Bookshelf

THE SUPER-ORGANISM

Bert Halldobler and E 0 Wilson 2009 576 pages £33 (€48) H700

A colony of honey bees may be regarded as one single organism, in this case made up of thousands of individuals. Each individual bee is a part of the super-organism that depends upon altruistic co-operation, sophisticated communication and division of labour. Social insects give us the possibility to study individuals, as well as the colony as a whole, and this enables us to understand much about the evolution of social behaviour.

The social insects - ants, bees, wasps and termites - account for the majority of insect biomass, and recent years have seen much progress in our understanding of how their societies function. The famous Pulitzer-prize winning authors of this new book provide a comprehensive review of the last quarter century of research, providing great insight. Clearly written and beautifully illustrated, this important new book offers accessible knowledge for a broad readership.

BUGS AND THE VICTORIANS

JF M Clark 2009 322 pages £25 (€37) C700

The super-organisms book described above shows how far we have reached in our understanding of the complex social lives of insects. Today’s research builds up on the legacy of previous generations, and none were more enthusiastic in these studies than the Victorians, who realised that systematic study of insects could provide insight into many questions concerning the natural world. This new book covers areas not reached by others: insects within Victorian politics, religions, science and economics. An excellent, quirky and enjoyable account of the major players in 19th Century entomology. Plenty of interesting cartoons and illustrations such as George Cruickshank's engraving of the hive as a model social organism, and Prince Albert’s bee hives.

PARASITES OF THE HONEY BEE

Mary F Coffey 2007 81 pages

A concise guide to all the main problems: pests (including the mites, small hive beetle, rodents, wasps), adult bee diseases (Nosema), brood diseases, viral diseases, and other colony disorders such as dysentery, drone laying queens, pesticides and others. Primarily intended for readers in Ireland, this contains plenty of useful information for all beekeepers. A very useful and comprehensive introduction especially since it can be downloaded free of charge from www.agriculture.gov.ie

BEES AND THEIR ROLE IN FOREST LIVELIHOODS

Nicola Bradbear 2009 204 pages £28 (€42) B800

We are very pleased that FAO has published this text explaining many aspects of beekeeping and its role within forest livelihoods. It includes descriptions of the various bee species, their importance within ecology, agriculture and rural livelihoods. It covers beekeeping, honey hunting and meliponiculture. The various products and services utilised from bees are described, as well as value added products, marketing, trade and constraints to development. The text is interspersed with many fact boxes and case studies, and together with appendices, I hope that people working in this field will find this a useful reference and source of reliable information.

Copies of this publication can be purchased from our website store. An electronic version is available from FAO's NWFP home page at www.fao.org/docrep/012/108426/10842e00.htm

MONETARY VALUE OF FORESTS

A report by WWF Netherlands values avoided emissions from deforestation or degradation over large areas of the Amazon at €55-78 per hectare per year. These include erosion protection (€185/ha/year), pollination services by rainforest insects in Ecuadorian coffee plantations (€38/ha/year), NTFPs such as honey, fruits and mushrooms (€40-80/ha/year) and ecotourism (€2.5-5.5/ha/year). This compares to the returns from the production of commodities such as beef and soya which are the main Amazonian products imported by Europe. Soya production generates €230-470/ha/year and breeding cattle €40-115/ha/year. The report shows that the revenue currently received from economic activities in which the natural environment remains intact is not high enough to offset the non-sustainable activities.

Finding mechanisms to secure global payments for the forest's ecological services would be a major impetus to both preserving the forest and paying for. and providing proper management.

Source www. internationalforestindustries.com

€1 = US$1.42