Late again! I know but probably better late than never and
we are now on a new war footing with a resolve to keep you
informed on time in the future which means every month
except December. Watch this space.
Apis UK is well
known for keeping beekeepers well informed of some of the
ground breaking science of their craft and this month’s
edition is no exception. We take a good look at various
aspects of pollination as well as learning about bee
sociality from an unusual angle. We cover some research news
that has only come to light today (25 Oct) which tells us
that bees can count – up to four, so now we are dealing with
a creature with a tiny brain that can communicate, learn,
navigate, and count. I never cease to be amazed. It was
years before I could count beyond four, and maths is still
my weak point.
Our recipe this month is in fact two
recipes as I have decided to branch out into dogs with a pet
recipe from America (where else?) and a really easy and
surprising recipe for humans. Please try them both and let
me know what you think. When I tried the dog one, I and my
family ate most of it!
Our poem comes from that
tragic poet Sylvia Plath whose writings are probably some of
the most powerful literature of the century and our
Historical Note deals with the propagation of the species
and the drone bee’s hand in it all. All in all I think you
will find this edition varied and interesting.
Most
of you in the UK will of course know about the petition sent
to HM government and the reply from Number 10 but in case
you didn’t, we have included it in this edition. Standing
apart from the UK scene as I do in New Zealand and
previously in Spain, it often seems that the NBU and Defra
take a lot of flack generally and I guess that some of this
may be deserved but I do recall being in HM services and
when something went wrong or wasn’t done, the press would
often have the headlines (as they still do), ‘military
commanders should hang their heads in shame’, and the call
for resignations would become a shriek from the ignorant.
What utter nonsense isn’t it? Every military commander and I
would hope every one in the NBU/Defra would love to do more
and ensure that nothing goes wrong and that every disease is
researched to within an inch of its life, but one can only
do so much with tuppence. I urge you to look to the
treasury, not to the people doing their best with very
little. (Remember that they can’t complain or slag off the
government).
In the meantime as we rush up to
Christmas, do think about the bee keeping charities. We all
know who they are and they consist of people working freely
for people who have nothing. They deserve our support
especially in these difficult times.
Keep in touch
and we’ll be back next month
BEEKEEPING NEWS
Back to top
The Petition:Many beekeepers will have
signed the petition shown below so just to keep everyone up to
date including those who didn’t there was a petition sent to
Number 10, here are the details and HM Government’s response.
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to fund
scientific research into maintaining UK Bee stocks.”
Details of Petition:“The British Beekeeping
Association has requested £8m for the government to fund 5 years
research into Colony Collapse Disorder. The government has
stated that no funds exist within the existing farming research
budget. Kept honey bees provide a significant percentage of
pollination to food crops, fruit orchards and of course provide
honey. Colony Collapse Disorder is a disease which has affected
hives in the US and has been reported in France, Germany and
Italy. Its entry into the UK is most likely inevitable. This
fundamental research needs to be performed in order to protect
the country bees before it arrives. As in almost all cases,
being prepared for something reduces its impact for a fraction
of the cost compared to being unprepared. Currently only £1.35m
per annum is available to the National Bee Unit (part of Defra),
this funds all its statutory activities as well as research. If
there is no money in the farm research budget, then money should
be made available from contingency funds.”
The Response by HM Government:Honey
bees are important pollinators of crops and wild flowers and
make an important contribution to sustainable agriculture and
the environment. Defra recognises the importance of a strong bee
health programme in England to protect these benefits and takes
very seriously any biosecurity threat to the sustainability of
the apiculture sector.
The Department has not reduced its
expenditure with the National Bee Unit (NBU) and funding for
this year remains at the same level as in recent years. In the
2007/8 financial year, Defra and the Welsh Assembly Government
are providing the NBU with funding of £1,518,000. There is an
ongoing review of expenditure on all Defra programmes, including
bee health, and it is not possible to give long term commitments
on the continuation of funding into the distant future for any
particular programme. In addition, work is underway to develop a
bee health strategy. This is being discussed with all sectors of
the industry and should help establish priorities and clarify
the roles and responsibilities of government and the industry.
The strategy will also determine whether the current approach to
disease control is the most effective use of resources or
whether alternative approaches might yield better results in
terms of disease protection, including any response to potential
new threats. That review will include consideration of resource
implications and the role that industry has to play in working
in partnership with government. In the event of any resultant
proposals to change the provision of the NBU’s inspection
services, there will be further consultation.
In
addition, the budget for Bee Health R&D in 2007/08 is £192,000,
which is comparable to previous years. The R&D programme
underpins bee health policy and covers work on all exotic and
statutory pests and diseases of bees. This year the programme is
focusing on the development of a system for the monitoring and
surveillance of Small Hive Beetle (Aethina tumida (Murray)) and
assessing the effectiveness of the shook swarm technique for the
control of European Foul Brood. In addition, a 3 year PhD
studentship studying bee viruses will start this year. Defra is
also collaborating with other funders in order to optimise the
outcome of the research programme and the inaugural meeting of
the Research Funders Forum will take place early in November.
Defra is aware of the press reports about the serious
situation in the USA in respect of cases of abnormally high
levels of colony loss described as Colony Collapse Disorder.
However, despite continuing press speculation, we do not have
evidence to suggest that there is something similar happening in
the UK. Scientists and inspectors at the NBU are monitoring the
situation and are in contact with experts in the USA and in
Europe to learn about developments.
It is not unusual for
some colonies to be found dead or absent at the end of winter.
If beekeepers report such cases in England and Wales to the NBU
they are routinely investigated. The very limited number of
cases of high losses for which there is no ready explanation is
being investigated in depth by the NBU and bee inspectors. The
figures from inspections strongly indicate that colony losses in
2007 will not be significantly higher than the 11.1% recorded in
2006, reflecting the upward trend since 2001. The NBU’s research
and apiary assessments suggest these losses are primarily due to
Varroa and inappropriate control. Uncontrolled mite populations
can lead to an increase in the associated secondary pathogens
like viruses or Nosema.
