A Deadly Bee Virus Is Being Spread By Humans
From: Co.Exist
Deformed wing virus is the last thing honeybees need right now.
Leave a Comment March 4, 2016
Idaho Professor Says Honeybee Hive Size Critical To Survival
From: Boise State Public Radio
Honeybees are dying off at an alarming rate. For several years, scientists have been looking at a number of factors that may be influencing their survival. Now, a University of Idaho scientist has found a working model that may explain why honeybee colonies collapse.
UI professor Brian Dennis built a mathematical model that shows the size of the beehive may be the critical factor in colony collapse disorder. That’s when too many bees in a hive die or disappear and the hive falls apart.
Leave a Comment March 3, 2016
When Varroa Mites Hitch a Ride
From: Bug Squad | Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California
Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Those blood-sucking varroa mites (Varroa destructor) are considered the No. 1 enemy of beekeepers. In powerful numbers and weakened colonies, they can overwhelm and collapse a hive.
***
“Varroa have been recorded hitching rides on bumble bees and yellowjackets,” observed native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis. “Varroa have been reported as feeding on larvae of these and other critters–but not successfully reproducing on them. Also bumble bees and yellowjackets typically overwinter as hibernating queens not as perennial colonies like honey bees. Thus they are not suitable hosts for Varroa.”
Leave a Comment March 2, 2016
EFSA Raises Maximum Residue Level for Neonicotinoid in Honey
From: European Food Safety Agency
Leave a Comment March 1, 2016
Complete Vindication for USDA
From: The Guardian
Government rejects scientist’s claim it tried to cover up his pesticide research
Nonprofit released confidential decision in complex case involving monarch butterflies, scientific freedom and the safety of the nation’s food supply
***
According to a 20 January confidential report on Lundgren’s case, a USDA scientific integrity review panel “concluded that the scientist’s written complaint did not provide credible and verifiable evidence to support his contention that his research was impeded and that he was restrained from communicating with the media and interacting with the broader scientific community,” in violation of the agency’s scientific integrity policy.
Leave a Comment March 1, 2016
UH Manoa researcher provides global perspective on honeybee viruses
From: University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
The global decline of honeybee populations has spurred a number of researchers to examine the role played by the parasitic varroa mite and the deadly Deformed Wing Virus it transmits. In early February a large-scale research article (Wilfert et al.) was published in the prestigious journal Science. This study provides insight on the geographical origin and evolutionary history of the mite and the virus. Dr. Ethel Villalobos, a bee researcher of the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, was requested by the editors of Science to write an accompanying piece to this article, which was published in the same issue in a section called “Perspectives.”
Leave a Comment February 26, 2016
The honey bee virus, Varroosis, decimates bee colonies in US
From: Concordiensis | The official student newspaper of Union College Since 1877
Known for their role in cross pollination and production of honey, bees are at war with a virus that is decimating their colonies.
The parasitic mite Varroa destructor is the root to this nightmare. The mite is the carrier of the bee virus, Varroosis. It can be seen with the naked eye, and acts as an external parasite, while reproducing inside the bee.
Leave a Comment February 25, 2016
The idea that neonics threaten bees a misguided notion
From: Albany Times-Union
The push to ban the whole class of neonicotinoid insecticides is based upon the erroneous conclusion that these chemicals are causing bee die-offs. This is simply not true. Ten years of intense scrutiny of the beekeeping industry has led to the same conclusion as in France: The honey bee colonies are unhealthy due to the heavy load of parasites and pathogens.
Many of the top authorities on honey bee health issues have weighed in on this. Various scientists, including Marla Spivak of the University of Minnesota; Walter Sheppard of Washington State University; and Richard Fell of Virginia Tech affirm that neonics are not a significant driver of honeybee decline.
Leave a Comment February 24, 2016
Local Beekeepers Guard Against Fatal Diseases
From: Chicago Tonight | WTTW
***
Arruza: At this time of year the dead bees around the museum’s hives are part of the natural attrition that happens continuously in every bee colony. But a close look at the bees is required to see if they’ve become victims of the Varroa mite.
The tiny mite is the vampire of the honeybee world. The reddish-brown, crab-looking parasites attach to bees and their larvae sucking their equivalent of blood and infecting them with several potentially fatal viruses, the most worrisome of which is deformed wing virus.
Leave a Comment February 23, 2016
PODCAST: Neonicotinoids and Honeybees
From: Farm Bureau Arkansas
Gus Lorenz, Ph.D., Associate Head of Entomology, UA Division of Agriculture
Dr. Gus Lorenz has conducted extensive research into whether neonicotinoid insecticides when used as seed treatments on crops are harmful to honeybees
Leave a Comment February 22, 2016
