Search results for "bees"

FLIES AS POLLINATORS OF MELITTOPHILOUS SALVIA SPECIES (LAMIACEAE)

2014

UNLABELLED • PREMISE OF THE STUDY Floral adaptation to a functional pollinator group does not necessarily mean close specialization to a few pollinator species. For the more than 950 species of Salvia, only bee and bird pollinations are known. Restriction to these pollinators is mainly due to the specific flower construction (lever mechanism). Nevertheless, it has been repeatedly suggested that Salvia flowers might also be pollinated by flies. Are flies able to handle the lever mechanism? Are they functionally equivalent pollinators? In this study, we compared and quantified pollen transfer by bees and flies to test whether flies are true pollinators in Salvia.• METHODS We identified pollin…

Halloysite based geopolymers filled with wax microparticles as sustainable building materials with enhanced thermo-mechanical performances

2022

This work proposes a novel protocol for the fabrication of halloysite based geopolymers filled with beeswax microparticles obtained from Pickering emulsions. The actual filling of the microwax into the geopolymers has been demonstrated by using several techniques, including thermal analyses, spectroscopies, microscopies and contact angle experiments. According to the morphological and structural investigations, microwax spherical particles (diameter ranging between ca. 3 and 5 μm) have been homogeneously dispersed within the geopolymeric network conferring excellent properties to the hybrid geopolymers in terms of mechanical performances and heat storage capacity although their low content …

Indagini sulla presenza di apoidei in aree marginali di agroecosistemi in Sicilia occidentale (Insecta Hymenoptera Apoidea)

2002

Molecular characterization of hemoglobin from the honeybee Apis mellifera

2005

Due to the prevailing importance of the tracheal system for insect respiration, hemoglobins had been considered rare exceptions in this arthropod subphylum. Here we report the identification, cloning and expression analysis of a true hemoglobin gene in the honeybee Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera). The deduced amino acid sequence covers 171 residues (19.5 kDa) and harbors all globin-typical features, including the proximal and the distal histidines. The protein has no signal peptide for transmembrane transport and was predicted to localize in the cytoplasm. The honeybee hemoglobin gene shows an ancient structure, with introns in positions B12.2 and G7.0, while most other insect globins have div…

Beeswax cleaning by solvent extraction of pesticides

2018

We set out to test if the methodology used to clean sheep wool wax (Lanolin) from pesticides could be used to clean beeswax as well. We first made an aggregate sample of brood comb wax from three different US beekeepers. Sub-samples of these aggregate wax samples were analyzed for pesticide contamination. The remaining wax, was then dissolved into hexane solution and run through four N, N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) washes. During these extractions, the pesticides partitioned into the DMF, and so were removed from the beeswax. Following the solvent extractions, the beeswax was tested again for pesticides. An average of 95% of the pesticide contamination was removed by the chemical wash procedur…

Functional implications of the staminal lever mechanism in Salvia cyclostegia (Lamiaceae)

2011

Flower morphology and inflorescence architecture affect pollinator foraging behaviour and thereby influence the process of pollination and the reproductive success of plants. This study explored possible ecological functions of the lever-like stamens and the floral design in Salvia cyclostegia.Flower construction was experimentally manipulated by removing either the lower lever arms or the upper fertile thecae of the two stamens from a flower. The two types of manipulated individuals were intermixed with the control ones and randomly distributed in the population.Removing the sterile lower lever arms significantly reduced handling time per flower of the main pollinator, Bombus personatus. I…

Honeybees can recognise images of complex natural scenes for use as potential landmarks

2008

SUMMARY The ability to navigate long distances to find rewarding flowers and return home is a key factor in the survival of honeybees (Apis mellifera). To reliably perform this task, bees combine both odometric and landmark cues,which potentially creates a dilemma since environments rich in odometric cues might be poor in salient landmark cues, and vice versa. In the present study, honeybees were provided with differential conditioning to images of complex natural scenes, in order to determine if they could reliably learn to discriminate between very similar scenes, and to recognise a learnt scene from a novel distractor scene. Choices made by individual bees were modelled with signal detec…

Paenibacillus larvae Chitin-Degrading Protein PlCBP49 Is a Key Virulence Factor in American Foulbrood of Honey Bees

2014

Paenibacillus larvae, the etiological agent of the globally occurring epizootic American Foulbrood (AFB) of honey bees, causes intestinal infections in honey bee larvae which develop into systemic infections inevitably leading to larval death. Massive brood mortality might eventually lead to collapse of the entire colony. Molecular mechanisms of host-microbe interactions in this system and of differences in virulence between P. larvae genotypes are poorly understood. Recently, it was demonstrated that the degradation of the peritrophic matrix lining the midgut epithelium is a key step in pathogenesis of P. larvae infections. Here, we present the isolation and identification of PlCBP49, a mo…

Insect brains use image interpolation mechanisms to recognise rotated objects.

2008

Recognising complex three-dimensional objects presents significant challenges to visual systems when these objects are rotated in depth. The image processing requirements for reliable individual recognition under these circumstances are computationally intensive since local features and their spatial relationships may significantly change as an object is rotated in the horizontal plane. Visual experience is known to be important in primate brains learning to recognise rotated objects, but currently it is unknown how animals with comparatively simple brains deal with the problem of reliably recognising objects when seen from different viewpoints. We show that the miniature brain of honeybees…

Preliminary study on analysis and removal of wax from a Carrara marble statue

2015

This preliminary study has mainly focused on the wax identification by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and removal. Wax is used for many purposes in the field of art as protective coatings on wooden, stone or metal objects. From the comparison of the spectra H NMR and in particular with the correspondence of the resonance peaks of the samples taken from the statue and beeswax and paraffin, we can conclude that the wax applied on the statue surface is beeswax. From our data, it can be concluded that, to remove the beeswax, from any stone support, the more effective solvent is the mixture of cyclohexane/ethyl acetate. The removal percentages ranged from 19 to 99%. Lower percentages of remova…