A lecture given by Clarence Collison at the 2018 National Honey Show entitled "Glandular System Of Honey Bees" The National Honey Show gratefully acknowledge the Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers for their support, and The Central Association of Bee-Keepers for their sponsorship.
Virtually all bee activities are directly stimulated and coordinated to a large degree by hormones and pheromones. Secretions of both endocrine and exocrine glands of queens and workers are tied directly to the division of labour within the worker caste, social organization and to factors that regulate colony development. These secretions are associated with bee behaviour, communication, regulation of bee development and metabolic processes, defence and brood nest establishment. We will examine various factors of the environment and nutrition that impact the production of chemicals associated with these glands and how they ultimately affect colony development and productivity.
Clarence Collison: As part of my undergraduate degree program majoring in entomology, I took my first course in beekeeping in 1966 which stimulated my interest in bees. During my Master’s program, I studied nectar secretion and how it affects the activity of honey bees in the pollination of hybrid pickling cucumbers. This research area was continued during my PhD program and was concerned with the interrelationships of honey bee activity, foraging behavior, climatic conditions and flowering in the pollination of pickling cucumbers. Throughout my career at The Pennsylvania State University and Mississippi State University, I have served as an Extension beekeeping specialist, taught beekeeping, trained graduate students, written numerous beekeeping publications, published two books and conducted many educational programs for the beekeeping community. For several years I chaired the “Master Beekeeper” certification program of the Eastern Apicultural Society of North America. I write a monthly column “A Closer Look” and prior to that “Do You Know” for Bee Culture magazine.