Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Junior]

Behavior Characteristics of Apis mellifera scutellata

http://www.earthlife.net/insects/afr-bees.html

Originally introduced in 1956, Africanized bees were welcomed in the hope that they would be productive.

it was quickly noted that they possess behaviors which tend to make them undesirable. They produce far less honey and are many times more aggressive.

Easily agitated, Africanized honey bees are ferocious defenders of their nests, responding to colony disturbances with violent, threatening behavior. With five times as many guards in their nests as European honey bees, a disturbance alarm is quickly communicated throughout the nest. Approximately half the population pours out of the hive at a rate three times greater than European honey bees. The object of the disturbance is beset with intensely stinging bees which results in eight to ten times more stinging than European honey bees. Once incited, Africanized bees stay agitated for several hours and can attack a source of movement with little provocation. This can result in the death of humans and livestock.

Drones are produced rapidly and in large numbers. The advance of the killer bee has been rapid and spectacular, dominating and displacing other bees throughout the whole of South america, and southern United states in just 4 decades.They readily take-over of nests of European honey bees. This is done either by prolific drones entering European honey bee hives, outnumbering the European drones and ultimately breeding with European queens, or by agressive Africanized workers entering hives, killing the European queens and thus enabling the establishment of Africanized queens in the hives.

So far the only effective solution has been the Cape bee. This species is able to infiltrate killer bee hives undetected and subvert their hives, resulting in the eventual destruction of every bee present. Cape bees then
move onto the next killer beehive to parasitize. If cape bees were unleashed on the bee population of America, ultimately every honey producing bee would become extinct and there would be no more bees to polinate the plants that provide us with food. Thus, the final solution-introducing the Cape bee from its geographically isolated colony in Southern Africa- cannot ever bee implemented without deadly consequences to everyone.

[dogbert]

So you're saying they're like the Muslims of the bee world.

[dogbert]

[Junior]

[Junior]

"Invasion of the Earthworm Eater: The US has been invaded many times--not militarily, but by natural enemies. The gypsy moth, Dutch Elm Disease, and kudzu are three of the most well known foreign invaders who have wreaked horticultural and agricultural havoc, and there have been many more.
Now there is need for vigilance against a really terrible threat to our gardens, farms and landscape. Originating in New Zealand, it has already invaded the British Isles with devastating impact. It is a flatworm which attacks the more important inhabitant of good soils, the earthworm. Artioposthia triangulata can dissolve an earthworm with digestive enzymes and consume it totally. In its native New Zealand, this flatworm is not a pest because it is held in check by the warm and dry climate (it can't live at temperatures above 68 degrees F). But when it arrived in the British Isles, probably in soil around imported plants, it spread rapidly in the cool and damp soils of Ireland and Scotland. The Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture estimates its country's agricultural production will fall at least one-third as its native earthworms are destroyed by the pest. The slimy 6 inch flat, cream-speckled dark brown worm has now spread into England, and gardeners are being cautioned to immediately destroy the worm and its shiny black currant-like eggs and report its presence to the Ministry of Agriculture.
In an article reprinted from the NEW ZEALAND GARDENER in the Summer of 1995 PACIFIC HORTICULTURE (Box 485, Berkeley, CA 94701), Diana Anthony reports that British scientists are calling the flatworm 'an ecological disaster.' The earthworm enriches, aerates and drains the soil, and its loss greatly harms soil quality and also reduces populations of birds and animals dependent on earthworms for food. A massive study is under way to learn about the biology of the flatworm and to find a disease specific to this slimy monster."
http://home.earthlink.net/~suzaplants/worms.htm



New Zealand flatworm. Accidentally introduced, this predator wipes out all earthworms resulting in the extinction of various native animal, bird and plant species that rely on earthworms for food, and to aerate and drain the soil.