摘要:

SUMMARYThe physicochemical characteristics of 25 samples of commercialEucalyptushoney (Eucalyptussp.), bought off the shelf, were analysed and 35 parameters were measured, including contents of sugars and minerals, total nitrogen, proline, water content, pH, acidity, HMF, diastase activity, colour, ash, insoluble solids and electrical conductivity. The samples contained a mean of 18 pollen types (range 14–27); the 64% of samples which contained more than 70%Eucalyptuspollen were considered to be unifloral. In 92% of the samples,Eucalyptuswas the most abundant pollen, at over 45% of total pollen found. Maturity, purity, deterioration and adulteration criteria indicated that the quality of the honeys was good. Samples that did not have a dominant percentage ofEucalyptuspollen showed low values for the length of the main wavelength in spectrophotometric analysis and very small concentrations of magnesium.

ISSN:0021-8839    

DOI:10.1080/00218839.1993.11101296

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1993

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

SUMMARYThe removal and grooming behaviour ofApis mellifera intermissaagainstVarroa jacobsoniwas investigated in Tunisia. Workers in 15 test colonies detected and removed up to 75% of artificially infested brood and removed up to 97%-99% of freeze-killed brood in each of two trials. Likewise,A. m. intermissaactively groomed offV. jacobsoni, as shown by a great number of injured mites dropping from naturally infested colonies. Both grooming and removal activities ofA. m. intermissaprovide evidence for active mechanisms of resistance againstV. jacobsoni.

ISSN:0021-8839    

DOI:10.1080/00218839.1993.11101297

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1993

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

SUMMARYThe size of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) population carrying sunflower (Helianthus annuus) pollen on their bodies while foraging on male-sterile (MS) plants was recorded. When equal numbers of MS and male-fertile (MF) rows were planted, all foragers had some sunflower pollen on their bodies, and the amount did not differ among MS rows at various distances from MF plants. When MS rows outnumbered MF by 3 to 1, 97.7% of the honey bees foraging on the MS row farthest from the MF plants had sunflower pollen on their bodies, but the amount was significantly less than on foragers on MS rows closer to MF plants. Seed set on MS rows adjacent to MFs did not differ from that on MF plants, but set decreased in MS rows further away. The percentage of pollen-collecting honey bees moving from MF to MS rows indicates one means by which the cross-pollinating honey bee population can be created, but these bees represented only 6.5–12.8% of all foragers. Pollen-free honey bees either released in hives located near sunflower fields or pinned at the hive entrances obtained sunflower pollen grains on their bodies, but the amount was much less when MS rows outnumbered MF by 3 to 1. Pollen transfer in the hive may be a component in the creation of the cross-pollinating honey bee population on MS sunflowers, but the impact may vary with MF: MS row ratios and the amount of sunflower pollen entering the hive.

ISSN:0021-8839    

DOI:10.1080/00218839.1993.11101298

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1993

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

SUMMARYA simple test for diagnosingNosema apisinfections in honey bees, which does not require a microscope, is described. Bee abdomens are crushed in water in plastic 1.5 ml microcentrifuge tubes, nigrosin stain is added and the tube left to stand vertically overnight. Centrifugation of the tubes eliminates the need for an overnight wait. The nigrosin stains any bee tissues and most pollen a dark blue/black and theN. apisspores settle to form a pale grey, unstained pellet at the bottom of the tube. Eight million or more spores per bee can be detected (P<0.05) and the size of the pellet gives an indication of the magnitude of the spore load. Pooled samples of bees crushed in a plastic bag may be similarly assessed, although some accuracy is lost.

ISSN:0021-8839    

DOI:10.1080/00218839.1993.11101299

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1993

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

SUMMARYFour experiments were conducted to examine factors that influence the expression of hygienic and non-hygienic behaviour in honey bees,Apis mellifera, and to examine the correlation between this behaviour and resistance to chalkbrood,Ascosphaera apis.Colonies were headed by instrumentally inseminated queens selected on the basis of uncapping and removal behaviour expressed by their progeny. In the first experiment, colony strength was altered by transferring hygienic and non- hygienic colonies from 10-frame field hives to 2-frame observation hives. This treatment significantly reduced the hygienic response of the hygienic bees but did not affect the response of the non-hygienic bees. In the second experiment, hygienic and non-hygienic bees displayed different responses to freeze-killed and live brood which had been partially or entirely uncapped. Both lines of bees recapped both partially and entirely uncapped live brood, but non-hygienic bees also recapped partially uncapped freeze-killed brood, suggesting that non-hygienic bees either could not detect dead or diseased brood or avoided it by sealing it within a comb cell. The third experiment tested whether the degree of hygienic behaviour could be increased by adding hygienic bees to non-hygienic colonies. Adding 20–30% young hygienic bees to non-hygienic colonies did not increase the degree of hygienic behaviour, but adding young non-hygienic bees to hygienic colonies suppressed the behaviour. The results suggest that although hygienic behavior is genetically determined, its expression depends on colony strength and composition of workers within the colony. In the fourth experiment, the hygienic and non-hygienic colonies were fed with pollen patties containingA. apisspores. The weak correspondence that was observed between removal behaviour and physiological resistance to chalkbrood suggested that few colonies are both highly hygienic and physiologically resistant to chalkbrood. Selection against uncapping and removing diseased brood might occur if this behaviour also promotes the spread of disease through the colony. This possibility is discussed in relation to avoidance behaviour of other social insects toward pathogens.

