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Final Flashcards

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1
Q

Social systems: risk assessment.

A

Individual rights first or potential benefits first; approval first, testing second.

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2
Q

Why don’t we have enough data to address the causes of colony collapse disorder?

A

Bees were very healthy until varroa, and varroa was under control until about 15 years ago. Bees were not studied when it wasn’t dire.

Ag industry in peril requires big investments in research funds and infrastructure, but applied bee research labs are small and do small-scale research.

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3
Q

US imports about _____ as much honey as we produce.

A

2x

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4
Q

What to do if there arene’t enough bees for overwintering?

A

(1) Add combs of emerging brood at least a month before cold weather.
(2) Combine weak colonies, kill one queen, and use screen or newspaper to separate colonies.

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5
Q

Top three importers of honey (in order).

A

Germany, US, UK.

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6
Q

Where to get bees?

A

Swarms (sometimes unreliable), package bees (cheapest, some risk and longest time to reward), and whole colonies (most expensive but easiest).

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7
Q

How has world HB populations changed in the last 50 years.

A

Expanded.

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8
Q

How to prevent swarming by adding more space.

A

Add a super, kill queen cups or separate queen from cups then let new queens emerge.

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9
Q

Top three exporters of honey (in order)

A

China, Germany, Mexico.

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10
Q

Other equipment for extraction.

A

Knife (or other uncapping equipment), extractor, tank with filters.

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11
Q

How to tell emergency queen cells from swarm cells?

A

Emergency queen cells are right in the middle of a brood frame.

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12
Q

Crops less dependent but still pollinated.

A

Cucumbers, kiwis, melons, vegetables.

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13
Q

How often should you monitor for varroa levels during the spring and summer.

A

Every 2-3 weeks.

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14
Q

Main reasons for hive checks?

A

(1) Queen healthy and present?
(2) Hive healthy?
(3) Hive preparing to swarm?
(4) Hive has enough space?

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15
Q

What to do in there isn’t enough honey for overwintering?

A

Give back frames of honey, feed sugar syrup.

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16
Q

The major driver of wild bee losses.

A

Habitat loss.

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17
Q

What does it mean for a hive to be “brood bound?”

A

A colony with no more space to lay eggs.

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18
Q

Why do almonds require so many bees?

A

There are a lot of almond trees, not self-fertile, require high percentage of flowered to be pollinated for optimal fruit set.

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19
Q

What is the major driver of HB population sizes?

A

Honey price.

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20
Q

In which section of the hive are you most likely to get stung and why?

A

The bottom super. Foragers are the most likely to attack and are mostly in the bottom super.

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21
Q

The largest producer of honey in the world.

A

China.

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22
Q

When should hives be opened?

A

Only when necessary (interferes with bees, may kill queen).

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23
Q

Since CCD, how have HB populations changed in the US.

A

No change, beekeepers recover their losses each year.

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24
Q

Why might banning neonics be a bad thing?

A

Might be worse to going back to older more toxic chemicals.

