scholarly journals Efficiency of Bumble Bees (Bombus (Bombus) terrestris L.) as Pollinators and Cultivar Selection of Blueberries for Forcing Culture

2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-hong Ye ◽  
Noriaki Aoki ◽  
Naoyuki Konishi ◽  
Tetsuya Kako
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Mertes ◽  
Julie Carcaud ◽  
Jean-Christophe Sandoz

AbstractSociality is classified as one of the major transitions in evolution, with the largest number of eusocial species found in the insect order Hymenoptera, including the Apini (honey bees) and the Bombini (bumble bees). Bumble bees and honey bees not only differ in their social organization and foraging strategies, but comparative analyses of their genomes demonstrated that bumble bees have a slightly less diverse family of olfactory receptors than honey bees, suggesting that their olfactory abilities have adapted to different social and/or ecological conditions. However, unfortunately, no precise comparison of olfactory coding has been performed so far between honey bees and bumble bees, and little is known about the rules underlying olfactory coding in the bumble bee brain. In this study, we used in vivo calcium imaging to study olfactory coding of a panel of floral odorants in the antennal lobe of the bumble bee Bombus terrestris. Our results show that odorants induce reproducible neuronal activity in the bumble bee antennal lobe. Each odorant evokes a different glomerular activity pattern revealing this molecule’s chemical structure, i.e. its carbon chain length and functional group. In addition, pairwise similarity among odor representations are conserved in bumble bees and honey bees. This study thus suggests that bumble bees, like honey bees, are equipped to respond to odorants according to their chemical features.


2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 5-11
Author(s):  
Dijana Kulačanin ◽  
Sandra Bijelić ◽  
Jovana Šućur ◽  
Borivoje Bogdanović ◽  
Sezai Ercisli ◽  
...  

SummaryThe beneficial effects of walnuts and walnut products on human health, due primarily to their rich polyphenolic content, have been appreciated as an empirical fact for centuries. The purpose of this study is to determine the polyphenolic contents of liqueurs made from the walnut selections ‘Rasna’ and ‘Sava’ and the walnut cultivar ‘Šampion’ (all harvested at three different times), as well as the polyphenolic contents of their green husks. The walnut liqueurs were prepared according to two traditional recipes using young walnut fruits. The highest antioxidant capacity was recorded in the liqueur made from the ‘Rasna’ walnut selection (89.94%), whereas the highest contents of phenols (83.28 mg GAE/g FW), flavonoids (0.83 mg QE/g FW) and proanthocyanidins were found in the liqueur made from the ‘Šampion’ cultivar (14.75 mg CE/g FW). The youngest ‘Rasna’ walnuts, harvested at the first experimental time point, exhibited the highest phenolic and tannin contents, whereas the highest flavonoid content was observed in the ‘Šampion’ cultivar. The biochemical results obtained indicate a decrease in the polyphenolic content of walnut fruits with their growth and development. Moreover, the polyphenolic profiles of the walnut liqueurs considered were found to be greatly affected by the method of preparation and the cultivar/selection of walnuts.


2001 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 481-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Cheng T. Chao ◽  
Dan E. Parfitt ◽  
Themis J. Michailides

Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) progeny were evaluated at two locations in California for resistance to alternaria late blight caused by Alternaria alternata (Fries) Keissler in 1995 and 1997. Large differences in alternaria late blight infection among seedlings were observed. Narrow sense heritabilities based on half-sib analysis of 20 open pollinated families were 0.48 and 0.11 at Kearney Agricultural Center in 1995 and 1997, respectively, and 0.56 and 0.54 at the Wolfskill Experimental Orchard near Davis in 1995 and 1997, respectively. Differences among families to alternaria late blight infection were highly significant and associated with the female parents. Fifty-eight highly resistant seedlings were identified for future cultivar selection efforts.


Insects ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nils Grund-Mueller ◽  
Fabian A. Ruedenauer ◽  
Johannes Spaethe ◽  
Sara D. Leonhardt

Dietary macro-nutrients (i.e., carbohydrates, protein, and fat) are important for bee larval development and, thus, colony health and fitness. To which extent different diets (varying in macro-nutrient composition) affect adult bees and whether they can thrive on nectar as the sole amino acid source has, however, been little investigated. We investigated how diets varying in protein concentration and overall nutrient composition affected consumption, longevity, and breeding behavior of the buff-tailed bumble bee, Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Queenless micro-colonies were fed either natural nutrient sources (pollen), nearly pure protein (i.e., the milk protein casein), or sucrose solutions with low and with high essential amino acid content in concentrations as can be found in nectar. We observed micro-colonies for 110 days. We found that longevity was highest for pure pollen and lowest for pure sucrose solution and sucrose solution supplemented with amino acids in concentrations as found in the nectar of several plant species. Adding higher concentrations of amino acids to sucrose solution did only slightly increase longevity compared to sucrose alone. Consequently, sucrose solution with the applied concentrations and proportions of amino acids or other protein sources (e.g., casein) alone did not meet the nutritional needs of healthy adult bumble bees. In fact, longevity was highest and reproduction only successful in micro-colonies fed pollen. These results indicate that, in addition to carbohydrates and protein, adult bumble bees, like larvae, need further nutrients (e.g., lipids and micro-nutrients) for their well-being. An appropriate nutritional composition seemed to be best provided by floral pollen, suggesting that pollen is an essential dietary component not only for larvae but also for adult bees.


Ecotoxicology ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 1937-1945 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Laycock ◽  
Kate M. Lenthall ◽  
Andrew T. Barratt ◽  
James E. Cresswell

1999 ◽  
Vol 266 (1436) ◽  
pp. 2413-2418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Colborn ◽  
Azlina Ahmad-Annuar ◽  
Karine Fauria ◽  
Thomas S. Collett

Apidologie ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-251
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Fung ◽  
Kelly Hill ◽  
Katja Hogendoorn ◽  
Andrew B. Hingston ◽  
Richard V. Glatz

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