To enhance the scientific utility and practical application of the honey bee genome and assign the linkage groups to specific chromosomes, I identified chromosomes and characterized the karyotype of the sequenced strain DH4 of the honey bee. The primary analysis of the karyotype and ideogram construction was based on banding and Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) for rDNA detection. FISH confirmed two locations for the NOR on telomeric regions of chromosomes 6 and 12 plus an additional less frequent signal on chromosome 1, all three of which were confirmed with silver staining (AgNO3). 4’6-diamidino-2phenylindole (DAPI), and CBanding methods were used to construct the primary ideograms that served as a basis to further identify the chromosomes and locate important structures. The primary map was compared with Giemsa banding, AgNO3-banding, Trypsin banding, and R-banding. The karyotype of the honey bee was established as two metacentric chromosomes (1 and 10), two submetacentric with ribosomal organizer (6 and 12), four submetacentric heterochromatic chromosomes (16, 15, 4 and 13), four euchromatic subtelocentric chromosomes (2, 8, 11 and 14) and four acrocentric chromosomes (3, 5, 7 and 9). In situ nick-translation banding methods were used to verify the heterochromatin distribution. The cytogenetic maps of the honey bee karyotype represented in the ideograms were subsequently used to place 35 mapped BACs (Solignac et. al. 2004) of Solignac’s BAC library. As the BACs hybridized to multiple sites, the mapping was based on strength and frequency of the signals. Location and position of the BACs was compared with those published in the different version of Map Viewer of the NCBI and BeeBase web sites. 10 BACs were confirmed with the last version of Map Viewer V4, 12 BACs were mapped based on high frequency and agreement with the earlier version of Map Viewer. 14 BACs were mapped as confirmed based on moderate frequency of the signal and agreement with the last version of MVV, most of these BACs hits as a secondary signal.

This dissertation examines some important physiological and pheromonal factors regulating foraging and colony growth in honey bee colonies. The first study analyzed effects of soybean trypsin inhibitor (SBTI) on the development of hypopharyngeal gland, midgut enzyme activity and survival of the honey bee. In this study newly emerged caged bees were fed pollen diets containing three different concentrations of SBTI. Bees fed 1% SBTI had significantly reduced hypopharyngeal gland protein content. This study indicated that nurse bees fed a pollen diet containing at least 1% SBTI would be poor producers of larval food. In the second study nurse bee biosynthesis of brood food was manipulated using SBTI, and the resulting effects on pollen foraging were measured. Experimental colonies were given equal amounts of SBTI treated and untreated pollen. SBTI treatments had significantly lower hypopharyngeal gland protein content than controls. There was no significant difference in the ratio of pollen to non-pollen foragers and pollen load weights collected between the treatments. These results supported the pollen foraging effort predictions generated from the direct independent effects hypothesis. In the third study we tested whether brood pheromone (BP) regulated queen egg laying via modulation of worker-queen interactions and nurse bee rearing behaviors. This experiment had BP and control treatments. Queens in the BP treatment laid greater number of eggs, were fed for a greater amount of time and were less idle. Significantly more time was spent in cell cleaning by the bees in BP treatments. The results suggest that brood pheromone regulated queen egg-laying rate by modulating worker-queen interactions and nurse bee rearing behavior. The final study of this dissertation focused on how dose-dependent BP-mediated division of labor affected the partitioning of non-foraging and foraging work forces and the amount of brood reared. Triple cohort colonies were used and there were three treatments, Low BP, High BP and Control. Low BP treatments had significantly higher ratio of pollen to non-pollen foragers and greater pollen load weights. Low BP treatment bees foraged at a significantly younger age. This study has shown that BP elicits dose-dependent modulation of foraging and brood rearing behaviors.

