• USDA Agricultural Research Service

Honey bees survive winters in cold climates by forming a thermoregulating cluster around the honey stored in the colony. Recent research showed overwintering colony losses are linked to a specific metabolic pathway connected to how bees apportion their energy resources.  Contributed

Agricultural Research Service scientists and their Chinese colleagues have recently identified a specific metabolic pathway that controls how honey bees apportion their body’s resources such as energy and immune response in reaction to stresses such as winter’s cold temperatures, according to recently published research.

That cellular pathway has the strongest connection yet found to the large overwintering colony losses that have been plaguing honey bees and causing so much concern among beekeepers, and farmers, especially almond producers, during the past 15 years, said entomologist Yanping “Judy” Chen, who led the study. She is with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service’s Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland.

The “signaling” pathway governs the increased and decreased synthesis of the protein SIRT1, one of a family of proteins that help regulate cellular lifespan, metabolism and metabolic health, and resistance to stress.

“In honey bees merely exposed to a cold challenge of 28 degrees Celsius for five days, we saw almost three-fold lower levels of SIRT1 and significantly higher levels of colony mortality compared to bees maintained at 34 to 35 degrees Celsius, which is the optimal core temperature of a honey bee cluster inside a bee hive in winter,” Chen said.

The researchers also found that bees under cold stress were associated with an increased risk of disease infections, which in turn led to an increased likelihood of colony losses.

When honey bee colonies were inoculated with the intracellular microsporidia parasite Nosema ceranae, and kept at 34 degrees Celsius, they had a survival rate of 41.18 percent while the mortality rate of the colonies exposed to the cold stress of 28 degrees Celsius for five days was 100 percent.

“So that showed it is primarily cold stress that the SIRT1 signaling pathway is responding to rather than pathogens,” Chen said. “Our study suggests that the increased energy overwintering bees use to maintain hive temperature reduces the energy available for immune functions, which would leave overwintering bees more susceptible to disease infections, all leading to higher winter colony losses.”

Chen points out that research also offers a promising avenue for new therapeutic strategies to mitigate overwintering and annual colony losses. One way could be by increasing the production of the SIRT1 protein by treating honey bees with SRT1720, a specific SIRT1 gene activator being experimentally used as an anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer treatment.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Metabolic pathway discovered (agupdate.com)

Field pansies (Viola arvensis) growing near Paris produced 20% less nectar than those growing there 20 to 30 years ago, the study found. Photograph: Courtesy of Samson Acoca-Pidolle

Study: Flowers are Starting to Self-Pollinate Due to Fewer Insects

Flowers are “giving up on” pollinators and evolving to be less attractive to them as insect numbers decline, researchers have said.

A study has found the flowers of field pansies growing near Paris are 10% smaller and produce 20% less nectar than flowers growing in the same fields 20 to 30 years ago. They are also less frequently visited by insects.

“Our study shows that pansies are evolving to give up on their pollinators,” said Pierre-Olivier Cheptou, one of the study’s authors and a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research. “They are evolving towards self-pollination, where each plant reproduces with itself, which works in the short term but may well limit their capacity to adapt to future environmental changes.”

Plants produce nectar for insects, and in return insects transport pollen between plants. This mutually beneficial relationship has formed over millions of years of coevolution. But pansies and pollinators may now be stuck in a vicious cycle: plants are producing less nectar and this means there will be less food available to insects, which will in turn accelerate declines.

“Our results show that the ancient interactions linking pansies to their pollinators are disappearing fast,” said lead author Samson Acoca-Pidolle, a doctoral researcher at the University of Montpellier. “We were surprised to find that these plants are evolving so quickly.”

Insect declines have been reported by studies across Europe. One study on German nature reserves found that from 1989 to 2016 the overall weight of insects caught in traps fell by 75%. Acoca-Pidolle added: “Our results show that the effects of pollinator declines are not easily reversible, because plants have already started to change. Conservation measures are therefore urgently needed to halt and reverse pollinator declines.”

The method used in the study is called “resurrection ecology”. It involved germinating ancestral pansy plants from seeds collected in the 1990s and 2000s, which were being stored in the national botanical conservatories. The team compared how four populations of field pansies (Viola arvensis) had changed during this period.

Other than changes to the flowers, they found no other changes between the populations, such as the leaf size or total size of the plant, according to the paper, published in the journal New Phytologist.

If flowers are not likely to attract insects, then a plant is wasting energy making them large and nectar-rich. Previous research has shown the percentage of field pansies relying on self-pollination has increased by 25% over the past 20 years.

“This is a particularly exciting finding as it shows evolution happening in real time,” said Dr Philip Donkersley, from Lancaster University, who was not involved in the study.

“The fact that these flowers are changing their strategy in response to decreasing pollinator abundance is quite startling. This research shows a plant undoing thousands of years of evolution in response to a phenomenon that has been around for only 50 years.

“Although most research has been done in Europe and North America, we know that pollinator declines are a global phenomenon. These results may just be the tip of the iceberg: areas with far greater plant diversity will likely have many more examples of wild plants changing their pollination strategies in response to a lack of pollinators.”

