Worldwide pollinator declines have dramatically increased our need to survey and monitor pollinator distributions and abundances. The giant honey bee, Apis laboriosa, is one of the important pollinators at higher altitudes of the Himalayas. This species has a restricted distribution along the Himalayas and neighbouring mountain ranges of Asia. Previous assessments of its distribution, published more than 20 years ago, were based on museum specimens. Since then, 244 additional localities have been revealed through field trips by the authors, publications, and websites. We present a revised distribution for A. laboriosa that better defines its range and extends it eastward to the mountains of northern Vietnam, southward along the Arakan Mountains to west-central Myanmar, into the Shillong Hills of Meghalaya, India, and northwestward in Uttarakhand, India. This species is generally found at elevations between 1000–3000 m a.s.l.. In northeastern India A. laboriosa colonies occur during summer at sites as low as 850 m a.s.l. and some lower elevation colonies maintain their nests throughout the winter. Finally, we report three regions in Arunachal Pradesh, India, and nine locations in northern Vietnam, where we observed workers of A. laboriosa and A. dorsata foraging sympatrically; their co-occurrence supports the species status of Apis laboriosa.

Indigenous and non-indigenous peoples in tropical and subtropical areas of the world use stingless bees for diverse purposes. Literature records indicate that people from different regions in Nepal use Tetragonula iridipennis (Smith), the only stingless bee species that occurs in the country. However, ethnobiological knowledge on this bee remains poorly documented. Herein we report for the first time on the local indigenous nomenclature, traditional knowledge, and management practices among four ethnic communities (Chhetri, Brahmin, Tharu, and Kirat) in Nepal. We also offer a preliminary quantitative analysis of the relative cultural importance of this species among these ethnic groups. We conducted ethnographic research across the Terai and Pahad regions (8 districts and 6 zones) of Nepal and recorded 18 specific uses in food, medicine, crafts, and religious beliefs. Based on the relative importance index, T. iridipennis is most culturally important for the Tharu people, a finding that supports the reliance of this ethnic group on local natural resources in their everyday life. All participant communities largely exploit this bee through extractive management practice of wild populations. We discuss the conservation status and future directions for the sustainable use of this stingless bee in the country.

Developments in understanding bee responses to habitat loss indicate that body size is a trait with important consequences for conservation. Stingless bees (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini) are a diverse group of eusocial bees providing pollination services in tropical landscapes, exhibiting a large range in body size across species. We tested the effects of deforestation on the body sizes of stingless bee communities by using museum specimens and revisiting a previous effort that sampled stingless bee communities across varying levels of deforestation at 183 sites in Rondônia, Brazil, in 1996–1997. Body size measurements (intertegular distance) from 72 species collected were included as dependent variables in response to forest area, forest edge, and connectivity of forest patches at several spatial scales. We find that stingless bee body size is negatively related to forest cover: mean community body size was larger in areas with greater amounts of deforestation, and smaller in areas with less deforestation. Second, stingless bee species richness was positively associated with forest edge regardless of body size. Lastly, we find that as forest patch isolation increased, the stingless bee community body size also increased. These findings support hypotheses that small stingless bee species might be more negatively affected by deforestation, adding to the growing body of evidence that stingless bees require areas of intact forest in near proximity to other forest patches to conserve these diverse pollinator communities.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

This paper describes a community stakeholder approach to evaluating the effectiveness of foreign aid and NGO involvement in an impacted community. The focus of the study, the Sagarmatha National Park Forestry Project (SNPFP), has operated in the Khumbu region for more than thirty years. The success of foreign aid and NGO activities was assessed by interviewing key informants with regard to their experience and perceptions concerning the project. The implications of this study include the recommendation that local people are the best source of information to measure foreign aid and NGO performance in a remote community. Furthermore, the future of natural resource conservation and rural development led by foreign aid depends on collaboration between the local people, NGOs and government.

An investigation on Flying Predators of Honeybees and its Management in Different Apiaries of Kathmandu valley was carried out at Bhatkyapati-12 (Apiary A) and Tyangla-3 (Apiary B), Kirtipur Municipality under apiary and field condition during July, 2004 to September, 2004. Four species of hornets belonging to family Vespidae and six species of birds of the order Passeriformes were recorded as major flying predators around the study site which consume both house and field honeybees. Hornets were observed as most serious natural enemies of bees. Among four species of hornets viz: Vespa velutina Smith, Vespa tropica L., Vespa mandarina Smith, Vespa basalis Smith; V. velutina and V. mandarina were found most abundant and serious enemies of honeybees in apiaries. Among six species of birds, Dicrurus macrocercus and Dicrurus aeneus were serious predators which heavily feed on flying honeybees during the rainy reason with high rainfall and relative humidity. Other birds recorded around the apiaries have minor effects as they consume dead bees only.Key words: Honeybees; Apiary; Predators; Hornets; Vespa; DicrurusJournal of Natural History MuseumVol. 24, 2009Page : 121-125 .