Editor’s Note: The complete paper, “Seminal fluid of honeybees contains multiple mechanisms to combat infections of the sexually transmitted pathogen Nosema apis” is available here.
UWA’s Centre for Integrated Bee Research director Dr Boris Baer says honeybee seminal fluid is highly efficient at killing the spores of a common fungal pathogen, Nosema apis.
This past fall, I received many reports and questions about absconding bees, perhaps fifty in all. Every year I get these and I must admit that I’ve always taken the beekeepers’ word for it when they said their bees absconded.
But this year I realized the sheer number of reports was off-kilter somehow. Yes, honey bees abscond on occasion, but it is rare, and it is usually the result of untenable conditions in the hive.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement that a popular pesticide is harmful to honeybees when used on cotton ignores good science, a University of Arkansas entomologist said Friday.
“This flies right in the face of the research we’ve been doing in the mid-South,” said Gus Lorenz, distinguished professor and associate head of entomology for the UA System’s Division of Agriculture.
OTTAWA — One of the most commonly-used neonics for seed treatments has no potential risk on honeybees, says a joint consultation study between Health Canada, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California’s environmental agency.
All three of the most common neonics — imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin — are used in corn and soybean seeds and are being re-evaluated by Health Canada’s the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA). Health Canada began studying neonics in 2012 and its Jan. 6 report looked at imidacloprid specifically. Reports on the other two neonics will be released later this year.
Seed industry representatives say a recently released federal report on neonicotinoids, or neonics, has stated what was believed all along.
In a pre-release summary, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency said neonics applied directly to the soil might put pollinators at risk, but it adds: “No potential risk to bees was indicated for seed use.”
***
A full document is expected to be released later this month.
The federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency says there is an economic benefit from the use of neonic seed treatments for the country’s corn and soybean growers.
A report released by the agency this week suggests the corn industry benefit ranges from 74 point 2 to 83 point 3 million dollars.
It puts the soybean benefits lower – ranging from 37 point 3 to 51 million dollars.
As the Washington Postheadlined in a July story, “Call off the bee-apocalypse: U.S. honeybee colonies hit a 20-year high.” Now that the world entomological community is in general agreement that the United States and global honeybee population is not, and has never been, threatened with extinction by pesticides, the focus of advocacy concern has suddenly shifted to wild bees.
Editor’s Note: Health Canada/Pest Management Regulatory Agency’s complete “Re-evaluation Note REV2016-05, Re-evaluation of Imidacloprid – Preliminary Pollinator Assessment” is available here. Below is an excerpt.
Seed treatments
No potential risk to bees was indicated for seed treatment use.
The data set available to assess risk from treated seed included residue information in pollen, nectar or flowers of Canadian relevant crops, Tier II tunnel studies and Tier III field studies specific to seed treatment applications. Available higher tier tunnel-studies and field studies with seed treatments did not result in notable effects on bees.
