in the Tropics

Dr. Peter Rosenkranz University of Hohenheim Apicultural State Institute [email protected] www.uni-hohenheim.de/bienenkunde SS 2010

Content

1. What are Bees? 2. Social Evolution in “Bees”: From Solitary to Eusociality 3. Economic value of bees 4. bee species of economic importance 5. General aspects of Pollination 6. Honey hunting 7. Specific traits of tropical honey bees 8. Requirements for advanced Beekeeping Techniques 9. Case study in North Eastern Brazil 10. Specific problems: • Plant protection • diseases 11. Summary

1 Systematic of Bees

Class Insecta Order Hymenoptera Aculeata Family Apidae Stingless bees (Melipona spec.) Bumble bees (Bombus spec.) Honey bees (Apis spec.)

Worldwide about 25.000 Bee species In Germany about 600 Bee species (most of them solitary) In Brazil about 3.000 Bee species Æ Tropics: higher biodiversity

“What are bees”? Pecularities of Bees

• Use of Pollen and nectar for nutrition • Visiting plants during foraging • Social communities

2 Social Community and Evolution Darwin’s enigma

“... I will confine myself to one special difficulty which at first appeared to me insuperable, and actually fatal to the whole theory (of evolution). I allude to the neuters or sterile females in insect communities” In other words: How can sterile females be explained within the framework of an evolutionary theory based on survival of the fittest?

C. Darwin, 1859

Darwin’s enigma “This difficulty (of sterile workers), though appearing insuperable, is lessened, or, as I believe, disappears, when it is remembered that selection may be applied to the family, as well as to the individual, and may thus gain the desired end”

C. Darwin, 1859

3 „Social Evolution“

Solitary Eusocial

Communal Semisocial

Eusocial Bees

• Overlap of generations • Division of labor • Occurrence of castes (reproductive and worker castes)

4 Eusocial Bees

Stingless bees in Africa, Honey bees in Africa and Asia South America and Australia

Scaptotrigona spec. in Brazil Apis mellifera in Ethiopia

Dwarf Honey Bee

Apis dorsata in Asia (Giant Hone Bee) Apis florea in Asia

Original and today's distribution of Honey Bees (Apis) and Stingless Bees

Honey bees

Honey bees & Stingless bees

Stingless bees Stingless bees

5 Honey bee species of the world (Honey bee = Apis)

Apis mellifera *(Europe, Africa, Asia Minor) hive bees Apis cerana * (Asia) Apis koschevnikovi (Asia) Apis nicrocincta (Asia) Apis dorsata *(Asia) free building Apis laboriosa * (Asia) single combs Apis florea (Asia) Apis andreniformis (Asia) * economic importance

Social organization of a Honeybee colony

Female castes: • Queen: reproduction • Workers: all working tasks within in the colony Both derived from fertilized eggs, no genetic Males: difference between workers and queens “Drones” deriving from unfertilized eggs. The only “task” is mating with the queen.

6 Economic value of bees

Products provided by Bees •Honey •Wax • Pollen • Propolis • • Bee venom • Pollination

Economic value of bees

Products provided by Bees • Honey • Wax • Pollen • Propolis •Royal Jelly • Bee venom • Pollination

7 Economic value of bees

Products provided by Bees •Honey Æ Honey bees, stingless bees •Wax Æ Honey bees • Pollen Æ Honey bees • Propolis Æ Honey bees • Royal Jelly Æ Honey bees • Bee venom Æ Honey bees • Pollination Æ Honey bees, stingless bees, solitary bees

General Importance of Bees

8 Pollination

•Wind, Water

Pollination

Birds Bats

Mammals

9 Pollination Insects All Bees use pollen as the exclusive source of protein

Æ All Bees are Pollinators!

Pollination by Bees

1 • /3 of the agricultural production worldwide depends on pollination • Economic value (estimated): - Worldwide: ~ 70 Billion € (honeybees) - USA: ~ 40 Billion € (bees in general, Morse 2001) • Bees are the most effective pollinators among the insects. They perform about 50% of insect pollination.

