Honey Bee Apis Mellifera Carnica Research Articles

The Impact of Environment on the Morphometric Characteristics of Honeybees Apis Mellifera Carnica in South-East Kazakhstan

The Impact of Environment on the Morphometric Characteristics of Honeybees Apis Mellifera Carnica in South-East Kazakhstan

Honeybees control the gas permeability of brood and honey cappings

Some bee species use wax to build their nests. They store honey and raise their brood in cells made entirely from wax. How can the bee brood breathe anddevelop properly when sealed in wax cells? We compared the chemical composition and structural properties of the honey cappings and worker brood cappings of the honeybee Apis mellifera carnica, measured the worker brood respiration, and calculated the CO2 gradients across the two types of cappings. We identified microscopic pores present in the brood cappings that allow efficient gas exchange of the developing brood. In contrary, honey cappings are nearly gas impermeable to protect honey from fermenting. Similar principles apply in bumble bees. Our data suggest the control of gas exchange of cappings as a selective pressure in the evolution of wax-building bees that drives their adaptation for using wax in two highly contrasting biological contexts.

Signatures of Positive Selection in the Genome of Apis mellifera carnica: A Subspecies of European Honeybees.

The technology of long reads substantially improved the contingency of the genome assembly, particularly resolving contiguity of the repetitive regions. By integrating the interactive fragment using Hi-C, and the HiFi technique, a solid genome of the honeybee Apis mellifera carnica was assembled at the chromosomal level. A distinctive pattern of genes involved in social evolution was found by comparing it with social and solitary bees. A positive selection was identified in genes involved with cold tolerance, which likely underlies the adaptation of this European honeybee subspecies in the north hemisphere. The availability of this new high-quality genome will foster further studies and advances on genome variation during subspeciation, honeybee breeding and comparative genomics.

Вплив температури зимівлі на стан антиоксидантої системи Apis mellifera L.

The state of the antioxidant system of protection of honey bees Apis mellifera carnica under the action of different temperatures in order to optimize the temperature regime to keep of bee colonies indoors during the winter was studied. Bee colonies of 81–91-day-old worker bees were transferred from the territory of the Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University apiary during the period of sharp changes in temperature (the end of November) in constant conditions of the buildings (5±0.6°С and 14±0.8°C) and were kept there for 12 weeks. The selection of worker bees for biochemical analysis was performed 7 times every two weeks. The level of TBA-active products (TBARS), catalase (CAT) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activity in insect tagmas (head, thorax and abdomen) were studied. It has been found that the transfer of bee colonies from unstable temperature conditions to stable ones, regardless of their value, leads to a decrease in the flow rate of lipid peroxidation (TBRAS level) against the background of increasing activity of enzymes (CAT та GST). The tagmospecific response of the antioxidant system of honey bees depending on the wintering temperature was revealed. Keeping bee colonies indoors at constant temperatures (for ten weeks) was accompanied by certain coherence in the work of the antioxidant system of insects. In particular, the TBRAS level, as well as the activity of enzymes, did not change significantly during the study. However, in early February (at the end of the experiment), regardless of the building temperature, the TBARS level was increased in the tissues of the bee’s head, and in the tissues of the abdomen the GST activity was intensified. At the same time, in the middle of winter (on January), the level of TBARS in bees, that were kept at +5°С, was lower in comparison with bees that wintered at +14°С. The optimal temperatures for keeping bee colonies in winter indoors was proposed: for bee colonies of medium strength at temperatures around +5°С, and for bee colonies of weak strength around +14°С by the end of January with further temperature decrease to +10°С.

Different response of acetylcholinesterases in salt- and detergent-soluble fractions of honeybee haemolymph, head and thorax after exposure to diazinon

Organophosphate pesticide diazinon is a specific inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), which is a common neurotoxicity biomarker in environmental studies. In honeybees, AChE exists in two forms having different physiological roles, one existing as a soluble form and the other as membrane-bound. In most studies AChE activity has been analysed without paying considerable attention to different forms of AChE. In this study, we exposed honeybees Apis mellifera carnica for 10days to diazinon via oral exposure and analysed the total AChE activities in salt soluble (SS) and detergent soluble (DS) fractions. We assumed that SS fraction would preferentially contain the soluble AChE, but the DS fraction would contain only membrane AChE. On the contrary, our results showed that SS and DS fractions both contain soluble and membrane AChE and the latter has considerably higher activity. Despite this we obtained a differential response of AChE activity in SS and DS fractions when exposed to diazinon. The head/thorax AChE activity in DS fraction decreased, while the head/thorax AChE activity in SS fraction increased at sublethal concentrations. The AChE activity in honeybee hemolymph shown here for the first time is a salt soluble enzyme. Its activity remained unaltered after diazinon treatment. In conclusion, we provide evidence that varying results regarding AChE activity alterations upon stressor exposure are obtained when extracted through different procedures. In further environmental studies with honeybees this differential response of AChE activity should be given considerable attention because this affects the outcome of ecotoxicity study.

