Honey is an important food for man and has been used as a natural sweetener since ancient times. It is a viscous and aromatic product made by honey bees using the nectar of flowers or honeydew. Honey is composed of a complex mixture of carbohydrates and other substances such as organic acids, amino acids, proteins, minerals, vitamins, lipids, aroma compounds, flavonoids, pigments, waxes, pollen grains, several enzymes, and other phytochemicals. This chapter presents some properties of Apis mellifera honey as well as the main methods of honey analysis. All methods are based on specialized literature, including the Codex Alimentarius, AOAC, and publications of the International Honey Commission. Herein, we describe methods related to honey authenticity, botanical origin, geographical origin, physicochemical analysis, radioentomology, pesticide and antibiotic contamination, chemotherapeutics, and sensory analysis. All methods are described in a step-by-step model in order to facilitate their use. La miel es un alimento importante para el hombre y se ha utilizado como edulcorante natural desde la antigüedad. Es un producto viscoso y aromático hecho por las abejas de la miel usando el néctar de las flores o el rocío de miel. La miel está compuesta por una mezcla compleja de carbohidratos y otras sustancias como ácidos orgánicos, aminoácidos, proteínas, minerales, vitaminas, lípidos, compuestos aromáticos, flavonoides, pigmentos, ceras, granos de polen, varias enzimas y otros fitoquímicos. En este capítulo se presentan algunas propiedades de la miel de Apis mellifera, así como los principales métodos de análisis de la miel. Todos los métodos se basan en literatura especializada, incluido el Codex Alimentarius, AOAC y publicaciones de la Comisión Internacional de la Miel. A continuación, describimos métodos relacionados con la autenticidad de la miel, el origen botánico, el origen geográfico, el análisis fisicoquímico, la radioentomología, la contaminación por pesticidas y antibióticos, la quimioterapia y el análisis sensorial. Todos los métodos se describen en un modelo paso a paso para facilitar su uso.

Honey bees, Apis species, obtain carbohydrates from nectar and honeydew. These resources are ripened into honey in wax cells that are capped for long-term storage. These stores are used to overcome dearth periods when foraging is not possible. Despite the economic and ecological importance of honey, little is known about the processes of its production by workers. Here, we monitored the usage of storage cells and the ripening process of honey in free-flying A. mellifera colonies. We provided the colonies with solutions of different sugar concentrations to reflect the natural influx of nectar with varying quality. Since the amount of carbohydrates in a solution affects its density, we used computer tomography to measure the sugar concentration of cell content over time. The data show the occurrence of two cohorts of cells with different provisioning and ripening dynamics. The relocation of the content of many cells before final storage was part of the ripening process, because sugar concentration of the content removed was lower than that of content deposited. The results confirm the mixing of solutions of different concentrations in cells and show that honey is an inhomogeneous matrix. The last stage of ripening occurred when cell capping had already started, indicating a race against water absorption. The storage and ripening processes as well as resource use were context dependent because their dynamics changed with sugar concentration of the food. Our results support hypotheses regarding honey production proposed in earlier studies and provide new insights into the mechanisms involved.

Organisms' lifespans are modulated by both genetic and environmental factors. The lifespan of eusocial insects is determined by features of the division of labor, which itself is influenced by social regulatory mechanisms. In the honey bee, Apis mellifera, the presence of brood and of old workers carrying out foraging tasks are important social drivers of ageing, but the influence of young adult workers is unknown, as it has not been experimentally teased apart from that of brood. In this study, we test the role of young workers in the ageing of their nestmates. We measured the impact of different social contexts characterized by the absence of brood and/or young adults on the lifespan of worker nestmates in field colonies. To acquire insight into the physiological processes occurring under these contexts, we analyzed the expression of genes known to affect honey bee ageing. The data showed that young workers significantly reduced the lifespan of nestmate workers, similar to the effect of brood on its own. Differential expression of vitellogenin, major royal jelly protein-1, and methylase transferase, but not methyl farneosate epoxidase genes suggests that young workers and brood influence ageing of adult nestmate workers via different physiological pathways. We identify young workers as an essential part of the social regulation of ageing in honey bee colonies.

The ubiquitous use of pesticides is one major driver for the current loss of biodiversity, and the common practice of simultaneously applying multiple agrochemicals may further contribute. Insect toxicology currently has a strong focus on survival to determine the potential hazards of a chemical routinely used in risk evaluations. However, studies revealing no effect on survival or even indicating enhanced survival are likely to be misleading, if potential trade-offs between survival and other physiological factors are overlooked. Here, we used standard laboratory experiments to investigate the sublethal (i.e., food consumption) and lethal (i.e., survival) effects of two common agricultural pesticides (Roundup^® and clothianidin) on adult female solitary bees, Osmia bicornis. The data showed no significant effect of the treatment on cumulative survival; however, a significant positive correlation between herbicide and insecticide exposure and age was revealed, i.e., bees exposed to higher dosages lived longer. As no significant differences in daily food consumption were observed across treatment groups, increased food intake can be excluded as a factor leading to the prolonged survival. While this study does not provide data on fitness effects, two previous studies using solitary bees observed significant negative effects of neonicotinoid insecticides on fitness, yet not on survival. Thus, we conjecture that the observed non-significant effects on longevity may result from a trade-off between survival and reproduction. The data suggest that a focus on survival can lead to false-negative results and it appears inevitable to include fitness or at least tokens of fitness at the earliest stage in future risk assessments.