From: enisa
With pollinators in decline around the world, conservationists turn to traditional farmers for answers.
Writer, Christina Selby |
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To close the pollination gap, farmers who could afford it started to hire beekeepers from the neighboring warmer state of Punjabi to bring managed hives of European honeybees — Apis mellifera — to the valley during the apple bloom season. “The problem with this is that poor farmers are now paying for an ecosystem service that the native honeybee previously provided for free,” says Pradeep Mehta, research and program manager for Earthwatch Institute in India. Not only that, but the introduction of nonnative honeybees can bring with it disease and competition for nectar sources, reducing some populations of native bees even further and robbing ecosystems of important biodiversity.
February 19, 2016
From: The Franklin Star
AgCenter entomologist Sebe Brown said neonicotinoid insecticides are being scrutinized by environmentalists and the EPA because of concerns that they may be a threat to pollinators, such as honeybees. But he said research is not supporting fears that the neonicotinoids are harmful to bees.
Studies have shown that crops from seed treated with neonicotinoids have little to no traces of the chemical in the pollen, Brown said. “We’re not seeing the neonicotinoids making it to the first flowering stage.”
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February 18, 2016
From: San Diego Reader
By Don Bauder
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A major villain is called colony collapse disorder. The majority of worker bees in a colony can’t be found, dead or alive. The queen bee stays, along with immature bees and nurse bees that take care of the small band that remain. Scientists aren’t sure what causes the disorder.
The eight-legged Varroa mite (also known by its Latin name, Varroa destructor) is the big killer in San Diego County, says Mikolich. These mites are parasites that attach themselves to bees’ bodies, weakening them. A major Varroa mite infestation can kill off a bee colony.
February 17, 2016
From: The Daily Californian
By Alexander Barreira and Young Min Kim
The global spread of a virus that leads to stubby wings and early mortality for honey bees has been linked to beekeeping practices, suggests a recent study by campus scientists in tandem with other institutions.
Mike Boots of UC Berkeley, in collaboration with scientists at the University of Exeter, led the team in analyzing the genomes of various viruses in order to trace the origins of Deformed Wing Virus to human-managed honey bee colonies in Europe. Their study, published in Science magazine on Feb. 5, adds to growing concerns about the health of global honey bee populations.
February 16, 2016
From: Entomology Today
By Gerrit van de Klashorst
The importance of bees and other pollinators for natural and agricultural ecosystems has been well documented. But during the past decades, pollinators have been in decline in North America and Europe. This decline is attributed to a number of factors. . . in particular Varroa mites.
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Now the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica and Utrecht University are sponsoring an international course called “Bees and Pollination” in Costa Rica, to be held August 16-26, 2016. Students will carry out observations in the field and in the lab on flower biology and bee behavior. In addition to the pollination function of bees, they will study general bee biology and behavior.
February 15, 2016
From: Nature
- Nature 530, 132 (11 February 2016) doi:10.1038/530132a
- Published online 10 February 2016
The commercial trade in honeybees has helped to spread a deadly bee virus around the globe over the past century.
Stephen Martin, Univ. Salford
Deformed wing virus reduces the winter survival of European honeybees (Apis mellifera), and could be a factor in the large colony losses seen in some parts of the world. To find out how the virus became pandemic, Lena Wilfert at the University of Exeter, UK, and her colleagues analysed the virus’s genome to reconstruct its evolutionary and geographical history. The team found that the virus has spread from Europe in the past c…
February 11, 2016
From: FG Insight
About 1 per cent of the UK’s winter OSR crop was lost to flea beetle damage in the autumn, significantly down on 2014. But the figures do not undermine the case to retain neonicotinoids, say industry experts.
About 6,000 hectares of winter oilseed rape (WOSR) was lost as a result of adult cabbage stem flea beetle activity across the UK in autumn 2015, according to a survey by AHDB Cereals and Oilseeds.
In the second planting season without access to neonicotinoid pesticides for most growers, the estimated losses amounted to about 1 per cent of the WOSR crop, down from 2.7 per cent in 2014, albeit with a different methodology deployed by AHDB.
February 10, 2016
From: Otago Daily News
By Vaughan Elde
A spike in dead bumblebees around Dunedin is probably a natural phenomenon and nothing to be concerned about, a bee researcher says.
University of Otago geneticist and bee researcher Associate Prof Peter Dearden made the comments amid concerns on social media.
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February 9, 2016
From: Radio New Zealand
Rachel Graham
A new report from British researchers shows that a deadly virus wiping out bee colonies around the world, was originally a bee virus but it is being spread by the varroa mite.
The researchers have tracked the global spread of the deformed wing virus, and say it came to New Zealand from Europe.
Alison Mercer, a professor of Zoology at Otago University, said there was an epidemic of deformed wing virus in hives across New Zealand now.
February 8, 2016
Editor’s Note: The University of Sheffield’s press release, “Honeybees under threat from virus spread by humans,” is available here.
From: Science Magazine | AAAS
Deformed wing virus is a recent global epidemic in honeybees driven by Varroa mites
L. Wilfert1,*, G. Long2, H. C. Leggett2,†, P. Schmid-Hempel3, R. Butlin2, S. J. M. Martin4, M. Boots1,‡
+ Author Affiliations1
- ↵*Corresponding author. E-mail: lena.wilfert@ex.ac.uk
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↵† Present address: Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EH, UK.
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↵‡ Present address: Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
February 5, 2016
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