No chronic effects on biochemical biomarkers, feeding and survival of carnolian honeybees (Apis mellifera carnica) after exposure to nanosized carbon black and titanium dioxide

Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are important pollinators threatened by environmental pollution, plan protection products and other potential contaminants. Due to an extensive predicted use of engineered nanomaterials (NMs) in agriculture the impact on honeybees should be investigated. We studied the 10-days chronic dietary effect of carbon black (CB) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) NMs on the antioxidant activities, cholinergic function, feeding behaviour and survival of honeybees. Exposure of honeybees Apis mellifera carnica to TiO2 and CB NMs (1 mg ml-1) did not affect the feeding and survival. No alteration of catalase, acetylcholinesterase and glutathione S-transferase enzymatic activity was noticed in the brain of honeybees, indicating that TiO2 and CB NMs at the tested exposure dose had no adverse effects on honeybees. Currently predicted environmental concentrations for TiO2 and CB NMs are significantly lower than the concentration tested in the current study. Based on our findings we conclude that the potential use of TiO2 and CB NMs in agriculture is currently safe for honeybees at the tested concentration level and presents potential advantages compared to other NMs with known toxic potential.

Metabolism and upper thermal limits of Apis mellifera carnica and A. m. ligustica.

The Western honeybees Apis mellifera carnica and A. m. ligustica are closely related subspecies living in neighbouring regions. Metabolism and the upper lethal thermal limits are crucial physiological traits, adapted in the evolutionary process to environment and climate conditions. We investigated whether samples from these two ecotypes differ in these traits. The standard metabolic rate was higher in the A. m. ligustica population only at a high temperature (T a ~ 40 °C; dVCO2 = 12 nl s−1; P < 0.05), probably due to a higher body temperature (dTthorax = 1.5 °C; P < 0.01). The critical thermal maximum of activity and respiration was similar (difference activity CTmax = 0.8 °C, respiratory CTmax = 1.1 °C). The lethal temperature (LT50, 8h) revealed higher tolerance and survival rates of the Ligustica bees (Carnica 50.3 °C; Ligustica 51.7 °C; P < 0.02). Results reveal the adaptation of the two subspecies to their historic climate conditions, possibly favouring Ligustica in a warming environment.

Influence of carbon dioxide on Nosema apis infection of honeybees ( Apis mellifera)

Young workers of the honeybee Apis mellifera carnica were individually inoculated with Nosema apis spores subjected to carbon dioxide (CO 2) treatment. The spores were kept in a CO 2 atmosphere for 30, 35 and 40 h. The course of the infection was evaluated on the basis of the survival rate of bee workers and the number of N. apis spores in their digestive tracts. CO 2 treatment of N. apis spores resulted in faster proliferation of the parasite as well as higher mortality among workers infected with spores kept in CO 2 for 30 and 35 h.

Biological and production characteristics of certain lines of honey bee in Serbia

During the previous decades the natural populations of honey bee Apis mellifera carnica at the territory of Republic of Serbia has been subjected to constant negative influence of man, in first place through deployment of pesticides, herbicides and other chemical substances requisite in agriculture, but also due to uncontrolled import of and crossbreeding with the other breeds of this bee. For the purpose of preservation of existing populations and natural diversity of honey bee and for the purpose of their further selection, researches upon the metric morphology and productive features of certain individual populations of choice at the territory of Republic of Serbia. In this study the quantity of the nest, of bees and of honey with two East Serbian lines (S and L) of honey bee during the spring season have been the subject of survey. The S line has shown more advanced development having 1.06 frames more and 0.11 bees more in the second year assessed. At the Szabo test of honey productivity the S line has shown in both years assessed that it had collected 29.91% and 49.51% more honey per respective year than the line L bees. Through the survey of morphological parameters we have come to conclusion that the differences in length of the forewing and the rear wing, cubital index, length of the tongue and number of spikes at the rear wing have been statistically very significant (p &lt; 0.01).

