Bees In The News
Since concern about widespread honey bee colony losses began 10 years ago, there have been surveys carried out to assess winter losses in North America and many European countries. So far, the picture in China, the largest beekeeping country in the world, has been unclear. Now for the first time, information about winter losses from a large-scale survey carried out from 2010-13 has been published.
Source: phys.org/news/2016-08-china-honey-bee-losses-west.html
via Beevangelist
Is Your Popcorn Killing Bees?
Orville Redenbacher’s, the biggest popcorn brand, refuses to join its competitors in ending the use of seeds coated with bee-killing neonics.
Source: www.alternet.org/food/orville-redenbachers-popcorn-made-seeds-coated-bee-killing-pesticides
New Zealand Features Honey Bee on World’s First Silver Hexagonal Coin with Resin Inclusion
Coin Update
via beevangelist.com
Neonicotinoid insecticides can serve as inadvertent insect contraceptives | Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences
There is clear evidence for sublethal effects of neonicotinoid insecticides on non-target ecosystem service-providing insects. However, their possible impact on male insect reproduction is currently unknown, despite the key role of sex. Here, we show that two neonicotinoids (4.5 ppb thiamethoxam and 1.5 ppb clothianidin) significantly reduce the reproductive capacity of male honeybees (drones), Apis mellifera. Drones were obtained from colonies exposed to the neonicotinoid insecticides or controls, and subsequently maintained in laboratory cages until they reached sexual maturity. While no significant effects were observed for male teneral (newly emerged adult) body mass and sperm quantity, the data clearly showed reduced drone lifespan, as well as reduced sperm viability (percentage living versus dead) and living sperm quantity by 39%. Our results demonstrate for the first time that neonicotinoid insecticides can negatively affect male insect reproductive capacity, and provide a possible mechanistic explanation for managed honeybee queen failure and wild insect pollinator decline. The widespread prophylactic use of neonicotinoids may have previously overlooked inadvertent contraceptive effects on non-target insects, thereby limiting conservation efforts.
Source: rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/283/1835/20160506
Deputies: Laurel Co. DUI crash led to bee attack
The car crash was bad enough, but investigators say it led to two people inside the vehicle being attacked by a swarm of bees from a disturbed hive.
Source: www.wkyt.com/content/news/Deputies-Laurel-Co-DUI-crash-led-to-bee-attack-388498402.html
Cardiff University launches scheme to find out
A British summer garden is not complete without the gentle sound of bees, buzzing among the flowers.
(via http://beevangelist.com )
Royal Jelly Isn’t What Makes a Queen Bee a Queen Bee
Everything we thought we knew about royal jelly is backward.
Source: www.wired.com/2015/09/royal-jelly-isnt-makes-queen-bee-queen-bee/
Plants have a complicated relationship with bees: They need the insects to spread their pollen, but—because pollen takes a lot of energy to make—flowers need to make sure each bee doesn’t take too much. Now, new research has shed light on how plants control how much pollen each bee extracts from them—taste, according to a study published today in the journal Biology Letters.
Sweet success: how bees choose which pollen to collect
Study shows that bees use the taste of pollen to tell
Source: www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/07/sweet-success-how-bees-choose-which-pollen-collect