The Honey BeeUses & advantagesMisconceptionsFacts & StatisticsPollinating PowersThe industrial impactEnvironment/ DistributionInspiration/ Design direction

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‘ If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live ‘ Albert Einstein

A colony of bees consists of 20,000-60,000 honeybees and one queen. Worker honey bees are female, live for about 6 weeks and do all the work.

The queen bee can live up to 5 years and is the only bee that lays eggs. She is the busiest in the summer months, when the hive needs to be at its maximum strength, and lays up to 2500 eggs per day.

There are 3 different types of Honey Bee;

The queen is the only fertile female in a hive and her only purpose is to lay eggs.A drone is a male bee and its only purpose is to mate with a virgin queen.A worker is an infertile female and as its name suggests, does all the work for the hive. ie collects nectar and pollen, looks after young bees and keeps the hive clean. A worker also defends the hive against intruders - including humans.

Each honey bee colony has a unique odour for members’ identification.

Only worker bees sting, and only if they feel threatened and they die once they sting. Queens have a stinger, but they don’t leave the hive to help defend it.

_2-3 The Honey Bee

‘No more bees, no more pollination...no more men!’

The bee’s brain is oval in shape and only about the size of a sesame seed, yet it has remarkable capacity to learn and remember things and is able to make complex calculations on distance travelled and foraging efficiency.

Honey bees communicate with one another by “dancing”.

Primary Photographs/ An observation of structure and length.

Honey bees are the number one insect pollinator on the planet, responsible for the production of over 90 crops. Apples, berries, cucumbers, nuts, cabbages and even cotton will struggle to be produced if bee colonies continue to decline at the current rate.

Honey is the only food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life, includingenzymes, vitamins, minerals, and water; and it’s the only food that contains “pinocembrin”, anantioxidant associated with improved brain functioning.

I was astounded by how many uses Honey has! In her book, 10 Essential Herbs, Lalitha Thomas states that pure Honey is:

_ An antiseptic_ An emolient_ A preservative_ Soothing_ Encourages the growth of new skin when used externally and more!

_4-5 Uses & Advantages

‘ If we had a serious loss of honeybees in the UK, then inevitably food prices would have to increase‘

Economic importance

“But bees do more than just make honey. They fly around pollinating all sorts of fruit and vegetables, which end up on our plates.Their role in the food chain is so important that in 2007 The National Audit Office collated research working out the value of honeybees to the UK economy.

The value of the bees’ services were estimated at £200m a year. The retail value of what they pollinate was valued closer to £1bn.Nobody knows exactly what impact the current decline in honey bee populations is having on these figures and on the supplies of these foods, but it is clear there could be consequences.“If we had a serious loss of honeybees in the UK, then inevitably food prices would have to increase,” according to Simon Potts, head of pollination research at Reading University.“Essentially we would have to import fruits from overseas.“Either that or the British diet would have to change considerably. Instead of eating British fruits we’d have to switch to more starchy foods like grains and cereals.”

_6-7 Misconceptions

It takes one ounce of honey to fuel a bee’s flight around the world.

_8-9 Facts & Statistics

_ Honey bees have 6 legs, 2 compound eyes made up of thousands of tiny lenses (one on each side of the head), 3 simple eyes on the top of the head, 2 pairs of wings, a nectar

pouch, and a stomach.

_ The honey bee’s wings stroke incredibly fast, about 200 beats per second, thus making their famous, distinctive buzz. A honey bee can fly for up to six miles, and as fast as 15 miles

per hour.

_ The average worker bee produces about 1/12th

teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.

_ A hive of bees will fly 90,000 miles, the equivalent of three

orbits around the earth to collect 1 kg of honey.

_ A honey bee visits 50 to 100 flowers during a collection trip.

_ It is estimated that 1100 honey bee stings are required

to be fatal.

_During winter, honey bees feed on the honey they

collected during the warmer months. They form a tight cluster in their hive to keep the queen and themselves

warm.

A massive international study of 600 field trials from around the globe (including New Zealand) highlights the importance of wild insects in spreading pollen for agricultural crops, and warns of excessive reliance on honeybees.The study, published in Science, found that wild insects pollinate crops more effectively than managed honeybees, leading to twice as much fruit set (flowers that develop into mature fruits or seeds).

Honeybees only add to the pollinating power of wild insects, and can’t replace their pollination services, the researchers also discovered.

Wild pollinators, including bees, flies, butterflies and beetles, usually live in natural or semi-natural habitats, such as the edges of forests, hedgerows or grasslands. As these habitats are lost, primarily owing to conversion to agriculture, the abundance and diversity of pollinators decline and crops receive fewer visits from wild insects.

Without steps to conserve wild species and protect their habitats, “the ongoing loss of wild insects is destined to compromise agricultural yields worldwide,” the authors con

_10-11 Pollinating Powers

‘Their pollinating powers sustain a sprawling web of crops’

Pollinating Power / An observation of primary research.

In recent times, maybe no other mass extinction has caught mainstream attention quite like the plight of the honeybees. It is an ecological crisis that threatens to bring global agriculture to a standstill. Honey bees are the number one insect pollinator on the planet, responsible for the production of over 90 crops.

Apples, berries, cucumbers, nuts, cabbages and even cotton will struggle to be produced if bee colonies continue to decline at the current rate. Empty hives have been reported from as far afield as Taipei and Tennessee.

In England, the matter has caused beekeepers to march on Parliament to call on the government to fund research into what they say is potentially a bigger threat to humanity than the current financial crisis.

_12-13 Industrial Impact

An article in The Independent discusses a theory that cell phone radiation seriously interferes with bees’ ability to navigate through the air. Regardless of the cause, the implications of this phenomenon are enormous – and it is alarming how rapidly this is occurring. From a NYT article on 2/27/07: “…one study says that honeybees annually pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in US, mostly fruits, vegetables and nuts.”

Industrial Impact / An observation of recent articles concerning the

importance of ‘Honey Bees’.

_Bottom-left / ‘Best Bees’ Providing a unique opportunity for students of all ages and all locations across the globe to view the intricate world of these fascinating creatures right inside their classroom

_Middle / Boston Museum Branding, Although I don’t want to create anything similar to this design, it displays the sort of approach I’d want to develop.

_Top-left / The breadth of honey bee designs is very broad and a large majority of them are aimed at a younger generation, for my exhibition I’ll be developing designs that are more corporate in the way they’re constructed, broadening my target audience.

_14-15 Environment / Distribution

Environmental research / An observation of attributes /

Primary.

Design Inspiration / An observation of deliverables.

_16 Inspiration / Design direction