My paper entitled: A Comprehensive Survey of Phenolic Constituents Reported in Monofloral Honeys around the Globe is finally published! In this paper, I summarised all the phenolic compounds that had been identified in monofloral (single origin) honeys from 130 journal articles. In order to build up this paper, i combined my knowledge in Botany (Plant…
Honeybees are the most prevalent insect pollinator species; they pollinate a wide range of crops. Colony collapse disorder (CCD), which is caused by a variety of biotic and abiotic factors, incurs high economic/ecological loss. Despite extensive research to identify and study the various ecological stressors such as microbial infections, exposure to pesticides, loss of habitat,…
Abstract The diversity of endemic honeybee subspecies and ecotypes is at risk in Europe because modern apiculture promotes only a small number of honeybee strains. A crucial step for the conservation of honeybee diversity is the assessment of the status of remaining wild populations and their limiting factors. Here we present a two-year census of native, wild-living honeybees inhabiting power poles…
Abstract Honey bees (Apis mellifera) perform pollination service for many agricultural crops and contribute to the global economy in agriculture and bee products. However, honey bee health is an ongoing concern, as illustrated by persistent local population decline, caused by some severe bee diseases (e.g., nosemosis, AFB, EFB, chalkbrood). Three natural recipes are in development…
Abstract Honey adulteration generates low quality products on the market. The study aimed to find a simple, specific and less time-consuming method than standard melissopalynology only, for monitoring honey botanical and geographical origin. In this study 42 honey samples from different sources were examined for their botanical origin by using melissopalynology and their specific protein…
Abstract Pollinating bees are stressed by highly variable environmental conditions, malnutrition, parasites and pathogens, but may also by getting in contact with microorganisms or entomopathogenic nematodes that are used to control plant pests and diseases. While foraging for water, food, or nest material social as well as solitary bees have direct contact or even consume…
Many parts of the globe experience severe losses and fragmentation of habitats, affecting the self-sustainability of pollinator populations. A number of bee species coexist as wild and managed populations. Using honey bees as an example, we argue that several management practices in beekeeping threaten genetic diversity in both wild and managed populations, and drive population…
Bee World, Volume 99, Issue 1 is a special issue on the honey bee research association COLOSS. This issue contains 11 articles written by key members of all COLOSS core projects and task forces. Thanks to some authors institutions and the support of COLOSS all articles are permanently freely available and can be found here.…
Background: Whole-genome sequencing has become routine for population genetic studies. Sequencing of individuals provides maximal data but is rather expensive and fewer samples can be studied. In contrast, sequencing a pool of samples (pool-seq) can provide sufficient data, while presenting less of an economic challenge. Few studies have compared the two approaches to infer population…
In order to investigate the geographical distribution of morphological and mitochondrial variation of the Western honey bee in West and Central Africa, 175 colonies, sampled from 44 localities (or a subset therefrom), were subjected to geometric morphometric (GM), traditional morphometric (TM) and mitochondrial DNA analyses. The shape of the forewing differed significantly between the three…