Similar processes can be seen in invasive populations that need to adapt new ecological niches. Populations of foxglove have evolved to be pollinated by bumblebees in Europe. However, 200 years ago they were introduced to Costa Rica and Colombia, and they have since changed the shape of their flowers so they can be pollinated by hummingbirds, researchers found.

Other research shows plants that are unable to self-pollinate go the other way, producing more pollen when pollinators are scarce. Because they cannot resort to other methods, they have to outcompete other plants to attract a shrinking number of pollinators.

Prof Phil Stevenson, from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, who was also not involved in the research, said it made sense that traits that guide or reward pollinators are likely to change when the number of pollinators drops, especially among species that have the option of self-pollinating.

“This is especially so for reproduction,” he said, “which is arguably the most important living function of organisms and likely the most adaptive trait of all.”

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2023/12/study-flowers-are-starting-to-self-pollinate-due-to-fewer-insects/

Survival of NEBs inoculated with one of five treatments modeled using a Mixed Effects Cox Model. Dark lines represent mean treatment survival across replicates, while the shading surrounding the dark lines represent 95% CI. Different letters represent significant differences between treatments (coxme; α = 0.05).

A tale of two parasites: Responses of honey bees infected with Nosema ceranae and Lotmaria passim

• Courtney I. MacInnis,
• Lien T. Luong &
• Stephen F. Pernal

Scientific Reports volume 13, Article number: 22515 (2023) Cite this article

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Abstract

Nosema ceranae and Lotmaria passim are two commonly encountered digestive tract parasites of the honey bee that have been associated with colony losses in Canada, the United States, and Europe. Though honey bees can be co-infected with these parasites, we still lack basic information regarding how they impact bee health at the individual and colony level. Using locally-isolated parasite strains, we investigated the effect of single and co-infections of these parasites on individual honey bee survival, and their responsiveness to sucrose. Results showed that a single N. ceranae infection is more virulent than both single L. passim infections and co-infections. Honey bees singly infected with N. ceranae reached < 50% survival eight days earlier than those inoculated with L. passim alone, and four days earlier than those inoculated with both parasites. Honey bees infected with either one, or both, parasites had increased responsiveness to sucrose compared to uninfected bees, which could correspond to higher levels of hunger and increased energetic stress. Together, these findings suggest that N. ceranae and L. passim pose threats to bee health, and that the beekeeping industry should monitor for both parasites in an effort correlate pathogen status with changes in colony-level productivity and survival.

To read the complete research paper go to; A tale of two parasites: Responses of honey bees infected with Nosema ceranae and Lotmaria passim | Scientific Reports (nature.com)

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: A tale of two parasites: Responses of honey bees infected with Nosema ceranae and Lotmaria passim | Scientific Reports (nature.com)

• Nicole S. DesJardins,
• Jessalynn Macias,
• Daniela Soto Soto,
• Jon F. Harrison &
• Brian H. Smith

Scientific Reports volume 13, Article number: 19458 (2023) Cite this article

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Abstract

Managed honey bees have experienced high rates of colony loss recently, with pesticide exposure as a major cause. While pesticides can be lethal at high doses, lower doses can produce sublethal effects, which may substantially weaken colonies. Impaired learning performance is a behavioral sublethal effect, and is often present in bees exposed to insecticides. However, the effects of other pesticides (such as fungicides) on honey bee learning are understudied, as are the effects of pesticide formulations versus active ingredients. Here, we investigated the effects of acute exposure to the fungicide formulation Pristine (active ingredients: 25.2% boscalid, 12.8% pyraclostrobin) on honey bee olfactory learning performance in the proboscis extension reflex (PER) assay. We also exposed a subset of bees to only the active ingredients to test which formulation component(s) were driving the learning effects. We found that the formulation produced negative effects on memory, but this effect was not present in bees fed only boscalid and pyraclostrobin. This suggests that the trade secret “other ingredients” in the formulation mediated the learning effects, either through exerting their own toxic effects or by increasing the toxicities of the active ingredients. These results show that pesticide co-formulants should not be assumed inert and should instead be included when assessing pesticide risks.

To access the complete article go to; ‘Inert’ co-formulants of a fungicide mediate acute effects on honey bee learning performance | Scientific Reports (nature.com)

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: ‘Inert’ co-formulants of a fungicide mediate acute effects on honey bee learning performance | Scientific Reports (nature.com)

Beekeeping under climate change

Peter Neumann and Lars Straub,

Institute of Bee Health, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; b Faculty of Science, Energy and Environment, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Rayong, Thailand; c Centre for Ecology, Evolution, and Behaviour, Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, UK

Figure 1. Beekeeping under climate change. Environmental challenges for bees and beekeepers due to a changing climate (= white area) and possible migration measures (= green area) are shown with an ongoing colony inspection in the center.

