Book The bees - Biology, breeding, products - Alberto Contessi

Book The Bees - Biology, Breeding, Products - Alberto Contessi

Alongside the rigor and comprehensive manner in which the topics are treated, an excellent set of iconography stands out. The volume presents, in an organic whole, alongside general aspects related to the biology and ethology of bees, also the problems related to their breeding and knowledge of their products. The topics covered are dealt with rigorously and comprehensively, all of which is accompanied by an excellent and extensive set of illustrations (271 figures and numerous tables). The new edition is characterized by updated biological aspects, particularly those pertaining to social physiology, the knowledge of which has increased enormously in recent years and in the coming years may lead to great transformations, including in breeding techniques. Also updated are the parts dealing with bee flora and bee adversity, whose chapters have been practically rewritten. The work is divided into three parts.
The first, devoted to biological aspects, deals with systematics, morphology, anatomy, development, tasks, social physiology, raw materials, bee flora, relationships with the environment and major bee adversities.
The second part, devoted to breeding techniques, reviews the materials and beekeeping operations related to beekeeping; artificial swarming and queen bee breeding, among others, are described. Finally, the third part deals with bee products, explaining the methods of production, conditioning and marketing of honey, pollen, royal jelly, wax, propolis, venom and some by-products.
The book is addressed to the university student who needs to learn more about bee biology and related breeding techniques, to the beekeeper who wants to update his knowledge (of great use even to those who make bees their profession), to those who intend to approach the world of bees for the purpose of becoming a beekeeper, and finally to all those who, fascinated by the world around us, intend to learn more about bees, one of the few points of contact between man and the parallel universe of insects.

About the Author: Alberto Contessi is a biologist (he was a student of Prof. Giorgio Celli), specializing in phytopathology and an expert in food insects. He is a beekeeper himself and has been involved in beekeeping in its organizational, popular, scientific and promotional aspects for many years.