Colony Productivity Research Articles

Jamie Macpherson's Fiddle: Decolonisation, and Representing Gypsy/Traveller Communities in the Clan Macpherson Museum

This article examines the representation of Gypsy/Travellers in Scottish museums using a decolonial perspective. Focusing on a case study of Jamie Macpherson’s fiddle and its re-interpretation at the Clan Macpherson Museum in 2021, this article explores the value of using decolonial ideas to frame and interpret Scottish Gypsy/Traveller experience. It argues that, both historically and in the present, Scottish Gypsy/Travellers have been subject to racism and discrimination that are the product of colonialism and its continuing legacies. This theoretical framework of coloniality informed a collaborative project to re-interpret Jamie Macpherson’s fiddle at the Clan Macpherson Museum, where the authors worked with activists and members of the Gypsy/Traveller community. The focal point of this re-interpretation was a piece of creative writing by Maggie McPhee, a Scottish Traveller, whose ‘Heartbreak Through Her Eyes’ re-imagined the story of Jamie Macpherson – hanged at Banff in 1700 for being an ‘Egiptian’ (Gypsy) – from the perspective of his mother. Centering the experience of both women and Gypsy/Travellers, Maggie McPhee’s story demonstrated different ways of knowing the past. Drawing on recent feminist work in South America on the epistemologies of the South, we argue that storytelling such as Maggie’s can become an act of decolonial resistance – a form of ‘poetic knowledge’ that can be an important part of broader efforts to decolonise museums. The enduring coloniality of anti-Gypsy/Traveller racism is challenged by the powerful and beautiful words of Maggie McPhee, centring the Gypsy/Traveller voice in ways that change our understanding of the past and fight racism in the present.

Undisciplining the Museum: Indigenous Relationality as Religion

What does it mean to decolonize or undiscipline the anthropology museum? What happens when the museum is confronted by Indigenous and descendant communities who demand an ethic of care rooted in relational ontologies and epistemologies? This article features Indigenous creativity as it has disrupted ‘business as usual’ in anthropology museums. This is primarily evidenced by Fork Peck Tribes who confronted the University of Montana to enact a long-overdue repatriation. Additional examples from The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard demonstrate diverse expressions of relationality among Indigenous and descendant communities. These interventions are analyzed through Critical Indigenous Theory to specify the ways in which Indigenous religious traditions refuse the narratives and norms of settler colonial knowledge production and undermine the imperial museological practices of preservation. Instead, relationality is prioritized in the caretaking of and connection with more-than-human entities and materials in the museum. This article emphasizes relationality and repatriation as religious acts that challenge assumptions embedded in imperial and settler colonial approaches to history and science. From various social locations and through multiple strategies, we see the active undisciplining of the museum by Indigenous and descendant communities.

Queer Limitrophic Dwelling

Based on twenty-one months of ethnography and interviews with transborder commuters in the San Diego-Tijuana border region, this article develops the notion of “queer limitrophic dwelling.” Building on queer, feminist, and transnational scholarship on home and dwelling, the article demonstrates how transborder commuters negotiate white Euro-American renditions of home and domesticity that emphasize privacy and fixity as the “proper” ideal vis-à-vis the home. It argues that transborder commuters enact several life-making or queer tactics — practices not necessarily enacted by LGBTQ+ subjects — that spatially decentralize their homes in Tijuana by harnessing transborder kinships and by making queer use of spaces and objects at the San Ysidro port of entry and across San Diego. In doing so, transborder commuters’ domestic labor practices produce ephemeral mobile dwellings when needed, allowing them to navigate multiple temporalities and survive normalized conditions of displacement occasioned by US land ports of entry and racial capitalism. Importantly, queer limitrophic dwelling highlights the US-Mexico borderland's capabilities to nourish and maintain life while also being a product of US settler colonialism engendered through historic and ongoing border violence and exclusion.

Nurse honey bees filter fungicide residues to maintain larval health.