RESEARCH NEWS
Back to top
New Research Focuses on Anti Varroa Fungi
Bees world wide are suffering a serious decline and despite our
current limited understanding of that decline, most beekeepers
and scientists believe that varroa is one of the causes – if the
chief one. Biological control technologies (the use of one
organism to control another) could offer a way of moving pest
management strategies away from a reliance on these synthetic
pesticides and many alternatives have been researched and tried
in many countries, but no natural insect or other enemies of
varroa species have been identified on the varroa or on their
bee hosts.
 |
| Rothamsted Research and Warwick
University find new varroa enemies. |
|
Now Defra-funded studies by researchers at the University of
Warwick’s plant research group Warwick HRI, and Rothamsted
Research has found some new natural enemies of varroa from other
hosts.
The university researchers under Dr Dave Chandler
examined 50 different types of fungi that afflict other insects
(known as entomopathogenic fungi) to see if they would kill
varroa. They needed to find fungi that were effective killers of
varroa, had a low impact on the bees, and worked in the warm and
dry conditions typically found in bee hives. Of the original 50
fungi they are now focusing on four that best match those three
requirements.”
The team now hope to secure additional
funding to further examine the effectiveness of these four fungi
and to begin to consider the best ways of applying this weapon
across the hive. A number of approaches are being considered
including having fungal footbaths at the main entrances to
hives. However the complex environment within bee hives means
that more devious means of application may be needed.
Dr
Chandler hosted the Society for Invertebrate Pathology
international conference at the University of Warwick which
started on 4th August, where a special session is was held on
honey bee health. The session brought together some the world’s
leading experts in bee colony collapse disorder to discuss the
full range of its possible underlying causes.
Bumble Bee DecisionsA very interesting
study by scientist from Queen Mary, University of London, showed
that Bumblebees can learn to avoid camouflaged predators by
sacrificing foraging speed for predator detection.
One of
the bumblebee’s main predators is the crab spider. Crab spiders
hunt pollinating insects like bees and butterflies by lying in
wait on flowers, and are particularly difficult for their prey
to spot because they can change their colour to blend in with
their surroundings
Learning to avoid the enemy
Bumble
bees will slow down and look for monsters like
this.
|
|
 |
Dr Tom Ings and Professor Lars Chittka from Queen Mary’s
School of Biological and Chemical Sciences in London wanted to
discover whether bumblebees could learn to avoid these crab
spiders. Their study, funded by the NERC and published in the
journal Current Biology, shows how a run in with a spider
affected the bees’ foraging patterns.
Dr Ings and his
team allowed a colony of bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) to
forage in a meadow of artificial flowers in a ‘flight arena’
which contained ‘robotic’ crab spiders. Some of the spiders were
well hidden, others were highly visible. Whenever a bee landed
on a flower which contained a robot spider, the spider ‘caught’
the bee by trapping it briefly between two foam pincers, before
then setting it free to continue foraging.
The team used
3D tracking software to follow the bees’ movements, and found
that the bees which were caught by a camouflaged spider slowed
down their subsequent inspection flights. Although they lost
valuable foraging time by slowing down, they were more likely to
accurately detect whether there was a hidden crab spider
present.
In addition, the bees which had already been
caught a few times the day before by the hidden spiders behaved
as if they saw spiders where there were none i.e. they rejected
foraging opportunities on safe flowers, ‘just in case’ and were
more wary than bees which had been caught by the more
conspicuous spiders. Surprisingly, their findings suggest that
there is no apparent benefit to the spider in being camouflaged,
at least in terms of prey capture rates. Spider camouflage
didn’t increase the chances of a bumblebee being captured, or
reduce the rate at which the bees learnt to avoid predators. But
our results did show that the bees which encountered camouflaged
spiders were worse off in terms of reduced foraging efficiency.
Dr Ings presented his full findings on 3 September 2008 to the
British Ecological Society’s Annual Meeting at Imperial College,
London.
Insect Pollination Worldwide Estimated At
€ 153 billion (U.S. $217 Billion) in 2005Scientists
from the French research organisations INRA and CNRS and a UFZ
German scientist found that the worldwide economic value of the
pollination service provided by insect pollinators, mainly honey
bees, was €153 billion in 2005 for the main crops that feed the
world. This figure amounted to 9.5% of the total value of the
world agricultural food production. The study also determined
that pollinator disappearance would translate into a consumer
surplus loss estimated between €190 to €310 billion. The results
of this study on the economic valuation of the vulnerability of
world agriculture confronted with pollinator decline are
published in the journal, ‘Ecological Economics’ and show some
other interesting facts concerning pollination economics as
well.
According to the study, the decline of pollinators would
have main effects on three main crop categories (following FAO
terminology); fruits and vegetable were especially affected with
a loss estimated at €50 billion each, followed by edible oilseed
crops with €39 billion.
Among biodiversity concerns, the
decline of pollinators has become a major issue, but its impact
remains an open question. In particular, the economic value of
the pollination service they provide had not been assessed on
solid ground to date. Based upon the figures of the literature
review published in 2007 on pollinator dependence of the main
crops used for food, the study uses FAO and original data to
calculate the value of the pollinator contribution to the food
production in the world. As stated above, the total economic
value of pollination worldwide amounted to €153 billion in 2005,
which represented 9.5% of the value of the world agricultural
production used for human food that year. Three main crop
categories (following FAO terminology) were particularly
concerned; fruits and vegetable were especially affected with a
loss estimated at €50 billion each, followed by edible oilseed
crops with €39 billion. The impact on stimulants (coffee,
cocoa…), nuts and spices was less, at least in economic terms.
