Bumblebee Economics

Rating:
Summary: excellent meeting of biology and economics
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Heinrich presents relevant and well-considered research and experimental design in an accessible and easy-to-understand fashion. Having come off a bio class in which we did an extensive lab portion on population structure and evolution, I really enjoyed seeing such fascinating data on social insects. I was not, until having read Heinrich's book, familiar with the very major differences between honey and bumblebees. This book not only presents an excellent overview of how bumblebee's function (thermoregulation of flight muscles and suchforth) but also the economic factors (in pollen and nectar) that form the trade-offs that dictate behavior. Heinrich's observation that bumblebees develop 'major and minor' flower specialties that they exploit preferentially is a fascinating bit of information that synthesizes two commonly concieved as different fields.

I'd highly recommend this book as not just beach reading for scientists but as a brilliant and accessible book on a very common pollinator.

Rating:
Summary: excellent meeting of biology and economics
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Heinrich presents relevant and well-considered research and experimental design in an accessible and easy-to-understand fashion. Having come off a bio class in which we did an extensive lab portion on population structure and evolution, I really enjoyed seeing such fascinating data on social insects. I was not, until having read Heinrich's book, familiar with the very major differences between honey and bumblebees. This book not only presents an excellent overview of how bumblebee's function (thermoregulation of flight muscles and suchforth) but also the economic factors (in pollen and nectar) that form the trade-offs that dictate behavior. Heinrich's observation that bumblebees develop 'major and minor' flower specialties that they exploit preferentially is a fascinating bit of information that synthesizes two commonly concieved as different fields.

I'd highly recommend this book as not just beach reading for scientists but as a brilliant and accessible book on a very common pollinator.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly written, a classic
Review: The author explains that Bumble-bee queens (which are not accompanied by a swarm of workers as are Honey-bees), must by themselves select and furnish a nest site, lay eggs and brood the resulting larva and then forage for pollen and nectar - whose sugar provides the energy needed for flying and nest warming. Heinrich brilliantly contrasts the foraging strategies of the bumble-bees with those of the plants which provide nectar and pollen and are in return cross-pollinated. He also explains how the bees control the heat flow from their thorax which contains the flight muscles, depending on whether they need to fly which requires a relatively high thorax temperature, or need merely to crawl, which allows them to dissipate less energy. The book concludes with a large set of references to the entomological literature at the time of publication, and a set of color plates to help in identifying about fifty North and Central American species of Bumble bees.

Rating:
Summary: Native Bee Keeping?
Review: This study of the bumble bee was fascinating. (For a moment I wanted to go back to school and study entomology.) It may be of particular interest to those interested in native bee-keeping. Instructions for building a bumblebee nesting box, and how to get a colony started, is included in the appendices.

Rating:
Summary: Native Bee Keeping?
Review: This study of the bumble bee was fascinating. (For a moment I wanted to go back to school and study entomology.) It may be of particular interest to those interested in native bee-keeping. Instructions for building a bumblebee nesting box, and how to get a colony started, is included in the appendices.