SHIPPING HONEY BEE QUEENS IN PACKAGE BEES WITH AND WITHOUT ATTENDANTS

1967 ◽  
Vol 99 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. C. Jay
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Southern United States ◽  
Honey Bee Queens

AbstractQueen losses were compared when caged queens with attendant worker bees and caged queens without attendants were used in packages of honey bees being shipped from the southern United States to Canada. When the colonies were hived there was no difference in queen losses in the two treatments.

scholarly journals Genomic Signatures of Honey Bee Association in an Acetic Acid Symbiont

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1882-1894
Author(s):  
Eric A Smith ◽  
Irene L G Newton
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Food Stores ◽  
Genomic Changes ◽  
Eusocial Insects ◽  
Us Economy ◽  
Bee Health ◽  
Honey Bee Health ◽  
Honey Bee Queens

Abstract Recent declines in the health of the honey bee have startled researchers and lay people alike as honey bees are agriculture’s most important pollinator. Honey bees are important pollinators of many major crops and add billions of dollars annually to the US economy through their services. One factor that may influence colony health is the microbial community. Indeed, the honey bee worker digestive tract harbors a characteristic community of bee-specific microbes, and the composition of this community is known to impact honey bee health. However, the honey bee is a superorganism, a colony of eusocial insects with overlapping generations where nestmates cooperate, building a hive, gathering and storing food, and raising brood. In contrast to what is known regarding the honey bee worker gut microbiome, less is known of the microbes associated with developing brood, with food stores, and with the rest of the built hive environment. More recently, the microbe Bombella apis was identified as associated with nectar, with developing larvae, and with honey bee queens. This bacterium is related to flower-associated microbes such as Saccharibacter floricola and other species in the genus Saccharibacter, and initial phylogenetic analyses placed it as sister to these environmental bacteria. Here, we used comparative genomics of multiple honey bee-associated strains and the nectar-associated Saccharibacter to identify genomic changes that may be associated with the ecological transition to honey bee association. We identified several genomic differences in the honey bee-associated strains, including a complete CRISPR/Cas system. Many of the changes we note here are predicted to confer upon Bombella the ability to survive in royal jelly and defend themselves against mobile elements, including phages. Our results are a first step toward identifying potential function of this microbe in the honey bee superorganism.

scholarly journals Honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies benefit from grassland/ pasture while bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) colonies in the same landscapes benefit from non-corn/soybean cropland

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. e0257701
Author(s):  
Gabriela M. Quinlan ◽  
Meghan O. Milbrath ◽  
Clint R. V. Otto ◽  
Rufus Isaacs
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
The United States ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Bombus Impatiens ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Social Bees

Agriculturally important commercially managed pollinators including honey bees (Apis mellifera L., 1758) and bumble bees (Bombus impatiens Cresson, 1863) rely on the surrounding landscape to fulfill their dietary needs. A previous study in Europe demonstrated that managed honey bee foragers and unmanaged native bumble bee foragers are associated with different land uses. However, it is unclear how response to land use compares between managed honey bees and a managed native bumble bee species in the United States, where honey bees are an imported species. Furthermore, to our knowledge, no such direct comparisons of bee responses to land use have been made at the colony level. To better understand how two different social bees respond to variation in land use, we monitored the weights of A. mellifera and B. impatiens colonies placed in 12 apiaries across a range of land use in Michigan, United States in 2017. Bombus impatiens colonies gained more weight and produced more drones when surrounded by diverse agricultural land (i.e., non-corn/soybean cropland such as tree fruits and grapes), while honey bee colonies gained more weight when surrounded by more grassland/pasture land. These findings add to our understanding of how different bee species respond to agricultural landscapes, highlighting the need for further species-specific land use studies to inform tailored land management.

scholarly journals HRM Analysis of Spermathecal Contents to Determine the Origin of Drones that Inseminated Honey Bee Queens

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasin Kahya
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
High Resolution Melting ◽  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Cytb Gene ◽  
Native Range ◽  
Specific Primer ◽  
Hrm Analysis ◽  
Honey Bee Queens

AbstractEurope, Africa and the Middle East have several original subspecies of the western honey bee (Apis mellifera L.), each with distinctive characteristics. These subspecies are the product of natural selection in their native range. Nevertheless, anthropogenic impacts such as migratory beekeeping and use of non-native queens result in an admixture of these subspecies and their ecotypes. I aimed to develop a SNP-based method to detect whether queen honey bees were mated with drones from foreign subspecies. For this purpose, Caucasian and Italian queens and drones were reared. Each queen was instrumentally inseminated with mixed semen collected from Caucasian (4 μl) and Italian drones (4 μl). The spermathecae of queens were dissected out after the onset of oviposition. The DNA was extracted from each spermatheca and from the thoraces of Caucasian and Italian drones. Seven regions on mtDNA that were isolated from drones were sequenced to determine the SNPs, enabling the discrimination of Caucasian sperm from Italian in spermathecal contents. Based on one SNP (11606. bp, T/C) residing on the Cytb gene, a specific primer was designed to be used in High Resolution Melting (HRM) analysis. HRM analysis indicated that heteroduplex peak profiles were present in all spermathecal contents of instrumentally inseminated queens. The results provide proof of the concept that the presence of likely non-native mitochondrial lineages can be detected by HRM analysis based on the SNP genotyping of spermathecal contents.

scholarly journals Genomic signatures of honey bee association in an acetic acid symbiont

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric A. Smith ◽  
Irene L. G. Newton
Keyword(s):  
Acetic Acid ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Acetic Acid Bacterium ◽  
Genomic Changes ◽  
Genomic Signatures ◽  
Us Economy ◽  
Honey Bee Queen ◽  
Honey Bee Queens

