The bees of Lebanon (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila).

The study of wild bees has markedly increased in recent years due to their importance as pollinators of crops and wild plants, and this interest has been accentuated by increasing evidence of global declines in their abundance and species richness. Though best studied in Europe and North America, knowledge on the current state of wild bees is scarce in regions where they are particularly diversified, such as the Mediterranean basin. The eastern Mediterranean country of Lebanon, located at the heart of the Levant in a biodiversity hotspot, is particularly poorly studied. The aim of this paper is to produce a first annotated checklist of the wild bees of Lebanon from new and museum collections, literature records, and verified occurrences from online databases. The present list totals 573 species for Lebanon of which 289 are reported for the first time, but the estimated diversity is likely to be closer to 700. Preliminary information on local distributions and flower records are also presented. The local species assemblages indicate affinities with montane habitats of the Mediterranean and Anatolia and the semi-arid habitats of the Levant and north Africa. This study also encourages further research on local wild bee faunas and the use of this knowledge for conservation purposes.

Growth and polyhydroxybutyrate production by Ralstonia eutropha in emulsified plant oil medium.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are natural polyesters synthesized by bacteria for carbon and energy storage that also have commercial potential as bioplastics. One promising class of carbon feedstocks for industrial PHA production is plant oils, due to the high carbon content of these compounds. The bacterium Ralstonia eutropha accumulates high levels of PHA and can effectively utilize plant oil. Growth experiments that include plant oil, however, are difficult to conduct in a quantitative and reproducible manner due to the heterogeneity of the two-phase medium. In order to overcome this obstacle, a new culture method was developed in which palm oil was emulsified in growth medium using the glycoprotein gum arabic as the emulsifying agent. Gum arabic did not influence R. eutropha growth and could not be used as a nutrient source by the bacteria. R. eutropha was grown in the emulsified oil medium and PHA production was measured over time. Additionally, an extraction method was developed to monitor oil consumption. The new method described in this study allows quantitative, reproducible R. eutropha experiments to be performed with plant oils. The method may also prove useful for studying growth of different bacteria on plant oils and other hydrophobic carbon sources.