User talk:Abigail.langevin.uconn

Welcome!
Hello, Abigail.langevin.uconn, and welcome to Wikipedia! My name is Ian and I work with the Wiki Education Foundation; I help support students who are editing as part of a class assignment.

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Initial Evaluation of Article: Honey bee

History: -There were several adjustments made about whether or not “honey bee” (or honeybee) is one word or two words. There is new information being added about Colony Collapse Disorder pretty frequently. No new information regarding the effects of pesticides on honey bee populations.

Talk Page: -There were a lot of comments about how the honey bee page should be broken up into several different pages; some editors want to add a ‘beekeeper’, ‘apiarist’, and ‘beekeeping’ page. Overall, very polite and attempts to get the most relevant information out to the general public.

Evaluation: -Overall, the article is very objective and demonstrates getting information across efficiently. There is very little information about the effects of pesticides on honey bee populations or anything about the physiology behind their wings or other anatomical structures, digestion and gut microbiota…

Changes: -I would add information about how honeybees are vital to crop pollination and the production of worldwide agricultural products. I would maybe put the sexes and castes section near the genetics section since they are closely related and both reference the haplodiploid mechanism of reproduction. I would maybe add a section about honey bee conservation efforts and how to positively effect their declining populations.Abigail.langevin.uconn (talk) 15:28, 11 March 2016 (UTC)

Abby- your ideas for the addition of conservation efforts is really interesting, and I agree that there should be a section on it since it is becoming a large issue. I agree that the comments are very polite. I didn't notice the debate over "honey bee" vs. "honeybee" but then again I was only focused on how often it was edited. Mirandasquillace (talk) 15:48, 11 March 2016 (UTC)

Abby, thanks for a complete evaluation of the honey bee article. I have assigned this article to you and Randy. I'm not yet clear on how you two will provide separate contributions to this article and would like you to discuss this and figure out a specific plan. Rico.schultz (talk) 18:07, 18 March 2016 (UTC)

thanks for your change to the endotherm article. References in this article are formatted oddly!Rico.schultz (talk) 02:01, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

Adjustments to Honey Bee Page

Updated Bibliography:

-Anderson, Leroy M., and A. Dietz. “Pyridoxine Requirement of the Honey bee (Apis mellifera) For Brood Rearing.” Apidologie 1 (1976): 67-84. Web.

-Brodschneider, Robert, and Karl Crailsheim. “Nutrition and Health in Honey Bees.” Apidologie 41 (2010): 278-294. Web. DOI: 10.1051/apido/2010012

-Karasov, William H., and Carlos Martinez del Rio. Physiological Ecology: How Animals Process Energy, Nutrients, and Toxins. Princeton, 2008. Print. ISBN: 9780691074535 -Kuhnholz, Susanne, and Thomas D. Seeley. “The control of water collection in honey bee colonies.” Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 41 (1997): 407-422

Honey Bee Nutrition :

Honey bees obtain all of their nutritional requirements from a diverse combination of pollen and nectar. Pollen is the only natural protein source for honey bees. Adult worker honey bees consume 3.4-4.3 mg of pollen per day to meet a dry matter requirement of 66-74% protein. The rearing of one larva requires 125-187.5 mg pollen or 25-37.5 mg protein for proper development. Dietary proteins are broken down into amino acids, ten of which are considered essential to honey bees: methionine, tryptophan, arginine, lysine, histidine, phenylalanine, isoleucine, threonine, leucine, and valine. Of these amino acids, honey bees require highest concentrations of leucine, isoleucine, and valine, however elevated concentrations of arginine and lysine are required for brood rearing. In addition to these amino acids, some B vitamins including biotin, folic acid, nicotinamide, riboflavin, thiamine, pentothenate, and most importantly, pyridoxine are required to rear larvae. Pyridoxine is the most prevalent B vitamin found in royal jelly and concentrations vary throughout the foraging season with lowest concentrations found in May and highest concentrations found in July and August. Honey bees lacking dietary pyridoxine were unable to rear brood.

Pollen is also a lipid source for honey bees ranging from 0.8% to 18.9%. Lipids are metabolized during the brood stage for precursors required for future biosynthesis. Fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K are not considered essential but have shown to significantly improve the number of brood reared. Honey bees ingest phytosterols from pollen to produce 24-methylenecholesterol and other sterols as they cannot directly synthesize cholesterol from phytosterols. Nurse bees have the ability to selectively transfer sterols to larvae through brood food.

Nectar is collected by foraging worker bees as a source of water and carbohydrates in the form of sucrose. The dominant monosaccharides in honey bee diets are fructose and glucose but the most common circulating sugar in hemolymph is trehalose which is a disaccharide consisting of two glucose molecules. Adult worker honey bees require 4 mg of utilizable sugars per day and larvae require about 59.4 mg of carbohydrates for proper development.

Honey bees require water to maintain osmotic homeostasis, prepare liquid brood food, and to cool the hive through evaporation. A colony’s water needs can generally be met by nectar foraging as it has high water content. Occasionally on hot days or when nectar is limited, foragers will collect water from streams or ponds to meet the needs of the hive.