Residues of plant protection products (PPPs) are frequently detected in bee matrices1,2,3,4,5,6 due to foraging bees collecting contaminated nectar and pollen, which they bring back to their hive. The collected material is further used by nurse bees to produce glandular secretions for feeding their larvae.7 Potential exposure to PPPs occurs through direct oral ingestion, contact during foraging, or interaction with contaminated hive material.8,9 Contaminants can pose health risks to adult worker bees,10,11 queens,12,13 drones (males),14 or larvae,15,16 potentially impacting colony health and productivity. However, residue concentrations can vary significantly between analyzed matrices, and potential accumulation or dilution steps have not been widely investigated. Although research has provided valuable insights into contamination risks, there remain gaps in our understanding of the entire pathway from field, via foragers, stored products, nurse bees, and finally to food jelly, i.e., royal, worker, and drone jelly, and the larvae, including all possible processing steps.17 We collected samples of bee-relevant matrices following the in-field spray application of the product Pictor Active, containing the fungicides boscalid and pyraclostrobin. The samples were analyzed for residues along this entire pathway. Fungicide residues were reduced by a factor of 8-80 from stored product to nurse bees' heads, suggesting a filtering function of nurse bees. Furthermore, detected residues in larval food jelly resulted from added pollen and not from nurse bee secretions. Calculated risk quotients were at least twice as low as the threshold values, suggesting a low risk to honey bee colonies from these fungicides at the tested application rate.

A descriptive study of the biometrics of the stingless bee Lepidotrigona flavibasis in northern Thailand

Stingless bees play a crucial role in tropical and subtropical ecosystems, contributing significantly to biodiversity and pollination services. The species Lepidotrigona flavibasis (Cockerell 1929) (Apidae: Meliponini), found in Southeast Asia, has attracted attention for its unique nesting habits and valuable honey production. The objective of this study was to compare colony size and productivity between different nesting cavities. Twelve colonies of L. flavibasis were collected in Chiang Mai province, Thailand, to study biometrical data. Six colonies were housed in hollowed logs, previously occupied by Apis cerana, and six in bamboo cavities. The colony ages ranged from 8 months to 5 years. This study found that log cavity colonies had larger populations and more brood cells than bamboo cavity colonies. Results show that log cavity colonies had an average number of workers (3,842.6 ± 2036), drones (288.2 ± 511), brood cells (5,914.5 ± 3026), honey pots (290.5 ± 210), and pollen pots (96.8 ± 90). The bamboo cavity colonies were found to have an average number of workers (1,628.2 ± 575), drones (64 ± 58), brood cells (2,333.7 ± 1875), honey pots (127.3 ± 95), and pollen pots (94.8 ± 57). Overall, the log cavity colonies demonstrated greater colony size and productivity regarding adult bees and brood.

“Livability” and “Ungratefulness”: A Refugee Critique of the Law and Humanitarianism

Critical refugee studies (CRS) conceptualizes refugees’ lived experience as a site of theory‐making and knowledge production with and for refugees. As co‐founders of the Critical Refugee Studies Collective (CRSC), and as scholars with refugee backgrounds, we theorize alongside our refugee partners to offer a refugee critique of refugee law and humanitarianism. Departing from the 1951 Refugee Convention definition of “refugee,” whose restrictive legal and historical framing cannot account for the complex conditions that displace human beings, we offer the concept of “livability” to name the mundane, creative, and fearless possibilities of living that undergird refugees’ claims to move audaciously. Furthermore, departing from humanitarian narratives that expect refugees to be forever thankful for having been rescued, we propose the concept of “ungratefulness” to describe refugee refusal to exhibit gratitude and deference for the space they have been allowed. Our critique emerged from sustained engagement with refugee partners through in‐person and virtual gatherings organized by the CRSC. Together, we argue that livability and ungratefulness constitute examples of “epistemic disobedience” of the colonial and unilateral knowledge production about refugees, as they call attention to distinctly discernible refugee agency and epistemology that break with the historically appointed role of refugees as seen entirely through a lens of precarity and gratitude.

Infectious diseases of bees and their impact on the vital activity and honey productivity of honey bee colonies in Ukraine

The article presents the results of the study of the mass mortality of honey bee colonies in different apiaries from different regions of Ukraine. The epizootic status of 102 honey bee colonies was studied and 607 samples of pathological material were analyzed in 2021–2023. According to the results of the monitoring of the epizootic situation in Ukrainian beekeeping it was found that the share of parasitic diseases (54.4%, 74.0%, 69.3%) constantly prevails over infectious diseases. It was noted that the incidence of varroosis in honey bees (34.4%, 71.4%, 41.47%) remains the highest among other diseases. Against the background of severe damage to honey bee colonies by the Varroa mite, infectious diseases began to appear in an atypical form, which significantly complicates their differential diagnosis. A probable increase in the incidence of nosemosis in adult bees and the detection of Nosema cysts in the intestines of bees, both in spring and summer, and the detection of cysts in honey indicate the spread of another pathogen, Nosema cerana, which causes nosemosis in the summer season. The reason for the periodic mass death of bees in Ukraine is the combination of a high number of parasitic Varroa mites in the honey bee colony with the presence of bee infection with microsporidia Nosema spp. These pathogens negatively affect the immunity of the honey bee colony, and cause exacerbation of latent infections in bees, which leads to a decrease in the number of honey bee colonies, weakening their viability and reducing the quality of honey products

The first recorded outbreak of epidemic dropsy, 1877-80: Climate, empire, and colonial medical science between India, Bengal, and Mauritius.

