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NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, NOVEMBER 2016
A MILLION DOLLAR NOSE?
Hive health status Back from the grave 10 years ago, the good news is that hive losses on Chatham Island have been steadily declining over the last seven years. Contributing factors include:
Sarah advises that the film, A Million Dollar Nose? , has been completed and had its premiere at the Regent Theatre, Dunedin on Friday, 28 October. It was one of four films from the 2016 class at the Centre for Science Communication. Although this journal had gone to press by the time of the film premiere, Sarah Hight wanted to express her gratitude to those who generously gave of their time and allowed their hives to be filmed. We congratulate Sarah on her hard work in bringing her film to fruition. A Million Dollar Nose? will be posted online in 2017 on the Science Communication Vimeo channel: https://vimeo.com/ user5639275. We will keep you updated.
Readers might recall the notices placed in the February and April ‘From the colonies’ column from Sarah Hight, a film student at the Centre for Science Communication at the University of Otago. Sarah sought input from Dunedin-area beekeepers for a film about a dog that was trained to detect American foulbrood. Sarah received assistance from some ApiNZ members including James Corson, Richelle Doerner-Corson (of Canterbury), Geoffrey Scott (of Southland), Frans Laas and Brice Horner (of Otago). Each of these beekeepers allowed her to film them searching their hives, detecting disease and eliminating infection. James, Richelle and Frans were central characters in the film.
• increased beekeeping training, experience and vigilance
• a more diverse genetic bee pool by the addition of Carnican (Carniolan) to the existing Italian and Black British managed and feral populations • a dedicated queen breeding and rearing programme aimed at producing better queens resulting in stronger beelines that are better at managing vitellogenin— “the currency within the hive banking system”—which is also the medium for the transfer of immune elicitors. Island hives in 2016 happen to be better at nurturing and raising brood. This extends to producing better queens, including a line that produce supersedure queens with a full set of alleles as a solution to minimising hive losses on the trot • bee acclimatisation and adjustment to the challenging island conditions. This year it is great to see the number of hives that produced strong clusters of large specialist winter bees • bee environmental growth impacts over time. On the island it takes about four to five years for bees to increase the number of viable seeds in a single clover flower/ set from about 15–130+. The argument here is that with some small assistance, bees will of themselves eventually create a bee-friendly environment Coming out of winter this year, therefore, hive losses are currently at their lowest—around one to five percent. Seven years ago, a decision was made to add AI to the Island bee-kit. In 2013, AI equipment was imported from Germany. That equipment was trialled and tested in 2014. Earlier in 2016, a Chatham Island beekeeper went to Seattle to receive specialist training and skills and in November 2016, the Island will “plant the jandal” on its own capacity to grow and enhance the capabilities of its bee population by and through AI. This small operation will sit alongside and in support of the directed queen natural mating programme. • a committed in-house research programme allied to field trials.
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The large inferior petal provides a stable landing for the foraging worker.
Sources Balter, M. (2006). Pollinators power flower evolution. Retrieved October 2, 2016 from Sciencemag.org/news/2006/10/ pollinators-power-flower-evolution. Matheson, A., & Reid, M. (2011). Practical beekeeping in New Zealand (4th ed.). Auckland: Exisle Publishing. Wikipedia. Dehiscence. Retrieved October 2, 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Dehiscence
Proboscis fully extended to reach the depths of the flower with the mandibles employed as supports. In human proportions, the proboscis is as long as a fully stretched arm.
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