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25
Differences between neonics and older classes of pesticides.
Neonics are less toxic, but are always present at low levels. Previous classes are quite toxic, but only present for short periods of time.
26
The model species for detoxification studies.
Fruit flies.
27
How to prevent ants from attacking beehives.
Chemical protection (limited to hive stand legs), place hive stand legs in water.
28
Best time of year to set up a hive.
Spring (most food resources available), but can be done any time of year.
29
The goals of fall management.
Ensure enough bees and sufficient honey stores for overwintering.
30
Protection from bears.
Electric fences.
31
How to set up a package.
Put hive together, put queen in hive (cage between two frames), remove a few frames and dump bees in, let queen out after a few days (or use sugar candy method), feed colony until established.
32
How do bees differ from other model insects regarding detoxification?
Bees don't just eat raw food, nectar is heavily processed.
33
Definition of commercial beekeeping.
300+ colonies.
34
CA produces how much of the world almonds?
80%
35
How many hives are allocated to almond farms each year?
~ 2 million
36
How do you check if the queen is alive and well during an inspection?
Young brood/eggs, nice and compact brood pattern, queen cups (emergency cups with larva means queen is likely dead).
37
How to monitor varroa levels.
Sticky board or ether rolls.
38
How to prevent drifting in an apiary.
Different color hives, facing different directions.
39
How to prevent swarming.
Make a split, or give more space.
40
Neonics fed to bees in cages cause what sublethal effects?
Decreased longevity (interactions with pathogens), decreased learning/memory, and physiological distress.
41
The major issue with much of neonic research.
Feeding bees neonics at levels far beyond actual field exposure.
42
Mandatory specialized equipment for beekeeping.
Hive, smoker, hive tool.
43
Characteristics of the old chemicals neonics replaced.
Toxic with much off target damage to humans. Less off target damage to HBs. Large off target effects on native bees.
44
Why rear queens?
Queens now have shorter lifespans, young queen lay better, less likely to swarm, beekeepers may want to replace undesirable qualities.
45
Results of an experiment investigating the potential for HBs to use novel tissues for detoxification associated with their social behavior?
Hypopharyngeal gland specialized for immunity, mandibular gland performs both immunity and detox.
46
How to produce honey from a hive.
Build up colony size in preparation for flow, add a queen excluder and honey supers. Harvest all honey except 15-20 lbs. Best to store honey until end of the year in case you need to feed it back to them. Extract all at once at the end of the season.
47
How to prevent a hive from becoming honey bound.
Inspections, add empty super when necessary.
48
The largest scales in commercial beekeeping.
Upwards of 50,000 colonies.
49
Types of beekeepers.
Commercial: make a living just from bees. Sideliner: Makes money from bees on the side. Hobbyist
50
Which states produce the most honey (in order)?
N. Dakota, Montana, S. Dakota, Florida, California.
51
What about the almond bloom requires special management of hives?
Bloom very early (Feb-Mar), colonies would be too small at this time, requiring massive feeding.
52
How might HBs be detoxifying their food?
Digestive enzymes and detox genes are usually expressed together in the gut, so the head glands that produce digestive enzymes to be added to nectar may also produce detoxification compounds.
53
When to open hives for inspections.
Best on nice days when foragers are out (primarily foragers will attack).
54
Crops heavily dependent on HBs for pollination.
Almonds, apples, avocados, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, sunflowers.
55
Studies on free-flying bees fed neonic-laden syrup from a feeder produced what findings?
No significant effects.
56
How do colony dynamics affect pesticide effects on bees?
Colonies are large and complex, collecting food from many sources, processing food, and living for a long time.
57
Types of frames.
Top bar, wood exterior/wax interior, wood exterior/plastic interior, all plastic.
58
The main industry for beekeepers in the US.
Pollination.
59
How are solitary and primitively social bees more susceptible to pesticide exposure?
Do not process their food.
60
The mechanisms of detoxification.
Enzymes break down toxins, mechanisms of rapid excretion.
61
Arguments against neonics as a cause for CCD.
Inconsistent bee losses across regions, no CCD in Australia.
62
The majority of almonds produced in the US are for _____.
Export.
63
What is CCD ultimately about?
Massive losses in large operations.
64
Social systems: the precautionary principle.
Society first; potential costs to people outweighs prospective benefits; testing first, approved use second.
65
The necessary and optional protection for beekeeping.
Necessary: veil Optional: suit, gloves
66
What behaviors of bees in field conditions may differ from lab-based neonic feeding experiments?
Bees share food in the nest, with foragers quickly unloading contaminated nectar to other bees. Foragers do not keep the nectar in their bodies for long. Bees eat honey, not nectar, and honey is processed.
67
The main research questions regarding neonics.
(1) What are the long term effects of low level chronic exposure? (2) How do these chemicals interact with the host of other chemicals used?
68
Where do fruit flies perform detoxification.
Gut, fat body (equivalent to liver), and Malpighian tubules (equivalent to kidneys.
69
How can hobbyists rear new queens?
Cage the old queen, she will stop spreading her signal properly. Bees rear emergency queens. Once a new queen is produced, replace.
70
Characteristics of neonics in comparison to older chemicals.
Less toxic to humans. Chronic exposure to beneficial insects. Toxic to native bees, but probably not to HBs.
71
What immunity and detox compounds to HBs add to nectar?
Antimicrobial peptides and detoxifying enzymes.
72
73
The three big threats to beehives (requiring protection in an apiary).
Ants, bears, people.
74
Are HBs good bioindicators?
No, not native and intensively managed. Native bees are good bioindicators.
75
Drivers of migratory beekeeping.
A few large crops; crops in different places from bees so bees have to be driven there and back.
76
How much of total beekeeper income comes from almonds?
>90%
77
Basic parts of a hive.
Hive body (supers), frames, bottom board, lids (inner/outer).
78
Goals of spring and summer hive management.
Monitor varroa levels, check queen health, swarm prevention, honey production.
79
How people pose a threat to beehives in an apiary?
Colony theft, only way to prevent is having a hard to find apiary.
80
What does it mean for a hive to be "honey bound?"
Colonies with full combs, unable to rear young or make new nectar.
81
Benefits of neonics compared to older pesticides.
Better targeting (seed treatments instead of spraying the whole field), less toxic to humans (targeted to insects).
82
How to make a split.
Take 4-5 brood combs with bees and make a new colony with them and either a new queen of a few queen cups.
83
Considerations when placing a few colonies of bees.
Enough space for bees to leave without encountering people, out of sight, legality.

Apiculture (3 decks)

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