ABSTRACT There is consensus that climate change is one of the grand challenges facing humanity in the twenty first century, inevitably the most confided and undeniably one of the most pressing. Profound effects are inevitable in global agriculture, and beekeeping is certainly no exemption. Indeed, extreme weather and natural disasters have already had an impact on honey bees. Thus, it appears evident that climate change will constitute a key stress factor for managed bees and beekeepers alike contributing to increased colony losses and reduced income. Here, we review the literature on the impact of climate change on honey bees and beekeeping. Based on the literature, it is evident that at present there is no inclusive strategy for beekeeping to adequately deal with the challenges global climate change will bring. Here, we call for such a strategy and briefly list the main challenges for future beekeeping due to a changing climate as well as suggest possible countermeasures. Ultimately, the impact of climate change and its mitigation are at present insufficiently understood in the beekeeping context. This calls for respective concerted efforts of scientists, beekeepers, and other stakeholders to find a sustainable future for beekeeping. Such efforts will inevitably require evidence-based mitigation measures to deal with the increasing global impact of climate change.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Beekeeping under climate change (tandfonline.com)

Kate McMahon

The University of Galway bee research team has been ‘buzzing’ after receiving a swarm of support from Nottingham University.

The green light given from the University of Northampton’s science department aided the research team in their study of rare insects.

The study focuses on their adaption and survival in unique forest habitats in Britain and its application to sustainable beekeeping.

The wild honey bees are important as they help produce the next generation of plants including fruits and crops we eat.

Deep freeze for the bees

The University of Galway research team being led by Prof. Grace McCormack, went to Boughton Estate Forests in Northampton as part of the research project to compare the DNA of bees kept in hives to wild bees.

After collecting bees, they needed help with the freezing samples and to prevent deterioration of the bees’ DNA.

They were given urgently-needed, cold storage equipment and expertise to ensure the samples were safely transported back to Galway for testing.

The research will be carried out over 90 British colonies, at several different sites including Boughton and Blenheim.

There will also be an assessment of the diversity of the colony; the extent of hybridisation; and population dynamics.

Bee survival

Research assistant with the University of Galway Honey Bee Research Centre, Chiara Binetti said:

“Survival under natural selection and adaptation of free-living bees in old UK forests is currently being investigated, thanks to collaboration between beekeepers and scientists.

“This might be the key to unlocking their secrets and potential, and possibly inform more sustainable bee keeping.”

Senior lecturer in molecular bioscience, Dr. Alexandra Woodacre, participated in the research project with the University of Galway.

She said:

“Bees play such a key role in shaping our natural environment and contributing to food security and this project is really exciting and should find out how diverse honey bees really are.”

Beekeepers at the three different research study locations have been helping wild honeybees in their natural environment, including through the creation of nest sites for wild colonies using log hives.

The Galway campus will be buzzing this year as they have introduced a log hive on campus.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Galway university ‘buzzing’ after bee research team given support (agriland.ie)

Scott Bauer, USDA Agricultural Research Service

By Katie Bohn

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — True altruism is rare behavior in animals, but a new study by Penn State researchers has found that honey bees display this trait. Additionally, they found that an evolutionary battle of genetics may determine the parent they inherit it from.

For the study, published in the journal Molecular Ecology, the researchers examined the genetics behind “retinue” behavior in worker honey bees, who are always female. After the worker bees are exposed to the queen bee’s pheromone, they deactivate their own ovaries, help spread the pheromone to the other worker bees, and tend to the queen and the eggs she produces.

This behavior is considered altruistic because it ultimately benefits the ability of the queen to produce offspring, while the worker bee remains sterile. For honey bees, the queen is typically the mother of all, or nearly all, the bees in the hive.

The researchers found that the genes that make worker bees more receptive to this pheromone — and therefore more likely to display the retinue behavior — can be passed down from either the mother or father bees. However, the genes only result in altruistic behavior when they are passed down from the mother.

Sean Bresnahan, corresponding author, doctoral candidate in the Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, said that in addition to giving insight into bee behavior, the findings also show that which parent a bee inherits certain genes from can affect how those genes are expressed, something that is notoriously difficult to study in insects.

“People often think about different phenotypes being the result of differences in gene sequences or the environment,” he said. “But what this study shows is it’s not just differences in the gene itself — it’s which parent the gene is inherited from. By the very nature of the insect getting the gene from its mom, regardless of what the gene sequence is, it’s possibly going to behave differently than the copy of the gene from the dad.”

Christina Grozinger, co-author and Publius Vergilius Maro Professor of Entomology at Penn State, said the study also supports the Kinship Theory of Intragenomic Conflict — a theory that suggests the mothers’ and fathers’ genes are in conflict over what behaviors to support and not support.

She said that while previous work has shown that genes from males can support selfish behavior in mammals, plants and honey bees, the current study is the first to show that genes from females can pass altruistic behavior onto their offspring.

“Honey bees are one of the few animal species that display altruistic behavior, where some individuals give up their own reproduction to help others,” Grozinger said. “This study reveals a very subtle and unexpected form of genetic control of those behaviors. With our system, we see that genes from the mother — the queen — are supporting altruistic behavior in her offspring, which leads to more copies of her genes in the population. Instead of producing their own eggs, the worker bees support the queen’s reproduction. This complements our previous studies, which showed that the fathers’ genes support selfish behavior in worker bees, where the bees will stop helping their queen mother and focus on their own reproduction.”

The queen mates with multiple males, so worker bees have the same mother but different fathers. Breshnahan explained that this means they share more of their mother’s genes with each other.

