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Project Apis m Showcased in California's Central Valley Meetings |
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Dan Cummings, Chairman of the Board for Project Apis m and Christi Heintz, PAm's executive director, canvassed California's Central Valley from Bakersfield in the south to Maxwell in the north the week of March 1st showcasing PAm's honey bee and pollination research program. Cummings and Heintz met with almond growers and beekeepers to discuss PAm's accomplishments in the three years since PAm's inception, highlighting technology such as the Bee Pathogen Chip and the Integrated Virus Detection System that PAm funding has made possible for bee diagnostics. The PAm representatives found almond growers anxious to match beekeeper contributions to PAm and beekeepers willing to match almond grower contributions for bee research to continue PAm's success in solving challenges to crop pollination. Join the Bee Challenge! Talk with your grower and/or beekeeper about matching your contributions. See "Contact Us" for PAm's address.
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PAm Receives Second CDFA Specialty Crop Block Grant |
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No sooner had PAm finished up its 2007 CDFA Specialty Crop Block Grant that resulted in the publication of "Laboratory Directory for Beekeepers" (See Downloads), PAm's proposal to develop Best Management Practices (BMPS) for beekeepers was successful under the 2009 round of funding. This funding will enable PAm to develop and publicize BMP's. PAm will develop and distribute literature on management practices by reaching commercial beekeepers across the country via meetings and conferences and the web. PAm will widely publicize those time-tested alternatives that result in high frame-count colonies for pollination, plus the latest in scientific findings that can help bee operations.
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PAm's Executive Director Honored at AHPA |
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 In January, the American Honey Producers Association (AHPA) held their 41st Annual Convention. This event took place at the Hilton Sacramento Arden-West in California. During the Annual Banquet, held Friday evening on Jan. 8th, a special award and recognition was given to Christi Heintz, Executive Director of PAm. Christi was recognized by the beekeeping industry with a plaque that reads: The AHPA recognizes Christi Heintz as a "Friend of the Industry for Years of Dedication and Service to Beekeeping and Pollination".
L to R. Kenny Haff, President AHPA, Christi Heintz,
Executive Director, PAm, Dan Cummings, Chairman
of PAm.
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2010 North American Beekeeping Conference & Tradeshow |
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In January, the 2010 North American Beekeeping Conference & Tradeshow
was held at the Wyndham Orlando Resort in Florida. PAm had its first ever
exhibitor booth at this tradeshow! Our new lab directory for beekeepers was
distributed, as well, other materials promoting PAm. See Downloads for the
lab directory.
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Preliminary Results on Bee Longevity - HFCS vs. Sucrose |
D. Sammataro, M. Weiss, J. Finley
August, 2009
We found sucrose syrup to sustain greater longevity than high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in worker honey bees during laboratory bioassays. The HFCS used in our trials had levels of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) well below levels previously described as toxic to honey bees. When HFCS was supplied to day-old worker honey bees maintained in cages, the mean lifespan was 16 days regardless of manufacturer, formulation (HFCS55 or HFCS42), or dilution; meanwhile, the mean lifespan for bees maintained on various dilutions of sucrose was 28 days, and for those maintained on a sucrose/fructose blend was 22 days.
We performed field colony productivity trials in order to discern whether the laboratory results would be evident at the colony-level where there are overlapping generations present, and pheromonal regulation and trophallaxis are taking place. In a comparison of colony founding success between package bees installed in a closed foraging arena and supplied exclusively HFCS or sucrose, colonies provided with sucrose built significantly more honeycomb and trended towards greater food storage than those supplied with HFCS. When colonies were supplemented through the winter and spring at a remote field site with either HFCS or sucrose, there was a trend towards increased brood production from those colonies supplied with sucrose, thought the results were not significant.
HFCS does not appear to have an acute toxic affect upon honey bees, and does sustain honey bee colonies when it is provided as an exclusive or supplemental carbohydrate source. Though sucrose syrup supports a significantly greater lifespan in laboratory bioassays, these results do not translate directly to the colony environment. Trials with a much larger sample size would need to be performed in order to determine whether the small productivity gains witnessed here by the use of sucrose translate into economically significant gains for the apiculture industry.
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Dr. Eric Mussen: Fungicide exposure to bees is not directly lethal, but may set a colony back |
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For a very complete article on grower-applied fungicides and their effect on honey bees, see UC Apiaries (Nov/Dec 2008) click here
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PAm funds "genius" to solve CCD |
Project Apis m research consultant Chris Heintz, right, discusses research project with Michelle Flenniken and Joseph DeRisi.
Project Apis m research consultant Chris Heintz, right, discusses research project with Michelle Flenniken and Joseph DeRisi. Project Apis m research consultant Chris Heintz, right, discusses research project with Michelle Flenniken and Joseph DeRisi. Project Apis m research consultant Chris Heintz, right, discusses research project with Michelle Flenniken and Joseph DeRisi. Project Apis m research consultant Chris Heintz, right, discusses research project with Michelle Flenniken and Joseph DeRisi. PAm, now just less than two years old, is funding itstenth research project, and this will be a landmark study on honey bees. PAm is funding Dr. Joseph DeRisi, a MacArthur Fellow (the "genius"award) and preeminent molecular biologist at UCSF's Mission BayCampus. He has been involved in discoveries including the humanSARS virus, causal factors for malaria, a mysterious virus killing parrotsworldwide, and in bees - Nosema ceranaeidentification . The DeRisi Lab willsystematically track bee colonies from a large beekeeping operation throughoutthe year to obtain baseline information on pathogens in bees. Thus, whencolonies begin to collapse, failing hives can be compared against normal hivesto determine the causative agent(s). DeRisi will also fully sequence the Nosemaapis and the N. ceranae genomes, allowing us to discover theirvulnerabilities and eventual treatments.
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Nosema ceranae as a possible factor in CCD and how to treat for N. ceranae |
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By Dr. Eric Mussen, UC Davis
Stories of collapsing colonies are still coming in. As in the previous year, they started in late summer and continued right through almond bloom. Involved beekeepers varied from some who never had problems before to others who were hit hard two years in a row. As in previous years, samples taken after the collapse don't tell us too much, because whatever happened occurred earlier. What we see is empty hives with no sample bees left to take. Something that quite a number of beekeepers have noticed is that Nosema infections are much higher than they anticipated.
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Read more...
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