Analysis of peptides in the brain and corpora cardiaca–corpora allata of the honey bee, Apis mellifera using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry

The neuropeptide profiles and diversity of the brain and retrocerebral organs (corpora cardiaca–corpora allata; CC–CA) of adult workers of the honey bee Apis mellifera carnica (dark European strain) were investigated using a combination of HPLC and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) with post-source decay (PSD) and collision-induced dissociation (CID) fragmentation. Using evidence from genomic sources, including BLAST searches of the honey bee genome, comparisons with other species and de novo sequencing by PSD and CID fragmentation, a total of 13 mass ions could be assigned to peptides predicted from the A. mellifera genomic database. Peptides positively identified were A. mellifera tachykinin-related peptides 3 and 4 (APMGFQGMRa; APMGFYGTRa) and leucomyosuppressin (pEDVDHVFLRFa). Peptides tentatively identified were A. mellifera tachykinin-related peptides 2 and 5 (ALMGFQGVRa; ARMGFHGMRa), A. mellifera allatostatins 2, 3 and 4 (GRDYSFGLa; RQYSFGLa; GRQPYSFGLa), A 1-SIFamide (AYRKPPFNGSIFa), Q 1-leucomyosuppressin (QDVDHVFLRFa) and A. mellifera pyrokinins PK 1, PK 2 and Q 1-PK 2 (TSQDITSGMWFGPRLa; pEITQFTPRLa; QITQFTPRLa). Allatostatins, tachykinin-related peptides and A 1-SIFamide were not detected in CC–CA extract, which appears to contain predominantly leucomyosuppressin, Q 1-leucomyosuppressin, PK 1, PK 2, Q 1-PK 2 and some unidentified masses. No ion signal was detected that would correspond to the hypertrehalosaemic peptide (=Manse-AKH), which has been isolated from the Italian race of the honey bee ( A. mellifera ligustica), but not from A. mellifera carnica.

Energetics of honeybee development: Isoperibol and combustion calorimetric investigations

Energetics, growth and development of workers and drones of the European honeybee Apis mellifera carnica were determined by classical isoperibol Calvet calorimetry and by combustion bomb calorimetry during one breeding season. Development was followed from the moment of egg laying till to the hatching of young adults. Mass, heat production rate and specific heat production rate served as experimental parameters registered daily. Two worker and two drone larvae remained after capping for 2 weeks in the calorimeter to continuously monitor their metabolism, their locomotor activity, moulting and hatching. Drone mass and metabolism were significantly higher than those of workers in all states of development. The energy content during the development of workers and drones was evaluated by combustion calorimetry and by CHN analyses combined with the Dulong equation or derivatives of it.

Descriptive study of antennation during trophallactic unloading contacts in honeybees Apis mellifera carnica

Trophallaxis, the mouth-to-mouth transfer of food, is a widespread behavior occurring between individuals of eusocial insect societies. Antennal movements during food transfer are, in honeybees, too rapid to be characterized using standard video recordings. Using a high-speed camera (200 frames/s), we recorded nectar unloading performed by forager honeybees (Apis mellifera carnica Spinola) within the hive once they returned from collecting sugar solution at a feeder that delivered nectar at a variable rate. Frequency patterns attained a mean value of 13 Hz. Antennation intensity showed a tendency to increase with the reward rate recently exploited by the food donor. This raises the question whether or not antennation intensity is a reliable parameter providing modulatory information related to food-source profitability.

Protein pattern of the honeybee venoms of Egypt

The venom composition of the Egyptian honeybee Apis mellifera lamarckii , the Carniolan honeybee Apis mellifera carnica and a hybrid with unknown origin were analyzed using electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). All venoms shared six bands with molecular weights of 97.400, 67.400, 49.000, 45.000, 43.000 and 14.000D. Bands with molecular weights of 81.000, 56.000, 37.000 and 10.000D are characteristic for the Egyptian subspecies. Bands with molecular weights of 12.000 and 8.000 are characteristic for the Carniolan subspecies, while bands with molecular weights of 32.000, 20.000 and 2.835D are characteristic for hybrid bees. It was noticed that Egyptian bee venom and the hybrid bee venom have strong similarities in their biochemical composition. KEY WORDS: social insects, toxins, biochemistry, electrophoresis. Egyptian Journal of Biology Vol.4 2002: 142-146

CHEMOMETRIC CLASSIFICATION OF COMB AND CUTICULAR WAXES OF THE HONEYBEE Apis mellifera carnica

Waxes are important as building material and for the chemical communication of the honeybee Apis mellifera carnica. In this study chemometric tools were established for classifying the different waxes inside the hive. By using gas chromatography in combination with mass spectrometry, components of different types of waxes were analyzed. By considering different substance classes of waxes, discriminant function analyses revealed distinct subtypes of comb waxes and of cuticular waxes. It is shown that the aging of comb wax is in part a spontaneous physicochemical process due to differential volatilities of compound classes with different chain length ranges. On the other hand it is directly influenced by the bees by adding lipolytic enzymes to the comb wax. The data suggest that the varying cuticular wax and comb wax compositions could serve as cues for bees to recognize castes, sexes, or comb age.

