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The Lives of Bees

Tom Seeley provides an overview of how honey bee colonies live in the wild, when they are not living in a beekeeper's hive and are not subject to a beekeeper's manipulation. It provides a look at the true natural history of Apis mellifera, at least for the colonies that live in the countryside around the small city of Ithaca, New York.

Tom Seeley is the Horace White Professor of Biology in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University. At present, his main research interest is in the area of conservation biology -- determining how honey bee colonies living in the wild are able to survive without being treated with pesticides for controlling a deadly ectoparasitic mite, Varroa destructor. Understanding how feral honey bees accomplish this will help beekeepers develop sustainable, pesticide-free approaches to beekeeping.

Click on the following link to access the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVphGvXHiqU

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