Bee Culture Magazine has a long history, having been published continuously since the late 1800s by the A.I. Root Co. Originally it was entitled Gleanings in Bee Culture. I have written a number of columns for this publication, and continue to provide them on a regular basis. Selected ones are listed here with a description of their content for your enjoyment. Bee Culture supports the Apis newsletter. In that free, electronic publication, I glean what's important in each month's issue of the magazine as an encouragement to become a subscriber.
Current subscription rates are one year, $23.50 and two years $44.00. Membership in an active state beekeeping association provides a discount in the cost of a subscription. For more information, call 800-289-7668, e-mail info@beeculture.com informing them of your association membership.
2008 Columns
- Better Stock For Beekeepers (January)
- It looks like the time has come to look much more closely at stock improvement. Finally, the beekeeping world is beginning to tread the path that plant and livestock breeders have pioneered over the last four or so decades. It has not come easy and only appears to be happening because beekeeping is inexorably driven toward this response due to the ravages of exotic organisms and subsequent use of chemicals inside the beehive. In the final analysis, it appears that the honey bee in fact has become more "domesticated."1
Many are now coming the realization that genetic improvement is considered the best long-term solution to the many problems beekeepers face today, whether it be managing mite populations, controlling viruses or attempting to solve the CCD dilemma.. The idea is not new; for generations beekeepers have known and practiced that most universal solution for when their colonies failed, replacing the queen. This has always been both an advantage and curse, because so much genetic potential is involved in one individual. The bees know this as well, the reason so much diversity has been programmed into the natural mating process. - Honey Marketing: An Environmentally Friendly Food (February)
- I always appreciated the motto of the folks from Brazil's Apacame (São Paulo Association of European Queen Breeders)1: They say beekeeping is ?Environmentally Correct, Economically Viable, Socially Just.? There and elsewhere beekeeping continues to be the darling of development agencies that see it as an activity, which is labor intensive, requires minimal land purchase with no cultivation, and produces a cash crop. These characteristics certainly justify the motto reflected above. Now another set of evidence indicates that the main product of the honey bee also qualifies as ?environmentally friendly.?
- 2008 National Beekeeping Conference a Hit (March)
- By any stretch of the imagination the 2008 National Beekeeping Conference held 8 through 12 January, 2008 in Sacramento, CA was much more than a success. It featured, about 1,300 participants, one of the largest attendances at any U.S. bee meeting in recent memory. It also included some additional sessions, not necessarily present at all meetings of the hosts, the American Beekeeping Federation (ABF) and American Honey Producers Association (AHPA). The week started out with the first-ever International Symposium on Honey and Human Health.1 This consisted of presentations by a wide range of experts, kicked off with a review of the subject by recognized honey chemist, Dr. Stephan Bogdanov, who recently retired from the Swiss Bee Research Centre2 where he was chair of the International Honey Commission.
- Honey and Human Health (March)
- Last month I discussed honey in terms of its carbon footprint and thus, its environmentally friendly reputation, which might be exploited in marketing the sweet. The first-ever International Symposium on Honey and Human Health took place at the 2008 National Beekeeping Conference in Sacramento, CA. This also provides as wealth of information that any would-be honey marketer can look to in shaping a campaign. It was sponsored by The Committee for the Promotion of Honey and Health, Inc., which has the following goals:
1. Create and promote a positive Honey and Health agenda that will result in greater consumer appreciation and demand for honey nationwide and enhance the already favorable image of honey by advancing sound scientific information that underscores its healthful benefits
2. Support and promote the development of quality standards from within the industry, and promote an educational campaign that reinforces the need for good science to be applied in the promulgation and establishment of standards, including realistic tolerance and testing limits - Lobbying for Bee Research (April)
- Examples of the extreme funding challenges the beekeeping community might be faced with this year have come to my attention. First is the following from Bee Culture's ?Catch the Buzz? electronic newsletter: ?Word has it that USDA-ARS will close the entire Weslaco Agricultural Research facility as of September 2009. This is one of several money-saving efforts USDA is considering to make up a $86 million shortfall in their budget. Closing the Weslaco facility would save about $10 - 13 million. Apparently the powers that be are not displeased with the Honey Bee Research program at the lab, but other research areas located there have been noted as not performing as expected. The decision is expected to be made by the end of September, 2008.?1 Fortunately, my sources indicate that this should not materially affect the honey bee research component now present in Weslaco; it will simply be moved elsewhere, perhaps to the Beltsville, MD lab.
- More Than Just the Genome: Epigenetics (May)
- The sequencing of the honey bee genome is expected to provide a series of potential benefits as I described first in April 2003 with a follow up article in December 2006. In the former article, I stated that findings revealed that the honey bee genome shows greater similarities to those of vertebrates than Drosophila and Anopheles, for genes involved in circadian rhythms, RNAi, and DNA methylation among others.
