Karl Weiss – författare

The more we learn about bees, the more extraordinary they seem. They have five eyes. Their fertilized eggs hatch as females; unfertilized eggs become males. They beat their wings at a rate of almost 200 cycles per second, but fly at only 10 or 15 miles per hour. In the course of a lifetime, a typical worker bee will produce less than a tenth of a teaspoon of honey, yet a single hive's population can produce as much as 2 pounds of honey a day. A queen bee, in a single day, will lay her weight in eggs - as many as 1,500 in an uninterrupted 24-hour period. And to communicate with each other bees do make sounds, but mostly they dance in order to share information on the distance and direction to the nearest food source.This book provides the newcomer a first view into the extraordinary and surprisingly complex and highly organized world of bees. The book describes their evolution, and explains the differences between wild bees and honey-bees. It also sheds light on bee society, with its amazing rituals related to work, reproduction, defense of the hive, and most amazingly, communication.The author also explains the critical role that bees and beekeeping play for human society, and offers advice for those interested in raising bees themselves.Dr. Karl Weiss is an entomologist and the director of the Bavarian Institution for Beekeeping at Erlangen, Germany. He is engaged in theoretical as well as applied apicultural research. Weiss is the author of numerous scientific and popular publications on bees and is considered one of Germany's foremost authorities on apiculture.

chapter1 Bees in the Animal Kingdom and in Earth’s History 1 chapter2 The Bee—An Insect chapter3 What Does “Social” Mean in the Animal Kingdom? 25 Anonymous Societies 26 Family Associations 28 The Insect Colony 30 Social Classifications 34 chapter4 The Traits of Bees and Their System chapter5 Solitary Bees and Social Development 45 Solitary Bees 45 On the Way to a Colony Unique Mating Behavior 75 Threats from Outside, and Enemies Within the Ranks 77 chapter6 Bumblebees and Stingless Bees Bumblebees Stingless Bees 97 84 83 63 35 15 chapter7 On the Summit of Social Insect Life 7 The Genus Apis: Species and Races The Domestic Honeybee The Comb The Colony and Its Individuals Brood Rearing and Division of Labor What Holds a Colony Together 8 How New Colonies Originate Sensory Capabilities 2 Artists of Orientation The Language of Honeybees 8 chapter8 Nest Aids for Wild Bees 145 Abridged Bibliography and Further Reading 1 Index 155 15 13 136 13 130 12 126 122 118 118 108 10 Preface People generally think of bees as insects that fly out of hives and make us honey. Actually, there are many different kinds of bees, most of which live relatively hidden from our view. Maybe some of us are familiar with bumblebees, but who would recognize the solitary bees, which considerably o- number the social bees? These little-observed bees are often dubbed “wild bees” to distinguish them from our honeymakers.