Episode-211- Fruitless Fall Book Review

Fruitless Fall book review:
1. What I learned

  • The difference between the waggle and tremble dances foragers perform upon their return with goodies from the field. Foragers do waggle dances when recruiting others to a good nectar or pollen or plunder site. The tremble dance is what foragers do when in need of receivers of their bounty. If the two are in competition bees will head butt one another to signal the need for more receivers versus foragers.
  • When the honey bee genome was decoded in 2006 it was discovered that they have only half the typical number of genes devoted to detoxification and immunity as other insects.They don’t do well with invaders but that’s all they have had to deal with as a result of the transfer of pests and diseases from other parts of the world. Maladies such as Nosema, small hive beetle, Varroa, tracheal mites and Israeli acute paralysis virus are all newer threats in the lives of honey bees.
  • That varroa mites secrete a substance that prevents the bees from producing the enzymes and antimicrobial peptides they normally secrete to kill invading microscopic viruses and pests. Thus, things like deformed wing virus are prevalent where Varroa rules and I know from first hand experience that I must be more observant of such deformities. This furthered my understanding that collapse is not from one single malady but rather the vectoring of maladies to one point can bring on collapse. For example, Varroa bring about deformed wing disease and in bees exposed to bacteria like e coli collapse of a colony can occur within two weeks. This makes mite monitoring all the more important

2. What’s really good about Fruitless Fall

  • The diary of a young bee takes you into the hive and presents life according to the worker bee
  • The mating ritual explained in fascinating narrative in chapter 9

3. Fruitless Fall is a must read for

  • Beekeepers who want a deeper understanding of colony collapse disorder and the reasons it can’t be pigeon holed into a simple explanation.
  • People interested the threats to nature that human existence and expansion on earth pose to a variety of life forms not just honey bees. Increase your awareness of the consequences everyday choices have as we go through our days.

Must Have Beekeeping Books
       

How to manage honey bees by my favorite advisers

Resources

Song of the Day – Galactic – Heart Of Steel (Feat. Cyril Neville) – Live Video Just 5 and a wake up!! Wahoo!!

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