Honey Bee

From Great Lakes Wiki

Beehavior

Honey Bees are fascinatingly complex insects. They are one of the few insect species that form colonies and live in a complex hierarchical society. Like ants, they use chemical signals to communicate with each other, but they also use a complex body language to communicate a number of things.

What do Honey Bees do for us?

Honey Bees have played a large role in the U.S. economy. The value of crops pollinated annually by bees is $24 billion dollars, and bee pollination itself is a $10 billion business. Bees produce honey and beeswax, bringing in $285 million dollars annually. Bees also produce pollen, propolis, royal jelly, and bee venom, all of which are used for medical purposes.

Threats to Honey Bees

Honey Bees face a number of threats, both from nature and their commercialization.

• Varroa Mites: These tiny mites latch onto the bee larvae, feeding off of their blood. They are also carriers for the 20 or so diseases that commonly afflict honey bees. They have become more prevalent in commercial operations, and are capable of wiping out entire colonies through the spread of disease. Commercial operations spray pesticides to prevent their spread, but they are still one of the most common colony killers. Professor Zachary Huang, an entomologist at MSU, studied the effects of Varroa mites on a population of 12 bee colonies that hadn't been sprayed. He found that without the added protection, up to 400 new mites would spawn in each colony per day. Of the 12 colonies, only 2 survived.

• Trachea Mites: These are microscopic mites that inhabit the respiration system of honey bees. They inhibit the bees oxygen intake, resulting in death or the inability to fly. Both Trachea and Varroa mites can cause Parasitic Mite Syndrome(PMS) within hives. Healthy hives have communities tightly-knit with inhabited honey-combs centralized. Hives suffering from PMS have a 'shotgun' pattern, with few inhabited combs that have spread out. Afflicted colonies usually die out, especially during the winter, when bees must maintain their temperature by keeping close together.

• Nosema Apis: This spore-like parasite causes nosemosis, the most wide-spread disease in honey bees. It is spread through fecal matter, and must be ingested to spread through the population. It most commonly causes bees to have dysentery, which increases the chances of infection within the hive. Healthy bees can hold their feces for up to 4 months at a time, and will never excrete anywhere near the hive.

• Small Hive Beetles and Grubs: These insects lay their eggs outside a hive, which then hatch. The young then infest the hive, pushing the bees out. They will often show up soon after a hive has died out as well, with the exception of CCD. Many pesticides are used to prevent their spread throughout colonies.

• Genetic Diversity: In commercial colonies used for pollination, the majority of Queens used in each colony come from the same genetic line. This makes them highly susceptible to disease and viruses, because they are so similar.

• Commercial Stress: Many colonies are moved across the country to pollinate different crops. As many as 300 colonies can be moved by one truck, sometimes as far as Maine to California. Elongated trips like this can take their toll on bees, with constant vibration slowly deteriorating their physical and mental health.

• Colony Collapse Disorder