“This is why the Kinship Theory of Intragenomic Conflict predicts that genes inherited from the mother will support altruistic behavior in honey bees,” Breshnahan said. “A worker bee benefits more from helping, rather than competing with, her mother and sisters — who carry more copies of the worker’s genes than she could ever reproduce on her own. In contrast, in species where the female mates only once, it is instead the father’s genes that are predicted to support altruistic behavior.”

To read the complete article go to: Honey bees may inherit altruistic behavior from their mothers | Penn State University (psu.edu)

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Honey bees may inherit altruistic behavior from their mothers | Penn State University (psu.edu)

Photo by Art Rachen on Unsplash

Honey, nature’s sweet nectar, has been cherished for its flavour and health benefits for millennia. But beneath its golden, sticky exterior lies a complex chemical composition that scientists have been diligently deciphering. One crucial aspect of this composition is carbohydrates, the primary source of honey’s sweetness. Analysing carbohydrates in honey is a vital task that helps us understand its nutritional value and quality. In this editorial, we’ll delve into the methods used in carbohydrate analysis, shedding light on the sweet science behind honey.

Honey’s carbohydrate content primarily consists of two main components: sugars and non-sugar carbohydrates. The sugars include glucose, fructose, and sucrose, while non-sugar carbohydrates comprise a variety of compounds like polysaccharides and oligosaccharides. Analysing these components requires precision and specialised techniques.

High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC): HPLC is a widely employed method for carbohydrate analysis in honey. It involves separating carbohydrates in a honey sample based on their chemical properties and measuring their concentrations. This method provides detailed information about individual sugar levels and allows for accurate quantification.

Gas Chromatography (GC): GC is often used to analyse volatile compounds in honey, including sugars like glucose and fructose. The technique involves vaporising the sample and separating its components using a chromatographic column. GC can provide information about the sugar profile and detect any potential adulteration.

Spectroscopy Techniques: Infrared (IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy are instrumental in identifying and quantifying carbohydrates in honey. IR spectroscopy relies on the absorption of infrared radiation by chemical bonds, while NMR spectroscopy analyses the nuclear properties of atoms in molecules. These methods help in characterising the structural aspects of carbohydrates.

Enzymatic Methods: Enzymatic assays involve the use of specific enzymes that react with sugars to produce measurable products. For example, the phenol-sulphuric acid method relies on the reaction of carbohydrates with phenol and sulfuric acid to form a coloured compound, whose concentration can be quantified spectrophotometrically.

Total Carbohydrate Content Calculation: The total carbohydrate content in honey can be calculated by subtracting the sum of water content, ash, protein, and fat from 100%. This method provides a general estimate of carbohydrates and is often used as a quick assessment of honey quality.

Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS): IRMS helps detect the presence of C4 sugars like corn syrup, which may be used to adulterate honey. It measures the carbon isotope ratios in the sugars, allowing for differentiation between natural honey sugars and added sugars from other sources.

Meliss palynology: This technique involves the examination of pollen grains in honey, which can provide information about the floral source and geographic origin of honey. While not a direct carbohydrate analysis method, it helps corroborate other analytical findings.

Accurate carbohydrate analysis in honey is crucial not only for determining its authenticity but also for assessing its nutritional value and potential health benefits. Honey is not just about sweetness; its carbohydrate composition plays a significant role in its taste, texture, and crystallisation behaviour. Moreover, understanding the carbohydrate profile of honey is essential for ensuring its purity, as adulteration with cheaper sugars is a concerning issue in the honey industry.

In conclusion, the methods used for analysing carbohydrates in honey are diverse and sophisticated, each serving a specific purpose in unravelling the intricate chemistry of this beloved natural sweetener. These analytical techniques are indispensable tools for beekeepers, food scientists, and regulatory authorities to ensure the quality and authenticity of honey on our tables. As we continue to explore the wonders of honey, these methods will remain indispensable in preserving the sweet mysteries within the golden jars of nature’s gift.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Unravelling the Sweet Mysteries: Methods for Analysing Carbohydrates in Honey Chromatography Today

Authors

• Caitlyn Forster, Associate Lecturer, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney

• Eliza Middleton, Biodiversity Management Officer, University of Sydney

• Tanya Latty, Associate professor, University of Sydney

Disclosure statement

Caitlyn Forster received funding from The Australian Research Council. She is a volunteer for Invertebrates Australia.

Eliza Middleton received funding from the Australian Research Council. She is affiliated with Accounting for Nature, and is a forum member of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures.

Tanya Latty receives funding from The Australian Research Council and AgriFutures Australlia. She is affiliated with Invertebrates Australia (conservation organisation) and is president of the Australasian Society for the Study of Animal Behavoiur.

University of Sydney provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

Have you ever waited in a long queue only to find the ice cream flavour you wanted is gone? What did you choose instead?

In the field of behavioural economics, researchers have shown that people make very predictable second choices if the item they want is sold out. So much so, that it is possible to use unavailable items to nudge people into buying certain products.

These unavailable items are referred to as phantom decoys, because even though they are not available, they still influence peoples’ choices.

