Worker honey bee ovary development: seasonal variation and the influence of larval and adult nutrition

We examined the effect of larval and adult nutrition on worker honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) ovary development. Workers were fed high or low-pollen diets as larvae, and high or low-protein diets as adults. Workers fed low-protein diets at both life stages had the lowest levels of ovary development, followed by those fed high-protein diets as larvae and low- quality diets as adults, and then those fed diets poor in protein as larvae but high as adults. Workers fed high-protein diets at both life stages had the highest levels of ovary development. The increases in ovary development due to improved dietary protein in the larval and adult life stages were additive. Adult diet also had an effect on body mass. The results demonstrate that both carry-over of larval reserves and nutrients acquired in the adult life stage are important to ovary development in worker honey bees. Carry-over from larval development, however, appears to be less important to adult fecundity than is adult nutrition. Seasonal trends in worker ovary development and mass were examined throughout the brood rearing season. Worker ovary development was lowest in spring, highest in mid-summer, and intermediate in fall.     

Chill sensitivity of honey bee, Apis mellifera, embryos

Improved methods for preservation of honey bee, Apis mellifera L., germplasm would be very welcome to beekeeping industry queen breeders. The introduction of two parasites and the emergence of an antibiotic resistant disease have increased demands for resistant stock. Techniques for artificial insemination of queens are available, and semen has been cryopreserved with limited success. However, cryopreservation of embryos for rearing queens would mesh well with current practices and also provide drones (haploid males). Eggs at five ages between twenty-four hours and sixty-two hours were exposed to 0, -6.6, and/or -15 degrees C for various times, and successful hatch measured. Honey bee embryos show chill sensitivity as do other insect embryos, and the rate of chill injury increases dramatically with decrease in holding temperature. The 48 h embryos in both groups showed the greatest tolerance to chilling, although 44 h embryos were only slightly less so.     

蜜蜂春季增长阶段饲料适宜蛋白质水平的研究

早春将群势、蜂王年龄和质量基本一致的30群意大利蜜蜂Apis mellifera ligustica Spinola,随机分为5个处理组和1个对照组。处理组分别饲喂蛋白质水平为20%、25%、30%、35%和40%的5种代用花粉饲料,对照组饲喂油菜花粉,观测饲料蛋白质水平对蜂群群势、取食量、初生重以及蜂体组织蛋白含量的影响。结果表明对照组中蜜蜂对油菜花粉的取食量最高,但仅显著高于蛋白质水平为40%的饲料(P<0.05);蛋白质水平为25%、30%、35%的处理组群势增长差异不显著(P>0.05),但均显著高于对照组(P<0.05);随着饲料蛋白质水平升高,工蜂初生重逐渐升高,在35%到达最高值,随后又下降;饲喂蛋白质水平为20%、25%、30%饲料的蜂体组织蛋白含量与对照组差异不显著(P>0.05),饲喂蛋白质水平为35%、40%饲料的蜜蜂体组织蛋白含量显著高于对照组(P<0.05)。     

蜜蜂抗狄斯瓦螨机制的研究进展

狄斯瓦螨Varroa destructor已蔓延至世界各地,给养蜂生产带来巨大挑战,被认为是世界养蜂业的主要威胁。因此,抗螨机制的研究和抗螨蜂种的培育显得尤为重要,而掌握蜜蜂的抗螨机制则是成功培育抗螨蜂种的前提条件。本文从行为、生理及分子机制等多个不同角度对国内外蜜蜂抗狄斯瓦螨机制研究的最新进展进行了详细的阐述。尤其是从分子水平研究蜜蜂的抗螨机制对选育抗螨蜂种具有重要意义,将为利用分子遗传辅助标记筛选方法和先进的生物工程技术并结合传统的育种手段成功培育出具有抗螨性能的优良蜜蜂品系奠定基础。     

Tactile Conditioning And Movement Analysis Of Antennal Sampling Strategies In Honey Bees (Apis mellifera L.)

Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) are eusocial insects and well known for their complex division of labor and associative learning capability^{1, 2}. The worker bees spend the first half of their life inside the dark hive, where they are nursing the larvae or building the regular hexagonal combs for food (e.g. pollen or nectar) and brood³. The antennae are extraordinary multisensory feelers and play a pivotal role in various tactile mediated tasks⁴, including hive building⁵ and pattern recognition⁶. Later in life, each single bee leaves the hive to forage for food. Then a bee has to learn to discriminate profitable food sources, memorize their location, and communicate it to its nest mates⁷. Bees use different floral signals like colors or odors^{7, 8}, but also tactile cues from the petal surface⁹ to form multisensory memories of the food source. Under laboratory conditions, bees can be trained in an appetitive learning paradigm to discriminate tactile object features, such as edges or grooves with their antennae^{10, 11, 12, 13}. This learning paradigm is closely related to the classical olfactory conditioning of the proboscis extension response (PER) in harnessed bees¹⁴. The advantage of the tactile learning paradigm in the laboratory is the possibility of combining behavioral experiments on learning with various physiological measurements, including the analysis of the antennal movement pattern.     

Nosema ceranae is a long-present and wide-spread microsporidian infection of the European honey bee (Apis mellifera) in the United States

Honey bee samples collected between 1995 and 2007 from 12 states were examined for the presence of Nosema infections. Our results showed that Nosema ceranae is a wide-spread infection of the European honey bee, Apis mellifera in the United States. The discovery of N. ceranae in bees collected a decade ago indicates that N. ceranae was transferred from its original host, Apis cerana to A. mellifera earlier than previously recognized. The spread of N. ceranae infection in A. mellifera warrants further epidemiological studies to identify conditions that resulted in such a widespread infection.     

Prevalence of pathogenic bee viruses in Hungarian apiaries: situation before joining the European Union

A survey on the occurrence of six honeybee-pathogenic viruses was carried out using one-step RT-PCR assays. Samples were collected between 1999 and 2004 in 52 Hungarian apiaries located in different regions of the country. The results of the assays on samples of adult honeybees and Varroa destructor mites were compared to similar surveys from France and Austria. The study demonstrates geographical differences in the prevalence of honeybee viruses between Hungary and the older EU member states. The results could serve as a basis for monitoring further changes in the distribution of honeybee viruses in Europe.     

Does fumagillin control the recently detected invasive parasite Nosema ceranae in western honey bees (Apis mellifera)?

Western honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies in Nova Scotia, Canada were sampled in spring and late summer 2007 to evaluate efficacy of fumagillin dicyclohexylammonium (hereafter, fumagillin) against Nosema ceranae. Colonies treated with fumagillin in September 2006 (n = 94) had significantly lower Nosema intensity in spring 2007 than did colonies that received no treatment (n = 51), but by late summer 2007 no difference existed between groups. Molecular sequencing of 15 infected colonies identified N. ceranae in 93.3% of cases, suggesting that fumagillin is successful at temporarily reducing this recent invasive parasite in western honey bees.     

Thermal energy conduction in a honey bee comb due to cell-heating bees

Theoretical analysis and numerical calculations are performed to characterize the unsteady two-dimensional conduction of thermal energy in an idealized honey bee comb. The situation explored corresponds to a comb containing a number of brood cells occupied by pupae. These cells are surrounded by other cells containing pollen which, in turn, are surrounded (above) by cells containing honey and (below) by vacant cells containing air. Up to five vacant cells in the brood region can be occupied by cell-heating bees which, through the isometrical contraction of their flight muscles, can generate sufficient energy to raise their body temperatures by a few degrees. In this way, the cell-heating bees alter the heat flux and temperature distributions in the brood region so as to maintain conditions that benefit the pupae. The calculations show that the number of cell-heating bees significantly affects the magnitude, time rate of change, and spatial distribution of temperature throughout the comb. They also reveal a vertically aligned asymmetry in the spatial distribution of temperature that is due to the large heat capacity and thermal conductivity of honey relative to air, whereby air-filled cells experience larger temperature increases than honey-filled cells. Analysis shows that convection and radiation represent negligible modes of thermal energy transfer at all levels in the problem considered. Also, because of its small thickness, the wax wall of a comb cell simultaneously presents negligible resistance to conduction heat transfer normal to it and very large resistance along it. As a consequence the walls of a cell play no thermal role, but simply serve as mechanical supports for the materials they contain.     

Microsatellite loci for Dawson's burrowing bee (Amegilla dawsoni) and their cross‐utility in other Amegilla species

Microsatellite loci were isolated from Dawson's burrowing bee, Amegilla dawsoni, a species endemic to Western Australia. Twelve polymorphic loci were found with an observed number of alleles ranging from two to 24 and observed heterozygosities between 0.17 and 0.85. These 12 loci were tested for amplification in three additional species of Amegilla. The loci will be used for sex determination and the examination of mating frequency in this species.