Register for newsletter
Depiction:
The structure used to house bees has evolved considerably over time. Early beekeepers used pottery vessels, hollow walls, sections of tree trunks, or woven baskets, sometimes covered with dried earth. A few examples of these systems are still in use, but the framed hive system has gradually become the standard.
Apple and pear trees are among the main pome fruit trees in Switzerland. They are of great economic importance, and numerous varieties are cultivated. They are deciduous trees or shrubs. The flowers are hermaphroditic and are white to slightly pink with yellow anthers in the cultivated apple (M. domestica, originally M. sylvestris), whereas they are white (rarely pink) with dark red anthers in the cultivated pear (P. communis, originally P. pyraster).
The organs of the digestive system of the honey bee enable the assimilation of food. Certain glands are associated with the digestive system while also fulfilling peripheral functions, such as the production of nutritive substances or supporting food assimilation.
Matthieu Guichard (Agroscope, Swiss Bee Research Centre, Bern) conducted a long-term study between 2010 and 2018 on approximately 1000 Carnica honey bee colonies and approximately 1000 Mellifera honey bee colonies, aiming to determine the heritability of various traits: honey yield, gentleness, comb adherence, swarming tendency, hygienic behaviour, and Varroa infestation.
Canadian fleabane (Conyza canadensis or Erigeron canadensis) and annual fleabane (Erigeron annuus or Stenactis annua) are annual herbaceous plants belonging to the Asteraceae family and originating from North America. They exhibit all the characteristics of invasive nectar-producing plants: exotic origin; rapid growth; production of a large number of wind-dispersed seeds that can be transported over several kilometres; ability to germinate in the smallest crevices; and strong attractiveness to pollinating insects, including honey bees.
This study entitled “Safeguarding pollinators and their values to human well-being” estimates that “75%
of major crops – cereals, fruits – depend on pollination by animal species”. Their disappearance would lead to a loss of 5 to 8% of global agricultural production, which would trigger an increase in potential resurgences of diseases linked to our dietary balance (heart disease) and would increase “by 1.4 million per year, the number of additional deaths”.
by FRANÇOIS SAVATIER
Traces of beeswax found on pottery sherds suggest that beekeeping was already mastered at the beginning of the Neolithic period.
The winter survival of bee colonies is a topic that divides beekeepers because of contradictions, preconceptions, hypotheses and differing viewpoints. The experienced beekeeper relies on experience and closely monitors weather variations from November to March in order to estimate the timing of the resumption of egg laying by the queen and the volume of brood that must be kept warm. The beginner beekeeper, by contrast, is confronted with the questions raised by worried colleagues: should colonies be fed during winter or not?
© @mbeo2015
A study involving Inra, Acta and the ITSAP-Institut de l’abeille examines the physiological mechanisms involved in the winter survival of honey bees. The researchers showed that a protein with antioxidant properties, vitellogenin, is associated with a 30% increase in the probability of colony survival during winter.
The bee’s mini brain, which contains about 10⁶ cells (10¹¹ in humans), enables it not only to manage stereotyped behaviors such as foraging, but also—thanks to its plasticity—to adapt and allow the insect to respond to new problems through often complex learning. The bee’s brain is capable of providing “intelligent” solutions to a wide range of ecological or other problems, as is the case in vertebrates and in humans.
The queen has a lifespan of 4–5 years. This may seem long. However, it takes 1–2 years to identify a valuable queen and select her for (re)production. To preserve this queen for as long as possible, her egg laying must be managed carefully, as it depends on the number of spermatozoa present in her spermatheca. Various techniques make it possible to modulate egg laying: colony size, the surface of empty cells, the population of young bees, protein resources …
Pheromones are key elements of animal communication: they are released to convey specific messages such as sexual attraction, aggression, recognition of conspecifics, etc., to members of the same species.
Figure: Proboscis extension: appetitive response of an immobilized bee to a sugar-solution reward that has contacted its antennae. Bees exposed to pheromones of different significance modify their proboscis extension behavior, thereby demonstrating the impact of these pheromones on the evaluation of the received food reward. © Martin Giurfa
Asian bees have developed an extraordinary technique to defend themselves against attacks by giant hornets. They cover their hive with animal droppings.
Bees play an essential role in our ecosystem because of their primary function, pollination. This activity enables plants to reproduce. Alongside wasps and butterflies, bees are among the most efficient pollinating insects. However, they remain a species that is severely threatened by various factors.
Do you recognize the diseases?
Take the test: try to assess the diseases!
To enlarge, click on the image.
► For the solutions: see below
The adaptive strategies of imitation make mimicry a model of a complex coevolutionary mechanism involving a first species acting as a model (e.g. Apis cerana) and a second, imitating species (e.g. Varroa destructor), very often parasitic. Varroa destructor, a parasitic mite of bees, has the ability to mimic the chemical composition of its host’s cuticle; moreover, it is also capable of modifying this composition according to the species it parasitizes.
Sweden | Scandinavia | Stockholm | Göteborg | Malmö | Helsingborg | Karlskrona | Kalmar | Gotland | Öland | Östersund | Luleå | Umeå | Uppsala | Baltic | Uddevalla | Halmstad | Jönköping | Örebro | Västerås | Norrköping | Karlstad | map | geography | cart
The naturally resistant bee populations observed on Gotland, and later in other regions of Europe and elsewhere, have had a profound impact on thinking about the Varroa mite. They demonstrate that sustainable survival without treatment can emerge through natural selection, without being reduced to a single mechanism or a universally applicable solution. The insights they offer—as well as the limitations they impose on interpretation—must therefore be approached with the same rigor.
Reviewed for you by Claude Pfefferlé
But where does the queen fly? The unprecedented case of a foraging queen! Another dogma is being challenged…
In the countryside of northern Sardinia, an Italian honey bee queen (Apis mellifera ligustica) was observed for the first time in spring 2021 while foraging on a borage flower (Borago officinalis), most likely during an orientation flight prior to mating.
As will be clear, effective control of varroa relies on anticipation rather than on reaction alone. The objective is to keep infestation levels low throughout the season in order to preserve the colony and prevent a high parasitic and viral load. Particular emphasis is placed on protecting the winter bees so as to ensure that the colony can restart under the best possible conditions. Above all, the strategy must be adapted to the season in progress. Each year is unique, and climatic variations require increasing adaptability in order to keep varroa under control.
The parasite capable of chemically mimicking two bee species
Researchers from the Institute for Research on Insect Biology (CNRS/Université François Rabelais de Tours) and the “Bees and Environment” laboratory of Inra, in collaboration with American and Chinese colleagues(1), have shown that Varroa destructor, a parasitic mite of bees that is able to imitate the chemical composition of the cuticle(2) of its host, can also modify this composition depending on the species it parasitises. This remarkable adaptive capacity could explain how this parasite of the Asian honey bee was able to colonise the European honey bee during the 20th century, thereby contributing to the decline of the species. These findings were published on 3 June 2015 in the journal Biology Letters.