Stingless Bees
Laguna, Philippines (2019) – Bees that don't sting may be unfamiliar to many, but there are over 600 different species of these. Stingless bees, as they are called, are about 60 times more diverse than the more “charismatic” honeybees that many people are familiar with. These bees are commonly found in the tropics such as in Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, there are individuals who promote stingless beekeeping as a form of livelihood.
This is a story of one of them.
Jessica carefully inspects the stingless bee colony inside the wooden box that was left in the forest during their first field visit 4 months ago.
Jessica Baroga-Barbecho, a bee researcher from the University of the Philippines, has embarked on a 2-year long study on stingless bees since May 2019 in one of the protected forests in the Luzon island region, Philippines. Their objective is to determine the presence of active insect pollinators within the forest, as well as to enhance the site's pollination activity through the introduction of Tetragonula biroi colonies, a species native to the Philippines.
This is to support the University's plan in constructing a gene bank research facility for fruit-bearing trees at center of the 3,500 hectares of the University-protected forest.
A group of Entomologists venture into the 3,500 hectares of protected forest to introduce stingless bee colonies and study insect biodiversity within the site. Such research activities often takes 3-4 days of staying out in the field.
Jessica and her team are looking for the other colonies they installed during their first visit. These are spread out in various parts of the forest, placed relatively near fruit-bearing trees.
Dany, one of the forest protection officers, waits for Jessica as she suits up before checking the colony boxes.
The box is made up of 2 layers: the bottom layer houses the starting brood from the original colony source, while the top layer is meant to contain the new colony that will be established.
Forager stingless bees deposit collected pollen onto the propolis structure which extends out of the hive. Propolis is a type of natural resin produced by bees which they use to construct and repair their hives. The extended structure also acts as a holding site for pollen and serves as a protection against microbes, viruses, and other insect enemies.
Making honey is not as simple as it seems – it involves a lot of team work and regurgitating nectar. After sucking nectar from flowers, an enzyme called invertase would break this down into a simple sugar inside a bee's stomach. A bee would then regurgitate the liquid in to another bee inside the hive, and the cycle goes on and on until it's fully broken down into a simple sugar. Honey, as what it would be called at this stage, would be regurgitated again to be stored into special cells in the hive called "honeycombs," forming the hexagonal structure everyone knows.
Foraging for nectar helps in pollinating plants. In this way, bees greatly contribute in the continuation of plant species' existence and global food security worldwide.
According to United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), approximately 75% of food crops around the world depend on pollinators to maintain crop quality and food security.
Forest rangers crowd behind a small plant while they watch Jessica demonstrate how to maintain stingless bee colonies. Unlike its common honey bee counterpart, stingless bees don't sting but they bite with their mandibles – a pair of extended jaws just like in ants, when agitated.
Unlike its common honey bee counterpart, stingless bees don't sting but they bite with their mandibles – a pair of extended jaws just like in ants, when agitated.
Samson Serrano, the forest protection officer in charge of the colonies, assists Jessica in installing 2 boxes of stingless bee colony under a Katmon tree (Dillenia philippinensis), which produces a sour-tasting fruit endemic to the Philippines.
Dr Sheryl Yap, the project leader of the study, watches Jessica and Samson as they check the colonies installed near the rangers’ quarters.
"Kahit hindi ako tapos ng pag-aaral, at least marami akong natutunan na mga bagay. Mas proud pa ako na sa dami ng tao, isa ako sa naturuan."said Samson, ranger and beekeeper.
(Even if wasn't able to finish my studies, at least I learned a lof of thing. Beekeeper. I feel proud because of all the people they could've chosen, I was among they trained.)
Jessica uses the surrounding vegetation to carefully remove the bees that were either flying around her or stuck on her protective suit.
"Pwede na sila mag colony production. So pag nag source up kami ng colonies na kailangn for the project, bibilin na namin dito sa community. So magiging isa sila sa aming mga suppliers," said Jessica, adding that they can also source hive products from them such as honey, pollen, and propolis.
(Now they can produce colonies by themselves. If we need colonies for a project, we can already but it from this community. They can become one of our suppliers)
