Book review: "Honey Bee Biology" written by Brian R. Johnson

Authors: Seshadri, Arathi

Submitted to: Quarterly Review of Biology
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/1/2023
Publication Date: 2/25/2024
Citation: Seshadri, A.H. 2024. Book review: "Honey Bee Biology" written by Brian R. Johnson. Quarterly Review of Biology. 99,number 1/53. https://doi.org/10.1086/729248.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/729248

Interpretive Summary: Honey bees are a household word; and in today’s world, people from all walks of society are familiar and curious about honey bees. Over a few tens of thousands of worker bees live in a colony, led by a single queen, the sole egg-layer. The well-coordinated task partitioning and the steadfast work culture among the worker bees, gathering nectar and pollen to support the growing larvae or stored for future use, has attracted the attention of biologists seeking to understand the underlying principles that ensure the smooth functioning of the colony. More recently, the importance of honey bee to our ecosystem and the services therein has expanded the appreciation of these tiny creatures and made this a household term, as the urban community is interested in protecting bees and are becoming involved in the many ways cities can support these creatures. This review summarizes the newly published book "Honey Bee Biology"

Technical Abstract: Honey bees are a household word and in today’s world people from all walks of society are familiar and curious about honey bees. Over a few tens of thousands of worker bees live in a colony, led by a single queen, the sole egg-layer. The well-coordinated task partitioning and the steadfast work culture among the worker bees, gathering nectar and pollen to support the growing larvae or stored for future use, has attracted the attention of biologists seeking to understand the underlying principles that ensure the smooth functioning of the colony. More recently, the importance of honey bee to our ecosystem and the services therein has expanded the appreciation of these tiny creatures and made this a household term, as the urban community is interested in protecting bees and are becoming involved in the many ways cities can support these creatures. This book “Honey Bee Biology” is a valuable resource for students interested in a deeper understanding of the biology, functioning and organization of honey bees. An updated book on honey bee biology has been long overdue and Johnson provides detailed and clear descriptions on the natural history, anatomy, physiology, genetics, genomics, neurobiology and reproduction of honey bees. The literature review is extensive, and delves into the advances in molecular and biochemical bases of our understanding of honey bees, a clear advancement as a reference resource. Towards the latter half, the book presents information on the evolution, ecology, and life history of honey bees. These chapters bring into perspective the role of honey bees in the ecosystem and the challenges they face in the current intensive agriculture production systems. With a chapter describing the “Tropical honey bees” and another on “Honey bees as managed pollinators” Johnson very concisely brings together the basic and applied aspects of honey bee research. What stands out are the excellent Figures and Plates. The drawings for the Figures, some of which redrawn from previous publications are incredibly precise and others being original artwork are eye-catching. These further add to the value as a textbook resource for students and teachers. The book also includes closeup photographs of different stages of a honey bee larva (Plate 1), and a newly emerging bee (Plate 10), and for those unfamiliar with the pollination services rendered by honey bees, the book has a wide shot of blooming almond orchards with honey bee hives situated for pollination (Plate 16). The book over all is a good summary of research findings and provides students and instructors, a dependable follow up to the older books on honey bee biology, with a caveat that there is limited effort to synthesize information. While Johnson must be applauded for amassing the vast amounts of research and literature available on honey bees, it was disappointing to note that important literature on honey bee cognition, learning and memory systems, and energetics, are distinctly missing. In a book that will most likely be a reference book for honey bee biologists, it feels a tad bit incomplete. Overall, this is a good textbook resource for understanding honey bee biology.