Quantitative analysis of social grooming behavior of the honey bee Apis mellifera carnica

We observed social grooming behavior in the Carniolan bee, Apis mellifera carnica. Bouts of grooming lasted up to 45 s, and were directed to the wing axis (44.6%), the petiolus (18%) and the sternite regions of abdomen (2.8%) of the receiving bee (41 bees). During grooming, the receiving bees held their wings perpendicular to the body axis. Groomer bees most often cleaned those body parts which could not be reached during self-cleaning by receiving bees. During 18% of the grooming time, groomer bees cleaned their own mouth parts and antennae. The grooming behavior removed dust and pollen from the wing bases and petiolus and realigned the body hairs. No attempts to remove Varroa mites were observed during self-cleaning or social grooming behavior

Bjt. Calorimetric investigations around a royal hieroglyph

Honeybees (“bjt”) and their products honey and wax played an important role in Ancient Egypt. The bee became the symbol of the Pharaoh of Lower Egypt and a royal hieroglyph. Honey and wax were used for many purposes in daily life, as votive offering or as salary. Microcalorimetric experiments on bees of various ages or occupations and different castes as well as social effects among them are presented. Calorimetric curves are investigated for temporal structures indicating locomotor activities of the animals. Moreover, adult animals of the domesticated “usual” European honey bee Apis mellifera carnica are compared with those of the (modern) Egyptian bee Apis mellifera lamarckii. Differential scanning calorimetry and combustion bomb calorimetry have been applied to pollen, to honeys of various origins (lime-tree, pine, rape) or of intended purposes (royal jelly, hoarded food), to propolis and to different types of beeswax (comb wax from various places in the stock, wax from uncapping, wax for queen cells and commercial waxes).

Microcalorimetric investigations of the energy metabolism of honeybee workers, apis mellifera carnica

Heat production measurements were performed for individual workers of different age and for worker groups of the honeybee Apis mellifera carnica by means of a 100-ml-Calvet-calorimeter. Individual worker bees show a strong positive correlation of the weight specific heat production rate with age. Increasing numbers of workers together in a group reduce the heat production drastically, so that a group of 12 bees dissipate less heat than one isolated animal. Addition of a queen or of bee brood to a group of 6 workers lowers the heat output, too. These effects could be described as socially conditioned by the use of an endoscope or a microphone incorporated into the calorimetric vessel. Endoscopie observations have been performed in the visible and the infrared region of the spectrum.

Influence of pollen feeding and physiological condition on pesticide sensitivity of the honey bee Apis mellifera carnica

In two consecutive years heavy bee mortality at end April/early May followed the use of pesticides classed as harmless for bees along road verges. It was thought that old weak winter bees had succumbed to a preparation otherwise innocuous. Extensive tests to reveal any links between the bees' physiological condition and pesticide sensitivity involved 6 hormone herbicides, 11 fungicides and 2 insecticides, all approved harmless for bees and functioning on them wholly or mainly as stomach poisons. As a rule bee sensitivity was measured as LD 50 per os, in smaller tests as percentage mortality. Amount and quality of pollen ingested in the first days of life affected the pesticide sensitivity of young and older bees. Bees fed adequate high quality pollen are less sensitive than counterparts fed inadequate or inferior pollen or pollen substitute; such differences persisted if the LD 50 was calculated for the same body weight. Pesticides containing manganese are an exception. To these, bees fed inadequate pollen are no more or even less sensitive than comparable well-fed bees. Pesticide sensitivity decreases generally from early to late summer. Quality of pollen available for larvae has no effect on poison sensitivity of imagines. Food supply conditions however exert a clear influence: tested with the same pesticides, hive bees from colonies having had a rich early food supply, and young bees bred then, are less sensitive than their counterparts having had moderate or no early food supply. Poison sensitivity of summer bees increases with age; most sensitive are old winter bees which had practiced broodcare in early spring.Inadequate pollen intake can be regarded as causing protein deficiency. Investigation of this in mammals and man indicate that the higher poison sensitivity in bees results from inhibition of the enzymatic decomposition of pesticides. For practical bee protection it is important that all organic fungicides tested are effectively harmless. Hormone hebicides can be ranked as practically harmless even for bees inadequately protein-fed, as long as the approved concentrations are observed. Our tests raised doubts however about the registration as harmless for bees of insecticides based on Endosulfan and Phosalon. Of interest in practice and for the official testing of pesticides are also the high pesticide sensitivity of old winter bees, the decrease in sensitivity of bees on a stable feed from early to late summer, and the sensitivity-reducing influence of pollen-rich food supply promoting development.It is important ecologically that pollens of different plant species vary in nutrient quality for the honey bee: there are perfectly worthless (conifers), poor-to-medium, and highly effective pollen types. As shown in this paper, these differences are relevant not only for the development of the physiological condition and breeding potential of the bee, but also for pesticide sensitivity. That bees gather worthless and poor-quality, sometimes even poisonous, pollen (some Ranunculus sp.) is evidently due to the phagostimulant present in all pollen types.