This article reconstructs the first outbreak of epidemic dropsy recorded in documentary evidence, which occurred in Calcutta, Mauritius, and northeastern India and Bengal in 1877-80. It uses current medical knowledge and investigations into the wider historical contexts in which the epidemic occurred to re-read the colonial medical literature of the period. It shows that colonial policies and structures in the context of variable enviro-climatic conditions increased the likelihood that an epidemic would break out, while also increasing the vulnerability of certain populations to infection and mortality. Additionally, it shows how the trans-regional nature of the epidemic contributed to varying understandings of the disease between two colonial medical establishments, which influenced each other in contradictory ways. The article's core contributions are to recent trans-regional perspectives on disease transmission and colonial medical knowledge production in the Indian Ocean World.

Exploring the effects of vanillin and divanillin on murine osteosarcoma cells: evaluation of cellular response and proteomic analysis

The objective of this study was to evaluate the antitumor properties of vanillin and divanillin in murine bone tumour cells. The action of the compounds on the cell viability of the normal (MC3T3-E1) and the tumour cell line (UMR-106) was evaluated. Action of the compounds in colony formation, migration, and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in tumour cells were evaluated along with proteomic analysis. Both compounds affected the cell viability of normal and tumour cell lines, being divanillin the more effective. For UMR-106, both compounds reduced the cell viability by less than 50%. Vanillin inhibited the migration process, and divanillin decreased ROS production (p < 0.05). The proteomic analysis showed that both compounds acted in the expression of proteins involved in tumour progression. Our results suggest that vanillin and divanillin are effective drugs against murine bone tumour cells. They can be a promising alternative for the adjuvant treatment of bone cancer.

Wolbachia-infected pharaoh ant colonies have higher egg production, metabolic rate and worker survival.

Wolbachia is a widespread maternally transmitted endosymbiotic bacteria with diverse phenotypic effects on its insect hosts, ranging from parasitic to mutualistic. Wolbachia commonly infects social insects, where it faces unique challenges associated with its host's caste-based reproductive division of labor and colony living. Here, we dissect the benefits and costs of Wolbachia infection on life-history traits of the invasive pharaoh ant, Monomorium pharaonis, which are relatively short lived and show natural variation in Wolbachia infection status between colonies. We quantified the effects of Wolbachia infection on the lifespan of queen and worker castes, the egg-laying rate of queens across queen lifespan, and the metabolic rates of whole colonies and colony members. Infected queens laid more eggs than uninfected queens but had similar metabolic rates and lifespans. Interestingly, infected workers outlived uninfected workers. At the colony level, infected colonies were more productive as a consequence of increased queen egg-laying rates and worker longevity, and infected colonies had higher metabolic rates during peak colony productivity. While some effects of infection, such as elevated colony-level metabolic rates, may be detrimental in more stressful natural conditions, we did not find any costs of infection under relatively benign laboratory conditions. Overall, our study emphasizes that Wolbachia infection can have beneficial effects on ant colony growth and worker survival in at least some environments.

Evaluating the efficiency of supplementary feeding as a management strategy for enhancing honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) colony growth and productivity