So much for humans. What about bees? In new research published in Insectes Sociaux, we tested whether honeybees could be influenced by the phantom decoy effect – with surprising results.

Phantom decoys in the animal world

Research has found phantom decoys influence animals including cats, Asian honey bees and monkeys.

However, it’s not all straightforward. Phantom decoys can apparently make wallabies spend more time investigating all the available food options, but the decoys don’t nudge their choices.

Testing phantom decoy effects can help us understand why animals make particular choices. This can have benefits for agriculture, conservation and even pest control.

Western honey bees (Apis mellifera) are important pollinators of agricultural crops around the world. In Australia, the honeybee industry is worth A$14 billion a year in honey production and pollination services.

Bees visit flowers to collect nectar and pollen, which provides them with carbohydrates and protein. In this process, they also pollinate plants, which is essential for the plants to reproduce.

However, not all flowers provide bees with nectar: some are, in effect, phantom decoys. Flowers that were rich in nectar at one time may have none at others, either because other insects have already collected it or because of variation in nectar production throughout the day. Some flowers never contain much nectar at all, but attract pollinators by resembling other plants that have more nectar.

Artificial flowers, real choices

In our latest research, we tested whether Western honey bees fall for phantom decoys. Instead of real flowers, we used artificial flowers made from a laminated piece of paper with a tube containing nectar in the centre.

To create different “values” of flowers, we adjusted the nectar quality of the flowers by increasing the nectar’s sugar content. We also adjusted the accessibility of the nectar by forcing bees to crawl down tubes to get to it. Short tubes were “easy access”; longer tubes made flowers “difficult to access”.

Bees can be trained to forage on artificial flowers. Author supplied (Caitlyn Forster)

We then trained bees to fly into a box where they had a choice of three flowers: one flower was easy to access, but had low nectar quality; a second flower had high-quality nectar, but was difficult to access; and a third flower had easy access and much higher-quality nectar than the other two flowers.

Not surprisingly, bees quickly preferred flower number three. To see whether bees were influenced by the phantom decoy effect, we then gave them the same choice between three flowers, except the easy-access, high-quality flower was empty of nectar.

Bees won’t accept second best

Unlike humans, who would likely have picked whatever available option was most similiar to the empty flower, bees did not make choices in any predictable fashion after encountering the “sold out” empty flower. This suggests that, at least in this case, they were not susceptible to phantom decoys.

Instead, when bees encountered an empty phantom decoy flower, they left all three flowers alone. This is in contrast to humans, for whom unavailable items often create a sense of urgency, making them more likely to spend money on other items.

The bees’ behaviour is like discovering your favourite ice cream flavour is sold out and, instead of buying the next-best flavour, you leave the shop with no ice cream at all.

Bees also moved more between all three flowers in the presence of an empty flower, probably because the bees expected the empty flower would eventually refill.

The overall increase in movement between flowers, and eventual abandonment of patches due to phantom decoys, could have important ramifications for pollination in patches of flowers and related agricultural and conservation management practices.

Insect pollinated plants rely on insects to move pollen from flower to flower for reproduction, so empty flowers may benefit nearby flowers by increasing pollinator movement, which, in turn, increases the movement of pollen – but only if they hang around the flowers for long enough.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: ‘Phantom decoys’ manipulate human shoppers – but bees may be immune to their charms (theconversation.com)

The Penn State Honey and Pollen Diagnostic Lab identifies the flowering plants from which bees have collected pollen and nectar through a process called DNA metabarcoding. This figure shows a mixed pollen sample collected from a honey bee colony. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

By Noah Evans

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State Honey and Pollen Diagnostic Lab now is accepting honey and pollen samples from researchers and beekeepers who would like to identify the plants at the genus level from which honeybees are collecting nectar and pollen.

“Bees and other pollinators, such as flies or butterflies, collect the nectar and pollen from flowers as their main source of food,” said Christina Grozinger, Publius Vergilius Maro Professor of Entomology and director of the Center for Pollinator Research at Penn State. “Honeybees will convert nectar to honey. So, if you are designing pollinator gardens or if you are a beekeeper and want to market specialty honey, knowing which plants the bees are foraging on is essential.”

Rather than directly tracking the flowers from which bees forage, which can be a difficult task because bees can travel miles search of flowers, the lab uses DNA metabarcoding to analyze samples of pollen or honey. This method allows for the identification of all plant genera that are present in a sample. Using this technique, the lab can process about 200 samples at a time.

“Metabarcoding involves concentrating and homogenizing the pollen, extracting DNA, performing PCR amplification to replicate and uniquely barcode the DNA target for identification, and finally analyzing the samples using next generation sequencing,” said Michele Mansfield, director of the Honey and Pollen Diagnostic Lab. “After sequencing, our data analysis platform creates reports for each sample, where each plant source is identified along with the proportion it contributes to the total floral resources in the sample.”

Beekeepers can submit samples of their honey, which contains trace amounts of pollen that is concentrated during processing, for analysis. Because nectar from different flower species has different concentrations of sugars and plant compounds, honey can vary in color, taste and medicinal properties depending on the flowers from which the bees foraged.