ISSN:0021-8839    

DOI:10.1080/00218839.1993.11101300

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1993

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

SUMMARYTwelve white and 12 dark (unpainted) hives were set up in a sunny location in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA, on 7 May 1992. Each hive received a uniform colony of 5 048±125 (mean±s.d.) honey bees (Apis mellifera) that had been established from a single, artificially mixed population; 38% of the bees were infested with tracheal mites (Acarapis woodi). During June and July, bees produced more brood and honey in white hives than in dark hives. On 5 August, dark hives contained fewer tracheal mites than white hives; mites were found in 1 dark and 10 white hives (P<0.001). In summer, the temperature in the space between brood combs in the dark hives often exceeded 40°C; maximum temperatures in the brood areas of dark and white hives, were 45°C and 38°C respectively. Laboratory tests showed that heat can kill tracheal mites inside live bees. A single six-hour exposure of bees to 42°C, a condition comparable to the short periods of high temperature encountered in field colonies, significantly reduced mite populations. In a second test, three-day-old worker bees were kept at 34.5°C or 39°C for 48 h and evaluated four days later (both groups of bees were stored at 34.5°C during the last four days). Bees kept at 34.5°C (controls) contained 2.7 larval mites per adult mite; bees exposed to 39°C contained 0.01. Controls contained nearly twice as many eggs (2.8vs.1.5 eggs per adult mite). This suggests that existing eggs died or did not develop during the 48 h at 39°C and that viable eggs were not produced during that period.

ISSN:0021-8839    

DOI:10.1080/00218839.1993.11101301

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1993

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

SUMMARYInvasion ofVarroa jacobsoniinto honey bee (Apis mellifera) brood cells was studied in three initially mite-free colonies. Frames with emerging worker brood, heavily infested with mites, were introduced into each colony and removed the next day. During the experiments ample worker brood was available for the mites to invade. Invasions into brood cells started immediately after the introduction of the mite-infested combs, showing that mites do not necessarily have to have a period on adult bees before invading a cell. However, as most mites stayed on the bees for several days or even several weeks, the average rate of invasion was rather low. In addition, replicate experiments in the three colonies showed much variation: 50% of the mites invaded brood cells within 2.0 days in the first replicate, within 8.3 days in the second replicate and within 4.3 days in the third replicate. Possible causes for the low and variable invasion rates are discussed.

ISSN:0021-8839    

DOI:10.1080/00218839.1993.11101302

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1993

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

SUMMARYObservations of honey bee (Apis mellifera) foraging behaviour on five cultivars of avocado (Persea americana) were carried out in 1982–1984 and 1990–1992 in Galilee, Israel. Examination of the morphology of avocado flowers showed that the pistillate and staminate flower stages have similar structures. Bees collecting nectar, or nectar and pollen, visited both pistillate and staminate flowers, and due to the flower structure they were forced to touch both pistil and anthers. Only limited sites on a bee's body contacted the anthers, and these‘collection sites’also contacted the stigma, which occupied the same position as the anthers of the inner stamens. Most avocado pollen grains on bees visiting staminate flowers were clumped at the‘collection sites’and constituted the main pollen available for pollination. Some pollen grains randomly distributed over the entire bodies of bees visiting either pistillate or staminate flowers could have been acquired inside the hive, and did not play an important role in pollination. The observations suggest that pollination within a cultivar is accomplished during the overlapping phase of its pistillate and staminate flowering, during which bees collecting nectar and pollen move freely among neighbouring staminate and pistillate flowers. Pollination between cultivars of opposite flowering type is carried out by bees moving between them throughout the overlapping period of pistillate flowering of one cultivar and staminate flowering of the other. Bees which collect only pollen usually do not visit pistillate flowers and do not contribute to pollination.

ISSN:0021-8839    

DOI:10.1080/00218839.1993.11101303

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1993

数据来源: Taylor