FSP - Microcosm News- Earth Watch Report: Bee

Showing posts with label Bee. Show all posts

Friday, February 7, 2014

Bees exposed to "field-realistic" doses of insecticides gather less than a half the pollen that they normally do, dooming their young to starvation, state UK researches

Starving hives: Pesticides cause bees to collect 57% less pollen, study says

Published time: February 02, 2014 21:15
Edited time: February 04, 2014 09:23

Reuters / Leonhard Foeger

While some scientists hailed the findings, pesticide makers remained unimpressed

In a spin-off of their earlier study, a team of British scientists have revealed how the neurotoxic chemicals contained in agricultural neonicotinoids affect the very basic function of the honeybees – the gathering of pollen, or flower nectar.
“Pollen is the only source of protein that bees have, and it is vital for rearing their young. Collecting it is fiddly, slow work for the bees and intoxicated bees become much worse at it. Without much pollen, nests will inevitably struggle,” explained University of Sussex professor Dave Goulson, who has led the study. His comments were made in a statement released alongside the research.
Goulson’s latest paper called “Field realistic doses of pesticide imidacloprid reduce bumblebee pollen foraging efficiency” was published at the end of January in peer-reviewed journal Ecotoxicology.
The scientists exposed some of the studied bees to low doses of imidacloprid and tracked their movement with the help of electronic tags. Unexposed bees were also tracked, and each insect flying out and returning to a hive was weighed to find out the amount of pollen it gathered.
It turned out that bees exposed to the neonicotinoid brought back pollen from only 40 percent of their trips asopposed to 63 percent of useful trips which their “healthy” counterparts undertook.
Intoxicated bees cut the amount of pollen gathered by nearly a third - overall, the comparative study showed that the hives exposed to the pesticide received 57 percent less pollen.
“Even near-infinitesimal doses of these neurotoxins seem to be enough to mess up the ability of bees to gather food. Given the vital importance of bumblebees as pollinators, this is surely a cause for concern,” Hannah Feltham of the University of Stirling, another member of the research team, stated.

Read More Here

Starving hives: Pesticides cause bees to collect 57 percent less pollen, study says

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

‘Zombie Bees’ Found in Vermont

The Epoch Times

By Associated Press | January 28, 2014

A hive of honey bees is on display at the Vermont Beekeeping Supply booth at the 82nd annual Vermont Farm Show at the Champlain Valley Expo in Essex Jct., Vt., on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Andy Duback)

ESSEX JUNCTION, Vt.— Vermont beekeepers face mite infestations, extreme temperature swings and the possibility of colony collapse. Last fall, a new threat emerged: zombie bees.
Beekeeper Anthony Cantrell of Burlington discovered zombie bees in his hive in October, the first time they’d been found in the eastern United States.
John Hafernik, a professor from San Francisco State University, discovered the first zombie bees in 2008. A fly called Apocephalus borealis attaches itself to the bee and injects its eggs, which grow inside the bee, Hafernik said. Scientists believe it causes neurological damage resulting in erratic, jerky movement and night activity, “like a zombie,” Hafernik said by phone Tuesday.
These aren’t undead bees doomed to roam for eternity. They often die only a few hours after showing symptoms, Hafernik said.
Hafernik and his team of colleagues and students have been tracking the zombie bee spread across the United States. California, Washington, Oregon and South Dakota all have confirmed zombie bees while this is the first time the bee has been found this far east, said Hafernik. The fly previously attached to bumblebees as hosts, not honeybees, according to Hafernik.
“Right now, we don’t know if it’s an isolated thing,” Stephen Parise, Vermont agricultural production specialist, said Tuesday at the state’s annual farm show.

Read More Here

Saturday, August 17, 2013

MASS BEES DIE-OFF: Beemageddon - More Than ONE MILLION More Bees Die Off Near Hanover, Canada?!

Andre Heath·

Published on Aug 16, 2013

The CELESTIAL Convergence | http://thecelestialconvergence.blogsp...
August 15, 2013 - CANADA - There is more troubling news for beekeepers.
Another die-off has a local producer sounding the alarm, and provincial inspectors have stepped in to get to the bottom of the issue.
Beekeeper Dave Schuit estimates that 1.3 million bees have died in his yard north of Hanover in the past 24 hours. Schuit says he has seen this before, and it looks like the bees have been poisoned.
"I believe it's in the soil, the neonicotinoids," says Schuit of Saugeen Country Honey. "I believe it's in the water and it's in the pollen."
Neonicotinoids are extremely toxic to bees, even in tiny amounts. They are now widely used to protect corn, soy and wheat seed. The pesticide is water-soluble and persists in the environment for several years. Neonicotinoids were recently banned in Europe while more research is being done.
According to the Ontario Bee Keepers Association, the number of acute poisonings like this is mounting this summer and the total number of incidents is expected to surpass last year when 240 were reported. Laboratory testing confirmed the presence of neonicotinoids in 80 per cent of those cases.
Today inspectors from the Ministry of Agriculture collected samples for testing to see if the pesticide or something else is killing these bees. Results are not expected for several months.
Health Canada is currently re-evaluating at least seven crop protection products that contain the chemical.
In July, the province created a new working group made-up of bee keepers, farmers and scientists to look into the crisis.
Gerald Poechman is a farmer who is seeing this with his own eyes for the first time.
"When I see dead canaries in the mine I know there is a problem, when I see dead bees I know there is a bigger problem," he says. "I don't know where to point the finger. I hardly know here to start but we have to start some place because our entire biodiversity is seriously at risk, if not even our food supply."
The province's new working group that is looking into bee mortalities is scheduled to have its next meeting early next week.

Sunday, June 30, 2013

A Portland resident is creating quite the buzz by hosting a memorial ceremony dedicated to the 50,000 bumblebees that died in an Oregon parking lot last week.

50,000 dead Oregon bees to be honored in memorial service

Published time: June 28, 2013 20:17

Bees collect nectar from a flower (AFP Photo / Joe Klamar)

Just days before National Pollinator Week, tens of thousands of bees fell from the trees and were found dead at a Target parking lot in Wilsonville, Ore. A state investigation found that an insecticide coined “Safari” was to blame, and Oregon now has a 180-day ban of 18 pesticides containing the chemical dinotefuran.
More than 50 poisoned European linden trees have been covered with netting to prevent further bee deaths, and the Oregon State Agricultural Department is still investigating whether or not there was a violation of state or federal pesticide laws.
Meanwhile, Portland resident Rozzell Medina is hosting a memorial to commemorate the bumblebees. The July 30 event will take place in the Target parking lot to “memorialize these fallen lifeforms and talk about the plight of the bees and their importance to life on Earth,” Medina wrote on the event’s Facebook page. There will be food available for attendees.
“I thought it would be a good opportunity for people to see that this is not just a news item,” Medina told The Oregonian. “With a lot of these ecological catastrophes, they become so abstract that people become scared to feel them.”
The number of bee deaths marks the world’s largest recorded mass die-off of bumblebees. Scientists intiailly estimated that 25,000 bees died in Wilsonville, but that figure doubled after a more accurate assessment, executive director of the Xerces Society Scott Hoffman Black told the Los Angeles Times.
Last week, a second, but smaller mass die-off occurred in Hillsboro, Ore. City officials estimated that at least 100 bees died beneath a linden tree in the downtown area. Investigators linked the Safari insecticide to both the Hillsboro and the Wilsonville die-offs.

Read More Here

********************************************************************************************************