Bookshelf

How to manage the blue orchard bee as an orchard pollinator

Jordi Bosch and William Kemp

2001 88 pages Paperback Available from Bees for Development price £15.90 Code B475

For a long time the only pollinator commercially available in large numbers was the honeybee Apis mellifera, which meant that commercial pollination of insect-pollinated crops was dependent on this single species. In the USA the reduction in the number of honeybee colonies due to low honey prices and the introduction of parasitic mites and exotic pests, has led to the commercialisation of the indigenous North American blue orchard bee Osmia lignaria, as a pollinator for orchard crops. The blue orchard bee is a close relative of Osmia cornifrons the hornfaced bee that has been used commercially in Japan as an apple and cherry pollinator since the 1960s, and Osmia cornuta developed as an orchard pollinator in Europe.

Section 1 of this new manual provides an overview of fruit crop pollination. Section 2 explains the general biology of the blue orchard bee and sections 3 and 4 describe rearing and management. Sections 5 and 6 explain bee densities and the ways to extend nesting periods and progeny production to enhance pollination. The next two sections explain the factors preventing population growth including the (limited) knowledge on pesticide damage, mortality during development and pests, predators and pathogens of the blue orchard bee. Well illustrated with black and white and colour illustrations, this manual is a useful addition to the literature available on non-honeybee pollinators.

Beekeeping study notes

John and Dawn Yates

2002 261 pages Paperback Available from Bees for Development price £21.50 Code Y100

This new book in the series of study notes for the British Beekeepers Association examinations provides an excellent guide to the BBKA Certificate in Beekeeping Husbandry. The authors have many years’ experience as Master Beekeepers and provide comprehensive information on all aspects of practice and current disease terminology.

Bumblebees

Christopher O'Toole

2002 42 pages Paperback Available from Bees for Development price £5.50 Code 0160

Bumblebees live mostly in cool temperate climates occurring throughout North America, Asia and Europe. Some species have adapted to the high altitudes of the Himalayas and to the Arctic areas of North America and Eurasia. A few species live in tropical Central America and in South America along the Andes. There are some bumblebee species in North Africa, but bumblebees are absent from Africa south of the Sahara. This book explains the natural history of these social bees including chapters on colony activity, pests, bumblebees as managed pollinators of crops, and how to encourage bumblebees to live in your garden. The book ends with 11 lovely colour plates of different species of foraging bumblebees of different species.

Bees dance

Rémy Chauvin and Patrice Serres

2001 46 pages A4+ size hardback Available from Bees for Development price £16.80 Code C090

Entomologist and ethologist Rémy Chauvin joined forces with cartoonist and art director Patrice Serres to produce this unusual book, which offers an alternative view of communication strategies within the hive. Originally published in the French magazine Figaro this hyper-realistic fiction shows bees living in the world of insects alongside humans here on Earth as they have done for thousands of years. With colour cartoons the story tells of Daftara from Ethiopia and his young assistant Mikle who install a tiny remote controlled robot on the comb within a hive. This device can communicate with the bees that have evolved a highly sophisticated language, a small segment of which is seen by beekeepers in the waggle dance.

Although the book is designed to be primarily fun it does carry facts about behaviour including foraging, queen production, reproduction and swarming, in addition to the details about communication within the hive. There is a brief glossary.

KEYSTONE INFORMATION

Honey hunters and beekeepers of Tamil Nadu

Snehlata Nath, Pratim Roy, Mathew John and Robert Leo

2001 138 pages Paperback Available from Bees for Development price £14.65 Code K305

Honey hunting is a traditional part of life for people living in the hills of Tamil Nadu in southern India. Keystone undertook to discover the various honey hunting groups and to document what they do with the harvested honey and beeswax. The survey revealed a range of development issues related to changes in traditions, in the economy and in the accessibility of the hill areas. Honey hunting and beekeeping in Tamil Nadu have been affected drastically by ecological changes. The book discusses appropriate ways to help. This newly published book was previously available as a survey report document (reviewed in BfD 45).

Honey hunters of the Blue Mountains CD Rom

Keystone Foundation

2001 138 pages Available from Bees for Development price £22.80 Code VID20A

This newly available CD Rom offers an alternative opportunity to view the documentary about the honey hunters of the Nilgiri Mountains of South India and their relationship with the giant honeybee Apis dorsata. A review of the video format appeared in BfD 59.

Instrumental insemination of honeybee queens Inseminacién instrumental de abejas reinas

Susan Cobey

A 25 minute, step by step training video. FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN has a limited number of copies of this video, available in English or Spanish and in PAL or NTSC format. If you are an apicultural researcher in a developing country, then you may request a copy.

Contact: HoZoo.Lea@fao.org

Uludag Agricilik Dergisi

The Uludag Bee Journal is new from the Uludag Beekeeping Association in Turkey. The journal publishes mainly in Turkish but English manuscripts are accepted. Articles on beekeeping, diseases, pollination, apitherapy, honeybee races, honeybee breeding and genetics, equipment, bee products and marketing are required.

Contact the Editor on: mcivan@superonline.com.

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