Brood pheromone of the honey bee, (Apis mellifera) has been shown to elicit a wide array of primer and releaser effects on non‐foragers and foragers leading to the regulation of nursing, pollen foraging, and behavioral development such that the behavior of the colony may be regulated by the amount and condition of the larvae. To date, all studies into the effects of brood pheromone have either used uncharacterized whole extracts or a single blend of brood pheromone characterized from a population of honey bees in France. The variation in the relative proportions of the ten fatty‐acid ester components that characterize brood pheromone and some effects of this variation on pollen foraging and sucrose response thresholds were therefore observed. The objectives met in this dissertation were to determine whether changes in brood pheromone component proportions (blend) or amount communicates larval nutritional status and reports the results of observations of nurses and foragers in response to blends of brood pheromone from deprived and‐non deprived larvae, to measure how changes in brood pheromone blend changed pollen foraging behavior and if such changes could account for the pollen foraging differences between Africanized and European bees, and finally to observe the effects of exposure time on brood pheromone blend and to observe whether non‐foragers made contact with the pheromone. Brood pheromone was found to vary by larval rearing environment, but did not elicit the expected behaviors that would support a cue of nutritional status. Brood pheromone also varied significantly by mitochondrial lineage/population source and responses to brood pheromone appeared to be coadapted to blend, suggesting that brood pheromone may be important in race recognition. Finally, brood pheromone varied significantly over time and was found to be removed from sources by bees, suggesting possible mechanisms for loss of effect. Combined the results of this research indicate that brood pheromone blend differences lead to profound changes in colony behavior related to pollen foraging and food provisioning, providing novel tools for colony manipulation and mechanisms for understanding brood rearing division of labor and chemical communication.

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are the most economically important insect pollinator of agricultural crops in the United States. Honey bee colonies are required for pollination of approximately one-third of the nation’s fruit, vegetable, nut, and forage crops, with an estimated annual value in the billions of dollars. The economic value of a honey bee colony comes from its population size, as large colonies provide the necessary foraging force required for large-scale crop pollination services. A major component of colony strength is its genetic diversity, a consequence of the reproductive mating strategy of the queen known as polyandry. Despite some inherent risks of multiple mating, several studies have demonstrated significant advantages of intracolonial genetic diversity for honey bee colony productivity. Colony-level benefits include better disease resistance, more stable brood nest thermoregulation, and greater colony growth. Instrumental insemination of honey bee queens is a technique to precisely control queen mating, and thereby creates the opportunity to investigate the effects of intracolonial genetic diversity on colony performance. In this dissertation, I first consider the effects of intracolonial genetic diversity on pollen foraging using colonies headed by queens which were instrumentally inseminated with either one or twenty drones to generate colonies of very high or very low intracolonial genetic diversity, respectively. I found that colonies with high intracolonial genetic diversity amass significantly more pollen and rear more brood than colonies with low intracolonial genetic diversity. Of particular interest, colonies with low intracolonial genetic diversity collected a significantly greater variety of pollen types. I discuss these results in the context of scouting and recruiting, and suggest a more efficient foraging strategy exists among genetically diverse colonies. While intracolonial genetic diversity is positively correlated with collected pollen, its effect on the colony’s ability to process and distribute inbound protein resources is unknown. Again using colonies headed by queens instrumentally inseminated with either one or twenty drones, I studied the effects of intracolonial genetic diversity on pollen consumption and digestion by nurse bees, as well as protein allocation among nestmates by assessing total soluble protein concentration of late instar larvae, and total soluble hemolymph protein concentration in both nurses and pollen foragers. I found that nurse bees from colonies with high intracolonial genetic diversity consume and process more protein than nurses from colonies with low intracolonial genetic diversity, even when given equal access to protein resources. Further, both forager hemolymph protein concentrations and larval total protein concentrations were higher among the colonies with high intracolonial genetic diversity. My findings suggest that protein processing and distribution within a honey bee colony is affected by the social context of the hive. I discuss “worker policing”, and the role of nurse bees in modulating the foraging effort. Finally, I assess the standing genetic variability among several colonies sourced from different genetic and geographic locations. Using microsatellite DNA from workers sampled from each colony, I determined allelic richness, gene diversity, and effective mating frequency for each genetic line. I found differences in all three metrics between lines, and for one line in particular, there was no correlation with genetic variation and effective mating frequency, suggesting non-random mating. My results showed very different levels of intracolonial genetic diversity among naturally mated queens. Because of its impact on colony performance, the importance of maintaining genetic diversity in breeding populations is discussed.

