Bees: A Natural History
by Chris O’Toole
This is a very detailed, yet fascinating, book about bees. The author, Chris O’Toole, oversaw the Bee Systematics and Biology Unit of the Entomological Collections of the Oxford Museum of Natural History. Mr. O’Toole has also written several books on insect behavior and natural history.
Bees: A Natural History is full of facts about bees that could surprise you. Bees belong to the insect order Hymenoptera which includes wasps and ants. They are hunting wasps which have evolved to become vegetarians. Different types of bees have varying structures to gather and transport nectar and pollen.
Bees are grouped by whether they are social bees (which include the bumblebee, honeybee, and stingless honeybee) or solitary bees. Solitary bees are the vast majority of the world’s bees. They include mining bees, leafcutters, masons, carder, and carpenter bees.
Mr. O’Toole describes how bees navigate the world locating nectar sources, communicating to other bees about locating those sources and telling them how to return to their hive or home.
This book explores the complex body of bees, including structures like exoskeletons, compound and simple eyes, antennae, proboscis, mandibles, and the thorax. The physical differences and roles between male and female bees are also explained.
There is a chapter on bee enemies such as crab spiders, assassin bugs, praying mantis, mites, cuckoo bees, skunks, and mockingbirds.
For me, the most interesting section explains the relationship between flowers and bees. Eighty percent of insect-pollinated plants have both male and female parts on the same flower. But most plants will only be fertilized if pollen is from a different individual of the same species. Surprising to me were the different ways in which pollen is transferred to the bees for example: (a) buzz pollination, (b) pollination caused by the weight of the bee triggering stamens to brush the bee, and (c) the bee connecting to the pollen as it prys apart flower petals to gain access to nectar and pollen. This book looks at the symbiosis between flowers and bees. It also explores that relationship in terms of flower scent and color. For example, some bees deposit attractants to signal colony mates of a rich source of nectar and repellents for a depleted flower while other bees can communicate floral resource quality.
Prior to reading Bees: A History, I did not know that the conservation and management of bees has included the introduction of different bees to pollinate crops such as bumblebees to pollinate clover and alfalfa in New Zealand, solitary bees (mason bees) as pollinators of orchard crops in California, carpenter bees in Hawaii to pollinate passion fruit, and solitary bees (mason bees) to pollinate apples in Japan. Management also includes planting hay meadows and flower forage for bees within the distance they usually fly to their nectar sources.
The chapter on “Bees and People” notes that the first depiction of our association with bees is a nine-thousand-year-old cave painting in Spain showing humans robbing bee nests in a cliff. Hives have been kept by humans in Egypt and China for at least four thousand years. Bees in folk and modern medicine are also covered in this book. Examples of bee products include: 1) honey used to preserve Egyptian mummies and its use as a bactericide and 2) the use of royal jelly to treat atherosclerosis and bee venom to treat arthritis.
The last chapter should be very useful to gardeners in determining what to do and not to do in gardening to encourage bees as pollinators.
Appendices include a list of suppliers of bee project products, a list of bee-related websites, and a reading list for further research.
I hope this thorough resource will bring you a better appreciation and understanding of bees--one of the wonders of Mother Nature--as it did for me.