Re: bees and mites
Doug Kern (dkern1@mail.idt.net)
Fri, 26 Jul 1996 21:44:47 -0400 (EDT)
>Hi Zachary - As far as I recall, the mites enter the air passageways of the
>bee's body and interfere with the respiratory system. There was an article
>in "Science" in the last year or so that about the plight of the honeybee.
>BTW, the honeybee we're all used to seeing is actually a European import
>brought here ages ago to help pollinate crops. An interesting short article
>in "Time" a couple of weeks ago talked about the resurgence in interest in
>our native pollinators now that honeybees are few and far between.
>
>As others have noted, it seemed like the bumblebees really took off around
>our house last year as well. Initially, I thought it might be a response to
>the loss of the honeybees, a release from competition. I checked this out
>with some of the entomologists on the ecology listserve, but no one had
>heard of any definitive studies on competition between native bumblebees and
>the imported honeybees. I haven't seen many bees at all this summer, but
>from what I've read, the extremely cold weather this past winter really
>dealt a death blow to many species of insects. It may take a while for the
>bumblebees populations to recover.
>
Just to add, in my area, the Bumblebees are doing fine, I live in
northern New Jersey. Both speices that live here are seen. Also, now the
the Honey Bees are not as common, the Green Flower Bees seem to have taken
over. The are are smaller then a Honey Bee and are green and white instead
of being yellow and black like the Honeu Bees. They are also colonial, like
the Bumble and Honey Bees, but live in smaller colonies. Personally I think
the Green Bees are cuter then the other types.
Also, I was wondering, since the so called "Killer" Bees (African
Honey Bees) are closely related to the Eurpoean Honey Bee, would they also
bee effect by the mites?
Doug Kern
dkern1@mail.idt.net