Agricultural Biodiversity International Initiative for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Pollinators http://www.biodiv.org/programmes/areas/agro/pollinators.asp

10 Pollination

Pollination Project at Jordan (Strawberry)

Pollination: Global Ecology

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/LandCover/land_cover_3.html

11 Global Ecology Cycle of Biomass

CO2 Photosynthesis

Global Ecology Primary Production (Biomass)

~ 100.000.000.000 t/ year Æ tropical rainforest ~ 60.000.000.000 t/year Æ Cultivated area ~ 10.000.000.000 t/year

12 Global Ecology

Pollination! CO2 Photosynthesis

Beekeeping with stingless bees

Genus Melipona and Trigona

Advantages • Harmonious relationship between man and indigenous bees • Including in Indian culture, for instance the Maya at Yucatan or the Yanomani at Amazonia • Provision of pollen and honey for private use • High prices •Medical use? Disadvantages • Relatively low honey yields (1 – max. 10 kg/colony/year) • Handling difficult, difficult for professional use • Lack of knowledge on domestication and techniques of “Meliponiculture“

13 Honey Bee beekeeping (Apis spec.) Production of Honey and Bees Wax Honey hunting

Honey hunting

Apis dorsata (giant honey bee) in India

14 Honey hunting

Natural nesting site of a honeybee colony (Togo, West Africa) Æ Honey hunting

Honey hunting

Uganda: log hives

15 Honey hunting

Traditional hives Ethiopia: Baskets as a bee hive and a “Honey bee tree”

Tropical beekeeping

Asia: Apis dorsata, Apis cerana, Apis mellifera Africa: Apis mellifera: „“, the „Cape honey bee“ South America: Apis mellifera: „Africanized Honeybees (AHB)“

16 The eastern honey bee Apis cerana

Apis cerana, the eastern Honey Bee Typical defense behaviour against giant hornets Small colonies, “nervous” bees (Vespa manduca): balling and killing the hornet by heat

Small scale Honey production with the eastern honey bee Apis cerana

Apis cerana in India and extraction of a small honey harvest

17 Advanced Beekeeping with the Western Honeybee Apis mellifera in Europe

Case study of a German Professional

Organization, Management Technique! Example: Use of Rape

Photos: Wolfgang Stöckmann

18 Tropical Beekeeping (Apis mellifera) Specific traits of tropical honey bees

Specific traits of tropical honey bees

1. High reproductive rates 2. and absconding 3. Defensive behavior 4. No winter cluster (population dynamic)

19 High reproductive rate: Example of Africanized Honeybees (= tropical Honeybee)

Spread of Africanized honeybees in South America

Swarming and absconding

Africanized honeybees in Brazil: By the use of swarm boxes the beekeeper can reach an equilibrium of loss and gain of swarms. Swarm boxes are also used to prevent establishing of swarms within cities.

20 Swarming and absconding

Africanized honeybees in Brazil: Extreme swarming and absconding tendency

Defensive behavior

Beekeeping at Apicultural Institute of Hohenheim …..

21 Defensive behavior

African bees and Africanized honeybees (Brazil): • Lower threshold for defense behavior (a result of honey hunting in the tropics by man?) • Long-lasting attacks (even several hours after disturbing the colony!) • Attacks over a range of several hundreds meters around the hive • Disturbed bees follow the beekeeper up to 2 km

Defensive behavior

Intensive use of smoke, long-lasting defensive behavior of the bees of a disturbed colony (example of a professional beekeeper in Brazil)

22 Defensive behavior

Keep colonies isolated and as single unit: Prevention of mutual disturbance and the use of “poor” food sources

Specific foraging strategy of African bees

Use of “poor” food sources (Africanized Honey Bees in Brazil)

Foraging at night (Apis melliera adansoni in Togo)

23 Population dynamic

No. of bees/ Schwäbische Alb 2001 broodcells 40000 Bees Brood cells Brood cells 30000 Worker bees 20000

10000

0 i il ril ni li p ust g . Apr . A . Aug u 6 0. Sept 2 2 17. Mai 5. Ju 26. Jun 19. Ju 6 10. Okt 10. März 8. A 2 2 Seasonal course of colony development in temperate climates

