Wild colonies of honey bees hold the key to improving the health of the managed colonies kept by beekeepers, according to Thomas D. Seeley, the Horace White Professor in Biology, in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell.

Why do colonies of honey bees living in the wild thrive while those of beekeepers often suffer high mortality? What new insights have scientists gained about the behavior, social life, and survival strategies of honey bees, by looking at how they live in nature? In a Chats in the Stacks talk, Seeley, a world authority on honey bees, will answer these questions as he presents The Lives of Bees: The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild (Princeton University Press, 2019). He will also discuss a new approach to beekeeping—“Darwinian Beekeeping”— whereby beekeepers can revise their practices to make the lives of their six-legged partners less stressful and therefore more healthful.

This book talk is supported by the Mary A. Morrison Public Education Fund for Mann Library. Light refreshments will be served.

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