And, I said in December 2006: ?It appears that the honey bee genome evolved more slowly than the genomes of the fruit fly and malaria mosquito. One consequence of that slower evolutionary pace is that the bee genome contains versions of some important mammalian genes that have been lost from the fruit fly and mosquito genomes. Is the honey bee more slowly evolving than most organisms, or have the fly and mosquito (both members of the same order, Diptera) evolved faster? And if it's the former, is that because of the bee's social lifestyle? These questions can only be answered with genome sequences for more species, and thankfully, more are on the way.? - Recent Events in Florida Beekeeping (June)
- By some accounts, beekeeping appears to be booming in Florida. It is difficult to process this information, given recent challenges faced by beekeepers in state. Beyond low honey prices over the last couple of decades, these included detection of tracheal then Varroa mites in the 1980s, followed by effects of viruses and small hive beetle in the 1990s and after 2000, the appearance of a resident Africanized bee (AHB) population, as well as the rise of CCD. Nevertheless, the evidence is there. Four new beekeeping associations have sprung up across the state bursting full of fresh-faced, eager-beaver beekeepers. A brand new beekeeping extension and research program is in full swing, accompanied by the traditionally strong inspection service enjoyed by Florida beekeepers. All this means that the face of apiculture is rapidly shifting from a commercial-based one we ?old timers? are familiar with, to that dominated by part timers (hobbyists) and sideliners.
2007 Columns
- Just Say No to Africanized Bees (January)
- At the latest Florida State Beekeepers Association convention, Mr. Bill Vanderput gave one of the best presented and informed discussions of Africanized honey bee management I have experienced. If anyone should know about these insects, it would be Mr. Vanderput. He was quoted in Dr. Eric Mussen's newsletter, From the UC Apiaries as saying the Africanized honey bee means "...25 percent more stings, 25 percent more work and 25 percent more sweat."1
Not only was he one of the first U.S. beekeepers to experience first hand the invasion, but he also has had experience with their progenitors in their native homeland. In 1987, in response to reports the Africanized bee (AHB), an American hybrid of the African honey bee race, Apis mellifera scutella, he boarded a plane for South Africa. His colleagues on the Dark Continent were to assuage his fears by saying, "Hey, forget about it! You're getting a great hard-working bee. Be happy. Use it, but be careful."
So in 1990, when one of the first swarms of AHB landed near his bee yard in the vicinity of Hidalgo, Texas, Mr. Vanderput was prepared. The bee did well in his environment as was true in most of the American tropics. It was vigorous, efficient and pest and disease tolerant. So much so that he now finds himself surrounded by wild (feral) AHB. - A New Nosema (February)
- The Spanish authors of the Vida Apícola article also report that several additional causal possibilities for large-scale losses exist, including pesticide-treated sunflower seeds. However, another possibility is being closely scrutinized, correlation with detection of Nosema ceranae. The name gives it away; the origin is Apis cerana, the same species that is the source of Varroa destructor. Thus, what the beekeepers of the world do not need, but has indeed been detected in Spain for the first time is a new kind of nosema disease. I say "new" because the symptoms appear to be different than for the traditional Nosema apis that is present in most, perhaps all, colonies of Apis mellifera worldwide. A summary of the 2005 article in Vida Apícola is also found on the World Wide Web.2
- The Global Bee Breeders Initiative (March)
- One of the issues that might be lost in the cacophony surrounding these collapses is the inexorable decline in feral bee populations caused principally by Varroa, and subsequent loss of genetic variability. This brings into focus Dr. Larry Connor's article in the January 2007 Bee Culture, which discussed "curiously promiscuous" queens, and concluded that "Diversity, it seems, is all it's cracked up to be." In that article, he said "I was trained to develop large numbers of colonies of genetically uniform hives. I suspect they%u2026had no tolerance against either the tracheal mite or Varroa mite. We have lost a lot of colonies, and while I have argued that while we lost a great deal of genetic diversity, we certainly lost a huge number of very uniform, highly susceptible stocks." He concluded with the hope that individual beekeepers, or some of the new bee breeding groups that are developing around the country, will be able to increase this diversity in the next decade or so.
- Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD): A Foundation Workshop (April)
- Like so many things there's good and bad news about the phenomenon originally called "fall dwindle disease," now renamed "colony collapse disorder," or CCD. The bad news is that it appears to be a continuing situation with little short-term solution in the offing. The good news is that it has caught the attention of the press, and is responsible for an increased attention about honey bees and their pollination potential.