Sustaining honeybee colonies is challenging during dearth periods as their metabolic functions are reduced due to limited foraging activities. The experiment used honeybee colonies of Apis mellifera, and five different low-cost supplementary foods—sugar, banana, pumpkin, maize flour, and rice flour syrups—were introduced as treatments. Every box for each treatment received a daily 300-ml supplementary food syrup consisting of a specific amount of feeding materials along with 100 g of brown sugar and 20 g of honey. The amount of food consumed was assessed on the second day following the supplementation. Supplemental food with low-cost feeding materials significantly impacts the growth and strength of the colonies. Results revealed significant impacts on colony growth and strength, with all supplements contributing to food consumption over 78%. Despite variations in brood and pollen cells, all feeding supplements showcased efficiency in supporting honeybee feeding, indicating their potential utility in mitigating the challenges during the dearth period. Notably, pumpkin syrup emerged as the best supplement, offering cost-effectiveness compared to sugar and banana syrups, and it could reduce sugar syrup costs by 50% while enhancing brood, honey, and pollen cell production by 71.36%, 108.36%, and 58.73%, respectively. The findings of the economic analysis revealed that the cost of feeding materials was the highest for sugar syrup ($1.89), followed by banana ($0.91), pumpkin ($0.83), maize ($0.53), and rice ($0.53). This study suggests that supplementing honeybee colonies with low-cost feeding materials can positively impact colony growth and strength during dearth periods and advance the beekeeper’s decision as a cost-effective alternative to traditional sugar syrup.

Effect of Media on the Mycelial Growth of Honey Bee Fungal Pathogen &lt;i&gt;Ascosphaera apis&lt;/i&gt; Mating Types

The fungal pathogen Ascosphaera apis significantly impacts the honey bee Apis mellifera by causing larval mortality and reducing colony productivity. Understanding the growth dynamics of A. apis under different media conditions is crucial for advancing research on its biology and pathogenicity. This study evaluates the effect of eight artificial media namely Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA), Carrot Dextrose Agar (CDA), Beetroot Dextrose Agar (BDA), Tender Coconut Water (TCW) media, Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA), Sabouraud Dextrose Agar Yeast (SDAY), Sabouraud Maltose Agar Yeast (SMAY), and Malt Extract Agar (MEA) on the mycelial growth and reproductive structure formation of A. apis's two mating types. Results indicated significant differences in mycelial growth across media. SDA (75.40 mm dia) and SDAY (74.83 mm dia) supported maximum growth for mating type 1 (MAT1) and, SDA (72.72 mm dia) and BDA (68.17 mm dia) yielded the maximum growth for mating type 2 (MAT2). The TCW resulted in the least growth for MAT1 (44.19 mm dia) and MAT2 (41.25 mm dia). The growth patterns showed that media supplemented with sugars generally enhanced A. apis growth, whereas non-sugar media did not. Furthermore, reproductive structures formed faster on PDA and CDA than on other media. The study confirms that media composition, particularly sugar content, critically influences the growth and development of A. apis, providing insights that could help to develop better management strategies for controlling chalkbrood disease in honey bee colonies.

Influence of Some Factors on Propolis Dilution by Honey Bees

Propolis is a sticky resinous substance collected from buds, leaves, stems of wild plants and processed by bees. Currently, bee behaviour during the collection of propolis, its botanical origin and sources of production have been studied. The process of propolis accumulation in bee nests and the factors influencing the intensity and productivity of bee colonies need to be further studied, which will allow to control the propolis productivity of bees in the future. To better understand the behavior of bees when liquefying propolis with enzymes from the mandibular glands, we conducted studies using specially designed collectors. Three different types of mesh were used in the collectors: ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), polyethylene, and nylon. All three types of meshes had different hole diameters. As a result of the study, we determined the diameter of propolis droplets formed in all collectors, deviations from roundness, and the distance at which the droplets fly away from the edge of the glass substrates. We conclude that the type of mesh materials does not influence the behavior of bees in liquefying propolis. The size of the mesh holes affects the distance from the edge of the glass substrate to the centre of the propolis drops.

Identification and Characterization of an R-M System in Paracoccus denitrifican DYTN-1 to Improve the Plasmid Conjugation Transfer Efficiency.

Paracoccus denitrificans has been identified as a representative strain with heterotrophic nitrification-aerobic denitrification capabilities (HN-AD), and demonstrates strong denitrification proficiency. Previously, we isolated the DYTN-1 strain from activated sludge, and it has showcased remarkable nitrogen removal abilities and genetic editability, which positions P. denitrificans DYTN-1 as a promising chassis cell for synthetic biology engineering, with versatile pollutant degradation capabilities. However, the strain's low stability in plasmid conjugation transfer efficiency (PCTE) hampers gene editing efficacy, and is attributed to its restriction modification system (R-M system). To overcome this limitation, we characterized the R-M system in P. denitrificans DYTN-1 and identified a DNA endonuclease and 13 DNA methylases, with the DNA endonuclease identified as HNH endonuclease. Subsequently, we developed a plasmid artificial modification approach to enhance conjugation transfer efficiency, which resulted in a remarkable 44-fold improvement in single colony production. This was accompanied by an increase in the frequency of positive colonies from 33.3% to 100%. Simultaneously, we cloned, expressed, and characterized the speculative HNH endonuclease capable of degrading unmethylated DNA at 30°C without specific cutting site preference. Notably, the impact of DNA methylase M9 modification on the plasmid was discovered, significantly impeding the cutting efficiency of the HNH endonuclease. This revelation unveils a novel R-M system in P. denitrificans and sheds light on protective mechanisms employed against exogenous DNA invasion. These findings pave the way for future engineering endeavors aimed at enhancing the DNA editability of P. denitrificans.

