On a simplified model for pattern formation in honey bee colonies

We present a simplified version of a previously presented model (Camazine et al. (1990)) that generates the characteristic pattern of honey, pollen and brood which develops on combs in honey bee colonies. We demonstrate that the formation of a band of pollen surrounding the brood area is dependent on the assumed form of the honey and pollen removal terms, and that a significant pollen band arises as the parameter controlling the rate of pollen input passes through a bifurcation value. The persistence of the pollen band after a temporary increase in pollen input can be predicted from the model. We also determine conditions on the parameters which ensure the accumulation of honey in the periphery and demonstrate that, although there is an important qualitative difference between the simplified and complete models, an analysis of the simplified version helps us understand many biological aspects of the more complex complete model. Corresponding author     

Number of adult female mites Varroa jacobsoni Oud. on hive debris from honey bee colonies artificially infested to monitor mite population increase (Mesostigmata: Varroidae)

Six honey bee colonies hived in Langstroth nuclei were each artificially infested with 100 phoretic Varroa mites. Hive debris on bottom inserts was inspected every 3–4 days. The adult Varroa mites were compared with mounted specimens and catalogued into lightly pigmented and darkly pigmented females. After 4 months, an acaricide treatment was used to estimate the final mite population. Based on light and dark adult counts, we propose a balancing equation that follows the Varroa population increase at 7 day intervals and allows the calculation of experimental population growth rates. The calculated Varroa finite rate of increase is =1.021. Exponential and logistic growth models fitted to the balancing equation data gave R ²=0.986 and R ²=0.991, respectively. To develop a more precise model it would be necessary to follow the population growth beyond our experimental data.     

Quality evaluation of Saudi honey harvested from the Asir province by using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)

Sugar profile and hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) of Saudi honey were examined through high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system equipped with refractive index and diode array detectors. The work was designed to assess the quality of various types of blossom honey i.e. Sider (Ziziphus spina-christi), Dhuhyana (Acacia asak), Sumra (Acacia tortilis), Qatada (Acacia hamulosa), Dhurum (Lavandula dentata), multiflora with majra (Hypoestes forskaolii), multiflora with herbs, Keena (Eucalyptus spp.) produced in the southwestern areas of the kingdom. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), principal cluster analysis (PCA), and similarity and difference indices (SDI) were also applied to examine the possible grouping based on the studied quality parameters. Four main sugars (two monosaccharides i.e. fructose and glucose, two disaccharides i.e. sucrose and maltose) and HMF were investigated . The average values of fructose and glucose were in the range 33.10%–44.77% and 26.68%–37.91%, respectively. The maltose was present in all types of honey and its mean values were in the range of 0.37%–2.97%, while sucrose was absent in six types of honey, 0.25% in one unifloral honey, and 3.25% in one multi-floral honey. HMF was not detected in seven types of honey but was below the limit of quantification (0.13 mg/kg) in one type of honey. PCA displayed the accumulative variance of 79.96% for the initial two PCs suggesting that honey samples were not well distinguished by their sugar profile. Based on the sucrose and HMF contents, it was concluded that all types of blossom honey from the Asir province were of the best quality in the kingdom and met the international quality parameters.     

Characterization of Bifidobacterium apousia sp. nov., Bifidobacterium choladohabitans sp. nov., and Bifidobacterium polysaccharolyticum sp. nov., three novel species of the genus Bifidobacterium from honey bee gut

Bifidobacterium is one of the dominating bacterial genera in the honey bee gut, and they are the key degrader of diet polysaccharides for the host. Previous genomic analysis shows that they belong to separate phylogenetic clusters and exhibited different functional potentials in hemicellulose digestion. Here, three novel strains from the genus Bifidobacterium were isolated from the guts of the honey bee (Apis mellifera). Phylogenomic analysis showed that the isolates could be grouped into four phylogenetic clusters. The average nucleotide identity values between strains from different clusters are <95%, while strains in Cluster IV belong to the characterized species Bifidobacterium asteroides. Carbohydrate-active enzyme annotation confirmed that the metabolic capacity for carbohydrates varied between clusters of strains. Cells are Gram-positive rods; they grew both anaerobically and in a CO₂-enriched atmosphere. All strains grew at a temperature range of 20–42 °C, with optimum growth at 35 °C. The pH range for growth was 5–9. Strains from different phylogenetic clusters varied in multiple phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characterizations. Thus, we propose three novel species Bifidobacterium apousia sp. nov. whose type strain is W8102^T (=CGMCC 1.18893 ^T = JCM 34587 ^T), Bifidobacterium choladohabitans sp. nov., whose type strain is B14384H11^T (=CGMCC 1.18892 ^T = JCM 34586 ^T), and Bifidobacterium polysaccharolyticum sp. nov. whose type strain is W8117^T (=CGMCC 1.18894 ^T = JCM 34588 ^T).     

Viral impacts on honey bee populations: A review

Honey bee is vital for pollination and ecological services, boosting crops productivity in terms of quality and quantity and production of colony products: wax, royal jelly, bee venom, honey, pollen and propolis. Honey bees are most important plant pollinators and almost one third of diet depends on bee’s pollination, worth billions of dollars. Hence the role that honey bees have in environment and their economic importance in food production, their health is of dominant significance. Honey bees can be infected by various pathogens like: viruses, bacteria, fungi, or infested by parasitic mites. At least more than 20 viruses have been identified to infect honey bees worldwide, generally from Dicistroviridae as well as Iflaviridae families, like ABPV (Acute Bee Paralysis Virus), BQCV (Black Queen Cell Virus), KBV (Kashmir Bee Virus), SBV (Sacbrood Virus), CBPV (Chronic bee paralysis virus), SBPV (Slow Bee Paralysis Virus) along with IAPV (Israeli acute paralysis virus), and DWV (Deformed Wing Virus) are prominent and cause infections harmful for honey bee colonies health. This issue about honey bee viruses demonstrates remarkably how diverse this field is, and considerable work has to be done to get a comprehensive interpretation of the bee virology.     