In an effort to understand the conditions currently faced by the industry with reference to CCD, The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees sponsored a workshop on the disorder in conjunction with the USDA Agricultural Research Service's review of National Program 305, which kicks off a new five-year work cycle. The bee labs are an integral part of NP305. Though not formally linked, the fact that these two events occurred back-to-back at the same location (Suart, Florida) appears to be fortunate. Industry leaders and USDA researchers were able to compare notes, and the disorder made the formal list of things that NP 305, and thus the labs, will be working on for the next half decade. - Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD): An Update (May)
- Subsequent to the CCD workshop held in Stuart, Florida last month sponsored by The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees,1 there have been several research initiatives about the disorder and new reports about its effects. According to its Winter 2007 Newsletter, The Eastern Apicultural Society2 has provided $5,000 in addition to that already donated by the Florida State Beekeepers Association, the Tampa Bay Beekeepers Association, the National Honey Board and others. The total is now in excess of $40,000 and climbing. In addition, The American Beekeeping Federation's (ABF) delegation visiting Washington got a sympathetic ear about the disorder, and a hearing is scheduled on this issue by the House Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture on 29 March 2007, chaired by Dennis A. Cardoza, (D-CA): The jurisdiction includes fruits and vegetables; honey and bees; marketing and promotion orders; plant pesticides, quarantine, adulteration of seeds, and insect pests; and organic agriculture. See the House web site for members of the Subcommittee.3 Now is the time to contact your congressional members via phone (Senate 202-224-3121; House, 202-225-3121) or via the Internet4 on this issue.
- Insecticides and CCD, Part I (June)
- With the recent flap about CCD, insecticides have inevitably been identified as one of the possible causes of larger-than-normal bee loss. The history of the relationship between beekeeping and insecticide application goes back a long way. In the 1950s it took some sleuthing to finally figure out that arsenic dust was being collected by bees in the field as pollen to both their and their colony's detriment. Given the advantages of hindsight, who now could possibly argue that dusting with this extremely toxic substance does not affect honey bees. This even includes the active material in treated wood.1 Another situation arose with the use of microencapsulated pesticides in the 1970s, especially a product called PennCap-M®.2 The capsules acted like pollen grains and were a time bomb in colonies, because they could be brought back without harm to the forager, only became a problem when consumed by young bees in an effort to feed larvae.
- Insecticides and CCD, Part II (July)
- Last month I discussed the rationale for pesticides being implicated in colony collapse disorder (CCD), specifically a new class of chemicals that is being implemented widely by applicators called neonicotinoids. The lead compound for this class is imidacloprid. It and its derivatives are extremely effective on insects, attacking specific nerve targets (nAChR), but relatively benign on mammals (humans, dogs and cats).
- What Would Langstroth Do? (August)
- One wonders what Langstroth would think of today's beekeeping climate. Would he also refer to it as "deplorable." It's easy to conclude that he might, but for different reasons, considering the transformation of the activity over the last 20 years. Yes, 2007 is the 20th anniversary of the introduction of the Asian honey bee mite, Varroa destructor. Since then, beekeepers have seen their craft metamorphose from a let-alone, pesticide-free activity to one where only active treatment sometimes using some of the world's most toxic substances will keep their bees alive.
- More on Databases and Beekeeping - Measuring Climate Change (September)
- In the March 2004 issue of Bee Culture (March 2004), Vol. 132 (3): 17-19, I published an article on databases and beekeeping. In that column, I noted that there has been a proliferation of these as the World Wide Web matures. Specifically I mentioned those on plant identification, pollinators, and bee management. Mostly, I referenced the tool authored by Mr. Glenn Engels mounted at mybeehives.com.1 Just after my column was published, Mr. Engles' site passed the 1,000 colony mark and now accounts for 1896. There are 779 registered users who are enrolled at the site to manage their colonies. The site also has a link to my original article.
- Two Decades of Varroa, Part I (October)
- I have been informed that my pending visit to Australia will be like a beekeeping journey back in time. ?Down Under? in ?Oz? beekeepers continue to enjoy being free of beekeeping's greatest nemesis, the Varroa mite (Varroa destructor). I look forward to seeing and experiencing beekeeping as it once was in the United States, a simpler time, when the honey bee was a more ?wild? (feral) animal that could look after itself without being actively aided by the beekeeper. For, truthfully, this insect is now a much more ?domestic? animal in most of the world than previously because of this mite.
- Two Decades of Varroa, Part II (November)
- Last month I discussed the arrival of the Varroa mite (Varroa destructor) and the seminal decisions made by beekeepers and regulators, which abandoned regulatory efforts and steered beekeepers toward dependence on what has been termed the ?pesticide treadmill?. The first approved pesticide (fluvalinate, brand name Apistan®) would help beekeepers weather the first decade of the Varroa experience in the U.S. But this ?silver bullet? and others of its ilk could only be relied on temporarily as the chemicals and mites engaged in a war of effectiveness.
2006 Columns
- Africanized Honey Bee at Risk Populations (August)
- In general, the Africanized honey bee (AHB) is far more defensive and migratory, and much less finicky when it comes to choosing nesting sites. While no self-respecting European honey bee would nest in the ground, the AHB does. It also will be found cheek by jowl with humanity in other unlikely places. One that comes to mind is the ubiquitous water meter. First found to be a favorite nesting site in the West, who would have thought that the same would occur in humid Florida. Yet at least one county in the Sunshine State has hired a beekeeper to monitor meters in its area for honey bees, thereby adding another employee equivalent to its already strained budget.
