The maintenance of the immune system can be costly, and a lack of dietary protein can increase the susceptibility of organisms to disease. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between protein nutrition and immunity in insects. Here, we tested in honeybees (Apis mellifera) whether dietary protein quantity (monofloral pollen) and diet diversity (polyfloral pollen) can shape bas...

Pollen quantity, viability and germination of four genotypes of Rosa dumalis and R. villosa were investigated. The number of anthers per flower were 90.3 in genotype 4 (Rosa villosa) and 116.4 in genotype 1 (Rosa dumalis). Genotype 1 showed the highest pollen viability on the basis of both TTC and IKI tests. Most of the rose species are diploid but there are several species with higher ploidy l...

Maize (Zea mays L.) is globally cultivated as one of the most important grain crops. As a wind-pollinated species, maize produces a large quantity of pollen grains that heavier and larger compared to Arabidopsis. Maize is an important model plant in pollen biology of monocots. The pollen coat, the outermost layer of pollen, plays a vital role in pollen-stigma interactions and successful fertili...

OBJECTIVE The impact of pollen exposure on allergy medication is poorly characterized. We aim to study the main kind of ambient pollen in Beijing urban area and the correlation with outpatient anti-allergic prescriptions throughout one year in a tertiary hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS With a modified volumetric trap, ambient pollens were sampled from January to December 2015. Meanwhile, info...

Intensive agricultural systems often expose honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) to large temporal variations in the availability (quantity, quality and diversity) of nutritional resources. Such nutritional irregularity is expected to affect honey bee health. We therefore tested under laboratory conditions the effect of such variation in pollen availability on honey bee health (survival and nursing p...

The aim of the study was to estimate the impact of antibiotic doxycycline on the spring development of the bee colonies, worker bees’ bodies chemical composition, development of hypopharyngeal glands and some physicochemical parameters of honey. The experiment was conducted during the spring stimulating feeding at apiary of Research Center of Stockbreeding and Agriculture, Smolyan, Bulgaria. Tw...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Invasive plants are potential agents of disruption in plant-pollinator interactions. They may affect pollinator visitation rates to native plants and modify the plant-pollinator interaction network. However, there is little information about the extent to which invasive pollen is incorporated into the pollination network and about the rates of invasive pollen deposition on t...

Cellulose is an important component of cell wall, yet its location and function in pollen tubes remain speculative. In this paper, we studied the role of cellulose synthesis in pollen tube elongation in Pinus bungeana Zucc. by using the specific inhibitor, 2, 6-dichlorobenzonitrile (DCB). In the presence of DCB, the growth rate and morphology of pollen tubes were distinctly changed. The organiz...