Bee

2007-12-13T04:42:33Z

Jacob007: /* Bee Decline */

'''Bees''' are a type of flying [[insect]] related to [[ant]]s and [[wasp]]s. They are an important pollinator of [[flower]]ing [[plant]]s, and vital to commercial growers in the [[United States]]. Many species of bees produce [[honey]].

==Bee genetics==

Unfertilized eggs laid by a queen bee contain 50% of her [[gene|genes]] in different combinations. These eggs develop into male bees (drones) that have one copy of each [[chromosome]]. All [[sperm]] produced by a drone are identical [[clone|clones]].

Fertilized eggs laid by a queen bee develop into female bees (workers). These have two copies of each chromosome – one from the queen and one from the male who fertilized her.

Queens mate with 10-20 drones, so bee colonies are a mixture of subfamilies with the same mother but different fathers.

This means that workers in the same subfamily are related by 75% of their genes. They are therefore more closely related to their sisters than to their own offspring, who would only have 50% of their genes. This predisposes them to help raise their sisters or go with a new queen when she starts a new colony rather than seeking a mate.

==Bee Decline==

Because of their vital role as pollinators, bees are responsible for 75 to 80 percent of the food U.S. consumers eat. However, in recent years there has been a steep decline in the population of bees, and some scientists claim that unless this is arrested the supply of some fruits and vegetables may also decline. <ref> http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/10/1005_041005_honeybees.html </ref>

This decline is considered to be the result of diseases such as the varroa mite and other parasites, and the widespread practice of spraying crops with pesticides. Some scientists have asserted that the increased use of genetically modified crops may have a role to play, but the evidence for that is not yet clear.

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Insects]]

Beetle

2007-12-13T04:39:31Z

Jacob007:

A '''beetle''' is an [[insect]] in the order ''Coleoptera'' (the largest order in the animal kingdom). This order is characterized by forewings that are modified into hardened covers over a second pair of functional wings.

Beetles can be found in nearly all environments except conditions of extreme cold such as [[Antarctica]] and at great heights. There are fewer beetle species in temperate zones than in the tropics. Beetle sizes range from less than 0.04 inches (1 mm) long to over 8 inches (20 cm).

Beetles can be helpful or destructive to man. Without dung beetles, some parts of the world would be buried in animal excrement. Beetles help to break down decayed matter. Some beetles are predators of insect pests. Some are destructive of crops and timber. Predators of beetles include other insects, bats, birds, reptiles and amphibians.

Beetles were first discovered in the late 1480s by Swiss Zoologist Carl Ligneous. Since then beetle collecting has become a very popular pastime.

==Beetles in the Bible==

Over half of all described species are insects. Of these, approximately 300,000 are beetles. This led biologist J. B. S. Haldane to remark that God has "an inordinate fondness for beetles."

:''Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth; 11:22 Even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the '''beetle''' after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind.''

There are also 23 references to 'creeping things', 21 in the Old Testament and 2 in the New Testament.

[[Category:Insects]]

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Bee

Beetle