Time-restricted foraging under natural light/dark condition shifts the molecular clock in the honey bee,Apis mellifera

ABSTRACT

Honey bees have a remarkable sense of time and individual honey bee foragers are capable of adjusting their foraging activity with respect to the time of food availability. Although, there is compelling experimental evidence that foraging behavior is guided by the circadian clock, nothing is known about the underlying molecular mechanisms. Here we present for the first time a study that explores whether time-restricted foraging under natural light-dark (LD) condition affects the molecular clock in honey bees. Food was presented in an enclosed flight chamber (12 m × 4 m × 4 m) either for 2 hours in the morning or 2 hours in the afternoon for several consecutive days and daily cycling of the two major clock genes, cryptochrome2 (cry2) and period (per), were analyzed for three different parts of the nervous system involved in feeding-related behaviors: brain, subesophageal ganglion (SEG), and the antennae with olfactory sensory neurons. We found that morning and afternoon trained foragers showed significant phase differences in the cycling of both clock genes in all three tissues. In addition, the phase differences were more pronounced when the feeder was scented with the common plant odor, linalool. Together our findings suggest that foraging time may function as a Zeitgeber that might have the capability to modulate the light entrained molecular clock.     

蜜柚不同砧穗组合苗期嫁接亲和性评价

为评价蜜柚砧穗的嫁接亲和性,以红绵蜜柚(Citrus grandis‘Hongmianmiyou’)、三红蜜柚(‘Sanhongmiyou’)、红肉蜜柚(‘Hongroumiyou’)、黄金蜜柚(‘Huangjinmiyou’)和琯溪蜜柚(‘Guanximiyou’)作接穗,枳(Poncirus trifoliata)、香橙(Citrus junos)、酸柚(Citrus grandis)作砧木,田间调查15个砧穗组合苗期生长指标,测定嫁接愈合期叶片多酚氧化酶(PPO)和过氧化物酶(POD)活性、可溶性蛋白和可溶性糖含量,采用主成分分析和聚类分析方法对蜜柚砧穗组合嫁接亲和性进行评价。结果表明,以柚作砧木的砧穗组合保存率高、生长势旺盛、抽梢能力强,以枳和香橙作砧木的砧穗组合部分指标存在差异,其中红绵蜜柚和黄金蜜柚以枳作砧木时表现出不亲和现象。不同砧穗组合嫁接愈合时期PPO、POD、可溶性蛋白和可溶性糖变化趋势基本一致。主成分分析结果表明,4个主成分基本反映了15个指标91.33%的数据信息。聚类分析将15个砧穗组合分为4类,与主成分分析结果基本一致。因此,琯溪蜜柚、红肉蜜柚和三红蜜柚嫁接可采用枳和柚作砧木,红绵蜜柚和黄金蜜柚嫁接可采用柚作砧木,红绵蜜柚和黄金蜜柚嫁接不可采用枳作砧木。     

The pollination efficiency of a pollinator depends on its foraging strategy,flowering phenology,and the flower characteristics of a plant species

Honey bees and stingless bees are generalist visitors of several wild and cultivated plants. They forage with a high degree of floral fidelity and thereby help in the pollination services of those plants. We hypothesized that pollination efficiency might be influenced by flowering phenology, floral characteristics, and resource collection modes of the worker bees. In this paper, we surveyed the foraging strategies of honey bees (Apis cerana, Apis dorsata, and Apis florea) and stingless bees (Tetragonula iridipennis) concerning their pollination efficiencies. Bees showed different resource gathering strategies, including legitimate (helping in pollination as mixed foragers and specialized foragers) and illegitimate (serving as nectar robbers and pollen thieves) types of flower visitation patterns. Foraging strategies are influenced by the shape of flowers, the timing of the visitation, floral richness, and bee species. Honey bees and stingless bees mainly acted as legitimate visitors in most plants studied. Sometimes honey bees served as nectar robbers in tubular flowers and stingless bees as pollen thieves in large-sized flowers. Among the legitimate categories, mixed foragers have a comparatively lower flower visitation rate than the specialized nectar and pollen foragers. However, mixed foragers have greater abundance and higher values of the single-visit pollination efficiency index (PEi) than nectar and pollen foragers. The value of the combined parameter ‘importance in pollination (PI)’ was thus higher in mixed foragers than in nectar and pollen foragers.     

Successful cryopreservation of honey bee drone spermatozoa with royal jelly supplemented extenders

The aim of the present study was to evaluate different concentrations of royal jelly (RJ) supplemented extenders for post-thawing quality of drone sperm. Semen samples were collected from sexually mature drones. Pooled semen was diluted with extender without RJ (control) or supplemented with different concentrations of RJ (1, 2, 4 or 8%). Sperm motility, plasma membrane functional integrity, and acrosomal integrity were evaluated. At post thaw, the highest sperm motility and acrosomal integrity rates were obtained in the RJ1 group. Functional integrity of sperm membrane was better preserved in the RJ1 and RJ2 groups compare to the other groups. The study shows that RJ supplemented extenders have beneficial effects on drone semen parameters. The results of the present study demonstrated advantage of using 1% RJ supplemented extender.