Status of Pollinators in North America

Status of Pollinators in North America
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 327
Release: 2007-05-13
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0309102898

Pollinators-insects, birds, bats, and other animals that carry pollen from the male to the female parts of flowers for plant reproduction-are an essential part of natural and agricultural ecosystems throughout North America. For example, most fruit, vegetable, and seed crops and some crops that provide fiber, drugs, and fuel depend on animals for pollination. This report provides evidence for the decline of some pollinator species in North America, including America's most important managed pollinator, the honey bee, as well as some butterflies, bats, and hummingbirds. For most managed and wild pollinator species, however, population trends have not been assessed because populations have not been monitored over time. In addition, for wild species with demonstrated declines, it is often difficult to determine the causes or consequences of their decline. This report outlines priorities for research and monitoring that are needed to improve information on the status of pollinators and establishes a framework for conservation and restoration of pollinator species and communities.

The Lives of Bees

The Lives of Bees
Author: Thomas D. Seeley
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2019-05-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0691166765

Seeley, a world authority on honey bees, sheds light on why wild honey bees are still thriving while those living in managed colonies are in crisis. Drawing on the latest science as well as insights from his own pioneering fieldwork, he describes in extraordinary detail how honey bees live in nature and shows how this differs significantly from their lives under the management of beekeepers. Seeley presents an entirely new approach to beekeeping--Darwinian Beekeeping--which enables honey bees to use the toolkit of survival skills their species has acquired over the past thirty million years, and to evolve solutions to the new challenges they face today. He shows beekeepers how to use the principles of natural selection to guide their practices, and he offers a new vision of how beekeeping can better align with the natural habits of honey bees.

Pot-Pollen in Stingless Bee Melittology

Pot-Pollen in Stingless Bee Melittology
Author: Patricia Vit
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2018-03-05
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319618393

This book covers pot-pollen—the other product, besides honey, stored in cerumen pots by Meliponini. Critical assessment is given of stingless bee and pot-pollen biodiversity in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania. Topics addressed include historical biogeography, cultural knowledge, bee foraging behavior, pollination, ecological interactions, health applications, microbiology, the natural history of bee nests, and chemical, bioactive and individual plant components in stored pollen. Pot-pollen maintains the livelihoods of stingless bees and provides many interesting biological products that are just now beginning to be understood. The Meliponini have developed particular nesting biologies, uses of building materials, and an architecture for pollen storage. Environmental windows provide optimal temperature and availability of pollen sources for success in plant pollination and pollen storage. Palynological composition and pollen taxonomy are used to assess stingless honey bee pollination services. Pollen processing with microorganisms in the nest modifies chemical composition and bioactivity, and confers nutraceutical benefits to the honey and pollen widely relished by native people. Humans have always used stingless bees. Yet, sustainable meliponiculture (stingless bee-keeping) projects have so far lacked a treatise on pot-pollen, which experts provide in this transdisciplinary, groundbreaking volume.

Beekeeping and Bee Conservation

Beekeeping and Bee Conservation
Author: Emerson Chambó
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2016-05-20
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9535124110

Beekeeping and Bee Conservation - Advances in Research presents current issues in the field of bees in multiple contexts and ties together experiments conducted by some of the world's most renowned researchers. The authors' point-of-view and own research results are described in a clear and objective way, which is very useful for beginners in the study of the subject and is likewise valuable for the more experienced on the subject, who may find new hypotheses to be tested and broaden their future prospects in the field. The book is wide in scope, focusing largely on Apis mellifera. Topics range from genetics, to pollination studies, to the conservation of bees. It includes a chapter dedicated to stingless bees and another for bumble bees.

Bees and Beekeeping

Bees and Beekeeping
Author: Eva Crane
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 646
Release: 1990
Genre: Nature
ISBN:

This is a presentation of the scientific principles underlying beekeeping management and their practical application in different conditions. It gives an account of honeybees as a world resource, both in producing honey and other hive products and as pollinators that increase yields of seed and fruit crops. It tries for the first time to present an integrated picture, with a brief summary of its history, of world beekeeping in various continents. It is the authors intention that readers will experiment with new ways in which beekeeping methods and equipment might be improved still further and with the application of new technologies and materials seek fresh conceptual approaches to beekeeping problems.

Bee Basics

Bee Basics
Author: Stephen Buchmann
Publisher: Government Printing Office
Total Pages: 48
Release: 2015-09-16
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9780160929854

Native bees are a hidden treasure. From alpine meadows in the national forests of the Rocky Mountains to the Sonoran Desert in the Coronado National Forest in Arizona and from the boreal forests of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska to the Ocala National Forest in Florida, bees can be found anywhere in North America, where flowers bloom. From forests to farms, from cities to wildlands, there are 4,000 native bee species in the United States, from the tiny Perdita minima to large carpenter bees. This illustrated and colorful pamphlet provides valued information about native bees --over 4,000 in population --varying in a wide array of sizes, shapes, and colors. They are also different in their life styles, the places they frequent, the nests they build, the flowers they visit, and their season of activity. Yet, they all provide an invaluable ecosystem service - pollination -to 80 percent of flowering plants. Blueberry bees, bumble bees, yellow jacket bees, carpenter bees, and more are explored, including the differences in their gender, nests, and geographical regions that they visit.