Besides water meter readers, other at-risk populations come to mind, including birders, trail bikers, hunters, off-road vehicle enthusiasts, campers, etc. One that I hadn't thought much about was brought to my attention by a colleague in the Department of Entomology and Nematology who is a Civil War reenactor. Thomas R. Fasulo, an entomologist and mild-manner civilian, once a Marine Corps officer in the Vietnam conflict, now on weekends often becomes a Private in the 13th Indiana/8th Florida Infantry, which is involved in re-recreating the Battle of Olustee, reenacted each year near Lake City, Florida, just south of the Georgia state line. He also manages the award-winning web site dedicated to this historic engagement1 and a series of others supporting the Department's educational outreach to to the pest control industry. - Beekeeping in Argentina (July)
- No honey report in any beekeeping publication omits reference to Argentina. The name comes from the Latin argentium, which means silver. The Spanish called the most known geographical element of the country the Río de la Plata (River Plate), the river of silver. In the modern era the country is best known for its capitol, Buenos Aires (nice airs), considered the Paris of South America, and its agricultural commodities, mostly grown in an area known as the humid pampa adjacent to Buenos Aires, and extending to the foothills of the Andes mountains, which separate the country from its western neighbor, Chile. Perhaps beef and wine are the best known of these, but soybeans, sunflowers and other crops are also grown there. And then there is honey.
- In Search of Honey Standards (June)
- Considering the amount of time humans have been involved with honey it may seem ludicrous to some that no standard definition exists. In retrospect, however, there are a good many reasons for this situation. A standard product means that practically any sample of a pool of that product is representative and has the same characteristics of the rest of those in the pool. In fact, a whole arena of one of the activities that drives much of the modern economy exhibits this phenomenon, the commodities futures market. Take soybeans, which are traded in hundreds of thousands of bushels on a daily basis. The trade presupposes that a contract (5,000 bushels) of soybeans is pretty much the same whether produced in Brazil, the United States or elsewhere. The same is true of other commodities such as frozen orange juice concentrate and silver bullion. There is no honey futures market because the product is too variable to support one.
- Honey Cooperatives (April)
- The American agricultural cooperative has a long and interesting history. The movement's philosophy sprang from religious roots in the early twentieth century. Later it took on a more pragmatic posture, characterized by advocates as a uniquely American "middle way" between Facism and Communism after World War II. A quintessential part of American agriculture, the cooperative model makes a lot of sense for many reasons. It would appear to be a "slam dunk" idea for beekeepers. After all these individuals are involved with one of nature's most social and, therefore, cooperative critters. So why is it that many beekeeping cooperatives are short lived, few surviving to maturity? Contributary is that the cooperation engendered by the bust side of the "boom and bust" cycle of agricultural commodities often breaks down with the next price boom, and cooperators take it upon themselves to go their own way, to the detriment of the cooperative.
- Mite Tolerance in Bees (May)
- In the March 2006 Bee Culture, Willard Phipps of South Bend, IN asks whether it's possible for the small beekeeper to breed a strain of bees tolerant or immune to mites. The short answer is yes. The technology to do it, however, may vary, and can be time-consuming, expensive and difficult. Two sources of mite tolerance come to mind. Survivor feral bees that have existed in the wild for several seasons and imported honey bees selected for survival (see the October 2004 Bee Culture).
- Queen Problems Again? (March)
- Each spring there seems to be concerns about queen quality. I remember it was a focus of the American Beekeeping Federation's meeting back in 1998 at Colorado Springs, CO. I reported on the results in my Apis newsletter in February of that year: "There seemed to be a lot more problems with queens in apiaries in 1997, particularly on the east coast. Dr. Eric Mussen, extension beekeeping specialist in apiculture at the University of California, Davis, attempted to define the 'problem.' He asked three questions:
1. Are the problems new?
2. Are the problems worse than usual?
3. Is there a verifiable special problem?
"The answers to these, according to Dr. Mussen, appear to be no. There are historical records of high queen losses; a 50 percent turnover in California commercial bees is common. Dr. Mussen also quoted as high as 55 percent loss in two months, reported by Washington State bee inspector Jim Bach. After gathering some facts on the reported losses, Dr. Mussen said he found little evidence of new problems. Most of the complaints centered around traditional causes associated with requeening and retaining replacement queens, including handling during processing and shipping, and subsequent introducing into recipient colonies. - The State of Bee Research (January)
- I have just returned from the 41st Reunión Nacional de Investigación Pecuaria in Cuernavaca, México. It was jointly sponsored by several entities, including the Universidad Autónoma del Estado De Morelos and the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias. Both organizations have a long history of collaborating in animal research. A wide range of scientific papers was presented over four days on the management of beef and dairy cattle, goats, sheep, pigs and honey bees. As I wandered the halls attending the talks and perusing the posters, I wondered where would animal producers be if there had been no organized scientific study over the last four decades?