“There is tremendous interest for beekeepers to be able to identify and market ‘specialty honey’ that is made from specific plant species,” Grozinger said.

Pollen samples can be collected from colonies of honeybees, nests of wild bees, or bodies of insects captured in the field. Identifying the pollen can help researchers, beekeepers, gardeners and conservationists determine the flowers that are both most attractive to and nutritious for different pollinator species, said Grozinger. This information can then be used to design pollinator gardens and habitats that can support specific species of pollinators or a diverse community of pollinators.

For more information about honey and pollen diagnostic services, including spotted lanternfly identification in honey that will be available in 2024, visit the lab’s website. Please contact Michele Mansfield at man203@psu.edu with any questions or for additional sample submission information. More details about the Penn State Center for Pollinator Research can be found at pollinators.psu.edu.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: https://www.psu.edu/news/agricultural-sciences/story/penn-state-honey-and-pollen-diagnostic-lab-offers-pollen-identification/

Honey bee expert to discuss what the insects can tell us about social behavior in Discover Science lecture

At first glance, honey bees and humans don’t look like they would have that much in common.

Gene Robinson

But the honey bee lives in societies that rival our own in complexity. They have an organized yet flexible division of labor, their own language and, like humans, they undergo developmental changes over the course of their lifetimes.

That makes them a perfect model organism to study how genes and the environment govern social behavior.

Entomologist and renowned honey bee expert Gene E. Robinson, the director of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will speak at Clemson University October 2 as part of the College of Science’s Discover Science lecture series.

Robinson will present “Pillars of the social brain: Lessons from the honey bee” at 2 p.m. in the Watt Family Innovation Center auditorium. The lecture is open to the public.

Powerful model

“Gene Robinson has transformed the honey bee from an agricultural commodity into a powerful neurogenetic model for studies on social behavior. The broad impact of his work cannot be overstated,” said Robert Anholt, provost distinguished professor in the Clemson Department of Genetics and Biochemistry and the College of Science’s director of faculty excellence.

Robinson’s journey into the world of honey bees started when he was 18. He took a break from college to travel to Israel and work on a kibbutz, a communal farm. He had been picking grapefruits when the beekeeper needed some help. On a lark, despite having no prior knowledge of bees or beekeeping, Robinson volunteered. Little did he know that seemingly casual decision would lead him to become a leading expert in the field of honey bees and a pioneer in the application of genomics to the study of social behavior.

“From that first day, I was smitten with bees, and knew I wanted to work with them in some capacity as a career,” Robinson said.

The three “pillars” he references in his talk relate to the relationship between brain gene expression and behavior. Robinson said the relationship is “surprisingly close, functionally casual and evolutionarily conserved.”

Genetic toolkits

“Bees are not little humans, and humans are not big bees. Social behavior in these two lineages evolved separately and independently. That said, research from our lab and others indicates that these separate and independent instantiations of social evolution have relied on some of the same molecular building blocks, suggesting genetic toolkits for building and operating social brains,” he said.

Robinson led the effort to sequence the honey bee genome. He discovered the first known gene involved in regulating the bee colony’s division of labor, identified the gene that helps honey bees find flowers, discovered that some bees show a greater desire to seek adventure than others and found parallels between unresponsive honey bees and human autism.

Robinson said the discovery that surprised him the most was the extreme levels of individual specialization that some bees exhibit.

“Yellow 57 collected water from the same exact location for her entire foraging career, 17 days,” he said.

Robinson is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and is a recipient of the Wolf Prize in Agriculture. He has authored or co-authored over 325 publications and has trained 35 postdoctoral associates and 25 doctoral students.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Honey bee expert to discuss what the insects can tell us about social behavior in Discover Science lecture | Clemson News

From their intricate social structure and astonishing navigation abilities to their indispensable role as pollinators, bees are the unsung heroes that quietly work to sustain our ecosystems.

For College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology research professor Dr. Imraan Faruque, they could provide a wealth of information as it pertains to the rapidly growing area of robotics.

Dr. Imraan Faruque

In 2019, Oklahoma State University researchers set up an experimental camera apparatus that would allow them to measure large groups of bees.

“We have both a wide-area, lower-speed system that covers a wider area and it gives us that sort of less detailed measurement,” said Faruque, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. “Then, we have the high-speed system that usually is looking at a handful of insects rather than dozens of insects and that’s what’s allowing us to zoom in on those detailed areas.”

After just five years of studying these tiny creatures, Faruque has made significant developments in understanding bee communication patterns. For example, Faruque and his graduate assistant, Saiful Islam, made an insightful discovery of the efficiency of bee reaction times.

These researchers developed a new experiment where honeybees chased a motorized hive entrance. The reaction time between bees became increasingly more uniform when they were in a group as opposed to being alone. One theoretical explanation is the change helps them maintain swarm cohesion, and that possibility has started a new discussion in the research community.

Faruque’s research has evolved beyond swarm measurements and has begun focusing on individual bees at a higher speed.

“That is what gives you a key into their neural function, beyond the sort of input-output relationship,” Faruque said. “It’s the difference between seeing a vehicle navigate and inferring what the driver did with their controls vs. actually seeing those controls.”