The scientists also found that the average value of crops
that depend on insect pollinators for their production was on
average much higher than that of the crops not pollinated by
insects, such as cereals or sugar cane (€760 and €150 per metric
ton, respectively). The vulnerability ratio was defined as the
ratio of the economic value of insect pollination divided by the
total crop production value. This ratio varied considerably
among crop categories with a maximum of 39% for stimulants
(coffee and cocoa are insect-pollinated), 31% for nuts and 23%
for fruits. There was a positive correlation between the value
of a crop category per production unit and its ratio of
vulnerability; the higher the dependence on insect pollinators,
the higher the price per metric ton. From the standpoint of the
stability of world food production, the results indicate that
for three crop categories – namely fruits, vegetables and
stimulants – the situation would be considerably altered
following the complete loss of insect pollinators because world
production would no longer be enough to fulfil the needs at
their current levels. Net importers, like the European
Community, would especially be affected. This study is not a
forecast, however, as the estimated values do not take into
account all the strategic responses that producers and all
segments of the food chain could use if faced with such a loss.
Furthermore, these figures consider a total loss of pollinators
rather than a gradual decline and, while a few studies that show
a linear relationship between pollinator density and production,
this must be confirmed. The consequence of pollinator decline on
the well being of consumers, taken here in its economic sense,
was calculated based on different price elasticities of demand.
The price elasticity represents the effects of price change on
consumer purchase, that is, the percent drop in the amount
purchased following a price increase of 1%. In the study,
researchers assumed that a realistic value for the
price-elasticities would be between -0.8 and -1.5 (for a value
of -0.8, the consumer would buy 0.8% less of the product when
its price increases by 1%). Under these hypotheses, the loss of
consumer surplus would be between €190 and €310 billion in 2005.
These results highlight that the complete loss of insect
pollinators, particularly that of honey bees and wild bees which
are the main crop pollinators, would not lead to the
catastrophic disappearing of world agriculture, but would
nevertheless result in substantial economic losses even though
the figures consider only the crops which are directly used for
human food. The adaptive strategies of economic actors – such as
re-allocation of land among crops and use of substitutes in the
food industry – would likely limit somewhat the consequences of
pollinator loss. Yet researchers did not take into account the
impact of pollination shortage onto seeds used for planting,
which is very important for many vegetable crops as well as
forage crops and thereby the whole cattle industry, non-food
crops and, perhaps most importantly, the wild flowers and all
the ecosystemic services that the natural flora provides to
agriculture and to society as a whole.
The information in
this article was adapted from materials provided by Helmholtz
Association of German Research Centres.
Feeling a bit off colour? Bumble-bees go 'off
colour' and can't remember which flowers have the most nectar
when they are feeling under the weather, a new study from the
University of Leicester reveals.
The behaviour of the bumbling bees reveals that, like
humans who are ill, bees are often not at their most astute and
clever when they feel poorly.
Researchers found that
disease can influence different behaviours including foraging,
mate choice, and predator avoidance. Several recent papers have
shown reduced learning abilities in infected insects. However,
it is difficult to separate the effects of the immune response
from the direct effects of the parasite. That was the purpose of
this study.
Bees were divided into a control group and a
group that were injected with lipopolysaccharide, a substance
that stimulated an immune response without a need for the bee to
be infected with a disease. Bees were offered the choice of blue
and yellow artificial flowers only one type of which contained
sugar water. An individual's flight was recorded over ninety
visits to these flowers. Eventually the bees spent almost all of
their time going to the rewarding flowers, but it took the
immune stimulated bees longer to reach this point.The scientists
realised that this work has two important applications. Firstly,
there is a lot of interest in the connections between the immune
system and the nervous system in human biology. This research
was the first to show that these interactions also exist in the
much more experimentally tractable insects.Secondly, there is
concern about both the decline in wild bumble-bee species and
the effects of disease on the honeybee industry. It has been
shown that learning is vitally important to how well a colony
prospers. This effect of immunity on learning highlights a
previously unconsidered effect of disease on colony success.
Future work will look at the basis of this neuro-immune
interaction. Is it due to the immune system using up some
resource required to form memories or is it due to the damaging
effects of the immune response on the nervous system?
The research was conducted in the Department of Biology, in
collaboration with the Department of Genetics, at the University
of Leicester.More Research on Fungus V
Varroa from the USA
|
| Metarhizium
anisopliae Could this be an answer? |
|
A natural fungus could be a non-chemical alternative for
beekeepers looking for ways to control the parasitic varroa
mite, according to Agricultural Research Service scientists in
Weslaco, Texas.
For several years, scientists in the ARS
Beneficial Insects Research Unit at Weslaco have been looking
for a natural organism that's harmless to bees but kills the
mites.
New, non-chemical controls are needed because the
mite has developed resistance to the only approved
chemicals--fluvalinate and coumaphos--now used against varroa.
So the researchers looked at various organisms, tried different
dosages and application methods, and conducted toxicity tests.
Finally, they selected strains of the fungus Metarhizium
anisopliae that proved highly pathogenic to the mites.
This potent fungus, which also kills termites, doesn't harm bees
or affect queen reproduction. To test the fungus, the scientists
coated plastic strips with dry fungal spores and placed them
inside the hives. Since bees naturally attack anything entering
their hives, they tried to chew the strips, thereby spreading
the spores to the whole colony.
In field trials, once
the strips treated with M. anisopliae were inside the hives,
several bees quickly made contact with the spores. Within 5 to
10 minutes, all the bees in the hive were exposed to the fungus,
and most of the mites on the bees died within three to five
days. The fungus provided excellent control of varroa without
impeding colony development or population size. Tests showed
that Metarhizium was as effective as fluvalinate, even 42 days
after application.
The scientific team is now fine-tuning the strategy for
transfer to producers.
Editors Note
I have seen already a variation of this fungus on sale for use
against various pests and is on sale in the USA as Met52. (Note,
this is not for use in bee hives).
