News

IRAN

The favourable climate and vast natural resources in Mazandaran Province, situated in the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, offer great potential for agricultural and economic growth in the region. Over 2.200 tonnes of honey are produced annually in Mazandaran Province. Some 2,/00 beekeepers have 192,000 colonies across the northern Iranian Province of Mazandaran - an average of 12.5 kg from each colony, reported the Provincial Official of the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad. There is only one honey processing and packaging plant throughout the Province. He also complained about the insufficient low-interest loans granted to the honey producers and the shortage of wood for producing the hive boxes required by the industry.

Source: www.mehrnews.ir

SOUTH KOREA

Bee farmer protests over islands

A South Korean bee farmer has covered his body with bees in protest over a territorial dispute between Japan and South Korea. Ahn Sang-gyu, was stung 200 times. He was protesting against Japan's claim to a number of rocky islets located in waters between Japan and South Korea.

Called Dokdo in Korean and 7akeshima in

Japanese, the area has caused a long-running rift between the nations.

"The honeybee dares to abandon her life when enemies are attempting to attack, to protect her own home. From now on, I hope these bees will contribute to protect our Dokdo", Ahn Sang-Gyu said.

He covered himself in 187,000 bees to present the dimensions of the islands, which measure 187,000 m2.

The rift threatened to flare up again last month after Japan said it would conduct a maritime survey in waters surrounding the islets. After negotiations in the South Korean capital Seoul, Japan agreed to cancel the survey after South Korea agreed to drop plans to officially register Korean names for trenches and ridges on the seabed,

www.news. bbc.co.uk

UGANDA

Chimps, gorillas and humans harvest honey

In the first study of indigenous African honeybees and stingless bees in the same habitat, humans and chimpanzees are the primary bee nest predators.

Batwa Pygmies, who have traditionally harvested honey for food, located 228 bee nests (both honeybees and stingless bees) for the study. David Roubik, from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, identified the bees and found that Pygmy names for the bees corresponded to scientific names, except for black and brown forms of Meliponula ferruginea. Honeybee (Apis) nests were numerous compared to other sites in the tropics, whereas stingless bee nests were relatively scarce. Nest abundance did not vary with altitude, nor did pollen collection or the seasonality of flowering.

Robert Kajobe of the Dutch Tropical Bee Research Unit invited Roubik to visit the Bwindi-Impenetrable National Park in southwest Uganda.

Here African honeybees in their native habitat co-exist with five or more species of stingless bees. Chimps in the Park peel and chew the tips of vines and twigs to make honey dipsticks. Roubik notes that indigenous groups in the Americas use similar honey brushes to harvest honey in areas where Africanised bees are relative newcomers.

"Most studies of stingless bees have been undertaken in South America and south-east Asia and have ignored the ecology and context of Afro-tropical stingless bee species, particularly in in equatorial regions. hope this is just the beginning of a long-lasting collaboration that will make a significant contribution to Afro-tropical bee research", writes Kajobe. "Bwindi-Impenetrable Forest is the only place on earth where gorillas, chimps and humans partition forest resources. Given the importance of honey as one of the most concentrated sources of sugar in the forest, and the fact that the Park Management Plan allows collection of non-timber forest products. there is an abysmal lack of ecological information about the role of honey-making bees and the role of their natural predators in this ecosystem. Nothing is known about the amount of honey produced in nests of different species, nor how often bee species create new nests. Unfortunately, this dearth of information about indigenous bees will continue unless more funding for basic natural history research is forthcoming", asserts Roubik.

Robert Kajobe and David Roubik

Original article: Honey making bee colony abundance and predation by apes and humans in a Uganda Forest Reserve. Biotropica 38(2): 210.