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.

The Western honeybee, Apis mellifera, is the most important managed pollinator globally and has recently experienced unsustainably high colony losses. Synergistic interactions among stressors are believed to be primarily responsible. However, despite clear evidence of strong effect on honeybee longevity of widely-employed neonicotinoid insecticides and of the ubiquitous ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor, no data exist to show synergistic effects between these two stressors. Even though neonicotinoids had no significant impact by themselves, we here show for the first time a synergistic time-lag interaction between mites and neonicotinoids that resulted in significantly reduced survival of long-lived winter honeybees. Even though these mites are potent vectors of viruses, the virus-insecticide interaction had no significant impact. The data suggest a previously overlooked mechanism possibly explaining recent unsustainably high losses of managed A. mellifera honeybee colonies in many regions of the world. Future mitigation efforts should concentrate on developing sustainable agro-ecosystem management schemes that incorporate reduced use of neonicotinoids and sustainable solutions for V. destructor mites.

Is a bacterial pathogen that causes epidemic outbreaks of European foulbrood (EFB) in honey bee populations. The pathogenicity of a bacterium depends on its virulence, and understanding the mechani...

Co-evolution is a major driving force shaping the outcome of host-parasite interactions over time. After host shifts, the lack of co-evolution can have a drastic impact on novel host populations. Nevertheless, it is known that Western honey bee (Apismellifera) populations can cope with host-shifted ectoparasitic mites (Varroa destructor) by means of natural selection. However, adaptive phenotypic traits of the parasites and temporal variations in host resistance behavior are poorly understood. Here, we show that mites made adaptive shifts in reproductive strategy when associated with resistant hosts and that host resistance traits can change over time. In a fully-crossed field experiment, worker brood cells of local adapted and non-adapted (control) A.mellifera host colonies were infested with mites originating from both types of host colonies. Then, mite reproduction as well as recapping of cells and removal of infested brood (i.e., Varroa Sensitive Hygiene, VSH) by host workers were investigated and compared to data from the same groups of host colonies three years earlier. The data suggest adaptive shifts in mite reproductive strategies, because mites from adapted hosts have higher probabilities of reproduction, but lower fecundity, when infesting their associated hosts than mites in treated colonies. The results confirm that adapted hosts can reduce mite reproductive success. However, neither recapping of cells nor VSH were significantly expressed, even though the latter was significantly expressed in this adapted population three years earlier. This suggests temporal variation in the expression of adaptive host traits. It also appears as if mechanisms not investigated here were responsible for the reduced mite reproduction in the adapted hosts. In conclusion, a holistic view including mite adaptations and studies of the same parasite/host populations over time appears overdue to finally understand the mechanisms enabling survival of V.destructor-infested honey bee host colonies.

Host shifts of parasites are often causing devastating effects in the new hosts. TheVarroagenus is known for a lineage ofVarroa destructorthat shifted to the Western honey bee,Apis mellifera, with disastrous effects on wild populations and the beekeeping industry. Despite this, the biology ofVarroaspp. remains poorly understood in its native distribution range, where it naturally parasitizes the Eastern honey bee,Apis cerana. Here, we combined mitochondrial and nuclear DNA analyses with the assessment of mite reproduction to determine the population structure and host specificity ofV. destructorandVarroa jacobsoniiin Thailand, where both hosts and severalVarroaspecies and haplotypes are sympatric. Our data confirm previously described mite haplogroups, and show three novel haplotypes. Multiple infestations of single host colonies by both mite species and introgression of alleles betweenV. destructorandV. jacobsoniisuggest that hybridization occurs between the two species. Our results indicate that host specificity and population genetic structure in the genusVarroais more labile than previously thought. The ability of the host shiftedV. destructorhaplotype to spillback toA. ceranaand to hybridize withV. jacobsoniicould threaten honey bee populations of Asia and beyond.

A diverse supply of pollen is an important factor for honey bee health, but information about the pollen diversity available to colonies at the landscape scale is largely missing. In this COLOSS study, beekeeper citizen scientists sampled and analyzed the diversity of pollen collected by honey bee colonies. As a simple measure of diversity, beekeepers determined the number of colors found in pollen samples that were collected in a coordinated and standardized way. Altogether, 750 beekeepers from 28 different regions from 24 countries participated in the two-year study and collected and analyzed almost 18,000 pollen samples. Pollen samples contained approximately six different colors in total throughout the sampling period, of which four colors were abundant. We ran generalized linear mixed models to test for possible effects of diverse factors such as collection, i.e., whether a minimum amount of pollen was collected or not, and habitat type on the number of colors found in pollen samples. To identify habitat effects on pollen diversity, beekeepers’ descriptions of the surrounding landscape and CORINE land cover classes were investigated in two different models, which both showed that both the total number and the rare number of colors in pollen samples were positively affected by ‘urban’ habitats or ‘artificial surfaces’, respectively. This citizen science study underlines the importance of the habitat for pollen diversity for bees and suggests higher diversity in urban areas.