Insular pollination systems are more extinction-prone and vulnerable to invasive species than mainland ones. They often have plants with reproductive mechanisms allowing for self-compatibility low species-rich communities of pollinators. Here, we document different traits the tropical tree Guaiacum sanctum on two insular populations contrasting pollinator assemblages: Guánica in Puerto Rico ali...

Animals do not always perform to the best of their abilities when faced with difficult choices. New findings on foraging honeybees show that co-existing strategies, where some individuals place more emphasis on accuracy and others on speed, can be advantageous to the colony in a variable environment.

The removal of introns from the primary transcripts of protein-coding genes is accomplished by the spliceosome, a large macromolecular complex of which small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) are crucial components. Following the recent sequencing of the honeybee (Apis mellifera) genome, we used various computational methods, ranging from sequence similarity search to RNA secondary structure prediction, to...

Chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV) infection causes chronic paralysis and loss of workers in honey bee colonies around the world. Although CBPV shows a worldwide distribution, it had not been molecularly detected in Japan. Our investigation of Apis mellifera and Apis cerana japonica colonies with RT-PCR has revealed CBPV infection in A. mellifera but not A. c. japonica colonies in Japan. The pr...

A population ecological hostparasite model is used to evaluate the potential impact of clonal parasitic laying workers of the Cape honeybee, Apis mellifera capensis on populations of Apis mellifera scutellata host colonies in apiaries and in the wild. The model includes three basic life history parameters: reproductive rate of the host colonies, transmission efficiency of the parasite and the d...

Propolis is a complex bioactive mixture produced by bees, known to have different biological activities, especially in countries where there is a rich biodiversity of plant species. The objective of this study was to determine the chemical composition and evaluate the antioxidant and cytotoxic properties of Brazilian propolis from the species Plebeia droryana and Apis mellifera found in Mato Gr...

Biological, historical and archaeological evidence proves that honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) have been present in the British Isles for at least 4000 years, and suggests that they probably entered from southern Europe after the retreat of the last Ice Age. Recent studies show that rather than having been destroyed by disease in the early 20th century, or obliterated by imports of other strains...

By Deborah A. Delaney, Ph.D.Washington State UniversityAugust 2008 Chair: Walter S. Sheppard The genetic composition of 692 feral honey bee nests collected in the UnitedStates between 1980 and 1992 was analyzed by assessing variation in the COI-COIIintergenic spacer region of the mitochondrial DNA and 10 microsatellite loci. Thegenetic diversity and population structure of t...