A bumble bee collects pollen from a flower in a garden near York, northern England. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis By Kate Kelland | LONDON Wild bees that forage from oilseed rape crops treated with insecticides known as neonicotinoids are more likely to undergo long-term population declines than bees that forage from other sources, according to the findings … More Long-term study links neonicotinoids to wild bee declines

When it comes to honey bees, more mates is better. A new study shows that genetic diversity is key to survival in honey bee colonies — meaning a colony is less likely to survive if its queen has had a limited number of mates. Bee colony survival is linked to the number of times a … More Genetic diversity key to survival of honey bee colonies

“Bees are dying off so quickly that scientists are now warning they could go extinct. That’s why we fought so hard to convince the French Parliament to ban bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides. But now corporate interests are doing everything they can to block the ban from going into effect. Already, more than 300,000 bee colonies have … More SumOfUs, an internationally recognized watchdog group, is sending out hundreds of thousands of emails warning of new, bee extinction issue.

Artist Wolfgang Buttress collaborated with a multidisciplinary team to create a giant, metallic hive By Marissa Fessenden Smithsonian.com   To reach artist Wolfgang Buttress‘s new sculpture, one must first walk through a field of wildflowers. From a distance, the installation seems to float above swaying blooms, like a gossamer cloud or a swarm of gnats. … More This Sculpture Is Controlled by Live Honeybees

by HoneyLover Susan Rudnicki The new Los Angeles Beekeeping Code has passed, legalizing backyard hives… and our intrepid and energetic founders Rob and Chelsea McFarlandthought up a great way to bring us all together and boost our learning about the world of the amazing honey bee! HoneyLove has stepped up and sponsored a roster of some … More Good News for American beekeepers!

In polluted environments, diesel fumes may be reducing the availability of almost half the most common flower odors that bees use to find their food, research has found. This is an electron scanning microscope image of a bee. Credit: Dr Robbie Girling The new findings suggest that toxic nitrous oxide (NOx) in diesel exhausts could … More Diesel fumes may be reducing flower odors which bees need to find food

Air pollutants interact with and break down plant-emitted scent molecules, which insect pollinators use to locate needed food, according to a team of researchers. The pollution-modified plant odors can confuse bees and, as a result, bees’ foraging time increases and pollination efficiency decreases. This happens because the chemical interactions decrease both the scent molecules’ life … More Bees’ ability to forage decreases as air pollution increases Air pollutants interact with and break down p