Assistant Professor Deborah Delaney, Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, came in and chatted with us about a hiveful of fascinating topics.
She talked about how European settlers brought honeybees over from Europe, the “career” of a honeybee (which changes jobs every couple of weeks), the other kinds of bees in North America, “Africanized bees,” some of her extension projects, and Dare to Bee Honey. And who knew how important bumblebees are to Delaware’s watermelon crop!
Listen to the interview
Deborah Delaney, Entomology and Wildlife Ecology
29:41
28.3 MB
About our guest
Deborah Delaney is an assistant professor in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology as well as queen bee of the Dare to Bee Honey program at UD. The students work their own hives in the UD apiary, and the honey harvested is sold exclusively at the UDairy Creamery.
Delaney’s research interests at UD focus on the evolutionary biology of honey bees, pollination ecology, population genetics of honey bees in the U.S., and genetic characterization of unmanaged honey bee populations.
She received her doctorate in entomology from Washington State University in 2008 and is a member of the Delaware Beekeepers Association (DBA), Delaware’s apiculture cooperative extension program, the feral bee project, and the Department of Agriculture-Plant Industries.
Learn more
- UD’s Apiculture Program – A cooperative extension of the Department of Agriculture & Natural Resources
- Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium – a task force of member from government, industry and academic looking to forward research in the field.
- Delaware Beekeepers Association (DBA)
- Save the Hives – An organization focused on spreading the beekeeping information through technology.
- Dare to Bee Honey – A UD apiary that empowers students to care for their own hives.
UDaily stories
- Native Delaware: Busy bees – UD researcher offers the buzz on why bees, wasps are busy in autumn
- Honey bee health – CANR’s Delaney has the buzz on UD’s new research apiary
- Ag Day buzz – Ag Day visitors can do the ‘waggle dance’ at beehive exhibit
- Native bumblebee – UD researcher launches pollination project
- How insects survive the long, cold winter – A look at how insects fend off the cold