Honey as a
treatment for chronic rhinosinusitisMost beekeepers
already knew that honey has got antibacterial properties and
many honeys especially manuka and buckwheat honey are very
powerful in this respect but this research shows amother
application for this wonderful substance
Honey is very
effective in killing bacteria in all its forms, especially the
drug-resistant biofilms that make treating chronic
rhinosinusitis difficult, according to research presented during
the 2008 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck
Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO, in
Chicago, IL
The study, authored by Canadian researchers
at the University of Ottawa, found that in eleven isolates of
three separate biofilms (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and
methicicillin-resistant and -suseptible Staphylococcus aureus),
honey was significantly more effective in killing both
planktonic and biofilm-grown forms of the bacteria, compared
with the rate of bactericide by antibiotics commonly used
against the bacteria.
Given the historical uses of honey
in some cultures as a homeopathic treatment for bad wound
infections, the authors conclude that their findings may hold
important clinical implications in the treatment of refractory
chronic rhinosinusitis, with topical treatment a possibility.
 |
|
Honey is very effective in killing bacteria in all its
forms, especially the drug -resistant biofilms that make
treating chronic rhinosinusitis difficult |
Honey is very effective in killing bacteria in all its
forms, especially the drug -resistant biofilms that make
treating chronic rhinosinusitis difficult
Chronic
rhinosinusitis affects approximately 31 million people each year
in the United States alone, costing over $4 billion in direct
health expenditures and lost workplace productivity. It is among
the three most common chronic diseases in all of North America.
Reference:
Effectiveness of Honey
on S. aureus and P. aeruginosa Biofilms. Authors: Talal
Alandejani, MD (presenter); Joseph G. Marsan, MD; Wendy Ferris,
BSc, MLT, MSc; Robert Slinger; Frank Chan, PhD. Date: September
23, 2008.And honey for burns
And new Research from the University of Auckland in New Zealand
provides us with further research on the healing properties of
honey.
Researchers from the university have shown that
honey may reduce healing times in patients suffering mild to
moderate burn wounds. A systematic review by Cochrane
Researchers concluded that honey might be useful as an
alternative to traditional wound dressings in treating burns.
"We're treating these results with caution, but it looks
like honey can help speed up healing in some burns," says lead
researcher Dr Andrew Jull, of the Clinical Trials Research Unit
at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Honey has
been used in wound treatment since ancient times. The mechanism
of action is unclear. While honey may help the body remove dead
tissue and provide a favourable environment for the growth of
new, healthy tissue, current interest in medicinal honey focuses
largely on its antibacterial effects.
The review brings
together data from 19 clinical trials involving 2554 patients
with a range of different wounds. Honey was more effective in
reducing healing time compared to some gauze and film dressings
that are often used to treat moderate burns. However, the
researchers were unable to show any clear benefits for the
healing of grazes, lacerations, surgical wounds and leg ulcers.
The researchers don't advise using honey to treat other
types of wounds. "Health services should invest in treatments
that have been shown to work," says Dr Jull. "But, we will keep
monitoring new research to try and establish the effect of
honey."
 |
| Scientists from Auckland
University have studies the use of honey for burns |
Bees Can Mediate Escape of Genetically
Engineered Material Over Several KilometersA study
by scientists from the Nairobi-headquartered international
research centre icipe, in collaboration with the French Institut
de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) has established that
bees have the potential to mediate the escape of transgenes
(genetically engineered material) from crops to their wild
relatives over several kilometres.
The findings, which
were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences of 9th September, bear significant implications for the
introduction of genetically modified crops in Africa and
elsewhere.
 |
| Isolation by distance may
not be feasible. (Whoever thought it would?) |
The research, which was partly funded by USAID and the
Rockefeller Foundation, was triggered by the planned release of
insect-resistant genetically engineered cowpea in Africa, where
cowpea’s wild relative, Vigna unguiculata var. spontanea, is
widely distributed. For the first time with insect pollinators,
the scientists used radio tracking to determine the movements of
the carpenter bee Xylocopa flavorufa and their implications for
long-distance pollen flow.
“Bees can visit flowers as far
as six kilometres away from their nest. From complete flight
records in which bees visited wild and domesticated plant
populations, we concluded that bees can mediate gene flow, and
potentially allow transgenes to escape over several kilometres,”
explains icipe scientist Remy S. Pasquet.
He adds that
for genetically engineered cowpea in Africa, these results
indicate that although pollen movement beyond a few hundred
meters has a low probability, strict isolation by distance may
not be feasible.
This research therefore confirms the
widely held hypothesis that deploying genetically engineered
cowpea in sub-Saharan Africa may mean that an escape of the
transgene to the wild cowpea relative is inevitable.
Adapted from materials provided by ICIPE -- African Insect
Science for Food and HealthFood and
PheromonesScientists from Queen Mary College,
University of London have found that bumblebees choose whether
to search for food according to how well stocked their larders
are.
 |
| “Just
checking the larder” |
|
When bumblebees return to the nest from a successful
foraging mission, they produce a pheromone which encourages
their nest mates to also go out and find food. Scientists had
originally thought that these pheromones elicited a standard
response from all bees. But new research from Queen Mary’s
School of Biological and Chemical Sciences has shown that bees’
response to the pheromone changes according to their situation.
Drs Mathieu Molet and Nigel Raine of the college have shown
that worker bees are much more likely to respond to the
pheromone and leave the nest in search of food, if the colony
has little or no food reserves left.
They found that it
was a likely scenario that as flying around all day to find
nectar and pollen from flowers is hard work, it makes sense that
bees are more likely to respond to the pheromone when honey
reserves are low.
Writing in the journal Behavioral
Ecology and Sociobiology, the Natural Environment Research
Council funded team explain how they used radio-frequency
identification (RFID) to automatically record the activity of
bees in the lab.
Different colonies of bumblebees (Bombus
terrestris) were stocked with different levels of food reserves
(honeypots). Artificial foraging pheromones were applied to the
bees, and they were monitored over 16,000 ‘foraging bouts’. The
response to the pheromones was stronger in colonies with less
food - with more worker bees becoming active, and more foraging
bouts being performed. The team’s findings suggest that the
pheromone can modulate a bumblebee’s foraging activity -
preventing needless energy expenditure and exposure to risk when
food stores are already high. This discovery could have a very
practical outcome for growers. In future, such artificial
pheromones could also be used to increase the effectiveness of
bumblebee colonies pollinating commercial crops, such as
tomatoes.
