bees

The varroa mite is a tiny but destructive pest responsible for the deaths of many honey bee colonies in Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world....

American foulbrood (AFB) is a highly infectious disease that infects bee larvae. It costs the beekeeping industry millions of dollars a year and threatens the role...

In this webinar, join Greta Dromgool as she introduces Tom Saunders and Chrissie Painting – two of Aotearoa New Zealand’s amazing entomologists. Delve into the fascinating...

Pollinators are insects that visit flowers to drink nectar or feed on pollen. During this process, they get covered in pollen grains and then transport the...

In Spring 2020 Countdown developed a fantastic collection of insect cards and an album full of amazing facts and activities all about insects found in Aotearoa...

The ‘Buzz of bees’ is a Connected journal devoted entirely to bees. Each article has diagrams and illustrations that offer opportunities for students to develop the...

In a world seeking natural remedies and alternatives to our failing antibiotic treatments, mānuka honey and therapeutic products are proving a market winner. Mānuka honey is...

Here are links to Science Learning Hub resources for primary teachers related to insects in the Living World strand of the New Zealand Curriculum. Investigate insects...

University of Otago geneticist Peter Dearden is using the bee genome to develop a bee-friendly insecticide. Listen to this RNZ audio Bee-friendly insecticides from April 2014....

Strawberries grown from bee-pollinated flowers are more prolific, last longer and are better quality (as measured by colour, size, weight and lack of malformations) than those...

Flowering plants create seeds, which get spread away from the parents and grow into new plants in new places. Pollination has to happen before seeds can...

Plant & Food Research is investigating whether bumblebees can be used to pollinate flowers in commercial orchards. Dr David Pattemore from Plant & Food Research explains...

In 2012 scientists from New Zealand identified key compounds in honey that stimulate the immune system, paving the way for a range of new wound-healing products....

In this activity, students take on the role of flower parts and act out the process of insect pollination By the end of this activity, students...

Position: Head of research, Plant & Food Research. Field: Honey bees and pollination. For Dr Mark Goodwin, working with pollination has its challenges. Most crop plants...

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are the most important pollinators of many cultivated food crops and other flowering plants. These plants would be in trouble without bees,...

Getting good crops of avocados in New Zealand is not always easy, and pollination is part of the problem. The avocado is a fruit tree introduced...

Next time you eat a kiwifruit, cut it in half and look at it before taking a bite. Look for the little seeds – most kiwifruit...

Flowers are not on plants just to make them look pretty. They are there as a vital part of a flowering plant’s life cycle. Not all...

Position: Professor and Associate Dean (Research), University of Otago. Field: Genetics and biochemistry. Professor Peter Dearden started his career in science studying genetics, biochemistry and physiology...

A little mite, like a tiny spider the size of a pin head, has been plaguing New Zealand’s bee industry. The mites, called varroa, are parasites...

Students investigate the physical and chemical properties of various honeys to design a way to distinguish Mānuka honey from other types of honey. Purpose Students develop...

The viscosity of honey ranges from runny to almost solid. In this experiment, you can compare the viscosity of several types of honey. Purpose To compare...

Mānuka honey is thixotropic. This means that it is solid when undisturbed, but becomes fluid when stirred or agitated. In this experiment, you can investigate Mānuka...