- Wikipedia and the Beekeeper (November)
- Perhaps one of the major reasons many humans are fascinated by honey bees is the many ways they communicate. These include sound (the piping of young queens about to emerge from their cells), sight (the basis for what many call the "dance" language), and odor (the attraction of the queen's pheromonal complex to drones and her ability to reproductively control her daughters). It is this communication that makes a honey bee colony the "social animal" it is, and allows these insects to cooperatively go about their business efficiently and effectively from one generation to the next. Humans, too, have this social drive, although sometimes we don't admit it and may even go to great lengths to deny or even destroy it. Social insects have "matured" their communication to a high degree over millennia, whereas humans appear to be only "maturing" in this arena. This phenomenon is now evolving in a different realm outside the human body, that of the personal computer.
- Varroa-The Fourth Individual in a Honey Bee Colony (September)
- While discussing queen producing techniques and other issues about beekeeping in general, Martín asked me the simple question, "How many individuals are in a honey bee colony." The stock answer I gave was something every beginner is taught: "Three of course: drone, worker and queen." There are four Martín countered his eye twinkling. When he saw my initial confusion (he had caught the "professor" off guard), he continued that any discussion of a honey bee colony must now include the ever-present Varroa mite.
- EAS Goes Global in Georgia (October)
- Young Harris College in the town of the same name, and nestled in the Northeast Georgia mountains, hosted the 51st meeting of the Eastern Apicultural Society (EAS), the first ever in the Peach State. The organizers were surprised that it was oversubscribed (361 people showed up), but it was no shocker that President Jennifer Berry and the busy worker bees of the Georgia Beekeepers Association put on a great show. Although somewhat focused on a rather small part of the region's colorful history, making illegal spirits (participants at the hog roast received a shot glass engraved with "Let the Georgia Moon Shine on You"), there was plenty of evidence that the global economy has reached this part of the world. One only has to look at the number of Tex-Mex restaurants in the region, and listen to the strains of Mariachi norteños on the local radio stations to realize that "times they are a changing."
- Update on the Honey Bee Genome Project (December)
- In "Cracking the Honey Bee's Genetic Code," Bee Culture, April 2003,1 I reported that a consortium of scientists and others led by Dr. Gene Robinson at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign had developed a honey bee genome proposal, which was given high priority and had been funded. Sequencing of the estimated 16,000 genes began December 13, 2002 and was expected to be complete sometime in the Spring of 2003. After sequencing, the genome will have to be "annotated." This lengthy process gives sense to the project by providing information on where the genes are and what they are responsible for.
2005 Columns
- American Beekeeping Federation Meets in Reno, NV (January 2005)
- Jointly held meetings of professionals appear to be a thing of the future as organizational budgets, especially for travel, are increasingly being reduced. Thus, two other associations also held their annual meeting in conjunction with that of the American Beekeeping Federation (ABF) in Reno, Nevada. They are represented by three acronyms for associations that have had, and in the future will have, importance in a continuing dialogue with the beekeepers of North America.
- Africanized Honey Bee in Florida
- There continues to be more news about the "Africanized," called by some "African,"" honey bee now better termed by the more neutral, less sensational moniker, "AHB." A recent press release revealed that this infamous insect has now been found in southwest Arkansas in the town of Brightstar. Ed Levi, Arkansas Plant Board Inspector reported that the unwanted visitors probably came from Texas. He also said that in August 2004, a work crew in the southwest Oklahoma community of Tipton was attacked by a swarm of AHB, but there was no reason to panic.
Now comes a release from the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) quoting Dr. H Glenn Hall in the Department of Entomology and Nematology as saying the AHB may eventually spread throughout the state and move into other areas of the southeastern United States. "The bees, which tend to sting in large numbers, have been found and stopped at various Florida ports over the past decade, but now it looks like they're here to stay, according to Dr. Hall, who said Florida's warm climate is ideal for the bees, which could be bad news for the state's $16 million honeybee industry."
For a more comprehensive book on the Africanized bee, see the American Bee Journal lens. - Antibiotics in Honey (Tylosin)
- The comments by Editor Kim Flottum in the October, 2005 Bee Culture with reference to testing honey are timely. Perhaps it's indeed the hour to "talk about something nobody wants to talk about." I have received unconfirmed reports that antibiotic is being found in U.S. honey like other places in the world confronted with Terramycin®-resistant American foulbrood. Fortunately, examples of this appear to be few at the present time. The antibiotic involved is tylosin lactate, sometimes simply called tylosin. It has different properties than the product Terramycin®, often referred to as TM, which is formulated using oxytetracyline (Oxy-Tet). There is zero tolerance for tylosin in honey, meaning that any amount found, no matter how small, will likely result in marketing and regulatory consequences. Although veterinarians might prescribe tylosin as an "extra label drug use" (see discussion below), this is void if a "violative food residue, or any residue which may present a risk to public health" is found.
- EAS in Ohio
- The Eastern Apicultural Society's 50th meeting has concluded. It convened on the campus of Kent State University, and presents another turning point in the history of this institution, albeit one far more pleasant than the event that occurred on that Ohio campus May 4, 1970. Four students were shot and killed by the Ohio National Guard while protesting against the war in Vietnam. This reporter did not expect the meeting to be as "emotional" as it turned out. But the remarks by Dr. Mark Winston when he said goodbye to his career in writing about apiculture brought a tear to many eyes, including his own. As he writes in his final column in the August 2005 Bee Culture, his life has moved away from bees.