This article was adapted from materials
provided by Queen Mary College, University of London.
Honey bees can learn to count – up to four!
An Australian and a Swedish researcher say they have proved
honey bees are more intelligent than previously thought and not
only can they communicate using a highly developed language but
they can also count.
A researcher from the University of
Queensland put five markers inside a tunnel and placed nectar in
one of them, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio
reported.
Honey bees placed in the tunnel flew to the
marker with the food, and would still fly to the same marker
stripe when the food was removed.
"We find that if you
train them to the third stripe, they will look subsequently in
the third stripe," researcher Mandyam Srinivasan said.
"If you train them to the fourth stripe, they will look the
fourth stripe and so on. But their ability to count seems to go
only up to four. They can't count beyond four.
"The more
we look at these creatures that have a brain the size of a
sesame seed, the more astonished we are. They really have a lot
of the capacities that we so-called higher human beings
possess."
The research was carried out jointly with
Swedish researcher Marie Dacke.
 |
|
Four bees. Any more could prove a problem! |
|
Another Bee Disease Mystery
Despite or current advanced level of understanding regarding
bees and bee diseases, it is still evident that we still have a
lot to learn and this has been shown by the current problems
with bees, especially in the USA. However, some recent very
interesting research has indicated that scientists are one step
closer to understanding the recent demise of billions of honey
bees after making an important discovery about the transmission
of a common bee virus. Deformed wing virus (DWV) is passed
between adult bees and to their developing brood by a parasitic
mite called Varroa destructor when it feeds. But as usual, any
new piece of research sparks off more questions than it has
answered and this is just the case here because research
published in the July 2008 issue of the Journal of General
Virology suggests that the virus does not replicate in Varroa,
highlighting the need for further investigation.
 |
|
How does Varroa Transmit the Virus? |
|
Deformed wing virus has been linked
to the collapse of honey bee colonies in
Britain. In recent years the prevalence of
the virus has increased globally in colonies
infested with Varroa. It is widely accepted
that the virus replicates in the mite and is
then transmitted to bees when it bites.
However, researchers at Rothamsted Research
and the University of Nottingham have found
that the virus does not replicate in the
mite, suggesting an alternative means of
transmission.
"Experiments and field
observations have shown that V. destructor
is able to transmit several different
unrelated honey bee viruses, like acute bee
paralysis virus and Kashmir bee virus as
well as deformed wing virus," said Professor
Teresa Santillan-Galicia from Rothamsted
Research. "But we still don't know exactly
how these viruses are passed from the mite
to the bee."
The researchers wanted
to find out whether the virus replicates in
the mite and if so where this occurs, to
understand how the virus is transmitted.
They used a process called
immunohistochemistry which involves using
antibodies which bind to specific surface
proteins, enabling the virus particles to be
located. There was no evidence of virus
replication within the cells of the mite;
the virus was found only in the lumen of the
gut, suggesting it was merely eaten."The
presence of deformed wing virus in large
amounts in mite faeces suggests it is picked
up during feeding on an infected bee," said
Professor Santillan-Galicia. "However, one
important question remains -- how is the
virus transmitted to bees?"
One
possibility is that the mouthparts of the
mite could become contaminated with the
virus during feeding, but this is an
unlikely answer. Varroa mites cannot
regurgitate their gut contents as there is a
membrane in the oesophagus that acts as a
non-return valve, so they could not pass the
virus on this way either. Unfortunately, not
enough is known about the anatomy of the
mite, or their feeding mechanism, to suggest
other routes of transmission.
"It is
likely that the amount of virus acquired by
the mite plays an important role in the
interaction between deformed wing virus and
the Varroa mite," said Professor
Santillan-Galicia. "Full understanding of
the interaction between deformed wing virus
and the Varroa mite will provide basic
information for the future development of
more sustainable control strategies against
the mite and the virus. Our work provides
elements of understanding but further
research in this area is needed."
The Guidance of ‘Streaker Bees’
It's one of the hallmarks of
spring: a swarm of bees on the move. But how
a swarm locates a new nest site when less
than 5% of the community know the way
remains a mystery. Curious to find out how
swarms cooperate and are guided to their new
homes, Tom Seeley, a neurobiologist from
Cornell University, and engineers Kevin
Schultz and Kevin Passino from The Ohio
State University teamed up to find out how
swarms are guided to their new home.
The
two theories
There are two most
likely theories on how swarms find the way.
- In the 'subtle guide' theory, a small
number of scout bees, which had been
involved in selecting the new nest site,
guide the swarm by flying unobtrusively in
its midst; near neighbours adjust their
flight path to avoid colliding with the
guides while more distant insects align
themselves to the guides' general direction.
- In the 'streaker bee' hypothesis, bees
follow a few conspicuous guides that fly
through the top half of the swarm at high
speed.
Seeley already had still photographs of the
streaks left by high-speed bees flying through a
swarm's upper layers, but what Seeley needed was
movie footage of a swarm on the move to see if
the swarm was following high-velocity streakers
or being unobtrusively directed by guides. The
researchers decided to film swarming bees with
high-definition movie cameras to find out how
they were directed to their final destination.
 |
| An
apparently aimless bee swarm! But are
they? |
But filming diffuse swarms spread along a
12m length with each individual on her own
apparently random course is easier said than
done. For a start you have to locate your camera
somewhere along the swarm's flight path, which
is impossible to predict in most environments.
The team overcame this problem by relocating to
Appledore Island, which has virtually no high
vegetation for swarms to settle on. By
transporting large colonies of bees, complete
with queen, to the island, the team could get
the insects to swarm from a stake to the only
available nesting site; a comfortable nesting
box. Situating the camera on the most direct
route between the two sites, the team
successfully filmed several swarms' chaotic
progress at high resolution.
