Biology Multiple Choice Questions on “Food Production Strategies – Apiculture”.
1. What is Apiculture?
a) Rearing of bees
b) Rearing of animals
c) Rearing of birds
d) Rearing of insects
Answer: a
Clarification: Apiculture or beekeeping is the rearing of bees for collecting honey and wax. The place where honey bees are reared is called an apiary. The workers are known as apiarists or apiculturists.
2. Where do honey bees live?
a) Colony
b) Hives
c) Desert
d) House
Answer: b
Clarification: Honey bee lives in natural or artificial nests called hives. Natural hives hang down from tree branches, the roof of caves, balconies and other extensions of buildings. Artificial hive or bee box is a metallic hollow box with chambers, slit-like platform and a stand with legs.
3. Which of the following species of the honey bee is not found in India?
a) Apis mellifera
b) Apis dorsata
c) Apis indica
d) Apis florea
Answer: a
Clarification: Species of honey bee found in India are Apis dorsata, Apis indica and Apis florea. Apis mellifera is an Italian or a European bee which was introduced in India due to its very high quality and quantity of honey. It is also the most docile of all the species.
4. Which of the following is the largest bee?
a) Apis dorsata
b) Apis florea
c) Apis indica
d) Apis mellifera
Answer: a
Clarification: Apis dorsata is commonly known as the rock bee. It occurs in the wild. It is the largest of the bees. Apis florea is the smallest. Apis indica is medium-sized docile bee growing naturally in wild as well as domesticated.
5. Honey bee belongs to class Mammalia.
a) True
b) False
Answer: b
Clarification: Honey bee belongs to family Apidae, order Hymenoptera of class Insecta. Honey bee lives in natural or artificial nests called hives. A beehive has a number of hexagonal brood cells for rearing young bees, storage cells for storing food etc.
6. Which of the following is a caste of the honey bee?
a) Queen
b) King
c) Drones
d) Workers
Answer: b
Clarification: Honey bee is a social, colonial and polymorphic insect with three main castes-fertile female or queen, males or drones and sterile female workers. Queen receives all the sperms required for its life during nuptial flight with drones.
7. Which of the following hormone is secreted by Queen of honey bees?
a) Bombykol
b) Trail pheromone
c) Antiqueen pheromone
d) Copulin
Answer: c
Clarification: Queen secretes an antiqueen substance, a pheromone, from its glands. It inhibits worker bees to build another royal brood chamber and produce royal jelly for others. The queen lays 2000 fertilised eggs per day. Eggs hatch to give rise to new worker bees which are sexually sterile females.
8. Which of the following is not a differentiation of worker bees?
a) Builder bees
b) Nurse bees
c) Sanitary bees
d) Drones
Answer: d
Clarification: Worker bees are differentiated into sanitary bees (early few days), nurse bees (first month, feeding larvae and queen), farmer bees, guard bees, builder bees (producing bee wax, building and repair of the hive) and foragers (collecting honey).
9. Which of the following bees does the tail-wagging dance?
a) Scout bees
b) Nurse bees
c) Builder bees
d) Sanitary bees
Answer: a
Clarification: Some forager bees function as scout bees that search for new feeding places. Scout bees communicate the position of a food source by round dance if it is less than 75 m and tail wagging dance for longer distances.
10. The new queen and drones leave their own hives and build a new one. This is called as bee swarming.
a) True
b) False
Answer: b
Clarification: As the colony grows in size, the queen stops secreting antiqueen substance. It also produces some unfertilized eggs. New queen and drones develop. The old queen along with a part of the worker population leaves the hive and build a new one. This process is known as bee swarming.
11. Which of the following is not a useful product of Apiculture?
a) Bee venom
b) Honey
c) Beeswax
d) Jelly
Answer: d
Clarification: Apiculture is highly useful. It provides us with honey which is a near-neutral aromatic tonic, laxative and sweetening syrup. Beeswax is used in cosmetic creams, ointments, paints, polishes and smokeless decorative candles. Bee venom is used in the treatment of Rheumatoid arthritis.
12. Which of the following does not attack honey bees?
a) Wasps
b) Houseflies
c) Mites
d) Black ants
Answer: b
Clarification: Honey bee is attacked by wasps, wax moths, mites, black ants, green bee-eater and king crow. Nosema disease of honey bee is caused by protozoan Nosema apis. Acrine disease is produced by parasitic mite Acarapsis woodii.