Bees interested people because of honey and wax from ancient times. They were called God’s beetles, God’s workers. Bee products were used for food and medicine. It is advisable for people to eat about 1,8 kg of honey a year. Lately bee farms have been growing stronger. The owners of some apiaries are increasing and modernizing their farms. At the moment 83 thousand families are bred in Lithuania. AIM OF RESEARCH. To establish the dependence of bee mass on the springs of comb, comparing the used discs of the springs of the bee family natural wax combs an artificial combs. METHODS AND CONDITIONS OF RESEARCH. The data for research were collected during the summer of 2006 from bee families bred in Kaunas. In individual variants hives were expanded by discs of springs of natural wax comb and plastic discs of springs of combs. After 8 days after making of cells they were put into well warmed hives or a thermostat for breeding. After 24-36 hours after breeding of bees they were weighed. This experiment will negate the widely spread groundless statements that plastic combs influence the mass of bees. Apirians may safely use plastic wax discs for making combs for bee families. CONCLUSIONS: 1. Artificial discs are more accurate that natural wax discs in all directions of the cells of the comb. 2. Wax discs and artificial comb discs do not influence the mass of bees, as bees bred on such discs during the research showed no significant differences.

Darbo tikslas – ištirti bičių kolonijų produkcines ir reprodukcines savybes, laikant įvairaus dydţio aviliuose. Siekiant šio tikslo bus iškelti sekantys uţdaviniai: 1. Įtakoti bičių kolonijų pavasarinio apsiskraidymo laiką; 2. Įvertinti bičių svorį po pavasarinio apsiskraidymo; 3. Nustatyti avilio tipo įtaką bičių šeimų ţiemojimui bei jų fiziologinei būklei; 4. Nustatyti traninių perų pasirodymo laiką bičių kolonijoje; 5. Nustatyti Varroa destructor erkių įtaką tranų lervučių masei; 6. Nustatyti avilio talpumo įtaką motinių lopšelių skaičiui bei bičių produkcijai. Buvo stebimas bičių kolonijų pavasarinis apsiskraidymas, sveriamos bitės po pavasarinio apsiskraidymo, stebimas aptūptų bitėmis korių skaičius 2010–2011 metais. Apţiūrimi pirmieji traniniai perai bičių kolonijoje, sveriant tranų lervas nustatinėjama erkių Varroa destructor įtaka jų masei, įvertinama bičių kolonijų fiziologinė būklė. Taip pat registruojami motininiai lopšeliai bičių šeimose ir medaus kopimo metu atliekama išsukto medaus apskaita. Bičių apsiskraidymas vyko dviem etapais, pirmą kartą apsiskraidė 4 bičių šeimos, o antra likusios 12 šeimų. Ištyrus bičių svorį po pavasarinio apsiskraidymo paaiškėjo, kad iš 60 % tirtų bičių svoris yra 0,11 g, o likusių bičių svoris maţesnis. Nustatant avilio įtaką bičių šeimų ţiemojimui 2010–2011 metais, buvo nustatyta, kad 27 korių aviliuose bičių šeimos yra stipriausios. Apţiūrint bičių kolonijas, iš 16 bičių šeimų, 4 šeimos buvo su pirmaisiais traniniais perais... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim – to investigate bee colony productive and reproductive characteristics. To achieve this objective will be to raise the following goals: 1. Influence first fly colonies in spring time; 2. To evaluate the weight of the bees in the spring after first fly; 3. Identify type of impact on the hive of bees and their families in winter physiological condition; 4. Set the time of the appearance of peers traninių bee colony; 5. Determine the impact of Varroa destructor mites in drone larvae masses; 6. Set the capacity of the hive mother influence the number of nursery and bee products. Colonies were observed in spring first flight, weighed after spring first flight bees, bees, combs sits observed number 2010–2011 years. Also examined the first drones peers bee colony, weighing the drone larvae of identical mite Varroa destructor influence their weight, assess the physiological state of bee colonies. The nursery also recorded maternal families of honey bees climbing in done unfolded honey accounting. First flight bees gone through two phases, the first flight four colonies, and the second the remaining 12 families. Examination of the weight of the bee first fly spring showed that 60% of tested bees weighing 0.1138 g and the weight of the remaining bees. In determining the impact of the hive bee families influence winter 2010–2011, has been found that 27 hives of bees honeycomb is the strongest of the family. Survey of bee colonies in 16 hives, four families were the first drone... [to full text]