But why is this research so important? How does studying bees contribute to robotics in engineering?

By understanding and emulating the coordination and communication abilities of bees, researchers can enhance a robot’s capabilities for search and rescue missions or environmental monitoring.

For instance, drones can communicate with each other by exchanging information about their locations, obstacles, or targets without human intervention by using advanced algorithms. However, developing those advanced algorithms and a deeper understanding of the physics and mechanics behind swarming techniques are unique challenges that Faruque and his team must overcome.

“Going from experiments backward is what we call system identification,” Faruque said. “It’s where you have the inputs and outputs, but you don’t know what the physics are, or you don’t know what the function is that relates them, and you need to figure out what that is.”

While studying bee swarming is helping to develop unmanned robotics, there is a secondary impact of this research project at OSU. Faruque has partnered with OSU Facilities Management to create a bee sanctuary in the new campus pocket prairie. Not only will this allow researchers to study bees outside of confinement, but it will also directly impact our local and worldwide environments.

Bees play one of the most important roles in our agriculture and food-sourcing pollination. The process of transferring pollen from male flower parts to female flower parts leads to fertilization and the production of fruits, vegetables and seeds. Approximately 75% of the world’s leading food crops depend on pollinators like bees. The loss of bees would result in fewer flowers being pollinated and, consequently, fewer fruits and seeds being produced, leading to a decline in overall food production.

In communities with low bee populations, farmers have been forced into the fields to individually pollinate every flower with a paintbrush. Faruque said.

“It’s to the point where some crops need to be manually pollinated, which means there is a person out there with a tiny brush that is going from flower to flower hand brushing.” he said. “We have talked about doing this with a drone, but the primary focus would be to see if we can recover that honeybee pollination capability. That’s why we are starting to look at native pollinator gardens.”

The loss of bees would have a severe impact on our food sources, leading to decreased crop yields, reduced food diversity and potential ecological imbalances. Protecting and preserving bee populations is crucial, which is exactly what this OSU engineering team is attempting to achieve with this new bee sanctuary. This sanctuary will be blooming with flowers and provide the perfect home for a brand-new colony of bees.

Since 1962, the bee population has been steadily declining with the potential to go extinct. The loss of bees would mean a loss in all that they provide.  Efforts to restore bee colonies are paramount to the survival of these amazing marvels of the insect world and to the various impacts they have on our lives.

“Honeybees are the backbone of our pollination strategy,” Faruque said, “And just looking at how they are choosing to forage in the new sanctuary will help to inform that societal food insecurity issue.”

Media Contact: Kristi Wheeler | Manager, CEAT Marketing and Communications | 405-744-5831 | kristi.wheeler@okstate.edu

Photos: Alyssa Williams

Story by: Alyssa Williams | IMPACT Magazine

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: https://news.okstate.edu/magazines/engineering-architecture-technology/impact/articles/2023/new_bee_sanctuary_provides_space_for_insects_to_thrive.html

Electroantennogram (EAG) responses of adult honey bee workers to social signals after exposure to the organosilicone adjuvant Dyne-Amic, the fungicide Tilt and the insecticide Altacor, alone or in combination: (A) brood-emitted ester pheromone (BEP), (B) β-ocimene (larval volatile pheromone), and (C) 2-heptanone (alarm pheromone). The EAG responses of bees that consumed pollen with water, representing the control group, are shown in blue. The other three groups, including the Dyne-Amic adjuvant treatment (shown in yellow), the Altacor + Tilt pesticide treatment (shown in red), and the Altacor + Tilt + Dyne-Amic adjuvant-pesticide mixture treatment (shown in orange), are referred to as treatment groups. The asterisk symbol (*) indicates a statistically significant difference in the EAG responses of each treatment group (Dyne-Amic, Altacor + Tilt, or Altacor + Tilt + Dyne-Amic) compared to the EAG responses of bees in the control group that consumed pollen with water, using the same concentration of tested stimuli. The estimated marginal mean of EAG response ± SE is listed. (NS: p > 0.05, *: p < 0.05, **: p < 0.01, ***: P < 0.01, N = 106, GEE test).

Effects of pesticide-adjuvant combinations used in almond orchards on olfactory responses to social signals in honey bees (Apis mellifera)

• Wen-Yen Wu,
• Ling-Hsiu Liao,
• Chia-Hua Lin,
• Reed M. Johnson &
• May R. Berenbaum