- More Thoughts on Survivor Bees
- In my October 2004 article on mite tolerance in honey bees, I mentioned the July 2004 article by Dr. Tom Seeley, who is increasingly finding mite tolerant bees in Cornell University's Arnot Forest. At that time, I said, "The fact that honey bees can take care of themselves in spite of being subjected to the ravages of an introduced, exotic species, the external (outside) parasitic mite Varroa destructor, which has been responsible for the death of so many managed colonies, should astonish no one. This has already been seen in bee populations in the wilds of Western Russia near Vladivostok (Primorski stock) and reported in Serbia with Carniolan bees (Apis mellifera carnica), giving rise to "Yugo" stock. Hints of it have shown up elsewhere in Europe, which has a much longer history of mite infestation than the Americas. Finally, it is taken for granted in Brazil, where a huge beekeeping industry is beginning to flourish in spite of universal challenge by these mites." Since then, I have found more evidence of untreated survivor stock.
- Thoughts on Survivor Bees
- In my August 2005 article on survivor bees around the world, I mentioned the Russian Primorski stock that has now been introduced into the United States. A recent review of this program includes the rationale, process and timeline for this introduction, which is now entering a new phase, more heavily dependent on beekeeper input.1 Although the success of this project cannot really be gauged at this time, many beekeepers have voiced disappointment. Complaints consist of the fact that these bees do not produce as much honey as hybrid bees currently in use, are much more difficult to requeen, and supersede quickly because they continuously build and tear down many queen cells. However, these behavioral traits may mean a lot in terms of Varroa tolerance, the reason the Russians were introduced in the first place. The long-range solution will no doubt be that U.S. beekeepers faced with Russian stock behavior will adapt their management to its peculiarities to be successful.
2004 Columns
- Databases and Beekeeping
- What is a database? It is nothing more than a collection of information or "data" that can be found at a certain place. The first database in any organism is probably a nerve cell or neuron; a collection of them is a ganglion, and a very large ganglion is a brain. It is the place organisms use when they need some information collected and interpreted by specialized organs such as eyes or noses. Although little has historically been known about how the human brain gathers and stores information, the advent of the digital computer revolution is rapidly changing that. Witness projects like the University of California/San Diego Human Brain project. The brain is also the first place beekeepers go to get information about management. The amount of information stored in beekeepers' brains is tremendous, but not everything belongs nor can be processed there.
- Florida Bee Inspection and Beekeeping in the New Millennium
- Mr. Laurence Cutts has written an extensive history of Florida beekeeping, published on the Florida State Beekeepers World Wide Web site. With reference to bee inspection, he says: "Apiary Inspection was created by Legislative Act on June 9, 1919. The Plant Commissioner in 1919, Dr. Wilmon Newell, was experienced in bee diseases, having been in charge of the Texas program for five years. He appointed Mr. C. E. Bartholomew as the first State Inspector and assisted him with inspections the first year. Initial inspections were in the Apalachicola river region, which was reported to have more bees than any other area of the state. The tupelo honey produced in this region was valued at this time as a good honey to blend with other varieties of honey to retard granulation. Beekeeping in this area was also enhanced by steamboat transportation and bees were routinely moved into Alabama and Georgia for the summer and back into Florida for the spring. The number of colonies in the area coupled with the migratory nature of beekeeping there made the spread of disease a major concern. The finding of disease in one large apiary in 1918 caused beekeepers there to petition the legislature for an apiary inspection program with laws that would help prevent the movement of diseased colonies into Florida."
- High Fructose Corn Syrup and Beekeeping (Two-Part Series)
- It was during my stint as a graduate student at the University of Georgia that I attended my first convention of the American Beekeeping Federation.1 I recently became a 31-year member of that organization and have participated at most of its national meetings during my active career as an extension Apiculturist. I got many ideas from those conventions, but that first one sticks in my mind. At one of the booths in the commercial exhibition area, I saw a fountain running a clear liquid. The person manning the display proudly informed me this was a brand new bee food on the market. It was the first time I was to hear the words High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). Little did I know that I was seeing and participating in a revolution in-the-making.
- Minnesota Research and Extension
- have many good memories of Minnesota. My graduate school professor, Dr. Al Dietz was trained in Minnesota; while I was at the University of Georgia, he still drove his 1960s era Mercedes Benz that he purchased through honey sales, while in graduate school. He also told me about his professor (M. Haydak) and experiences with fellow students like Basil Furgala. Later, I met Dr. Furgala, "Mr. Nosema," at one of the first meetings of the American Association of Professional Apiculturists (AAPA)1. He invited me to address the beekeepers in Minnesota; my Aunt Irmagene from Edina, MN accompanied me on that occasion and still talks about the experience. Recently, I found myself again in Minnesota visiting Dr. Marla Spivak, the current, resident bee researcher on the St. Paul Campus.
