CATCH THE BUZZ : Sick Bees Eat Healthier.
In the study, published recently in the journal Microbial Ecology, the researchers first gave groups of bees different kinds of pollen. They found that sick bees, and not healthy bees, lived longer when they had access to the pollen that was more nutritious, even though it also increased the number of parasites found in their gut.
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How Honey Bee Gut Bacteria Help to Digest Their Pollen-rich Diet
CATCH THE BUZZ : Study Finds Parallels between Unresponsive Honey Bees and Human Autism
Honey bees that consistently fail to respond to obvious social cues share something fundamental with autistic humans, researchers report in a new study. Genes most closely associated with autism spectrum disorders in humans are regulated differently in unresponsive honey bees than in their more responsive nest mates, the study found.
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Honey Bees: USDA CCD Summary
The European honey bee ( Apis mellifera) is known for its importance for honey production. In addition to honey production, A. mellifera is the most commonly used species as a pollinator in the U.S. Honey bees are managed and used to pollinate over 100 crops grown commercially in North America. Although there are many hobbyist beekeepers, commercial beekeepers are responsible for providing the majority of pollination services to growers. Bumble bees ( Bombus), leafcutting bees ( Megachile rotundata), and to a lesser extent alkali bees (Nomia melanderi) and mason bees (Osmia spp) are also managed for use as pollinators in the U.S (National Resource Council of the National Academies 2007) .
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Fred Putnam Jr.....Some thoughts from the SABA meeting.
Fred Putnam Jr., a beekeeper from Brandon, VT spent March 10, 2017 at the Southern Adirondack Beekeepers Association meeting and shares some of what he learned.
FP: Some notable info. from today's 2018 Southern Adirondack Beekeeper's Association annual seminar in Malta, NY. "The Varroa problem is at epidemic proportions in this country."That said by Scott McArt, Assistant Professor of Pollinator Health at Cornell University. From Samuel Ramsey, Univ. of Maryland: "The number one most important thing that beekeepers can do to ensure the survival of their colonies is to manage the levels of Varroa mites." Mr. Ramsey is coming to our 2018 VBA summer meeting. He is a very engaging speaker with much new knowledge. Don't miss it.
EAS 2018 August 13-17, 2018
Eastern Apiculture Society will deliver another amazing Honey Bee Conference in the summer of 2018. This year we will be at a conference center with plenty of space and all under one roof.
The Weapon of Mass Destruction... That is Killing Honey Bees
Follow the link to see new close-up images of one of the mites responsible for killing billions of honey bees around the world.
The magnified photographs of the pinhead-sized mite, aptly named Varroa destructor, were captured by Dr. Jonathan Salvage of the University of Brighton (UK), using a state-of-the-art scanning electron microscope (SEM).
Dr. Salvage, a Research Fellow in the University’s School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, has been working with Adam Leitch, a Master Beekeeper, on both a study of plant pollen that honey bees pollinate and aspects of honey bee pest anatomy
Dr. Salvage said: “The mite, with its ice-axe-like weapon of attack, the palptarsi claws, is a major threat to honey bees globally. It is involved in the mass destruction and deaths of billions of bees, which, in turn, threatens crop pollination and food production.”
More: American Bee Journal
Catch the BUZZ : More Bees Means more and Bigger Plums.
The production areas of Chinese plums are located in Meishan, Sichuan; Maoming, Guangdong; Gutian, Fujian; and Guizhou province. Under regular weather conditions, the plum production season in Meishan begins every year in June and ends at the beginning of July. The production volume of 2017 showed a great increase in comparison with the production volume of 2016. This was in large parts due to the production volume increase by around 30% for the trees that were pollinated. This is according to Mr. Yang Qi of Sichuan Top Grade Modern Agriculture Co., Ltd.
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