The Last Beekeeper: "Understanding Bees"

by Pablo Cartaya
As a farmer in the Valley's Lot 2506, twelve-year-old Yolanda Cicerón does not have the money to continue her training to be a neurolink surgeon, so despite her sister's warning, she accepts a scholarship from the System.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–9, Chapters 10–15, Chapters 16–22, "Understanding Bees"
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. seminal
    influential and providing a basis for later development
    Welcome to Understanding Bees, an information guide based on the seminal work of the late Dr. Mariela Cicerón’s Colony Collapse Disorder: A Case for the Last Bees with Editorial and Programming Additions by Yolanda Cicerón and Arelis Rivera.
  2. crucial
    of extreme importance; vital to the resolution of a crisis
    Honeybees are best known for their crucial role in pollination that is important both ecologically and commercially. They alone have been responsible for the pollination of 80 percent of all human cultivated crops, including more than a hundred food crops, medicinal plants, and food for livestock.
  3. domesticate
    make fit for cultivation and service to humans
    Apis mellifera and Apis cerana are the primary types of domesticated bees and are the main ones used in apiculture, or beekeeping, which is the cultivation of bees by humans primarily for the harvesting of honey.
  4. apiculture
    the cultivation of bees for the production of honey
    Apis mellifera and Apis cerana are the primary types of domesticated bees and are the main ones used in apiculture, or beekeeping, which is the cultivation of bees by humans primarily for the harvesting of honey.
  5. caste
    a social class separated by distinctions of hereditary rank
    Bees are divided into three castes: worker, drone, and queen.
  6. larva
    immature form of an animal between the egg and adult stages
    Once worker bees become a little older, they become babysitters, in charge of feeding and caring for newly hatched larvae.
  7. anterior
    of or near the head end or toward the front plane of a body
    Field bees use their tongues to suck up nectar that is stored in the anterior section of the digestive tract, called honey sacs.
  8. tract
    a system of body parts that serves some specialized purpose
    Field bees use their tongues to suck up nectar that is stored in the anterior section of the digestive tract, called honey sacs.
  9. secrete
    generate and separate from cells or bodily fluids
    Young worker bees eat pollen and nectar and secrete food materials called “royal jelly” and “worker jelly” from glands in their heads.
  10. pheromone
    a chemical that influences physiology or behavior in animals
    When bees sting something, they send out alarm pheromones that alert the rest of the hive to the threat.
  11. rupture
    separate or cause to separate abruptly
    The worker bees’ stingers have barbs on them that stick in the victim’s skin and break off upon use, rupturing the workers’ abdomens and effectively killing them after a stinging.
  12. barb
    a sharp projection preventing easy extraction
    Queen bees’ stingers do not have these barbs, so they can sting as many times as they want.
  13. docile
    easily handled or managed
    Honeybees are docile and will not sting humans or animals attempting to move them or harvest honey unless a direct threat to the brood, the queen, the structural integrity of the hive, or their lives is detected.
  14. integrity
    an undivided or unbroken completeness with nothing wanting
    Honeybees are docile and will not sting humans or animals attempting to move them or harvest honey unless a direct threat to the brood, the queen, the structural integrity of the hive, or their lives is detected.
  15. enzyme
    a complex protein produced by cells that acts as a catalyst
    Honey is a food that results from the bees collecting nectar from flowers in their honey sacs and then processing the nectar within the hive by adding enzymes and reducing the water content below 18 percent.
  16. regurgitate
    eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth
    The nectar is regurgitated to the hive bees, who then ingest it, transfer it to their honey sacs, mix it with more enzyme, and regurgitate it again to another bee.
  17. consumption
    the process of taking food into the body through the mouth
    Then, the bees will cap the cells with a thin layer of wax and then the honey will be ready for consumption.
  18. anticipated
    expected hopefully
    Another theory is that the smoke mimics a wildfire, and the bees drink up honey in advance of an anticipated departure to escape the fire: with a full belly the bees are not aggressive.
  19. don
    put on clothes
    After smoking out a hive, beekeepers don protective gear (which now consists of a full-body suit with a hat enshrouded with a veil) and will use a sharp device to cut off sections of comb, which, of course, are replete with honey.
  20. replete
    deeply filled or permeated
    After smoking out a hive, beekeepers don protective gear (which now consists of a full-body suit with a hat enshrouded with a veil) and will use a sharp device to cut off sections of comb, which, of course, are replete with honey.
Created on Sat Nov 18 11:58:45 EST 2023 (updated Sat Nov 18 14:19:19 EST 2023)

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