From: FarmersWeekly
Adam Clarke
As growers and agronomists look ahead to growing oilseed rape without crucial insecticide seed treatments, they are told that pest control will be far from easy. Adam Clarke reports
Multiple pyrethroid sprays to control flea beetles and reliance on just one product for aphid control will be the short-term solution for oilseed rape growers after the neonicotinoid seed treatment ban.
That was the message from entomologist and crop protection expert Alan Dewar, who described the ban as “a scandal” and not based on scientific fact.
January 24, 2014
From: University Herald
By Scott Bickard, UniversityHerald Reporter
Could scientists one day be tasked to create robotic bees or devise some other solution to pollinate plants (a $14 billion industry)? The situation isn’t that desperate yet, but a virus born from pollen, spread to plants, and now found in bees is one big factor decimating honey bee colonies, the Los Angeles Times reported.
January 22, 2014
Editor’s Note: The article “Systemic Spread and Propagation of a Plant-Pathogenic Virus in European Honeybees Apis mellifera,” by Ji Lian Li, R. Scott Cornman, Jay D. Evans, Jeffery S. Pettis, Yan Zhao, Charles Murphy, Wen Jun Peng, Jie Wu, Humberto F. Boncristiani Jr., Liang Zhou, John Hammond abd Yan Ping Chen is attached here.
The study provides further evidence that a rush to judgement on the cause of bee health decline endangers bees by ignoring crucial ongoing research.
From: Los Angeles Times
By Geoffrey Mohan
January 21, 2014
Editor’s Note: The study “Impact of chronic exposure to a pyrethroid pesticide on bumblebees and interactions with a trypanosome,” by Gemma L. Baron, Nigel E. Raine and Mark J. F. Brown is available here. The authors note: “The vast majority of recent available data on the sublethal impacts of pesticides on bumblebees focuses on neonicotinoids, whilst other pesticide classes remain relatively understudied.”
To what extent has pyrethroid exposure been controlled for in studies of neonics?
From: University Herald
Worker Bees’ Size Shrinking Due to Pesticide Use, Study
By Stephen Adkins, UniversityHerald Reporter
January 20, 2014
Editor’s Note: The following article highlights the essential role of ongoing research in protecting pollinator health.
From: Smithsonian Magazine
David Roubik, who pioneered the field of tropical bee studies, says what will save them is a better understanding of their natural state
In a quiet neighborhood on the outskirts of Panama City, David Roubik, one of the world’s top bee experts, led me into a cramped workshop at the back of his one-story, red-roofed house, pried open a wooden chest filled with bees, and told me to stick my hand in.
January 17, 2014
From: Australian Broadcasting Corporation
By Ellen Coulter
Scientists in Tasmania are fitting thousands of honey bees with tiny sensors as part of a project aimed at understanding the insect’s behaviour and population decline.
CSIRO is working with the University of Tasmania, beekeepers and fruit growers to trial the monitoring technology, in an attempt to improve honey bee pollination and productivity.
They are fitting tiny sensors to the insects, a process which sometimes involves shaving them first.
“This has been done before,” CSIRO science leader Paulo de Souza said.
January 15, 2014
Editor’s Note: Europe needs neonicotinoids because bees fare worse in countries that ban the advanced pesticides. As discussed here, bee populations have sharply declined in France following a neonicotinoid ban and while bees are thriving in Ontario which allows neonics. Thus, it’s not surprising that beekeepers in the UK fear a ban on neonicotinoids.
From: MercoPress
Europe short of bees to pollinate crops, warns report from Reading university
Europe needs an extra seven billion bees to pollinate its crops, with Britain in the poor position of having less than a quarter of the honeybees it requires. The demand for insect pollination across Europe is outpacing the growth of honeybee colonies as farmers grow more oil-bearing crops like oilseed rape and sunflowers, and also fruit.
January 13, 2014
From: Pacific News Center
Guam – Dr. Ross Miller’s Entomology Lab at the University of Guam Western Pacific Tropical Research Center (WPTRC) has its antennae in a lot of hives with the first-ever survey of the island’s honeybee population.
Honeybee health in the U.S. mainland has been in decline for many years: mites, diseases, and environmental toxins have taken their toll on honeybee populations throughout the states. Funded by the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, this national survey will look to understand what viruses, mites, pests or other factors may be influencing honeybee health. With a clearer understanding of what is negatively impacting bee colonies, scientists are hoping to find efficient methods to mitigate this decline.
January 10, 2014
Editor’s Note: The article below discusses the importance of pollinator protection. Of particular importance, the article concludes by discussing EPA’s approach to regulating seed treatment technologies: “A lot of studies are underway and so far EPA has stuck with the science. But they are under a lot of political pressure to stop or restrict application ‘in case it could be the problem.’”
EPA officials deserve credit and recognition for their commitment to scientific integrity.
Below are excerpts from the pollinator protection article. Please read the complete article on the Southwest Farm Press website here.
From: Southwest Farm Press
January 8, 2014
Editor’s Note: Although the ill-defined term “colony collapse disorder” has become a popular buzz phrase, the article below makes clear it has little to do with the state of bee health.
From: AgriNews
Martha Blum, Field Editor
CHICAGO — Pollinators are facing a range of challenges.
“There are 20,000 plus species of bees,” said Iain Kelly, bee health issue manager for Bayer CropScience. “Honey bees are the most versatile — they will survive from the tip of South America up to Canada.”
January 7, 2014
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