HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM
FACULTY OF AGRICULTURAL, FOOD AND ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY SCIENCES (FAFEQS)
76100 REHOVOT, ISRAEL

Report for 1976-1997 - Page n°1

BENJAMIN TRIWAKS - 1924-1948

Born in 1924 in Warsaw, Poland. Immigrated to Palestine with his parents in 1926. Graduated from Kadoorie Agricultural School, specializing in beekeeping. Joined the Haganah underground movement and later volunteered for the Jewish Brigade Group in the British Army during World War II. After the War engaged in practical beekeeping. In 1947 joined the Israel Defense Forces and fell in battle in Tantura on May 23, 1948.

In 1976 the Triwaks family of Israel established a Bee Research Center at the Hebrew University, Faculty of Agriculture, Rehovot, in memory of the late 1^st Lt. Benjamin Triwaks.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction
2. Staff
3. Teaching
4. Graduate research students
5. Undergraduate research trainees
6. Visiting research students and postdoctorals
7. Visiting scientists
8. Research support
9. Research facilities
10. Collaborators at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and other Scientific Institutions
11. Domestic and international activities
12. Publications
13. Research reports
1. Differentiation of female honeybee larvae to queens
2. Swarming; construction of queen swarming cups and cells
3. Reproduction; mating; pheromones of queens and drones
4. Thermoregulation at high ambient temperatures
5. Defensive behavior of bee colonies; Alarm pheromones of workers and queens
6. Exocrine glands: structure and secretory products
7. Proteins of body surface and compartments, haemolymph and vitellogenins
8. Attraction of honeybees to flowers; pollination
9. Control of Varroa jacobsoni

Publication:

Solar Heating of Honey Bee Colonies (Apis mellifera L.) During the Subtropical Winter and its Impact on Hive Temperature, Worker Population and Honey Production E. Winema, Y. Lensky & Y. Mahrer

THE TRIWAKS BEE RESEARCH CENTER

HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM
FACULTY OF AGRICULTURAL, FOOD AND ENVIRONMENTAL
QUALITY SCIENCES (FAFEQS), 76100 REHOVOT, ISRAEL

Phone: 972-8-9481136; e-mail: lensky@agri.huji.ac.il

1. INTRODUCTION

 This is the report of the activities of the Bee Research Laboratory and of the Triwaks Bee Research Center (TBRC) covering the periods 1958-1975 and 1976-1996, respectively. It summarizes the research and teaching activities, students' theses and publications.

The Triwaks Bee Research Center was inaugurated on May 11, 1976, by Mr. Avraham Harman, the President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Prof. Itzhak Harpaz, the Dean of the FAFEQS and the Triwaks Family.

The Bee Research Laboratory that was located until then in the Department of Entomology, moved into new premises that include a spacious and well-equipped laboratory, an experimental apiary, and other facilities.

The TBRC, directed by Prof. Yaacov Lensky, is the only bee research laboratory in Israel, and is a focus within the FAFEQS for research in the biology of honeybees, apiculture and crop pollination.

Professor F.S. Bodenheimer and Professor A. Fahn of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem were the pioneers of international reputation for research on population dynamics of honeybees and nectar secretion by plants, respectively. TBRC continues this fine tradition of basic and applied research of various facets of bee biology and beekeeping.

The research carried out at the TBRC is concerned with:

1. Exocrine secretions of adult bees controlling their behavior (attraction of workers and drones to queens, inhibition of swarming queen cups and cells). A joint research project on the function and structure of endocrine and exocrine glands of honeybees has been carried out in collaboration with Prof. Pierre Cassier and his team from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris), within the framework of the agreement between the two universities.
1. Endocrine secretions of developing and adult bees and their effects on female dimorphism.
2. Foraging behavior of workers in relation to nectar secretion and pollination of cultivated plants. One goal is to understand the mechanisms responsible for selective attraction of honeybees to different nectariferous plants for the improvement of seed production. This research has been carried out in collaboration with Prof. Haim D. Rabinowitch, Dr. Shmuel Wolf and Prof. Avraham Fahn (H.U.J.) and with the late Dr. Marshall Levin and his associates, US Dept. Agriculture, Tucson, Arizona.
4. Control of Varroa jacobsoni, a newly introduced mite, caused severe damage to bee colonies in Israel. Fluvalinate is currently used to control Varroa to reduce the risks of fluvalinate residues in wax and honey. We investigated the effect of short- and long-term exposure of this acaricide to bee colonies and the possible use of compounds of plant origin, such as origanum oil, to control this mite. This research has been carried out in collaboration with Dr. Hachiro Shimanuki, US Dept. Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland, Prof. Wilhelm Drescher, Bee Institute, University of Bonn, Mr Yossi Slabezki, Extension Service in Beekeeping and Ms. Hani Gal, TBRC.

The TBRC conducts an extensive teaching program in "Biology of the Honeybee" and "Beekeeping and Hive Products" for students from the FAFEQS, and provides training for Hebrew University of Jerusalem, M.Sc. and Ph.D. candidates and foreign graduate students. The Center also participated actively in the international advanced training courses in modern beekeeping for specialists from developing countries which are held at the FAFEQS under the auspices of the Israel Ministries of Agriculture and Foreign Affairs.

 2. Staff

3. Teaching

During the period 1976-1997 the Center has provided teaching for 476 undergraduates who participated in the course: Biology of the Honeybee and for 404 students who participated in the course: Beekeeping and Hive Products. We offered research training for twenty-eight graduate (M.Sc. and Ph.D.), seventeen undergraduate (B.Sc.) and for seven visiting research students and posdoctorals.

Teaching Programs

The TBRC faculty offers the following two elective courses to both undergraduate and graduate students:

(a) BIOLOGY OF THE HONEYBEE (Course No. 71523). Winter semester, 5 hours weekly.

1. Introduction: social organization of a honeybee colony. Geographic distribution of honeybees and their races.
2. Developmental biology: embryonic and postembryonic development, cuticle formation and molting; endocrine control of molting, female dimorphism and metamorphosis.
3. Reproduction biology: drone's reproductive organs; spermatozoa, their structure and motility; queen's reproductive organs; vitellogenins, spermatheca and fertilization of eggs; exo- and endocrine control of egg production, annual cycle of egg laying; pheromonal control of queen cell construction and egg production by worker bees.
4. Biology of the adult worker bee: brood nursing; thermoregulation; comb construction; colony defense; collection of nectar; water, pollen, and propolis. Properties and composition of nectar, honey, pollen, royal jelly, wax, and venom. Pollination of cultivated plants, pollen as food for bees and humans. Division of labor.
5. Elements of behavior: vision, odor, taste, color discrimination, vibration, time perception, chemoreception, CNS.
6. Communication: dances, food exchange, pheromones.
7. Introduction to research methods: pheromones and vitellogenins (collection, separation, identification, bioassays).

1. Beekeeping in the world and in Israel.
2. The spring colony population build-up: preparation for nectar flow; construction of queen cups and cells, prevention of swarming.
3. Sources of nectar and pollen: nectar secretion, harvesting of pollen.
4. Honey extraction and packaging.
5. Production of queen bees and royal jelly.
6. Construction of combs and production of wax.
7. Nutritional requirements and feeding.
8. Pollination of cultivated plants: selected topics.
9. Honeybee products: composition and technology.
10. Pests, diseases, and intoxication.
11. Visits to commercial beekeepers in the South and North: honey and queen production, pollination services. 

5. Undergraduate Research Trainees

5a. The Bee Research Laboratory: 1966-1975

5b. The Triwaks Bee Research Center: 1976-1997