No description available.

Nuolat ieškoma ekologiškų bei saugių preparatų, kuriuos būtų galima panaudoti bitynuose. Vieni iš jų probiotikai. Šiuo metu yra mažai atlikta tyrimų panaudojant probiotikus bitininkystėje. Todėl tyrimai su probiotikais svarbūs moksliniu bei praktinių požiūriu. Atliekant eksperimentą buvo įvertinta probiotiko įtaka bičių produktyvumui, bičių kūnelių SM ir medaus cheminiai sudėčiai. Meduje nustatyta: kadmio, švino kiekiai, redukuotas cukrus, diastazės aktyvumas, sacharozės kiekiai. Bičių kūnelių sausojoje medžiagoje nustatyta: baltymų kiekis, riebalų kiekis, kadmio ir švino kiekiai. Nustatyta, kad naudojant probiotiką pavasarinis viduriavimas išgydomas per keletą dienų bei padidėja perų skaičius aviliuose kas padidina bičių produktyvumą. Praturtinus bičių mitybą probiotiniais preparatais pastebėtas mažesnis kiekis sunkiųjų metalų, o riebalų kiekis padidėjo. Naudojant probiotinį preparatą galima gauti didesnį kiekį medaus ir žiedadulkių atitinkamai 70,5 kg ir 2,7kg. / Constantly looking for eco-friendly and safe products which can be used in apiaries. Some of these probiotics. Currently, there are only few studies using probiotics in beekeeping. Therefore, studies with probiotics are important scientific and practical point of view. The experiment was evaluated the influence of probiotics on productivity of bees, bee cells SM and honey chemical composition. In honey was established: cadmium, plumbum levels, reduced sugar, diastase activity, sucrose levels. Bee cells in dry matter were set: protein, fat, cadmium and plumbum levels. It was established, that the use of probiotic spring diarrhea cured within a few days and an increase in the number of brood in the hives of bees which increases productivity. Enriches bee nutrition probiotic products had lower amount of heavy metals and fat content increased. Using a probiotic preparation can get a larger amount of honey and pollen, respectively, 70.5 kg and 2.7 kg.

Chalkbrood, caused by Ascosphaera apis (Maassen ex Claussen) Olive & Spiltor, is a cosmopolitan fungal disease of honey bee larvae (Apis mellifera L.) for which there is no chemotherapeutic control. Using in vitro larval rearing methods, lysozyme-HCl, a food-grade antimicrobial extracted from hen egg albumen, was found to suppress chalkbrood at levels of 0.75-1.5% (g/mL) of larval diet. In field trials, lysozyme-HCl did not affect adult bee survival or brood production and did effectively suppress the development of chalkbrood disease. Daily chalkbrood mummy production decreased by a factor of 10 in colonies treated with three treatments of 6000 mg of lysozyme-HCl when compared with infected, untreated controls and reduced disease symptoms to levels observed in uninfected colonies. Honey production was also found to be significantly negatively correlated with increased disease severity. Lysozyme-HCl is a promising safe therapeutic agent for the control of chalkbrood in honey bee colonies.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, 1999. / Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 210-230).