Bee Zaagar - Apiary and Beekeeping News

Why do bees buzz?

M. O'Malley
Newton, Mass.

Gard Otis, a professor of environmental biology at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, who studies bee behaviour, ecology and evolution, explains.

Bees buzz for two reasons. First, the rapid wingbeats of many species create wind vibrations that people hear as buzzes. The larger the bee, the slower the wingbeat and the lower the pitch of the resulting buzz. This is a phenomenon of the wingbeats and not specifically of bees--some flies, beetles, and wasps also have buzzy flight caused by their wingbeats.

In addition some bees, most commonly bumblebees (genus Bombus), are capable of vibrating their wing muscles and thorax (the middle segment of their body) while visiting flowers. These vibrations shake the pollen off the flower's anthers and onto the bee's body. Some of that pollen then gets deposited on the next flower the bee visits, resulting in pollination. The bee grooms the remainder of the pollen onto special pollen-carrying structures (on the hind legs of most bees) and takes it back to the nest to feed to the larvae.

When bumblebees vibrate flowers to release pollen, the corresponding buzz is quite loud. Honeybees (genus Apis) are incapable of buzz-pollination and are usually quiet when foraging on flowers. As an aside, some flowers are adapted to pollination by pollinators capable of "buzz-pollination." Tomatoes, green peppers and blueberries all have tubular anthers with the pollen inside the tube. When the bee vibrates the flower, the pollen falls out of the tubular anther onto the bee. Consequently, bumblebees pollinate these crops much more efficiently than honeybees do.
ScientificAmerican.com

Bees stung in budget cuts

5 Jul 2005 - The British Bee-keepers’ Association (BBKA) is warning of threats to top-fruit crops as a result of government plans to cut spending on bee-health inspection from 2008.

Ivor Davis, chairman of the association is conducting a high-profile campaign to raise awareness of the situation this summer at country shows and in the media. He is also keen to alert growers to the problem.

“We are proposing to cut 20 per cent of the total bee-keeping budget to bring it to just under £1 million,” said a Defra spokeswoman. “But it is also important to realise that the money we invest is focused on research and development on treating and preventing disease.”

But Dr Davis told the Journal that cutting the bee budget and doing away with half of the country’s bee inspectors will be a serious blow. “Bee-keepers will have no one to call on if they do have a problem with disease in their colonies and our fear is that hobbyists will give up. Varroa has already destroyed our wild colonies, so the loss of honeybees would have a serious impact on agriculture, especially those crops requiring early spring pollinators, for example top-fruit crops would be very poor if there is a crop at all.”

Defra estimates bees’ contribution to agriculture at £120m annually with top fruit having the most to lose.

“We are asking people to write to their MPs and we need to talk to growers to warn them of the danger for their crops after 2008 if this proposal goes ahead,” said Dr Davis.

Boer backs bumble bees

12 Feb 2005 - Bumble bees provide the best method of pollination, according to Roger Boer of Koppert Biological Systems.

Boer told delegates that bumble bees were far superior to other pollinating insects, such as honey bees, for several reasons. “They are very fast workers, visiting twice as many flowers per minute as honey bees,” said Boer. “They can carry larger loads because of their size and can often achieve better contact with stamens. And unlike honey bees, which wait for the sun, bumble bees are not dependent on climactic conditions,” he added.

“They are still active at relatively low temperatures, and low light intensity levels, and bumble bees will fly in winds of 70km per hour whereas honey bees can only manage 30km per hour.

“Another important advantage of the bumble bee is the absence of a communication system. Because honey bees inform each other of the presence of an attractive food source outside the crop, such as dandelions, they may all decide to leave the crop. But bumble bees don’t have any such system of communication.”

In addition, bumble bees are not so much tied to a specific area in the crop, which is particularly shown in fruit crops. They change more easily than honey bees, which benefits cross-pollination, he added.

Boer highlighted that with the launch of its Tripol hive, Koppert could provide growers with the extra assurance of achieving successful pollination. Tripol is the company’s latest design in natural pollination under its Natupol brand.

With three times as many workers, in tests on cherries and apples, pollination using Tripol had proven to be approximately 35 per cent higher than unaided pollination.

Koppert is also responsible for producing many other forms of Integrated Pest Management and invests in continual research at its headquarters in Berkel in Rodenrijs.

Last year, the company introduced Aphelinus mali as a specific parasite to conquer woolly aphid, which has become a serious problem in more than a third of apple orchards in the Netherlands.

The company had good results with the product in trials in Germany and are hopeful Aphelinus mali will gain increasing popularity.

Koppert’s latest innovation is an anti-microbial system, temporarily named LP, which is still in its infancy stages. “The first target being tested is powdery mildew,” said Boer. “It is only curative not preventative, but it kills spores, cells and mycelium and it should be possible to produce as a fungicide, bactericide or disinfectant.

“This year we will be applying for registration for the LP system. At the moment we are looking at post-harvest application.” He added: “We have already been using it on our own crops here for six years, we have had good results with strawberries and it is very easy to use.” He said Koppert is hoping to get EU approval this year.”