A wonderful book on giant honeybees

Role of Giant Honeybees in Natural and Agricultural Systems published by Taylor and Francis, written by Dr. D. P. Abrol Ex-Dean Faculty of Agriculture, Sher-e- Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Chatha Jammu is one of the wonderful and fascinating book on Giant honeybees. The compilation of this book is unique in the sense that in the context of pollina­tor decline over the world, conservation of giant honeybees will be a step for sustain­ing food security.

Human population is expected to double the demands for food production by 2050. Food production is also a central driver of global environmental change, with negative effects on the climate, water resources, soils and the rich biodiversity the world harbors.

Insect pollination is important for global nutrition. One often-highlighted ecosystem service is insect pollination. The loss of biodiversity among pollinators has raised questions about whether the pollination services they provide are at risk. Pollination and food production that pollinators provide are threatened by land-use change, agricultural intensification, climate change, pesticide use, pathogens, genetically modified organ­isms and invasive species. The economic value of pollination in crop pro­duction globally is estimated to be $235 billion to $577 billion annually. Among the various pollinating agents, honeybees play a very important role in pollinating various crops. The honeybee pollination not only results in higher yields; it also gives a better quality of produce, and the efficient pollination of flowers also serves to protect the crops against pests. Of the nine species of Apis, the giant honeybees Apis dorsata and A. laboriosa are the most spectacular, living in the open in huge colonies with exposed positions. They are one of the most important pollinators of agricultural, horticultural and thousands of plants growing in natural landscapes. One of the most outstanding traits of these honeybee species is ability to survive under extreme climatic conditions through their ability to migrate in areas with rich floral abundance and suitable climatic conditions. The greatest advantage of giant honeybees is that they are important pollinators of several crops. Their long proboscis, large flight range, large number of field workers and habit of collecting large quanti­ties of pollen and nectar make them the best among the honeybees for crop pollina­tion. They are best honey producers ranging from 50–80 and 55–135 kg/colony per year in case of A. dorsata and A. laboriosa, respectively.

Despite their economic usefulness, biodiversity of giant Asian honeybees is suffer­ing precipitous decline and they are threatened with extinction in its entire native habitat. The giant honeybees have considerably declined, due to the loss of food resources and natural nesting sites caused by deforestation and the fast urbanization and landscape fragmentation. Honey-hunting activities and removal of nests from urban habitats has threatened the survival of giant honeybees. During the past four decades, human population has increased more than twofold, exerting a tremendous pressure on the natural resources and the land especially for food, fuel and timber. As a consequence, vast forests have been converted into agricultural land and mountains have become barren due to ruthless cuttings and grazing, thus extensively destroying the food and habitat of several pollinators species. Along with these, use of chemi­cals has also greatly wiped out the population of natural pollinators, thus resulting in failure of reproduction in several cross-pollinated plant species, including the agri­cultural crops. The research on giant honeybees has often been ignored by beekeep­ers and scientists because of their ferocious nature and failure in their domiciliation. The information is available on different aspects but there is no comprehensive book exclusively devoted to Apis dorsata. In view of their high honey production potential and pollination of crops in natural and agricultural systems there is need for their conservation as a sustainable option for rural development, crop production and bio­diversity conservation. The aim of this book is to fill the gap by providing detailed information on different aspects of giant honeybees leading to food security sustain­ability and environmental protection. This book deals in details on basic biology, biogeography, reproductive biology, genetics and genomics, nesting biology. genetic diversity, pests, predators and pathogens, dance language, diversity and distribution, honey harvesting, nesting preferences, floral resources, safety from pesticides, nutri­tional aspects, population decline, foraging ecology, management and conservation, morphometrics and melittopalynological studies of floral resources.

To promote beekeeping as a sustainable option for rural development, crop production and biodiversity conservation, there is an urgent need to generate information on this important species.

I congratulate the author for his efforts to provide this timely contribution.

BY Parul Sharma

Parul Sharma, Department of Computer Science & IT University of Jammu, India