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The honey and the ivy: Why gardeners' foe is the bees' friend

Ivy, often maligned as a garden pest, is vital to honey bees and other pollinators seeking food in autumn, new research from the University of Sussex reveals.

Biology - Plants & Animals

Apr 26, 2013

4.6 / 5 (5)

1

Lessons from the Italian ban on pesticides

Exposure to sub-lethal doses of neonicotinoids may have a long-term effect on bees. One of Italy's top bee researchers recommends a ban on insecticide-coated seeds and in reintroducing rotating cultures against pests invasion.

Biology - Ecology

May 03, 2013

3.3 / 5 (3)

0

Superdaddy Pyros keeps Pyrenees bear numbers up

The number of bears roaming the Pyrenees remained stable at a minimum of 22 last year, thanks largely to the continued virility of Pyros, the undisputed daddy of the colony.

Biology - Ecology

May 12, 2013

5 / 5 (2)

0

Nearly one in three US honeybees lost in winter 2012-13

(Phys.org) —U.S. beekeepers lost nearly one in every three honey bee colonies over the winter of 2012-2013, according to an annual survey conducted by the Bee Informed Partnership and the Apiary Inspec ...

Biology - Ecology

May 08, 2013

4 / 5 (1)

0

Honey

Honey (English pronunciation: /ˈhʌni/) is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees (the genus Apis) is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans. Honey produced by other bees and insects has distinctly different properties.

Honey bees transform nectar into honey by a process of regurgitation, and store it as a primary food source in wax honeycombs inside the beehive. Beekeeping practices encourage overproduction of honey so the excess can be taken from the colony.

Honey gets its sweetness from the monosaccharides fructose and glucose, and has approximately the same relative sweetness as that of granulated sugar. It has attractive chemical properties for baking, and a distinctive flavor that leads some people to prefer it over sugar and other sweeteners. Most microorganisms do not grow in honey because of its low water activity of 0.6. However, honey sometimes contains dormant endospores of the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, which can be dangerous to infants, as the endospores can transform into toxin-producing bacteria in the infant's immature intestinal tract, leading to illness and even death (see Health hazards below).

Honey has a long history of human consumption, and is used in various foods and beverages as a sweetener and flavoring. It also has a role in religion and symbolism. Flavors of honey vary based on the nectar source, and various types and grades of honey are available. It is also used in various medicinal traditions to treat ailments. The study of pollens and spores in raw honey (melissopalynology) can determine floral sources of honey. Because bees carry an electrostatic charge, and can attract other particles, the same techniques of melissopalynology can be used in area environmental studies of radioactive particles, dust or particulate pollution.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA

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