Small-scale beekeeping is an attractive cash crop option for resource-poor farmers in the tropics. It demands little in the way of time, finances or natural resources, and the honey and beeswax harvested can be processed in the home and sold locally. At the same time, pollination by honeybees will increase the yields of many staple food crops. This book, through its clear explanatory text and admirable illustrations, skilfully lays out the elements of good practice in tropical beekeeping. It explains both traditional techniques using low-cost hives and more advanced methods, pointing out the most appropriate system for the level of investment the beekeeper wishes to make. The author has a wealth of knowledge, developed through years of thoughtful observation and practical experience working with beekeepers all over Africa and with his own hives in Kenya. Existing beekeepers wishing to improve their techniques and those looking to start a new beekeeping enterprise will find the book invaluable.

Seeley, a world authority on honey bees, sheds light on why wild honey bees are still thriving while those living in managed colonies are in crisis. Drawing on the latest science as well as insights from his own pioneering fieldwork, he describes in extraordinary detail how honey bees live in nature and shows how this differs significantly from their lives under the management of beekeepers. Seeley presents an entirely new approach to beekeeping--Darwinian Beekeeping--which enables honey bees to use the toolkit of survival skills their species has acquired over the past thirty million years, and to evolve solutions to the new challenges they face today. He shows beekeepers how to use the principles of natural selection to guide their practices, and he offers a new vision of how beekeeping can better align with the natural habits of honey bees.

This classic work has been greatly enhanced and extended with both photographs and images to illustrate the many facets of Beekeeping. A guide for the aspiring apiarist. All you need to know to get started in beekeeping. In this updated edition, a compilation of advice from Langstroth, Quinby, Huber, and a number of contemporary contributors, you will find everything you need to know about Honeybees, Apiculture, Honey and Pollen, the Hive, the Apiary, Breeding, Pasturage, Feeding, Swarming, Replacing the Queen, Enemies of Bees, Colony Collapse Disorder, and the mysterious Behavior of Bees. Well illustrated.

Bees provide a critical link in the maintenance of ecosystems, pollination. They play a major role in maintaining biodiversity, ensuring the survival of many plants, enhancing forest regeneration, providing sustainability and adaptation to climate change and improving the quality and quantity of agricultural production systems. In fact, close to 75 percent of the world’s crops that produce fruits and seeds for human consumption depend, at least in part, on pollinators for sustained production, yield and quality. Beekeeping, also called apiculture, refers to all activities concerned with the practical management of social bee species. These guidelines aim to provide useful information and suggestions for a sustainable management of bees around the world, which can then be applied to project development and implementation.

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This monograph, in its second edition, remains the only comprehensive source of information on economically important forest insects in West Africa. There has been a complete upgrade to all photos, figures, tables and line drawings. Many pest insects discussed have the potential to greatly alter the utilization of these valuable tropical forests. This comprehensive treatise of insects includes information on the general forest cover types and insects of utilitarian value.

Intraspecific communication involves the activation of chemoreceptors and subsequent activation of different central areas that coordinate the responses of the entire organism—ranging from behavioral modification to modulation of hormones release. Animals emit intraspecific chemical signals, often referred to as pheromones, to advertise their presence to members of the same species and to regulate interactions aimed at establishing and regulating social and reproductive bonds. In the last two decades, scientists have developed a greater understanding of the neural processing of these chemical signals. Neurobiology of Chemical Communication explores the role of the chemical senses in mediating intraspecific communication. Providing an up-to-date outline of the most recent advances in the field, it presents data from laboratory and wild species, ranging from invertebrates to vertebrates, from insects to humans. The book examines the structure, anatomy, electrophysiology, and molecular biology of pheromones. It discusses how chemical signals work on different mammalian and non-mammalian species and includes chapters on insects, Drosophila, honey bees, amphibians, mice, tigers, and cattle. It also explores the controversial topic of human pheromones. An essential reference for students and researchers in the field of pheromones, this is also an ideal resource for those working on behavioral phenotyping of animal models and persons interested in the biology/ecology of wild and domestic species.

A comprehensive review of the honeybees of Africa on a subspecies as well as by country basis. Includes an updated multivariate analysis of the subspecies based on the merger of the Ruttner database (Oberursel) and that of Hepburn & Radloff (Grahamstown) for nearly 20,000 bees. Special emphasis is placed on natural zones of hybridisation and introgression of different populations; seasonal cycles of development in different ecological-climatological zones of the continent; swarming, migration and absconding; and an analysis of the bee flora of the continent. The text is supplemented by tables containing quantitative data on all aspects of honeybee biology, and by continental and regional maps.