Bees for Development Journal 140
September 2021
BOOKSHELF Rafter beekeeping – sustainable management with Apis dorsata Eric Guerin 2021 43 pages Softcover. Jointly published by the International Bee Research Association and Northern Bee Books (UK) Rafter beekeeping is the use of purpose-made rafters to serve as nesting sites for Apis dorsata, the giant Asian honey bee. The rafters are a piece of branch or tree trunk, around 2m long and supported by poles, which, resembling a natural branch, attract Apis dorsata to build their nest beneath it. In this 43-page monograph, Eric Guerin describes the practice of rafter beekeeping, with many photographs, and usefully lists all the recent references describing how this is done in South East Asian nations of Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.
The lockdown pallet hive Jonathan Powell 2021 17 pages Softcover. Published by Northern Bee Books (UK) Here in the UK our manicured landscape leaves few dead trees in place, and this means few natural nesting places available for wild honey bee colonies. It is accepted practice to provide nesting places for birds, and we need more nesting places for honey bee colonies too. 2019’s coronavirus lockdown brought a few positive outcomes, this 17-page book being one of them. Confined to home, Jonathan Powell was forced to use what was available to make a home for a wild-living honey bee colony – this meant two pallets, general wood working tools, and two days of work. Jonathan brought excellent wood working skills too, and the result was a well-made, double-walled hive. Once situated on the shaded side of a tree, honey bees gave it their vote of approval - when it was swiftly occupied by a swarm of bees within two days.
Stingless Bees – Their behaviour, ecology and evolution Christoph Grüter 2020 385 pages Hardcover. Published by Springer Nature (Germany) This is an excellent book drawing together current knowledge of stingless bees, the Meliponini. Just like honey bees, stingless bees live in colonies and create and store honey, they are pollinators, and play important roles in human societies. Just like honey bees too, they face large-scale loss of natural habitat, widespread use of agrochemicals, and climate change. Around 550 species of stingless bees have been described and are listed here, while many more exist. The author has arranged his summaries of current knowledge about stingless bees across ten chapters, and while all the text is fully referenced, it still remains readable. Supported by wonderful diagrams and illustrations this creates a useful new text on stingless bees.
Silent Earth – averting the insect apocalypse Dave Goulson 2021 327 pages Hardcover. Published by Penguin Random House (UK) If one looks at the various studies across Europe, it seems we have lost at least 50% of our insects since 1970. It could easily be as high as 90%. Time is running out, but we are not too late to avert the insect apocalypse. Dave Goulson’s new book is a passionate love letter to the marvellous insect kingdom and a call to arms for protecting what is left of it. The first part instils the importance of insects and a sprawling wonder for their amazing lives. Part II rigorously reviews world evidence for declines in insect populations. Part III collects and explains the evidence for the causes of these declines. Part IV paints a bleak picture of a future where we have failed to act on this evidence. Finally, Goulson dedicates 60 resolutely practical pages to detailing the actions we must commit to, to avoid leaving behind a silent earth and “to learn to live as part of nature, not apart from it.” 18