- New Technologies and Beekeeping
- Courses often stress that beekeeping technology is quite old. That's true if you look at the development of most of the inventions employed in apiculture, including smokers, hives and other paraphernalia. Only one, instrumental insemination, is a child of the 20th Century. Looking outside of beekeeping, however, one can find several technologies developed in the 1900s that beekeepers have used to make their outfits more efficient. One example is modern advances in sugar chemistry (enzymes) culminating in production of high fructose corn syrup, now used to feed bees. Without advances in corn growing, coupled with increased use in the human food chain, however, there would not be enough demand for this product and it probably could not be employed in beekeeping. Other ancillary technological help has come from improvements in moving colonies long distances (tractors, trailers, interstate highways) or from bee yard to truck (forklifts). Finally, let's not forget advances in food preparation (stainless steel extractors) and packaging (plastic bottles and portion packs).
- Searching for Beekeeping Information The Google Example
- Few business phenomena in recent months have matched the hype of the "Google IPO." Google is one of the most often used search engines/protocols on the World Wide Web.2 As a consequence it is looked at as an eminently "marketable" product and a effective tool for advertising. So when it was announced that Google, which began in a garage by students, but has now become a large corporation, would sell stock through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) there was and continues to be huge interest.
- Templeton Prize
- I have always been fond of World Watch magazine. It speaks to many who are searching for answers in a modern world that seems bent on breakneck change at any cost. In my career as extension apiculturist, I have often discussed the profound changes that have occurred in beekeeping over the last twenty years through my newsletters and articles. Apiculture, in fact seems to be a microcosm of what is occurring all over this old globe. Now comes a note in the July/August World Watch (Vol. 17, No. 4), pp. 3-6 under the rubric "Twin Towers and Ivory Towers." The author, Ed Ayers, relates that the 2004 Templeton Prize was awarded to Dr. George F.R. Ellis, a South African physicist who specializes in "relativity and its applications to cosmology-the study of the origin and evolution of the universe." Mr. Ayers admits to being vaguely irritated. "It's fascinating to hear scientists talk about things that happened billions of years ago and perhaps billions of light years away, but right now we have a billion people living in poverty and a million or so other species headed for extinction." So he asked what could Dr. Ellis have done to deserve a prize in a field like that, at a time like this.
- Mite Tolerance in Bees
- Dr. Tom Seeley's article in the July 2004 Bee Culture is a pleasant surprise. It seems that honey bees that are infested with Varroa mites and have not been treated with chemicals are doing just fine thank you in the Arnot Forest of Cornell University. The fact that honey bees can take care of themselves in spite of being subjected to the ravages of an introduced species, the external (outside) parasitic mite Varroa destructor, which has been responsible for the death of so many managed colonies, should astonish no one. This has already been seen in bee populations in the wilds of Western Russia near Vladivostok and reported in Serbia with Carniolan bees (Apis mellifera carnica). Hints of it have shown up elsewhere in Europe, which has a much longer history of mite infestation than the Americas. Finally, it is taken for granted in Brazil, where a huge beekeeping industry is beginning to flourish in spite of universal challenge by these mites.
- Mexican Beekeeping Seminar Convenes in Tabasco (September 2004)
- The 18th Mexican Beekeeping Seminar (Seminario Americano de Apicultura) and associated 8th Apiexpo (Expo Apícola) convened in Villahermosa, capital of the Mexican state of Tabasco September 8 through 10, 2004. Besides beekeeping, this area is known for, among other things, its petroleum and aboriginal Mayan ruins (Palenque). Hard by the Gulf of Campeche, Tabasco is the namesake of the famous hot sauce, which is manufactured and trademarked in Louisiana, but derived from the hot peppers native to this tropical land. Tabasco state in Mexico is populated almost exclusively by the tropically-adapted infamous Africanized honey bee. It is part of the gulf coastal plain, which also encompasses the states of Campeche, Yucatán and the territory of Quintana Roo. Taken together, these political entities make up Mexico's most important beekeeping region. Mexico (specifically the Yucatán region) lost its number-one world ranking in honey exportation to Argentina and China over the last three decades, but continues to export some of the most sought-after honey in the world. Given historically high prices for honey and the exclusion of China from the trade due to contamination issues, it was no surprise to see that a main theme of this year's seminar in Villahermosa was the international honey trade.