Influence of temperature conditions of the environment on the dynamics of collecting bee pollen and flower pollen by honey bees

The study conducted at the apiary of the National Scientific Center «P.I. Prokopovych Institute of Beekeeping» in Hadiach, Poltava region, from 2021 to 2023 investigates the dynamics of bee pollen collecting by honey bees of the Ukrainian steppe breed of the Hadiach type. This research focuses on understanding how weather conditions in the forest-steppe zone impact the mass, volume, and size of bee pollen, as well as the botanical composition of the collected pollen. The primary objective of this research is to analyze how different weather conditions influence the collection of bee pollen by honey bees. Specifically, the study aims to assess how variations in temperature, humidity, and other weather factors affect the quantity and quality of pollen collected, and how these factors interact with the flowering periods of key nectar plants. The study utilized hanging pollen collectors to gather pollen from bee colonies between 8 AM and 2 PM. The botanical origin of the pollen was determined through microscopic analysis and international palynological databases. The research focused on several common nectar plants, including red clover (Trifolium pratense), common primrose (Primula vulgaris), cornflower (Centaurea cyanus), common agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria), field thistle (Cirsium arvense), and common burdock (Carduus acanthoides). Weather conditions were classified into favorable (temperatures of 18–25°C and relative humidity of 57–72%) and unfavorable (cloudy days with northern winds, temperatures below 15°C or above 28°C, and humidity levels outside the 57–72% range). The research revealed that the average mass of bee pollen collected per season varied between 6.3 and 6.6 kg per bee colony. The study found that different plants responded differently to weather condi­tions. For instance, the mass of pollen from red clover ranged from 8.3 to 12.0 mg under favorable conditions, while field thistle showed a decrease in pollen mass during unfavorable conditions. Pollen collection began in mid-April and continued until mid-August. During unfavorable weather conditions, there was a noticeable reduction in pollen mass, which was attributed to lower pollen availability. However, some plants showed better pollen production under adverse conditions. The spring peak in pollen collection, associated with active colony growth, was also influenced by the less diverse summer flora. Temperature data for 2021–2023 indicated that the most favorable conditions for pollen collection varied annually. For example, the cool spring of 2021 delayed bee colony development, while 2022 experienced normal weather conditions. In contrast, 2023 saw active pollen collection during acacia blooming but a reduction duringlime blooming due to insufficient pollen. The study underscores the importance of considering a comprehensive range of weather conditions when evaluating bee colony productivity. The findings highlight that both temperature and humidity significantly impact pollen collection. The results suggest that beekeepers need to account for these variables in their management practices to optimize pollen collection. Further research should explore the interactions between different weather factors and their combined effects on bee foraging behavior and pollen production. Additionally, studies could investigate how changes in climate over longer periods affect bee colony performance and pollen dynamics, providing insights for developing adaptive strategies in beekeeping.

БИОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ ПОКАЗАТЕЛИ И ПРОДУКТИВНОСТЬ ПЧЕЛИНЫХ СЕМЕЙ ПРИ ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИИ СТИМУЛИРУЮЩИХ ПОДКОРМОК С ДОБАВЛЕНИЕМ ПРОБИОТИКА

