Letters

THANKS FOR THE ARTICLE; Terms used in Beekeeping Development (edition 24 pages 8 and 9); very useful for those of us who are not from beekeeping backgrounds. But a note on one of the definitions:

Agroforestry: Agroforestry is a collective name for land-use systems and technologies. where woody perennials (trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos, etc) are deliberately used on the same land management unit as agricultural crops and/or animals. either in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence. Lundgren, B (1982) The use of agroforestry to increase the productivity of converted tropical land. Nairobi, Kenya. ICRAF.

The important thing about agroforestry systems is that they are deliberate. This allows the disparate systems of shifting cultivation, alley cropping, Javanese home gardens, and the use of bees, fish and cattle, for example, to be compared and contrasted.

Ian Rowland, London, UK

I WRITE WITH REGARD to your definition of the term “absconding” in your glossary of terms used in Beekeeping & Development 24, page 8.

I would like to suggest that a more comprehensive definition be provided for this term. I would suggest that “absconding” be used to describe the condition in which all adult honey bees leave the nest or hive within a short period of time (within 24-48 hours} following the disturbance of that colony by wind, rain, sun, man, ant attack, honey badger attack or some other sudden disturbance. In this case, honey, pollen and brood may be left behind in the colony.

Using this definition, “absconding” and “migration” are mutually exclusive rather than “migration” being seen as a sub-category of “absconding” (the latter terminology is often used in literature from the USA).

Robert Paxton, Cardiff, UK