Weathering Heights: Evaluation of Honey Bee Subspecies Mating Behavior Utilizing RFID
The connection between habitat and health, and how it affects bee health, hive management, and community wellness elucidates the relationship between them and bees for selective breeding. Through selective breeding and quality stock integration, beekeepers can help to strategize hive management and encourage environmentally friendly stewardship. The improvement of honey bee stocks through selective breeding represents one sustainable approach to assure future pollination services for food production/security, and to maintain and enhance the queen production industry, which struggles to meet market demand in the early spring.
Weathering Heights: Evaluation of honey bee subspecies mating behavior utilizing RFID is a research project designed to improve our understanding of honey bee mating flight behavior of various strains utilizing RFID (radio frequency identification). The findings could improve breeding protocols to enhance production and minimize losses. Inadequate mating of queens is known to limit quality and affect the capacity of producers to provide quality stock. RFID technology permits evaluation of a larger set of genotype x environment combinations and number of mating events than has been possible using direct observation. Melanie will share the process of this research from its design with WSU engineering students to WSU Bee lab field applications over the past couple of years. The results from this research will provide a fundamental improvement of our understanding of honey bee mating behavior and enhance profitability of queen producers and beekeepers.
From Bloom to Boom: An Investigation of Oregano (Monarda fistulosa var. menthifolia) for Bee and Pollinator Wellness
Monarda fistulosa var. menthifolia, is a widespread North American native plant (also known as bee-balm, bergamot, or oregano de la sierra) that possesses a similar chemical profile to oregano including carvacrol, thymol, α-pinene, β-pinene, sabinene hydrate, α-terpinene, citronellyl acetate, and β-caryophyllene (Zamureenko, et al., 1989). Specific to bee health, thymol has been used to successfully control Varroa mites and prevent fermentation and the growth of mold in bee colonies (Calderone, 1999), and thymol based formulations are already commercially available (Floris, 2004). In addition, essential oils of oregano have been tested as a supplement to realize the same effects (Sammataro, et al., 2009).
Our research evaluated Monarda as a habitat enhancing plant by assessing the presence and relative concentration of thymol and carvacrol in nectar, honey, and hive architecture while Monarda is flowering; and afterwards to determine the persistence of the chemical constituents and evaluate its effects on bee health. Objectives include analysis of Monarda nectar, honey and pollen using gas chromatography to determine volatile compounds content; and to determine Nosema and Varroa mite counts in hives with access to different diets.
Melanie Kirby is a graduate researcher with Washington State University focusing on queen breeding and the comparison of mating behavior between Apis m. subspecies. She began beekeeping in the late 90’s as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer and established Zia Queenbees in the Rocky Mountains in 2005, which specializes in selection for longevity through collaborative exchanges with beekeepers. She is also an international apicultural consultant and writer, and serves as the editor of Kelley Beekeeping’s online newsletter.