For more than 60 years, sporadic cases of massive summer honey bee larvae mortality in colonies located near freshwater systems with abundant riparian vegetation have been reported in Uruguay. This odd phenomenon, known as "River disease" by beekeepers, can lead to colony death by depopulation. The aim of this study was to detect the causes of larvae death. Different experiments and analyses we...

Olfactory floral signals are significant factors in plant-pollinator mutualisms. Recently, unusual fermentation odors have been described in the nectar and flowers of some species. Since yeasts are common inhabitants of many angiosperms nectars, this raises the possibility that nectar yeasts may act as causal agents of fermentation odors in flowers and, therefore, as possible intermediate agent...

Watermelon is one of the most important fruit crops in world, but their flowers require bees for pollination. In this study we determine bee species visiting watermelon flowers, daily visits and resource they forage during 84 observation days on Los Santos, Panama. Native bees, especially stingless represented visits, so probably play a very role pollination within zone. The frequent were N. pe...

In recent years, an intense debate about the environmental risks posed by neonicotinoids, a group of widely used, neurotoxic insecticides, has been joined. When these systemic compounds are applied to seeds, low concentrations are subsequently found in the nectar and pollen of the crop, which are then collected and consumed by bees. Here we demonstrate that the current focus on exposure to pest...

Molecular analysis of a complex behavioral phenotype is facilitated by dissecting it into simpler behavioral components. Using this approach, we present evidence implicating increased manganese transport by the malvolio (mvl) gene into brain cells as one factor that influences age-related division of labor in honey bee colonies. We studied mvl because manganese affects sucrose responsiveness in...

A new method is described for the analytical determination of imidacloprid residues by LC MS/MS. This method allows the concurrent determination of the parent compound imidacloprid and two toxicologically relevant plant metabolites of this systemic insecticide. The method was successfully applied to examine field residue levels of these contaminants in rape and sunflower crop plants which had b...

Abstract Decreasing floral resources as a result of habitat loss is one the key factors in decline pollinating insects worldwide. Understanding which plants pollinators use vital to inform provision appropriate help prevent pollinator loss. Using globally important pollinator, honeybee, we show how changes agricultural intensification, crop and spread invasive species, have altered nectar polle...

Beekeeping is one of the promising ventures for economically poor families in Nepal. Knowledge about the bee flora of a certain area is very crucial for the farmers. A study was conducted in mid hills of Central Nepal during 2003-04 and 2008-09 to monitor the common plant species visited by bees with their visiting time and seasons. The flowering period of those plant species were also observed...

†Background Most tropical and subtropical plants are biotically pollinated, and insects are the major pollinators. A small but ecologically and economically important group of plants classified in 28 orders, 67 families and about 528 species of angiosperms are pollinated by nectar-feeding bats. From a phylogenetic perspective this is a derived pollination mode involving a relatively large and e...