Following
the filming, the scientists analysed over 3500
frames from a swarm fly-by to build up a picture
of the insects' flight directions and vertical
position. After months of bee-clicking, Schultz
was able to find patterns in the insects'
progress. For example, bees in the top of the
swarm tended to fly faster and generally aimed
towards the nest, with bees concentrated in the
middle third of the top layer showing the
strongest preference to head towards the nest.
The scientists were surprised at how
random the bees' trajectories were in the bottom
half of the swarm, 'they were going in every
direction,' he says, but the bees that were
flying towards the new nest generally flew
faster than bees that were heading in other
directions; they appeared to latch onto the
high-speed streakers. All of which suggests that
the swarm was following high-speed streaker bees
to their new location.
Social Behaviour in Some Bees
Encouraged by Parasites
The development of sociality in bees has long
been one of the most studied aspects of these
fascinating creatures and the honey bee is
probably the most studied of all, but there are
thousands of other bee species out there all
showing different degrees of sociality and in a
fascinating piece of research, scientists have
found that in at least one case, parasites may
actually be helping in this. A tiny parasitic
fly is affecting the social behavior of a
nocturnal bee, helping to determine which
individuals become queens and which become
workers.
 |
| Megalopta genalis |
 |
| A
fly of the Chloropidae family |
The finding
by researchers from the University of Washington
and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
is the first documented example of a parasite
having a positive affect on the social behavior
of its host. This is accomplished by
cleptoparasitism – in this case fly larvae
stealing food from the developing immature bees.
The researchers found that smaller bees that
emerge in a nest are dominated by their mothers.
These small bees are more likely to stay and act
as helping workers, while larger bees tend to
depart and start new nests as egg-laying queens.
Bees that emerge from cells, or brood chambers,
that also house flies are smaller than their
nest mates from fly-free cells. The flies may
encourage worker behavior in some bees.
“We often think of parasitism in terms of it
affecting an animal’s fitness, its survival or
its ability to reproduce,” said Sean O’Donnell,
a UW associate professor of psychology and
co-author of the paper appearing in the current
issue of the Journal of Insect Behavior. “Here
the parasite is not living inside another
animal, but is still stealing resources from the
host.
“We think these fly parasites are
not affecting the lifespan of the bees, and the
bees’ mothers benefit by having a helper, or
worker, stay around to protect the nest,
increasing survivability.”
O’Donnell and
his colleagues studied two closely related
tropical social bees, Megalopta genalis and
Megalopta ecuadoria, and a family of very small
parasitic flies called Chloropidae.
The
bees are important pollinators of night-blooming
plants and the female bees can nest alone or
live in small colonies. A colony is typically
made up of two to four individuals – a queen and
her offspring.
Behavioral observations
showed that non-reproductive foragers and guards
are significantly smaller than the queen bee in
a nest, although the relative size of individual
bees varied from nest to nest. This is where the
flies apparently fit in and are affecting the
bees’ behavior. The bees nest in hollowed twigs
and sticks and the flies flick their eggs into
the entrance to the bee nests. Some of these
eggs randomly fall into cells, or chambers,
prepared by the bees, each to hold a larva and
pollen that the larva eats. The cells are then
sealed, so if a cell does contain fly eggs the
young flies are competing with the bee larva for
a limited amount of food.
There is a
natural size variation in bees and this is based
in part on the amount of food available in the
cell. A fly or flies in a cell reducing the
amount of food could be a potentially important
factor. It seems that the more flies in a cell
the smaller the bee is. The key here is relative
body size compared to nest mates. The larger
individuals become queens because they are not
dominated.
The researchers were able to
culture the bees and flies from individual cells
and counted as many as 15 of the tiny flies in a
single cell. Some cells did not contain flies.
“This study is a counterintuitive take on
parasitic infection. It encourages us to look
for complicated ecological relationships between
different species. Parasitism may encourage
sociality in some situations. Here it is
promoting social behavior.
Adapted from
materials provided by University of Washington.
How Plants Control their Pollinators
Have
you ever wondered how plants control who and what comes to take
their nectar or how they prevent pollinators from just stealing
the nectar without helping in the pollination process? Well
millions of years of evolution have enabled plants to sort this
problem out and scientists from the Max Planck Institute for
Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany have discovered just how they
manage it. This piece of research is fairly long and complex but
stick with it because yet again nature is shown off to its best.
Obviously, animals “personally” bring their gametes
together seeking out sexual partners, mating, fertilizing, and
reproducing. Plants, however, are sessile organisms and require
the help of a third party, the pollinator, which can be a bird,
mouse or insect that transport pollen to receptive stigmas
frequently over large distances.
 |
| The colours and
shapes of flowers as well as their volatile
signals and nectar attract and reward the
pollinators for their efforts. But not all
flower visitors are pollinators, as many come
only to steal nectar without transporting pollen
or eat flower parts. |
|
The research scientists have discovered that the chemistry
of floral scents and nectar enforces good pollinator behaviour
and allows plants to optimize their ability to exchange gametes
with each other. In a paper published in the journal Science,
the scientists report the results from field experiments with
genetically modified wild tobacco plants that show that
particular components of the floral fragrance attracted
pollinators, while bitter-tasting and poisonous components of
floral nectar enforced modest drinking behaviour.
Apart
from sugars, the floral nectar of tobacco also contains
nicotine, which is bitter and used to deter nectar thieves or
herbivores. But given the right timing and dose, nicotine in the
nectar and the attractant, benzyl acetone, released at night as
part of the floral scent, ensure that the visits of pollinators
such as hummingbirds and hawk moths optimize the tobacco plant’s
ability to exchange gametes and produce out crossed seeds. Prior
to these field tests, the researchers showed that the amount of
nicotine in the floral nectar of wild tobacco influenced
pollination by the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta and two
hummingbird species.
To understand the floral
biochemistry and plants’ ecological interactions with their
mobile visitors, the researchers generated four different lines
of genetically modified wild tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata).
