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Research projects
supervised in Costa Rica and neighbouring countries
Improvement of management of aggressive honeybees and perspectives for traditional meliponiculture
Melipona beecheii, cell provisioning and oviposition process;
worker egg is placed vertically on liquid larval food in cell.
- Pollination and honey production with Apis mellifera in the American
tropics
- Honeybees are very important pollination agents in agricultural systems.
For several crops in Costa Rica, e.g. melon, the production depends mainly
on pollination by Apis mellifera. Honey production by Apis mellifera is an
important economic industry in several countries of the American tropics. In
Central America beekeeping is practised at a large scale (apiaries with
thousands of hives) but also very commonly, as a very rewarding sideline
activity, by small local beekeepers. Various important ecological
backgrounds still have to be studied, e.g. the major food sources of
honeybees in the natural environment.
- Bee health
- Honeybees are worldwide attacked by various diseases and pests. Some of
these have also arrived in the American tropics. In Costa Rica important
research is being done on the biology of parasitic mites and on the
incidence and backgrounds of bacterial diseases of honeybees. The objective:
how to control these problems without using chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
- Communication in Stingless Bees
- Stingless Bees (Apinae, Meliponini) are the indigenous colony-living and
honey producing bees of the American Tropics. These bees are very
interesting for their fascinating social behaviour. Like in honeybees,
Stingless Bees have complicated systems for communication (e.g. for
food-source indication). The diversity within this group of social bees
offers important opportunities for the study of evolution of communicative
behaviour. Worldwide about 500 species are known, and in Costa Rica about 60
species are present. The largest of these are of the size of a Bumblebee,
whereas the smallest Stingless Bees are representing the smallest bees on
earth with just a few mm. of body length.
- Bee-foodplant relations
- The group of the bees (Apoidea) is considered as a group of insects that
evolved as a group of specialized wasps feeding their offspring with pollen.
Bees typically forage on flowers to collect pollen (protein diet component)
and nectar for their food. Social bees with long-lasting colonies, like the
honeybee and Stingless Bees, have to collect large amounts from these plant
products, also as storage for unsuitable seasonal or climatic conditions.
Through this behaviour bees are considered as the most important
pollinators.
- Behavioural ecology of tropical Bumblebees
- Bumblebees (Apinae, Bombini) are typically bees of temperate climates.
In temperate environments, like in The Netherlands and Canada, Bumblebees,
overwinter through a hibernating solitary queen. In spring queens emerge and
start the building of a nest that will only last for one season. In some
tropical regions, e.g. in cooler mountainous areas, some Bumblebee species
occur. Their biology is poorly known, and the social organisation and colony
dynamics of these species has urgently to be studied. Some of these tropical
species offer possibilities for being used in agricultural pollination
systems (e.g. in crops cultivated under enclosed conditions).
- Management of Honeybees (Apis mellifera) in
Central America
- Since the invading Africanized bees crossed the Panama canal in
1982, these bees have now spread all over Central America and the
southern part of the USA. Beekeepers still import European queen bees
from breeders in hawai etc., but most honey production takes place with
Africanized Bees. These bees have pronounced self defensive behaviour
and various other behavioural characteristics. Adapted hive management
of Africanised honeybees is an important research topic at the CINAT bee
research centre in Costa Rica. Special management should not only exist
of managing small apiaries at large distances from urbanisations and
public roads using good protective equipment. It should also be based on
the biology of these highly defensive bees. Through special management,
problems, e.g. the high swarming rate of colonies and absconding
behaviour, can be dealt with more efficiently. Many Costa Rican
beekeepers demonstrate that Africanized bees can be good honey
producers. In fact, after the introduction of these bees, production has
improved.
- Meliponiculture (stingless beekeeping) in Costa Rica
- Central America and the southern part of Mexico are the most famous
parts of the world with traditional stingless beekeeping ("meliponiculture").
Before beekeeping with European Apis mellifera was introduced, the Maya
indians and other pre-colombian cultures in meso-america had
sophisticated systems of stingless beekeeping. Unfortunately,
meliponiculture is declining rapidly all over Central America. In Costa
Rica, several regions are still known for their traditional
meliponiculture. Especially in the area around Nicoya meliponiculture
can be found. The CINAT research institute, in collaboration with
Utrecht University, is working on the improvement and conservation of
this old tradition and on biological bases for its development.
Meliponiculture courses are held in the rural areas, where the prospects
for keeping these bees near the rural homes are shown. As a result,
various groups of rural women have taken up this activity through
cooperative organisations.
A colony of large sized stingless bees can produce some litres of honey.
The most important of these is M. beecheii, "Jicote gato". It is kept in
the peninsula of Nicoya and other parts of Guanacaste. In the area of
Perez Zeledon and in the area of the Carare natural park, colonies of a
dark variety of the species M. fasciata, called "Jicote barcino", are
kept. Traditional owners keep their "Jicotes" in large logs, hanging
under the roof of the house, or under special roofings. All farmers
consider their hives as very valuable, especially because of the
medicinal properties assigned to the honey. This honey can be sold at a
very high price.
The small stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula, locally called "Mariola",
is frequently and all over the country kept in small boxes, calabashes
or bamboo pipes. Production is low, but the honey of these bees is
mainly used as a medicine and sold to local pharmacies.
Ongoing deforestation is the major threat for this type of beekeeping,
and in fact for the conservation of these important indigenous
pollinators. This is mainly based on the short flight distance of
stingless bees. In many instances it now becomes difficult for these
bees to travel up and down from the "meliponaries" near the houses of
people to good foraging sites. Nearby foraging areas are often being
removed.
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