The number of honey bee colonies in the United States has declined to half of its peak level in the 1940s, and colonies lost over the winter have reached levels that are becoming economically unstable. While the causes of these losses are numerous and the interaction between them is very complex, the role of insecticides has garnered much attention. As a result, there is a need to better unders...

Annual losses of honey bee colonies remain high and pesticide exposure is one possible cause. Dangerous combinations of pesticides, plant-produced compounds and antibiotics added to hives may cause or contribute to losses, but it is very difficult to test the many combinations of those compounds that bees encounter. We propose a mechanism-based strategy for simplifying the assessment of combina...

Honey bees are a highly valued resource around the world. They are prized for their honey and wax production and depended upon for pollination of many important crops. While globally honey bee populations have been increasing, the rate of increase is not keeping pace with demand. Further, honey bee populations have not been increasing in all parts of the world, and have declined in many nations...

This paper describes the first application of the Bees Algorithm to multi-objective optimisation problems. The Bees Algorithm is a search procedure inspired by the way honey bees forage for food. A standard mechanical design problem, the design of a welded beam structure, was used to benchmark the Bees Algorithm. The results obtained show the robust performance of the Bees Algorithm.

to be eff ective vectors of apple pollen.” Pollination is an essential step in production of fruits and many vegetables. Th e most widely used insect for fruit pollination is the European honey bee, Apis mellifera. Honey bees are ideal pollinators in many crop systems: each colony produces thousands of foraging workers and colonies can be moved into orchards and fields during the flowering peri...

The aim of this study is to find out the ratio of Nosema infected honey bees which are producing the famous Anzer honey that is used for the cure of the illnesses such as farangitis, tonsilitis, ulceration, and scratchs due to the experiences of the people living in Turkey. Honey bee samples were collected from two different regions of Anzer plain in July. Honey bee abdomens were homogenized an...

The ectoparasitic Varroa destructor mite is a major contributor to the ongoing honey bee health crisis. Varroa interacts with honey bee viruses, exacerbating their pathogenicity. In addition to vectoring viruses, immunosuppression of the developing honey bee hosts by Varroa has been proposed to explain the synergy between viruses and mites. However, the evidence for honey bee immune suppression...

Contaminants can affect organisms' behaviour and, as a consequence, survival. Tau-fluvalinate (hereafter fluvalinate) is the active ingredient in a pesticide commonly used in North America to control Varroa destructor mites in honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies. Fluvalinate's effects on honey bees are not well known. Honey bee cognitive and neural function can be assessed using the proboscis e...

Severe declines in honey bee populations have made it imperative to understand key factors impacting honey bee health. Of major concern is nutrition, as malnutrition in honey bees is associated with immune system impairment and increased pesticide susceptibility. Beekeepers often feed high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) or sucrose after harvesting honey or during periods of nectar dearth. We report...

Most pollination in large-scale agriculture is dependent on managed colonies of a single species, the honey bee Apis mellifera. More than 1 million hives are transported to California each year just to pollinate the almonds, and bees are trucked across the country for various cropping systems. Concerns have been raised about whether such "migratory management" causes bees undue stress; however ...