19,179 research outputs found
Managed honey bee colony losses in Canada, China, Europe, Israel and Turkey, for the winters of 2008-9 and 1009-10
In 2008 the COLOSS network was formed by honey bee experts from Europe and the USA. The primary objectives set by this scientific network were to explain and to prevent large scale losses of honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies. In June 2008 COLOSS obtained four years support from the European Union from COST and was designated as COST Action FA0803 – COLOSS (Prevention of honey bee COlony LOSSes). To enable the comparison of loss data between participating countries, a standardized COLOSS questionnaire was developed. Using this questionnaire information on honey bee losses has been collected over two years. Survey data presented in this study were gathered in 2009 from 12 countries and in 2010 from 24 countries. Mean honey bee losses in Europe varied widely, between 7-22% over the 2008-9 winter and between 7-30% over the 2009-10 winter. An important finding is that for all countries which participated in 2008-9, winter losses in 2009-10 were found to be substantially higher. In 2009-10, winter losses in South East Europe were at such a low level that the factors causing the losses in other parts of Europe were absent, or at a level which did not affect colony survival. The five provinces of China, which were included in 2009-10, showed very low mean (4%) A. mellifera winter losses. In six Canadian provinces, mean winter losses in 2010 varied between 16-25%, losses in Nova Scotia (40%) being exceptionally high. In most countries and in both monitoring years, hobbyist beekeepers (1-50 colonies) experienced higher losses than practitioners with intermediate beekeeping operations (51-500 colonies). This relationship between scale of beekeeping and extent of losses effect was also observed in 2009-10, but was less pronounced. In Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland, 2008-9 mean winter losses for beekeepers who reported ‘disappeared’ colonies were significantly higher compared to mean winter losses of beekeepers who did not report ‘disappeared’ colonies. Mean 2008-9 winter losses for those beekeepers in the Netherlands who reported symptoms similar to “Colony Collapse Disorder” (CCD), namely: 1. no dead bees in or surrounding the hive while; 2. capped brood was present, were significantly higher than mean winter losses for those beekeepers who reported ‘disappeared’ colonies without the presence of capped brood in the empty hives. In the winter of 2009-10 in the majority of participating countries, beekeepers who reported ‘disappeared’ colonies experienced higher winter losses compared with beekeepers, who experienced winter losses but did not report ‘disappeared’ colonies
The antibacterial activity of honey: 2. Variation in the potency of the antibacterial activity
Honey is gaining acceptance by the medical profession for use as an antibacterial agent for the treatment of ulcers and bed sores, and other surface infections resulting from burns and wounds. In many cases it is being used with success on infections not responding to standard antibiotic and antiseptic therapy. Its effectiveness in rapidly clearing up infection and promoting healing is not surprising in light of the large number of research findings on its antibacterial activity, covered in Part 1 of this review
Molecular and phylogenetic characterization of honey bee viruses, Nosema microsporidia, protozoan parasites, and parasitic mites in China
China has the largest number of managed honey bee colonies, which produce the highest quantity of honey and royal jelly in the world; however, the presence of honey bee pathogens and parasites has never been rigorously identified in Chinese apiaries. We thus conducted a molecular survey of honey bee RNA viruses, Nosema microsporidia, protozoan parasites, and tracheal mites associated with nonnative Apis mellifera ligustica and native Apis cerana cerana colonies in China. We found the presence of black queen cell virus (BQCV), chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV), deformed wing virus (DWV), Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV), and sacbrood virus (SBV), but not that of acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV) or Kashmir bee virus (KBV). DWV was the most prevalent in the tested samples. Phylogenies of Chinese viral isolates demonstrated that genetically heterogeneous populations of BQCV, CBPV, DWV, and A. cerana-infecting SBV, and relatively homogenous populations of IAPV and A. meliifera-infecting new strain of SBV with single origins, are spread in Chinese apiaries. Similar to previous observations in many countries, Nosema ceranae, but not Nosema apis, was prevalent in the tested samples. Crithidia mellificae, but not Apicystis bombi was found in five samples, including one A. c. cerana colony, demonstrating that C. mellificae is capable of infecting multiple honey bee species. Based on kinetoplast-encoded cytochrome b sequences, the C. mellificae isolate from A. c. cerana represents a novel haplotype with 19 nucleotide differences from the Chinese and Japanese isolates from A. m. ligustica. This suggests that A. c. cerana is the native host for this specific haplotype. The tracheal mite, Acarapis woodi, was detected in one A. m. ligustica colony. Our results demonstrate that honey bee RNA viruses, N. ceranae, C. mellificae, and tracheal mites are present in Chinese apiaries, and some might be originated from native Asian honey bees
