Brooklyn Community Gardeners

BEES

Genes May Tell a Lot About the Secret Lives of Bees

STORY LEAD:
Genes May Tell a Lot About the Secret Lives of Bees
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ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Alfredo Flores, (301) 504-1627, alfredo.flores@ars.usda.gov
January 3, 2007
--View this report online, plus photos and related stories, at www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr
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Despite the fact that bees are one of the most beneficial insects in the world, much of their behavior remains a mystery--even to the apiculturists who tend them. To better understand such fundamental processes as reproduction, and cope with problems such as bee mites and diseases, scientists are at work on a state-of-the-art genomics resource.

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) entomologist Jay Evans and colleagues at ARS' Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., are working with National Institutes of Health (NIH) collaborators on what's called the Honey Bee Genome Project. Since the unveiling of the bee's entire genome in early 2005, the project has proved to be a significant new source of information about genes suspected of involvement with various honey bee traits.

Using quantitative genetic approaches and gene knockdown and expression studies, the Beltsville scientists are assessing the functions of various candidate genes. So far, some 150 honey bee genes have been selected for analysis by Evans and his team. The team is currently developing databases to manage the new wealth of information that is coming in.

One of the databases, called "BeeBase" and funded by NIH, is a dedicated analysis-and-display environment for the honey bee genome that's headed by scientists at Texas A&M University. BeeBase also gives users the genome sequences for two key honey bee pathogens, Paenibacillus larvae and Ascosphaera apis--both genomic projects led by ARS.

Honey bees pollinate about 130 fruit, vegetable, nut, ornamental and fiber crops in the United States and contribute approximately $15 billion annually to the national economy through improved crop yields and product quality.

More information about this research, published in the current issue of Agricultural Research magazine, is available online at:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jan07/bee0107.htm
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URBAN BEEKEEPING

On cold days, the bees stay in the hive, which looks like a beat-up file
cabinet, but their constant buzzing ensures tasty honey is being produced. (Ivan
Karakashian/CNS) Roger Repohl harvests and sells about 600 pounds of honey a
year from three hives he has in a tiny church garden in the South Bronx. (Ivan
Karakashian/CNS) Roger Repohl labels his honey with different bee-oriented
quotes. (Ivan Karakashian/CNS)David Graves ambled across Union Square Park in
New York with his rough farmer’s hands stuffed into his coat pockets, his cap
pulled low over his weather-creased face. He stopped short at an East Village
hotel, walked through the lobby and pressed the elevator button for the roof.
Like a cat burglar, he shimmied along a 5-foot steel pipe onto the roof of the
room containing the 12-story building’s air conditioner.Although Graves isn’t
running from the law, this unorthodox farmer is engaged in an illegal activity.
He is keeping bees in New York City. Graves is one of the pioneers of urban
honey-making. With 17 rooftop hives in Manhattan, he spends much of his time
atop tall buildings visiting his bees. On this day it’s too cold to open the
hive, which looks like a beat-up file cabinet, but a cluster of buzzing worker
bees tells him it’s thriving. Urban beekeeping isn’t for everyone. The rooftop
locales dissuade some, the stings scare others. But across the country,
metropolitan residents of a certain bent find themselves wanting a bit of nature
among the asphalt and high-rises. Roger Reopohl harvests and sells about 600
pounds of honey a year from three hives in the unlikeliest of places: a tiny
church garden in the South Bronx. Despite the urban setting, Reopohl’s July
harvest honey tastes minty and sweet. “Everyone is amazed that there can be
beehives here,” Reopohl said. After bottling his honey, he slapped a simple
black and white label on it to be sold as “Pure Honey from the South Bronx.”
Each label has a different bee-oriented quote, like “To make a prairie it takes
a clover and one bee: One clover and a bee and reverie,” Emily Dickinson.
Reopohl’s customers include friends on his 100-person-long Christmas card
list--and friends of those friends.Beekeeping is the kind of activity one learns
best as an apprentice, said Reopohl, who picked up the trade from a former
pastor at his church. After his first taste of beekeeping, he was hooked.“Going
into the hive is almost like an act of worship,” said Reopohl, who parts his
hair neatly in the middle and buttons his shirts up to the top. “The
organization of the hive is so awe-inspiring. There is a spirit of contemplation
to beekeeping.”Some consumers balk at the idea of buying honey made in the city,
saying they don't expect it to taste quite right, according to beekeepers. But
bees can survive anywhere there are flowers, said Bruce Wolk of the National
Honey Board, an advocacy group for honey producers. In fact, honey produced in
the city should taste the same as a polyfloral, or wildflower, honey made in a
more pastoral setting. “It’s just a clever piece of marketing” to take advantage
of the incongruity of honey-making among skyscrapers, he said.City honeybees
forage for nectar and pollen just like their neighbors in the country. But
instead of buzzing on orange groves or clover fields, they hit up rooftop
gardens, city parks, street trees and even the fresh cut flower bouquets for
sale along Manhattan avenues. Because some cities outlaw beekeeping or have
nuisance ordinances against it, those who keep bees in the city do so
surreptitiously. Hard numbers for city beekeepers are elusive. Section 161 of
the New York City health code prohibits the keeping of wild animals, including
alligators, tarantulas, bats, hippopotamuses--and bees. A spokesperson from the
New York City Department of Health confirmed that inspectors--usually informed
by a neighbor annoyed by the practice--have issued a handful of violations for
beekeeping in the past, which come with a fine of up to $2,000. Beekeepers
insist that honeybees are not aggressive insects. They say pesky yellow jackets
and wasps give bees a bad name. Illegal or not, these beekeepers fill an
important food niche for city dwellers. On Chicago's West Side, the Fillmore
Apiary keeps 40 beehives in a vacant lot. That group sells their Beeline Honey
brand at city farmers’ markets. And in San Francisco, Robert MacKimmie has 13
backyard hives and sells his honey online at citybees.com. MacKimmie said each
of his hives produces distinct flavors, thanks to the diversity of San
Francisco’s flora. The bees near McLaren Park feast on wild fennel and
eucalyptus, producing a spicy honey with cinnamon undertones, he said, and in
Cow Hollow, near the Golden Gate Bridge, the honey tastes delicate, like
candy.But beneath the sales pitch is the purity of the hobby. The farmers
insisted the draw to beekeeping is the insects themselves, not the income, given
the time and effort involved. Graves, who sells his New York City Rooftop Honey
at city farmers' markets, said the product accounts for only about a tenth of
his business, which also includes jellies and jams made in Becket, Mass. Reopohl
said he started selling the honey because he couldn’t eat all of it alone. “I
make enough to maintain the hobby,” Reopohl said. “But I don’t make any money on
this.”Beekeepers say there isn't any one trait they share, except wanting a
little bit of nature in the city. According to Sidney Glaser, a beekeeper who
works a hive in the Clinton Community Garden on 48th Street in Manhattan, the
only thing two beekeepers have in common is that they both think the third is
wrong. But most beekeepers agree that bees are the coolest thing around, as is
learning to care for them.“You have to think like a bee,” MacKimmie said. “It’s
like playing chess with nature.”E-mail: src2110@columbia.edu

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