A device that provides an electric shock makes it possible to collect pure venom from several thousand honey bees (Apis mellifera). The collection apparatus fits underneath the brood chamber of a colony of bees and may be moved from hive to hive. Each colony is "milked" for 5 minutes. An average of 20 hives must be "milked" to obtain 1 gram of venom. Under optimum conditions this quantity of venom is produced by 10,000 worker bees.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.142.3589.228 | DOI Listing |
PLoS One
January 2025
Department of Bees Breeding, Institute of Animal Husbandry and Breeding, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wroclaw, Poland.
Parasit Vectors
January 2025
Department of Biology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Background: The mite Varroa destructor is the most serious pest of the western honey bee (Apis mellifera) and a major factor in the global decline of colonies. Traditional control methods, such as chemical pesticides, although quick and temporarily effective, leave residues in hive products, harming bees and operators' health, while promoting pathogen resistance and spread. As a sustainable alternative, RNA interference (RNAi) technology has shown great potential for honey bee pest control in laboratory assays, but evidence of effectiveness in the field has been lacking.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Total Environ
January 2025
Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District, 2215 North 2200 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, United States.
As the primary pollinator for many crops, honey bees (Apis mellifera) are critically important to food production and the agricultural economy. Adult mosquito control is often suspected by the public and commercial beekeepers to harm honey bees, creating conflicts between industries. To investigate this matter, a two-year field study was conducted on vegetated wetlands in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Environ Manage
January 2025
Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Science, Hefei, 230031, China; University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230027, China. Electronic address:
Honey bees usually produce particular sound when they are exposed to air pollution. Based on this principle, we create a citizen science platform to monitor Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution (ANSP) based on beehive sounds. Here we show the basic functions of the platform, and illustrate its workflow: sampling and uploading data by beekeepers, automated detection of target compounds from beehive sound recordings, and the outcome of which can be analysed with respect to the motivating management objective.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMolecules
January 2025
Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 60-780 Poznan, Poland.
The bioaccumulation of pesticides in honeybee products (HBPs) should be studied for a number of reasons. The presence of pesticides in HBPs can provide new data on the risk related to the use of pesticides and their role in bee colony losses. Moreover, the degree of contamination of HBPs can lower their quality, weaken their beneficial properties, and, in consequence, may endanger human health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!