AbstractHoney bee queens are central to the success and productivity of their colonies; queens are the only reproductive members of the colony, and therefore queen longevity and fecundity can directly impact overall colony health. Recent declines in the health of the honey bee have startled researchers and lay people alike as honey bees are agriculture’s most important pollinator. Honey bees are important pollinators of many major crops and add billions of dollars annually to the US economy through their services. One factor that may influence queen and colony health is the microbial community. Although honey bee worker guts have a characteristic community of bee-specific microbes, the honey bee queen digestive tracts are colonized by a few bacteria, notably an acetic acid bacterium not seen in worker guts: Bombella apis. This bacterium is related to flower-associated microbes such as Saccharibacter floricola and other species in the genus Saccharibacter, and initial phylogenetic analyses placed it as sister to these environmental bacteria. We used comparative genomics of multiple honey bee-associated strains and the nectar-associated Saccharibacter to identify genomic changes associated with the ecological transition to bee association. We identified several genomic differences in the honey bee-associated strains, including a complete CRISPR/Cas system. Many of the changes we note here are predicted to confer upon them the ability to survive in royal jelly and defend themselves against mobile elements, including phages. Our results are a first step towards identifying potential benefits provided by the honey bee queen microbiota to the colony’s matriarch.

scholarly journals Genetic past, present, and future of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) in the United States of America

Apidologie ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madeline H. Carpenter ◽  
Brock A. Harpur
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
The United States ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Genetic History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historic Data

AbstractHumans have domesticated hundreds of animal and plant species for thousands of years. Artwork, archeological finds, recorded accounts, and other primary sources can provide glimpses into the historic management practices used over the course of a given species’ domestication history. Pairing historic data with newly available genomic data can allow us to identify where and how species were moved out of their native ranges, how gene flow may have occurred between distantly related populations, and quantify how selection and drift each contributed to levels of genetic diversity. Intersecting these approaches has greatly improved our understanding of many managed species; however, there has yet to be a thorough review in a managed insect. Here, we review the archival and genetic history of honey bees introduced to the mainland United States to reconstruct a comprehensive importation history. We find that since 1622, at least nine honey bee subspecies were imported from four of the five honey bee lineages and distributed en masse across the country. Many imported genotypes have genetic evidence of persisting today and may segregate non-randomly across the country. However, honey bee population genetic comparisons on the nationwide scale are not yet feasible because of gaps in genetic and archival records. We conclude by suggesting future avenues of research in both fields.

scholarly journals Assessment of Pollen Diversity Available to Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Major Cropping Systems During Pollination in the Western United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 112 (5) ◽  
pp. 2040-2048 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Topitzhofer ◽  
Hannah Lucas ◽  
Priyadarshini Chakrabarti ◽  
Carolyn Breece ◽  
Vaughn Bryant ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Colony Growth ◽  
Western United States ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
Abundance And Diversity ◽  
Bee Colonies

Abstract Global western honey bee, Apis mellifera (L.) (Hymenoptera: Apidae), colony declines pose a significant threat to food production worldwide. Poor nutrition resulting from habitat loss, extensive monocultures, and agricultural intensification is among the several suggested drivers for colony declines. Pollen is the primary source of protein for honey bees; therefore, both pollen abundance and diversity are critical for colony growth and survival. Many cropping systems that employ honey bee colonies for pollination may lack sufficient pollen diversity and abundance to provide optimal bee nutrition. In this observational study, we documented the diversity and relative abundance of pollen collected by honey bees in five major pollinator-dependent crops in the western United States. We sampled pollen from pollen traps installed on honey bee colonies in the following cropping systems—almond, cherry, highbush blueberry, hybrid carrot, and meadowfoam. The pollen diversity was estimated by documenting the number of different pollen pellet colors and plant taxa found in each pollen sample. The lowest pollen diversity was found in almond crop. Relatively higher quantities of pollen collection were collected in almond, cherry, and meadowfoam cropping systems. The information gleaned from this study regarding pollen diversity and abundance may help growers, land managers, and beekeepers improve pollen forage available to bees in these cropping systems.

scholarly journals The Behavioral Toxicity of Insect Growth Disruptors on Apis mellifera Queen Care

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliza M. Litsey ◽  
Siwon Chung ◽  
Julia D. Fine
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Queen Pheromone ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Physiological Status ◽  
Insect Growth ◽  
Hormone Analog ◽  
Colony Performance ◽  
Honey Bee Queens

As social insects, honey bees (Apis mellifera) rely on the coordinated performance of various behaviors to ensure that the needs of the colony are met. One of the most critical of these behaviors is the feeding and care of egg laying honey bee queens by non-fecund female worker attendants. These behaviors are crucial to honey bee reproduction and are known to be elicited by the queen’s pheromone blend. The degree to which workers respond to this blend can vary depending on their physiological status, but little is known regarding the impacts of developmental exposure to agrochemicals on this behavior. This work investigated how exposing workers during larval development to chronic sublethal doses of insect growth disruptors affected their development time, weight, longevity, and queen pheromone responsiveness as adult worker honey bees. Exposure to the juvenile hormone analog pyriproxyfen consistently shortened the duration of pupation, and pyriproxyfen and diflubenzuron inconsistently reduced the survivorship of adult bees. Finally, pyriproxyfen and methoxyfenozide treated bees were found to be less responsive to queen pheromone relative to other treatment groups. Here, we describe these results and discuss their possible physiological underpinnings as well as their potential impacts on honey bee reproduction and colony performance.

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