From: Washington Post
By Rachel Feltman
The bees in the above video aren’t dead, but they’re about as zombified as bees could be. They’re suffering from just one of the many ailments putting honey bee colonies under pressure: a devastating parasite.
When the parasitic fly Apocephalus borealis crosses paths with certain species of bee — increasingly, the european honey bee — it aggressively pursues the bees and lays its eggs inside them. You probably don’t need me to tell you that having another species grow and hatch inside you is no good. As the larvae grow, they feed off of the muscle and nervous system of their host bee, eventually destroying the brain. After a few weeks, they bust their way out of the bee’s body by making a split between the head and the thorax.
October 12, 2015
From: NPR
Ken Christensen
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Varroa mites have devastated U.S. beehives since the late 1980s, when they arrived here from Asia. In 1996, half of the colonies east of the Mississippi River died due to mite infestations.
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Stamets and Sheppard are feeding liquid extracts of those forest mushrooms to mite-infected honeybees. Initial findings suggest that five species of the wood-rotting fungi can reduce the honeybees’ viruses and increase their lifespans.
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October 9, 2015
From: Growing Produce
Posted By: David Eddy
EPA has registered a new biochemical miticide, Potassium Salts of Hops Beta Acids (K-HBAs), which is intended to provide another option for beekeepers to combat the devastating effects of the Varroa mite on honey bee colonies.
The product is also expected to avoid the development of resistance toward other products. Rotating products to combat Varroa mites is an important tactic to prevent resistance development and to maintain the usefulness of individual pesticides.
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October 9, 2015
From: EuropeanSeed
Georg Goeres
The seed industry speaks out on the ban of neonicotinoids seed treatments as the full impact of the ban is felt on EU crop production.
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October 7, 2015
Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from a discussion of Dr Ryabov’s research. The complete discussion is available here.
Introduction of the parasitic mite Varroa to the UK around 20 years ago had a major impact on honeybee health and beekeeping practice. Without regular control, Varroa levels rise significantly causing a decline in colony fitness and excessive winter losses. While feeding on honeybee ‘blood’ Varroa transmits viruses between bees. Previous studies by this team have shown that two of these viruses, Deformed Wing Virus (DWV) and Varroa Destructor Virus-1 (VDV-1), can combine to form a new sort of hybrid virus that current diagnostic methods cannot correctly identify.
From: Penn State College of Agricultural Science | Entomology
October 5, 2015
From: Georgia Farm Bureau
Georgia Farm Bureau recently submitted comments to the EPA regarding the agency’s “Proposal to Mitigate the Exposure to Bees from Acutely Toxic Pesticide Products.”
On May 29 the EPA published a proposed rule that would prohibit foliar application of pesticides that are acutely toxic to bees on fields where bee colonies are under contract for pollination services. The proposed rule included a list of 76 pesticides that would be subject to additional label restrictions.
In an Aug. 26 letter, GFB President Zippy Duvall urged the EPA to re-evaluate the proposed rule that “limits the relationship between beekeepers and producers while doing little to prevent pollinator decline.”
October 2, 2015
From: MemeBurn
By Mark Warren
As the growing network of smart, connected devices starts to change our world, scientists are increasingly looking to technology for new applications — often in the most unexpected spheres. With global bee populations already declining significantly and under new pressure from disease, an innovative technology-based solution could provide a new source of hope for bee farmers across the world. Called “MiteNot”, the technology is currently being trialled in America, with connectivity being provided by Gemalto’s machine-to-machine (M2M) module. Should trials prove effective, the solution might hold new hope for South Africa’s own bee populations – currently under threat from American Foul Brood Disease.
September 30, 2015
From: Western Farm Press
Researchers realize complexities of colony collapse disorder
Todd Fitchette
As answers remain forthcoming on the toxicity of neonicotinoids to pollinators a mix of scientists and regulators recognize the need for more university research into potential causes of bee deaths know more commonly as colony collapse disorder (CCD).
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Still others like Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology at UC Davis, and James Bethke, nurseries and floriculture farm advisor for the University of California Cooperative Extension, recognize that “bad science” exists, which remains “a big problem,” according to Parrella.
September 28, 2015
From: University of California
By Andy Murdock, UC Newsroom
You know them from the line across the kitchen counter and the swarm around your water faucet: Argentine ants. California sits atop a super-colony of these unwelcome houseguests, and new research suggests they may be doing more harm than previously suspected.
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“There’s no evidence that the dicistrovirus found in Argentine ants does anything negative, and the presence of DWV in Argentine ants is only suggestive at this point,” says Tsutsui.
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September 25, 2015
From: Oregon State University | College of Agricultural Science
Honey Bee Lab News
Hope all of you had a relatively successful bee year with strong hives and significant honey production, and have prepared your hives for successful overwintering. I just wanted to take this opportunity to alert / caution you about possibility of high mite populations in the colonies this year due to an unusually long bee season. As you all are aware we had a long bee season this year (at least in the Willamette Valley) as a result of warm weather that prevailed for almost more than 7 months. Longer brood cycle (abundance of larvae) usually results in higher mite populations, as the mites get a greater opportunity to breed and increase their populations relative to bees. Most of you might agree that this year was a year with longest brood cycle seen in the recent past (I have been in Oregon only for the past 6.5 years, so can’t go beyond that number). It has been reported that mite populations could increase exponentially (up to about 50 fold increase) in years when the brood is present in colonies almost round the year (Martin 1998).
September 22, 2015
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