Reproduction of Varroa destructor in sealed worker bee brood cells of Apis mellifera carnica and Apis mellifera syriaca in Jordan
The reproduction of the honey bee mite, Varroa destructor in sealed worker bee brood cells represents an important factor for the population development of this parasite in honey bee colonies. In this study, the relative infestation levels of worker brood cells, mite fertility (mites that lay at least one egg) and reproductive rate (number of viable adult daughters per mother mite) of Varroa mite in worker brood cells of Apis m. carnica and Apis m. syriaca were compared in fall 2003 and summer 2004 at two locations in Jordan. The relative infestation levels in sealed worker brood cells ranged from 23 – 32 % in fall and 19 – 28 % in summer. The average fertility of Varroa mite ranged between 90 - 98% in colonies of A. m. carnica and between 88 - 96 % in A. m. syriaca with minor differences between colonies and locations. The number of total progeny of fertile mites in worker brood cells was 4.0 in both bee races. The reproductive rate was high with 2.7 and 2.6 in both honey bee races. The post-capping period of the worker brood cells differs only slightly between both bee races and between locations (284.4 h on average, n = 4,000). Our data reveal surprisingly high mite fertility and reproductive rates in both honeybee races under Mediterranean conditions of Jordan. The possible physiological background of Varroa reproduction and the impact of mite fertility on the development of Varroa tolerance are discussed
Data for: Inconsistent sexual signaling degrades optimal mating decisions in animals
The single data file contains the entire dataset in "long" format (i.e., there are multiple row entries related to each test subject).Data from a series of phonotaxis tests used to investigate the effects of within-individual variation (inconsistency) in male signals and ambient chorus noise on female mating decisions in Cope's gray treefrog. This dataset is among only a few generated to examine the effects of within-individual variation in signal production on animal communication. The data are now being released in support of a publication describing our findings.National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. 00039202National Science Foundation IOS-1452831Animal Behavior Society Student Research GrantJoyce Davenport Fellowship in Natural History through the Bell Museum of Natural HistoryFord Foundation Pre-Doctoral FellowshipTanner, Jessie C; Bee, Mark A. (2020). Data for: Inconsistent sexual signaling degrades optimal mating decisions in animals. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://doi.org/10.13020/d8f8-qh03
Floral resource diversity drives bee community diversity in prairie restorations along an agricultural landscape gradient
There are four files for this analysis. The Species Data includes information on what bees were collected at which sites. The site by round file contains the site information in a site by round interaction format for recreating the local diversity analysis and contains floral resource richness values for each unique site by round combination. The site data sheet is simply the site information with floral resource richness pooled over the entire sampling season.These data are for recreating the analysis conducted for "Floral resource diversity drives bee community diversity in prairie restorations along an agricultural landscape gradient" in Journal of Applied EcologyMinnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (M.L. 2016, Chp. 186, Sec. 2, Subd. 03a)Lane, Ian G; Herron-Sweet, Christina R; Portman, Zachary M; Cariveau, Daniel P. (2020). Floral resource diversity drives bee community diversity in prairie restorations along an agricultural landscape gradient. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://doi.org/10.13020/23ar-k510
Bee keeper's library.
"Frank C. Pellett, state bee inspector."--title page.The office of State bee inspector was abolished in 1916. Only four bulletins were published.Mode of access: Internet
Understanding the EU's institutional communication. Principles and structure of a contested policy
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