote so much of nature and beauty. As is often the case with
so many artists of genius, very little if any fame was hers in her
lifetime. I am still never sure if Americans themselves realise what
a treasure they have in her poetry.
Fame is a bee.
It has a song—
It has a sting—
Ah, too, it has a wing.
LETTERS Back to top
So who said this and why?...
Wherever the bees advanced, the Indians and buffalos retreated.
Dear David,
Sounds like Mark Twain
Regards, John Burgess, Welsh Beekeepers Assn.
FREE SWARM COLLECTION SERVICE
Are you available to collect swarms out of
the York area? I am trying to collate a swarm collection service
please telephone me on York 01904 438929, your name and phone number
will be on my list and not available to public viewing, the public
or council call me I then inform you of the offending swarm you
decide if you are available or not.
This service is free no charge to be made
ALSO YOU WILL NOT BE PAID FOR ANY COLLECTION BY THE PROPERTY OWNER
its a free service, you must in your favour inform the public that
damage may occur while taking a swarm.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks
David |
 |
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Back to top
Saturday 3rd March 2007 -
West Sussex Beekeepers Association BeekeepingConvention. Venue:
Lodge Hill Conference Centre, Watersfield, Pulborough, West Sussex.
Main Speakers, Rev Stephen Palmer, Michael Badger and Richard Ball
plus a choice of attending four from a total of ten workshops.
Further details from John Hunt on 01903 815655 or email
john_bateman_hunt@hotmail.com
Tuesday 24th, Wednesday 25th and Thursday 26th July 2007
- New Forest & Hampshire County Show.
The New Forest & Hampshire County Show is the highlight of Hampshire’s
social calendar featuring all the attractions that have made it so popular for
the best part of a century, bringing traditional country pursuits, new
exhibitions and demonstrations to this unique event. Put the dates in your
diary now.
There is a full range of horse and livestock competitions plus a rabbit section,
cage birds, and honey bees. The Countryside area features woodland
activities and demonstrations of rural sports, plus terrier and ferret racing.
Other favourites include the horticultural marquee featuring many nationally
acclaimed flower entries, and the Southern National Vegetable Association
Championships.
With over 600 trade stands there is a wide choice of stalls to visit many
offering goods never to be found in the shops, including antiques, crafts, and
the best of Hampshire food and produce.
We also have the Forest Fun Factory arena, a haven for children with all day
entertainment. These are just a few of the many attractions you will find at this
year’s show – you will be spoilt for choice.
A pay as you go shuttle bus service runs from Brockenhurst mainline station
right into the showground, so let the train take the strain.
Discounted tickets available on line at
www.newforestshow.co.uk or on the
credit card hotline 01590 622409 from June 1st 2007.
Additional information
Show opens 08.15 to 1800
Web site full of information – www.newforestshow.co.uk
Full Title is New Forest & Hampshire County Show.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH Back to top
Last month’s quote about the advance of bees in the USA as the
white man advanced west came from the father of American literature,
the brilliant Washington Irving. Probably his most well known
writing was the popular novel Rip Van Winkel but of course his works
spanned a far greater field than just popular novels, perhaps my
favourite being ‘The Alhambra’.
This month we feature a quote from another well know literary
figure. Who said this;
‘The busy bee has no time for sorrow.’
Editor: David Cramp
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