2003 Columns
- New World Carniolan Breeders and Queens (Ohio)
- There's something about Apis mellifera carnica, the Carniolan honey bee. This child of the Balkans, originally from Slovenia, the future site of the 2003 Apimondia Congress, holds a special place in the hearts of many beekeepers. Although a minor component of U.S. bee stock, it is the majority in other parts of the world from Egypt to Chile. It has a panopoly of characteristics that are increasingly important to beekeepers, including gentleness, less-than-average propolis collection, and little inclination to rob, the real bugaboo of its cousin, Apis mellifera ligustica, the Italian honey bee. It is known as the "spring" bee for it builds population rapidly early in the active season. More importantly it closes down its brood rearing quickly when environmental conditions deteriorate, resulting in less food consumption and a potentially increased winter survival. It is considered in many parts of the world as the best bee stock in which to find resistance or tolerance to the Varroa mite. Some of the first evidence of Varroa tolerance, in fact, came from a population of Carniolan bees in Yugoslavia described by Dr. Jovan Kulincevic, an associate of the late Dr. Walter Rothenbuhler of The Ohio State University. This bee was subsequently introduced into the U.S. and is known as the "Yugo" bee.
- Computer Programs for the Beekeeper
- Periodically I am asked if there are any computer programs for beekeepers. There are too many to fully review here. They come in various flavors from the "killer application," electronic mail, simply called "e-mail," to stand-alone applications and those that can be accessed and used on the Internet through the World Wide Web.
- Cracking the Honey Bee Genetic Code
- One cannot escape ubiquitous references to DNA in today's information age. These three letters are everywhere and the substance they stand for is touted to be responsible for everything from determining the remains of long lost relatives to solving crimes. Perhaps the most significant effect of DNA analysis so far is the release of all prisoners on death row in Illinois by outgoing governor George Ryan. Another controversial topic surrounding DNA is the rise of genetically modified organisms or GMOs. Depending on who one listens to, development of these organisms is expected be responsible for a wide variety of effects from solving the world's hunger problem to becoming ultimate pollutants that will destroy agriculture as we know it.
See a series of articles on GMOs and Beekeeping at the American Bee Journal lens. - Liquid Formic Acid to Control Mites
- n the April 2003 edition of Bee Culture, Editor Kim Flottum says he fails to understand the situation surrounding the use of liquid formic acid for mite control. Although beekeepers do many things that are potentially dangerous to their health, Mr. Flottum says, the use of a somewhat benign substance, like formic acid, seems to be singled out by regulators as a special case. One of the reasons for this is that no specific label exists, the standard that regulatory officials use when determining pesticide use. According to pesticide regulations, now found as Title 7 of the U.S. Code, any chemical that is intended to control pests is by default a pesticide. According to Mr. Bill Ruzicka, "Using formic acid is similar to using Borax or Baking Soda to kill ants; neither is registered as a pesticide. It is your right and your decision to use acid. Advising someone else to use an unregistered pesticide is illegal on US soil."1 Meanwhile he says that unless the American beekeeping federation, or some other entity registers the generic use of liquid formic acid, the U.S. beekeeper will in all probability never see its registration.
- Bee Inspection Issues
- Bee inspection services have been public whipping boys in the United States ever since discovery of tracheal mites in 1984 when colonies were first "depopulated" in a futile effort to control the infestation. Introduction of Varroa in 1987 paralleled the tracheal mite experience in many respects, and the Africanized honey bee, another regulatory nightmare, has finally entered the country. Meanwhile, the old beekeeping problems, particularly American foulbrood, have not disappeared. All this puts regulators in a bind; there appears to be much more to regulate and in many cases, diminishing resources with which to carry out needed inspections. This also frustrates beekeepers, who have seen their profits suffer due to increased costs, in many cases caused by regulations.
- Retrospective of Dr. Walter Rothenbuhler
- In February, 1986, when it was called Gleanings in Bee Culture, Dr. Walter Rothenbuhler at The Ohio State University (OSU) wrote an article in that publication entitled: "The Lasting Influence of A Man," based on a presentation celebrating the Entomology Centennial Symposium at Iowa State University. It was dedicated to his mentor Oscar Wallace Park. Dr. Rothenbuhler said the lasting influence of O.W. Park came from several channels, including his personal as well as academic family. The latter category included his colleagues and academic children such as Roy A. Grout, and of course, Dr. Rothenbuhler himself. Seven students in total were listed in the article.
In more than one sense, therefore, the lives of Walter and O.W. Park were linked. Both trained their students in a similar manner, the subjects of their published papers were parallel, and their views on the importance of both biological and academic family the same. Thus, I have chosen to title this retrospective on Dr. Rothenbuhler's career, "The Lasting Influence of Two Men." - The Sweetest Time of the Year: September is National Honey Month
- Veteran marketers know that as fall ushers in cooler weather, honey sales usually pick up. This is one reason that September is National Honey Month. That's not the say there isn't competition. It also happens to be National Chicken Month among a surprising list of others, such as National Rice Month, National Mushroom Month, National Piano Month, and improbably, National Pediculosis Prevention Month. As syndicated humorist Dave Barry would say, "I am not making this up."
- Florida Bee Inspection: Laurence Cutts Retires
- By the time you read this, my good friend Laurence Cutts will have retired as Florida's Chief bee inspector. August 28, 2003 will bring to an end one of the longest-running tenures of a chief apiarist in the Sunshine state. The Florida beekeeping industry will be losing an official who by all accounts was responsible for getting the industry through some of its most challenging times.