Apart from control plants that had received only a blind copy of
the transgenic DNA fragment, transgenic lines were created (by
means of RNA interference) that were unable to produce either
nicotine or
benzyl acetone;
the latter has a sweet odour we know from cocoa beans and is
similar to the smell of jasmine and strawberry. A fourth line of
transgenic plants could produce neither nicotine nor benzyl
acetone.
After a series of control experiments in the
field showed that the genetic modifications per se did not
influence growth, flower formation, nectar production, or the
frequency of outcrossing, the scientists ran a series of three
tests:
First, measurements of floral nectar showed that
its volume was only half the size in transgenic plants which
were impaired in nicotine production, compared to control plants
and the lines that could not produce benzyl acetone as an
attractant.
Conclusion: Floral visitors are principally
attracted by the scent, and they drink more nectar if it doesn’t
taste bitter. Using video cameras, the researchers confirmed
this result: Both attractant-deficient lines were rarely visited
by hummingbirds (e.g. Archilochus alexandri) and white-lined
sphinx moths (Hyles lineata). When visitors took nectar from
flowers which contained a natural amount of deterring nicotine,
they stayed for a short time only, while they enjoyed the
nicotine-free nectar of corresponding transgenic lines.
Consequently, these flowers were visited for longer periods,
especially by hummingbirds.
However, such observations do
not prove that different visiting behaviours affect outcrossing
and reproduction among plants. Therefore, two further analyses
were performed, one focused on female fitness (production rate
of seeds in the ovary), the other on male fitness (successful
pollination of neighbouring plants).
To determine female
fitness, the flowers of the four transgenic plant lines were
emasculated by removing the anthers. This enabled the
researchers to measure only animal-mediated fertilization
success rates, because self-pollination was prevented – a method
utilized by plant breeders. It could be shown that only the
control plants were normally cross-pollinated by pollen of the
surrounding wild-grown tobacco plants, whereas the transgenic
nicotine- and benzyl acetone-deficient lines could only produce
less than half of the seeds. The scientists measured the male
fitness of the four transgenic lines by emasculating flowers of
plants and subsequently determining the origin of pollen which
had fertilized their seeds with DNA probes. This paternity test
allowed scientists to identify which of the transgenic plant
lines were most successful at passing their pollen along to
neighbouring plants. Here it could also be shown that the
control plants producing natural amounts of nicotine and benzyl
acetone were the most potent ones; the big losers (almost five
times less of cross-fertilized seeds) were the plants that
produced neither nicotine nor benzyl acetone.
Interestingly, during the growing season, the male fertilization
success switched from the attractant (benzyl acetone)-deficient
to the nicotine-deficient plants. In other words, the influence
of nicotine in the nectar on successful pollinator-mediated
fertilization of tobacco plants decreased continuously, whereas
the attractant became more and more important. These
measurements were confirmed by video recordings which showed
that early in the year, when hummingbirds visit tobacco,
nicotine in the nectar causes them to drink less of the bitter
nectar, and in turn visit other flowers, thus increasing pollen
transfer. Later in the year, moths visit frequently, attracted
by the odour of benzyl acetone. The bitter taste of the nectar
doesn’t seem to bother them.
The leader of the studies,
Ian Baldwin, notes that just as the manufacturers of soft drinks
protect their formulas and strive for constancy in order not to
lose market share, altering their recipes only in response to
the dictates of global sales, so plants evolve and incorporate
ingredients into their nectar recipes in response to the
dictates of their Darwinian fitness. “Nectar, which was thought
to be nature’s soft drink, may not be so soft after all,”
Baldwin says. Unlike animals, plants are sessile, and through
chemistry, flowers can optimize visitors’ behaviour.
The
scientists also observed that nicotine in the nectar deters
flower-eating insects which have a straightforward negative
impact on reproduction. Odorant attractants lure not only
pollinators but also herbivores. Tobacco plants seem to solve
this dilemma by using nicotine as a deterrent.
The
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology was founded by
the Max Planck Society in March 1996. The Thuringian town of
Jena was selected because it is home to the
Friedrich-Schiller-University and many other research centres,
making it an attractive scientific location. The establisment of
the new institute building on the Beutenberg Campus with
immediate proximity to other biological and chemical institutes
offers excellent potential for scientific co-operations and the
establishment of networks.
The institute attracts
researchers from all over the world. At the moment it hosts
scientists from 24 different countries. Besides the five
directors who are heads of the departments, more than 70
scientists and 50 PhD and graduate students do their research
work here.
An important task of the institute is
training young researchers in modern techniques of chemical
ecology. We have established a special graduate program, the
International Max Planck Research
School, that offers the possibility for highly
qualified young researchers to conduct their research in an
international atmosphere.
RECIPE OF THE MONTH
Back to top
This month we bring you two delicious and very easy
recipes which although simple and quick, will amaze your friend
– and your dogs! The first is for humans and the second is for
your dogs although I don’t really see why humans shouldn’t eat
them as well.
Honey & Gorgonzola
Mushrooms
Grease an ovenproof pan and
preheat oven to 180C.
Remove the stalks of the
mushrooms. Brush a little honey onto the gills of the
mushrooms.
Crumble the cheese and place on top
of the mushrooms.
Place into the oven a bake for
15- 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the
mushrooms cooked.
|
And one for the Dogs (Obviously American as
no one else would give these to dogs and also obvious from the
use of cups as a measure)
 |
Peanut Butter & Honey
Biscuits
This recipe was sent to me as a
web site by a friend. The website is:
http://www.agirlandherdogs.com/19/recipes-1-peanut-butter-honey-biscuits-and-2-cranberry-pumpkin-treats/
A Girl and her Dogs – A tale of many tails.
If you try it out I’m sure the author would love to hear
from you. Take a look at the site anyway. For pet lovers
it’s great fun!