The purpose of research is to study the effect of stimulating feedings of sugar syrup and Aquakorm with the addition of the probiotic Vetosporin on the growth and honey production of bee colonies. The studies were carried out in a stationary apiary located in the Kemerovo Region. The research material was bees of the Central Russian breed. To conduct the study, a total of 20 bee colonies were involved, of which two control and two experimental groups of 5 bee families each were formed. Bee colonies from the first control group received a stimulating feed additive in the form of sugar syrup; in the second control group, the drug Aquakorm was used as a stimulating additive. Families from the experimental groups, in addition to stimulating supplements, received the probiotic Vetosporin prepared on the basis of two strains of natural bacteria Bacillus subtilis. In the experimental groups, the difference in the growth of bee colonies between the first control and the first experimental group is 52.94 % (p &lt; 0.001); the second control and the second experimental group – 28.57 % (p &lt; 0.001). The honey productivity of families in the first and second expe¬rimental groups exceeded that of families from the control groups for honey production by 15.63 (p &lt; 0.01) and 15.0 % (p &lt; 0.05). Wax productivity in the first experimental group of bees exceeded the indicators of the first control group by 15.8 % (p &lt; 0.05), in the second experimental group of bees – by 22.5 % (p &lt; 0.05). The mortality of bees after wintering in the first and second experimental groups of bee colonies was lower than the same indicators in the control groups by 21.13 and 23.88 %, respectively. Additional profit received from the sale of honey from the first experimental group was 2,520.0 rubles, from the second experimental group – 3,240.0 rubles. The use of stimulating fertilizers in combination with a probiotic preparation has a positive effect on the biological and productive indicators of bee colonies.

The plural legacies of legal pluralism: local practices and contestations of customary law in late colonial Indonesia

This article explores colonial interpretations of indigenous customary law traditions in nineteenth and early twentieth century Central Java and West Sumatra during Dutch colonial rule. It argues that colonial knowledge production on and attempts at manipulating customary law interacted with indigenous responses to these attempts, generating a plurality of contentious and contested interpretations of customary legal order. Beneath the surface of the tightly knit colonial schemes of supposedly codified ‘customary law’, these interactions generated a reality of law-making that significantly deviated from initial intentions and concepts of judicial involvement as outlined on paper, thereby engendering novel forms of legal pluralism.

Historicizing the carbon forest: colonial residue, scientific forestry and the making of ‘Nigeria’s last rainforest’

ABSTRACT The novelty claims in carbon forestry often obscure the complex histories and the colonial entanglements of carbon forest socioecologies. This paper argues that the conditions of possibility of carbon forestry in ‘Nigeria’s last rainforest’ are tightly linked to the uneven colonial production of forests across Southern Nigeria. Drawing on archival research, ethnographic fieldwork and analysis of program documents and academic literature, the paper unsettles claims of novelty in Nigeria’s carbon forestry by demonstrating the material continuity between colonial forestry and carbon forestry. Focusing on the development of colonial forestry in Southern Nigeria under British colonial rule, the paper traces the coloniality of scientific forestry as a form of environmental rule, and its entanglements with imperial capitalism and presumptions of racial hierarchy. If the success of scientific forestry in Southern Nigeria meant the draining of Nigeria’s forests as timber export, its failure in Cross River paradoxically produced ‘Nigeria’s last rainforest,’ a literal ‘colonial residue’ . In colonial forestry, as in contemporary carbon forestry, a reductionist knowledge of forests, capitalist interests and a racialized global division of labor all interact in consequential ways. The paper concludes that decolonizing Nigeria’s forestry is a precondition for saving its ‘last rainforest.’

Development Peculiarities in Azerbaijan Apis mellifera subsp. caucasica Gorbachev, 1916

The work provides data on the current state of beekeeping in Azerbaijan. Information on the morphology and ecology of the Caucasian bee is analyzed. The characteristics of the subspecies obtained using the morphometric program BEE2 are given. Expeditions were organized to the Ganja-Gazakh, Sheki-Zagatala and Guba-Khachmaz regions of the country, and bees were selected from apiaries. On the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the average annual productivity of a bee colony is 10-12 kg in years with favorable weather and 3-5 kg ​​in years with unfavorable weather conditions. In apiaries, due to various reasons (sowing, weakness, illness, etc.), not all bee colonies are able to reach this level. Therefore, if we carry out calculations with the average productivity limit, then the annual volume of honey production in Azerbaijan is currently about 4,000 tons.

Prototype Biodiversity Digital Twin: honey bees in agricultural landscapes

Honey bees are vital to human well-being and are under multiple stresses. We need to be able to assess the viability and productivity of honey bee colonies in different landscapes and under different management and climate-change scenarios. We have developed a prototype digital twin, HONEYBEE-pDT, based on the BEEHAVE model, which simulates foraging, population dynamics and Varroa mite infestation of a single honey bee colony. The main input data are land-cover maps and daily weather data. We have developed the pDT for simulating large areas and have tested it for the whole of Germany. We have also developed a web-based GUI that users can use to run the pDT for specific sites. Hive weight data from hundreds of hives will be used for calibration and validation.