Scientific Reports volume 13, Article number: 15577 (2023) Cite this article

• Metricsdetails

Abstract

Exposure to agrochemical sprays containing pesticides and tank-mix adjuvants has been implicated in post-bloom mortality, particularly of brood, in honey bee colonies brought into California almond orchards for pollination. Although adjuvants are generally considered to be biologically inert, some adjuvants have exhibited toxicity and sublethal effects, including decreasing survival rates of next-generation queens. Honey bees have a highly developed olfactory system to detect and discriminate among social signals. To investigate the impact of pesticide-adjuvant combinations on honey bee signal perception, we performed electroantennography assays to assess alterations in their olfactory responsiveness to the brood ester pheromone (BEP), the volatile larval pheromone β-ocimene, and the alarm pheromone 2-heptanone. These assays aimed to uncover potential mechanisms underlying changes in social behaviors and reduced brood survival after pesticide exposure. We found that combining the adjuvant Dyne-Amic with the fungicide Tilt (propiconazole) and the insecticide Altacor (chlorantraniliprole) synergistically enhanced olfactory responses to three concentrations of BEP and as well exerted dampening and compensatory effects on responses to 2-heptanone and β-ocimene, respectively. In contrast, exposure to adjuvant alone or the combination of fungicide and insecticide had no effect on olfactory responses to BEP at most concentrations but altered responses to β-ocimene and 2-heptanone. Exposure to Dyne-Amic, Altacor, and Tilt increased BEP signal amplitude, indicating potential changes in olfactory receptor sensitivity or sensilla permeability to odorants. Given that, in a previous study, next-generation queens raised by nurses exposed to the same treated pollen experienced reduced survival, these new findings highlight the potential disruption of social signaling in honey bees and its implications for colony reproductive success.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Effects of pesticide-adjuvant combinations used in almond orchards on olfactory responses to social signals in honey bees (Apis mellifera) | Scientific Reports (nature.com)

From Our Changing World,
Claire Concannon,
@cconcannonsci ourchangingworld@rnz.co.nz

Photo: Phil Lester

Varroa destructor mites are bad news for honey bees.

Not only do they attack the bees by chewing on a vital organ called the fat body, but they also introduce problematic viruses to the hive – such as deformed wing virus, which does exactly what it says on the tin.

Beekeepers worldwide must treat for varroa mites several times a year just to keep their numbers in check. They mostly use pesticides, which can have damaging effects on the bees and environment. The mites are also beginning to develop resistance to pesticides, but a new treatment method may be just on the horizon.

RNA interference

This is what PhD candidates Zoe Smeele and Rose McGruddy have been researching. Under the supervision of Professor Phil Lester, they’ve been working with US biotechnology company Greenlight Biosciences to investigate how their new treatment for varroa mites works.

The treatment is based on a technique called RNA interference. An interesting bio-hack that researchers have figured out is how they turn a natural virus defence mechanism in the cell against one of the mite’s vital proteins.

Greenlight Biosciences were able to identify a working treatment that reduced mite numbers in field trials in the states but turned to the New Zealand researchers for help in uncovering exactly how it works.

Zoe Smeele (left) and Rose McGruddy (right). Photo: Claire Concannon / RNZ

Mini-hive experiments

In one of the research labs in the School of Biological Sciences at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, Zoe and Rose have been conducting mini-hive experiments. Their participants are larval stage bees taken from the hives on the roof of the building, infected with varroa mites.

The nurse bees that feed the larvae are given plastic pouches full of sugar water with the RNA interference treatment inside. What the team has discovered is that instead of killing the mites, what the treatment does is severely impact the mites’ reproduction.

But what about real beehives?

Initial field trials with New Zealand beekeepers have showed some promise, but also highlighted that there’s much to learn in terms of the dosage per bee. A next round of trials is just getting underway, and this will also include RFID tagging of bees to monitor any impacts at the individual bee level.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: A new way to help honey bees | RNZ

Bees are an essential partner in helping pollinate our flowers, enabling healthy production of quality fruits in greenhouses and vertical farming.

Picking the right light source is an important step in boosting the performance of pollinators.

Below are three key ways in which LEDs improve bee pollination:

Bees can see and navigate better under broad-spectrum LEDs compared to HPS
Bees can see from 300nm to 650nm, which includes UV, blue, and green regions of light until the beginning of the red part of the spectrum. This differs from humans, who typically see 390nm to 750nm.

If you were only using HPS (High Pressure Sodium), most of the light produced would be in the yellow to red areas of the spectrum, which interferes with the bee’s vision because bees primarily use blue, green, and UV parts of the spectrum. For bees to navigate effectively and find their flowers, they need to be able to see all the wavelengths encompassing their visual senses.

Hitting the floral bullseye
Floral bullseyes in the center of flowers are marked with patterns in UV reflectance. These are invisible to the human eye but visible to bees.

If your greenhouse is blocking UV from entering, or you are running a vertical farm, then having some UV present in your LEDs will help illuminate these floral bullseye zones, which act as a target to help the bees land and pollinate your flowers.

Figure 2. Flowers that appear simply yellow to the human eye secretly contain patterns in the UV spectrum that are visible to bees and help guide them to their nectar.

Bee activity during the day
It has been reported that with HPS, bee activity is often delayed and requires the presence of natural light. However, trials with Valoya LEDs have shown that bees can begin earlier and become immediately active when the LEDs are switched on. Using Valoya LEDs not only helps the bees navigate and hit their floral bullseyes but also activates them to start their day.

For more information:
Valoya
Greenlux Lighting Solutions
Mekaanikonkatu 1, 00880 Helsinki, Finland
Tel.: +358 29 3700 670
sales@greenlux.com
www.greenlux.com
www.valoya.com

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: https://www.verticalfarmdaily.com/article/9554052/how-can-leds-improve-bee-pollination/