3/4 cup of flour (wheat or white
- I used wheat)
1 egg (or1/4 cup of Eggbeaters)
1 tbs honey (or molasses)
1 tsp of creamy
peanut butter
1/4 cup of shortening
1 tsp
of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4
cup rolled oats (wheat or regular - preferably quick
cook)
1/2 tsp vanilla
Heat honey & peanut
butter until runny (about 20 seconds in the microwave).
Mix all ingredients together and drop by the spoonful
onto a lightly greased cookie sheet (or roll with
rolling pin between 2 sheets of floured and/or greased
wax paper and then cut into cookie shapes) and bake at
350 degrees F for 8 t0 10 minutes. The writer says it
should make 40 - 50 small biscuits, but she had to
double it to get that many. But these were their
favorites! She goes on to say “Also, I added about a 1/4
cup of Reese’s peanut butter chips to the mix and it
came out great! I even melted some peanut butter, table
cream and honey together and made a coating to spread on
top (and then I added sprinkles!)”
|
HISTORICAL NOTE
Back to top
On the Breeding of Bees, and of the Drone
This writing is taken from Sir John Moore in 1707 and shows the
then confusion surrounding the propagation of the species. It
could also have confused many youngsters if they had been told
this when learning about the birds and the bees!
There is a great contest among philosophical bee masters how
bees are generated: some are of the opinion that they never
generate, but receive and bring home their seed from flowers;
others say that they have amongst ‘em both sexes, yet do not
agree which are the males and which the females.
The
drone is a gross stingless bee. That spendeth his time in
idleness; yet there is such a necessary use of him that without
him the bee cannot be: it is the opinion of some that he is made
of a honey bee, which is even as likely as that of a dwarf,
having his guts pulled out should become a giant. The truth is,
the drone is the same species with the honey bee but of a
different sex and by whose masculine virtue and natural heat the
honey bee secretly conceiveth and beginneth their breeding at
the sun’s entrance into Pisces when they first gather on the
flowers; but their chief time is Aires, Taurus and Gemini, which
months yield ambrosia in great plenty and virtue.
The bees will be sure to serve themselves first, their first
generation being always female.
POEM OF THE MONTH
Back to top
For our poem this month we return to the amazing Sylvia
Plath whose powerful writings astonished the literary world
before her death by suicide in 1963.
The Arrival of the
Bee Box
By Sylvia Plath 1932 - 1963
I ordered this,
clean wood box
Square as a chair and almost too heavy to
lift.
I would say it was the coffin of a midget
Or a
square baby
Were there not such a din in it.
The box
is locked, it is dangerous.
I have to live with it overnight
And I can't keep away from it.
There are no windows, so I
can't see what is in there.
There is only a little grid, no
exit.
I put my eye to the grid.
It is dark, dark,
With the swarmy feeling of African hands
Minute and shrunk
for export,
Black on black, angrily clambering.
How
can I let them out?
It is the noise that appalls me most of
all,
The unintelligible syllables.
It is like a Roman mob,
Small, taken one by one, but my god, together!
I lay my
ear to furious Latin.
I am not a Caesar.
I have simply
ordered a box of maniacs.
They can be sent back.
They can
die, I need feed them nothing, I am the owner.
I wonder
how hungry they are.
I wonder if they would forget me
If I
just undid the locks and stood back and turned into a tree.
There is the laburnum, its blond colonnades,
And the
petticoats of the cherry.
They might ignore me
immediately
In my moon suit and funeral veil.
I am no
source of honey
So why should they turn on me?
Tomorrow I
will be sweet God, I will set them free.
The box is only
temporary.
Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath
was an American writer whose best-known poems are noted for
their personal imagery and intense focus. Sylvia Plath was born
in Boston. Her father was a professor of biology at Boston
University, and had specialized in bees. Plath wrote only two
books before her suicide at the age of 31. Her posthumous ARIEL
(1965) astonished the literary world with its power, and has
become one of the best-selling volumes of poetry published in
England and America in the 20th century. Plath was married to
the English poet Ted Hughes whom she met whilst on a scholarship
at Cambridge University. In one of her final poems she wrote:
''Dying / is an art, like everything else. / I do it
exceptionally well.'' (from 'Lady Lazarus'). Sylvia Plath died
in London on February 11, 1963; she committed suicide. Her
gravestone is in Yorkshire.
LETTERS
Back to top
Hello David,
I've been searching Google more lately as I've
just had a website on preventing wasp stings launched & so what
a surprise to see in your obituary about a lovely man by the
surname of Anderson - to see mention of my Dad's hive barrow.
Well - I just thought I must write immediately & not put this
onto a list of "must do" that never happens.
I don't have
any bees at present - a matter of some sadness - which must be
put right maybe next spring. But I have my dad's hive tool &
smoker & clothes.......& some of his honey still - in Freezer &
jar - though he has been dead now 6 years.
The wasp site
is
www.waspsite.info
I'd so appreciate your comments on the website, or my Dad's
barrow & if you feel the website is good - to get commentary
from people who would know of my Dad.
Very best wishes,
Sue McBean
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Back to top
21/11/2008Strengthening livelihoods by
means of beekeeping - An introduction
Interested in
beekeeping as a means to reduce poverty in developing countries?
Looking to find out more?
Join our One Day Training
Programme on Friday 21 November 2008 at Wyastone, near Monmouth,
Wales
The Day will be of relevance to individuals and NGO
staff
To reserve your place book online at
www.beesfordevelopment.org/catalog
or email us for a
registration form info@beesfordevelopment.org
Janet
Lowore
Bees for Development
PO Box 105, Monmouth
NP25
9AA, UK
Tel +44 (0) 16007 13648
info@beesfordevelopment.org
www.beesfordevelopment.orgBees for Development Trust
Charity No 107
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
Back to top
Which well known character said this:
"A
bee
is never as busy as it seems; it's just that it can't buzz any
slower."
Editor: David Cramp
Submissions contact the Editor
E-mail addresses are not hyper linked to prevent harvesting for
spamming purposes. We recommend you cut & paste to your e-mail
client if required.
Click here to print this page
