Pollen Sleuths: Tracking Pesticides in Honey Bee Pollen to Their Source Plant
When pesticides show up in the pollen that honey bees collect, can the source plant be pinpointed? A new study is the first to successfully combine chemical analysis of pollen and the keen eye of a palynologist—an expert in identifying pollen microscopically—to track pesticide in bee-collected pollen to a source plant genus.
Colony Size Drives Honey Bees’ Overwinter Survival
Research in Pennsylvania shows that overall colony weight and the number of worker bees to be the leading factors in determining overwintering survival of honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies. For colonies in which the combined weight of adult bees, brood, and food stores exceeded 30 kilograms, overwinter survival rates were about 94 percent.
Why Pesticides Pose Different Kinds of Risk to Non-Honey Bees
A new collection of reports in Environmental Entomology highlights the need for pesticide risk assessments that account for the differing qualities and behaviors between honey bees and bumble bees, solitary bees, and stingless bees.
No Buzz, No Problem: Study Shows How Honey Bees Pollinate Blueberries
Honey bees are incapable of buzz pollination, but they can (and do) perform pollination duties in highbush blueberry. A new study shows that, while honey bees rarely collect blueberry pollen in the pollen baskets on their hind legs, they frequently contact it with other body parts and transfer it to other flowers.
Propolis Power-Up: How Beekeepers Can Encourage Resin Deposits for Better Hive Health
When honey bees produce more propolis, a waxy resin they use for sealing up their hives, overall health benefits to the colony ensue. A new study tests a few simple methods beekeepers can use to encourage more propolis production in their hives.
For Good of the Colony, Sick Honey Bee Brood Sounds the Alarm
Honey bees detect and remove brood afflicted with parasites or pathogens. A new study shows that part of this "hygienic behavior" relies on chemical signals emitted by unhealthy brood, and brood coming from colonies bred to be more hygienic are more effective in signaling for their own removal.
Why Smoking Soothes the Stressed-Out Bee Hive
A new study that explores the effect of smoke on honey bee (Apis mellifera) behavior finds that it reduces the instance of bees releasing a venom droplet in their signaling of danger to other bees, which researchers speculate may thereby reduce the amount of alarm pheromone released.
Funny Honey at the Zoo Reveals Bees’ Foraging on Sugar Baits
In the course of a study on mosquito movement, researchers discovered that local colonies of honey bees had foraged on a nontoxic sugar bait meant for the mosquitoes. The bait was dyed red to track mosquitoes that fed on it, but the dye also showed up in much of the bees' honey.
More Research Needed to Better Balance Honey Bees and Native Bees
A review of existing research on floral resource competition between managed honey bees and wild bees shows gaps in our knowledge about such interactions and calls for further research to better inform decisions on honey bee management and pollinator protection.
A Potential New Tool in the Battle Against a Bee-Killing Bacteria
American foulbrood disease is caused by a difficult-to-control and highly destructive bacterium. New research may have found a way to prevent infections of honey bees
The Microscopic Spines That Many Bee Species Use to Hatch
Perhaps you’ve seen the 2015 video from photographer Anand Varma (and shared again last week via National Geographic), a time-lapse of bee larvae hatching and growing in their cells: Watch: […]
How the Varroa Mite Co-Opts Honey Bee Behaviors to Its Own Advantage
As the managed honey bee industry continues to grapple with significant annual colony losses, the Varroa destructor mite is emerging as the leading culprit. And, it turns out, the very […]
Get to Know Tropilaelaps Mites, Another Serious Parasite of Honey Bees
By Josh Lancette The plight of honey bees is well documented, as is the cause of much of their grief: parasitic mites. Varroa destructor gets the largest amount of attention […]
Mite-Resistant Russian Honey Bees Might Not Prevent Varroa Infestations
By Meredith Swett Walker Imagine a parasite about the size of a grapefruit, and it’s latched onto your back where you just can’t reach it. Now imagine that parasite is […]
Why Human Behavior is Hurting Honey Bees
In the search for answers to the complex health problems and colony losses experienced by honey bees in recent years, it may be time for professionals and hobbyists in the […]
A Neuroscientist’s Approach to Entomology
By Constance Lin Varroa mites, pathogens, or climate change? What exactly causes the honey bee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)? Honey bees (Apis mellifera) offer us critical pollination services. In the […]