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Bcrazy

Drone Bee
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nil bees given away all colonies
Came across these three informative writtings regarding honeybees.

There worth a read just for the information given.

1.
ScienceDaily (Aug. 22, 2009) — Honeybees in colonies affected by colony collapse disorder (CCD) have higher levels of pathogens and are co-infected with a greater number of pathogens than their non-CCD counterparts, but no individual pathogen can be singled out as the cause of CCD, according to a study by an international team of researchers.
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The researchers, who represented Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, University of Liege, Gembloux Agricultural University, North Carolina State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS), collected samples of adult bees, wax comb, pollen and brood – developing larvae – from 91 colonies in 13 apiaries in Florida and California and quantified more than 200 variables, including the presence of parasites such as varroa and tracheal mites; infection by bacteria, viruses and fungi; pesticide levels; nutritional factors; and bee physiology. No single factor was found consistently only in those colonies suffering from CCD.
The study's findings, which were published in the online journal PLoS ONE, illustrate the complexity of solving the CCD problem, according to lead author and Penn State entomologist Dennis vanEngelsdorp. "Our results suggest that this condition may be contagious or the result of exposure to a common risk factor that impairs the bees' immune systems, making them more susceptible to pathogens," said vanEngelsdorp, who also is acting state apiarist for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
VanEngelsdorp noted that higher pathogen loads are likely to have caused CCD symptoms, but what causes the bees to become infected with so many pathogens is still not known. "Although pathogens seem likely to play a critical role in CCD, that role may be secondary, much like AIDS patients die from secondary diseases," he added.
No one of the screened pathogens had a higher prevalence in colonies that had CCD. There also was no significant difference in the prevalence nor in the total load of varroa or tracheal mites and Nosema, a protozoan that causes disease in bees.
But overall, CCD colonies were co-infected with a greater number of pathogens -- viruses, bacteria and microparasites such as Nosema. For instance, 55 percent of CCD colonies were infected with three or more viruses compared to 28 percent of non-CCD colonies.
The researchers also found detectable levels of residues from 50 different pesticides in all of the sampled colonies, but there was no association between increased pesticide levels and CCD.
In fact, the pyrethroid insecticide Esfenvalerate -- used for a wide variety of pests such as moths, flies, beetles and other insects on vegetable, fruit and nut crops -- was more prevalent in the wax in non-CCD colonies, being found in 32 percent of non-CCD colonies compared to 5 percent of the CCD colonies.
Coumaphos, which is used to treat varroa mites in honeybees, also was found in higher levels in non-CCD colonies.
Entomologist Jeff Pettis with the ARS Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., said the study suggests that future research should focus on monitoring parasite, pathogen and pesticide loads, as well as potential interactions among pesticide and pathogen loads. "While the study's results don't indicate a specific cause of CCD, the results do help scientists narrow the direction of future CCD research by showing that some possible causes are less likely," said Pettis.
Study co-authors from Penn State are included Chris Mullin, professor of entomology; Maryann Frazier, senior extension associate in entomology; Jim Frazier, professor of entomology; and Diana Cox-Foster, professor of entomology and Robyn Underwood.
Other researchers included Jay D. Evans and Yanping Chen, ARS; Claude Saegerman, University of Liege; Eric Haubruge and Bach Kim Nguyen, Gembloux Agricultural University, Belgium and David R. Tarpy, North Carolina State University.

2.
Honey-bee Aggression Study Suggests Nurture Alters Nature
ScienceDaily (Aug. 18, 2009) — A new study reveals that changes in gene expression in the brain of the honey bee in response to an immediate threat have much in common with more long-term and even evolutionary differences in honey-bee aggression. The findings lend support to the idea that nurture (an organism's environment) may ultimately influence nature (its genetic inheritance).
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The study, appearing this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, used microarray analysis to measure changes in gene expression in the brains of European honey bees and the much more aggressive Africanized honey bees. Microarrays offer a snapshot of the thousands of genes that are activated at a given point in time. By comparing microarrays of bees in different environmental and social conditions, the researchers were able to look for patterns of gene expression that coincided with aggression.
Honey bees respond aggressively only if their hive is disturbed. But when disturbed they mount a vigorous defense – the all too familiar bee sting. The researchers observed that changes that occur in the brain of a European honey bee after it is exposed to alarm pheromone (a chemical signal that the hive is in danger) look a lot like the more gradual changes that occur over the bee's lifetime. (Old bees are more aggressive than young bees.)
Even more striking was the finding of a very similar pattern of brain gene expression in Africanized honey bees. In terms of brain gene expression, Africanized bees "look" like they were just exposed to a whiff of alarm pheromone, even though they weren't.
"Microarray analysis is revealing large-scale gene expression patterns that are giving us new insights into the relationships between genes and social behavior," said Gene Robinson, a professor of neuroscience and of entomology at the University of Illinois, who led the study. "Some of the same genes associated with aggression that vary due to heredity also vary due to environment. This shows how nature and nurture both act on the genome, which provides an alternative to the old 'nature versus nurture' dichotomy."
The new findings may begin to explain how the evolutionary diversity of behavioral traits is achieved, he said.
"We suggest that the molecular processes underlying environmental effects on aggression – that is, responsiveness to alarm pheromone – could have evolved into molecular processes underlying inherited differences in aggression exhibited by Africanized honey bees and European honey bees – nurture begets nature," the authors wrote.
The study was made possible by a National Science Foundation Frontiers in Biological Research grant, led by University of Illinois medical information science professor and department head Bruce Schatz, who is also an affiliate of the Institute for Genomic Biology.
"The study is one of the most exciting to emerge yet from 'BeeSpace,' an NSF-sponsored project which is the first of its kind to use genomics and new bioinformatics on a massive scale to understand how nature and nurture influence behavior," Schatz said.
Additional funding was provided by the Fyssen Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Illinois Sociogenomics Initiative and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The research team also included scientists from Purdue University; the University of Guelph; CENIDFA-INIFAP, in Ajuchitlán, Mexico; the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center of the USDA Agriculture Research Service; and the University of Illinois departments of animal sciences, cell and developmental biology, chemistry, and computer science.

3.

Heat Forms Potentially Harmful Substance In High-fructose Corn Syrup, Bee Study Finds
ScienceDaily (Aug. 27, 2009) — Researchers have established the conditions that foster formation of potentially dangerous levels of a toxic substance in the high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) that is often fed to honey bees. Their study, which appears in the current issue of ACS' bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, may also have implications for soft drinks and dozens of other human foods that contain HFCS. The substance, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), forms mainly from heating fructose.
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In the new study, Blaise LeBlanc and Gillian Eggleston and colleagues note HFCS's ubiquitous usage as a sweetener in beverages and processed foods. Some commercial beekeepers also feed it to bees to increase reproduction and honey production. When exposed to warm temperatures, HFCS can form HMF and kill honeybees. Some researchers believe that HMF may be a factor in Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious disease that has killed at least one-third of the honeybee population in the United States.
The scientists measured levels of HMF in HFCS products from different manufacturers over a period of 35 days at different temperatures. As temperatures rose, levels of HMF increased steadily. Levels jumped dramatically at about 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
"The data are important for commercial beekeepers, for manufacturers of HFCS, and for purposes of food storage. Because HFCS is incorporated as a sweetener in many processed foods, the data from this study are important for human health as well," the report states. It adds that studies have linked HMF to DNA damage in humans. In addition, HMF breaks down in the body to other substances potentially more harmful than HMF.


Regards;
 

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