Bees: A Natural History

Description:

This book immerses readers in the world of a group of insects whose diversity of form and behaviour is eloquent testimony to the fine-tuning of natural selection. An introduction to bees and their impressive diversity of size, form and behaviour. Sophisticated computing skills, fail-safe sun-compass orientation, a true sense of time and enviable fuel efficiency are just some of bees' remarkable characteristics. They can be found in high, alpine and sub-arctic regions, rainforest, savannahs, steppes and deserts. The greatest diversity of species occurs in shrub communities in regions with a Mediterranean-type climate: short mild winters, warm springs and hot dry summers.

Written by an internationally recognized entomologist and specialist in bees, the book’s topics include:

What are bees? -- bees as foragers, their nesting instinct, on-board computing facility, sun-compass orientation and sense of time.

The many groups of bees -- solitary versus social, miners and masons, leafcutters and carpenters.

Bees and flowering plants.

The male of the species -- mating strategies, patrols, competition, territoriality, the role of scent.

The enemies of bees -- cleptoparasites, cuckoo bees.

Bees and People -- historic and contemporary.

Bees in Folk and Modern Medicine.

The Conservation of Bees -- the decline of honeybees, bees in human ecology, bee conservation, urban bees.

Bee projects -- the backyard bee scientist.

Appendix 1 -- Bee Families.