Value of honey bee pollination to the Australian economy
Since the mid-1980s, economists have made numerous attempts at estimating the value of honey bee pollination to the Australian economy. The exercise is not straightforward,...
92 pages
Published: 10 Oct 2008
Author(s): Rhodes, John W.
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The importance of drone semen quality studies has its effect on the mating success of queen bees. Sufficient numbers of mature age drones, each producing a large volume of semen containing a high number of sperm are required to be present at commercial queen bee mating apiaries to result in queen bees with the maximum number of sperm present in their spermathecae after mating. Low numbers of sperm in the spermathecae of queen bees after mating contributes to early supersedure resulting in increased costs to the beekeeper from queen replacement and reduced colony production as colonies weaken in strength or become queenless during the period of queen replacement.