Population dynamic

e worker brood brood 40000 35000 bees 30000 25000 20000 15000 10000 5000 0

7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 number of adult bees/ brood c bees/ adult brood of number .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 0 1 2 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 .1 .1 .1 .1 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 9 1 1 0 1 9 5 7 1 5 5 1 1 2 2 1 3 2 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1

Seasonal course of colony development in tropical climates (Uruguay)

24 Winter cluster

Requirements for a more advanced Tropical Beekeeping

1. Suitable Bee hives 2. Protected area for the 3. Protection clothes: Gloves, Boots, masks, Smoker 4. Devices for honey extraction and processing 5. Possibilities for honey storage 6. Knowledge

25 Types of bee hives

South Africa: Top bar hive

Types of bee hives

Uganda: Top bar hive (moveable frames)

26 Traditional hives: Hanging or installing on a stand?

Advantages of installing on a stand 1. It is easier to place the hive on the stand and remove it. 2. It is easy to move both hive and stand to another spot. 3. The does not swing about even if the beekeeper is working. 4. Honey collection and brood-nest control can easily be carried out.

Disadvantages of installing on a stand 1. Grazing animals can knock the hive over. 2. The legs of the stand can easily be used by lizards to reach the hive unless they are protected by lizard guards. 3. It is more expensive and tedious to make a reliable stand than to buy a metallic wire for hanging a hive. 4. Easy movement facilitates easy stealing.

Modern Hives

Moveable and stable frames

27 Modern Hives

Research project in Ethiopia: The use of modern Polyurethane Standard hives.

Modern Hives

Research project in Ethiopia: In the field a protection against ants and lizards are required.

28 Case study: Beekeeping in the North East of Brazil Prof. Lionel S. Gonçalves, Katia Gramacho

Beekeeping in the tropics: Example from North East Brazil

29 Extreme Swarming tendency

Apiary during the dry season

30 Availability of water

Beekeeping “practice”

É FUNDAMENTAL A CONSERVAÇÃO DO MATERIAL APÍCOLA

31 Lack of material for beekeeping

Expensive equipment for protection

32 No sophisticated management

Problem of defensive behavior

33 Problem of defensive behavior

Need of working together

34 Colonies established as single units

Colonies established as single units

35 Shadow very important

Hard research work in the tropics

36 Hard research work in the tropics

Prof. Lionel S. Gonçalves (Ribeirão Preto) and Katia Gramacho (Salvador) working in Mossoró

Advantages of Africanized Honey Bees

• AFB collect more pollen than European Bees (Pollination) • Resistance to most bee diseases (Æ production of organic honey) • Up to 100 kg per year and colony possible • Problem: Honey quality, marketing • Certification of Honey quality in US and EU!

37 Problems for Beekeeping

Honeybee diseases

Varroosis (): • Parasitic mite, sucks hemolymph from adult bees and brood stages • Vector for secondary infections (Bee viruses) • In temperate climate, infested coloneis die within 2-3 years without treatment • Æ Most important threat to beekeeping worldwide • Most tropical bees are tolerant toward Varroosis!

38 Honeybee diseases

American Foulbrood (Paenibacillus larvae larvae): • Bacteria, destroys brood cells shortly after cell capping • in Europe considered as epidemic (Pest status!) • Not present in Central Africa and Brazil • Distributed via spores from dead larvae and honey (spores are very resistant, can survive cooking!)

Honeybee diseases

Small hive beetle (Aethina tumida) in South Africa • Native to Southern Africa • In Africa a minor problem • Meanwhile also in USA and Australia Æ destroys weak colonies and storage combs

39 Plant protection

Risk of residues and poisoning of foraging bees

Summary Tropical Beekeeping and rural development Chances • Beekeeper and Bee products are highly respected • Honey is a high price product in all countries • Alternative bee products Æ Medical use • Enormous resources in tropical countries are available • Honey can be stored over long periods • Beekeeping does not require own land • Beekeeping offers additional income (Rural development, gender aspects) Problems • Knowledge and tradition of stakeholder • Start investment (bee hives, protection clothes, honey harvest) • An extension within the country is needed • Quality control of Honey Bee Products within the country • Access to (international) markets

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