Tag: honeybees

Technology tracks ‘bee talk’ to help improve honey bee health.

April 17, 2020

Simon Fraser University graduate student Oldooz Pooyanfar is monitoring what more than 20,000 honeybees housed in hives in a Cloverdale field are “saying” to each other — looking for clues about their health. Pooyanfar’s technology is gleaning communication details from sound within the hives with her beehive monitoring system — technology she developed at SFU. … More Technology tracks ‘bee talk’ to help improve honey bee health.

Bee diversity and richness decline as anthropogenic activity increases, scientists confirm

March 24, 2019

Changes in land use negatively affect bee species richness and diversity, and cause major shifts in species composition, reports a recent study of native wild bees, conducted at the Sierra de Quila Flora and Fauna Protection Area and its influence zone in Mexico. Having registered a total of 14,054 individual bees representing 160 species, 52 … More Bee diversity and richness decline as anthropogenic activity increases, scientists confirm

Pesticides

Woolworths and Coles cave in to pressure to abandon product accused of killing bees

February 20, 2018

Coles and Woolworths are abandoning an insecticide product which contains a controversial ingredient that has been linked to harming bee populations essential for pollination, The New Daily can reveal. More than 30,000 Australians have signed a petition, launched by global consumer group SumOfUs, calling on Australian retailers to stop selling insecticides containing neonicotinoids, including Yates Confidor which has been … More Woolworths and Coles cave in to pressure to abandon product accused of killing bees

Bee decline threatens US crop production

January 23, 2018

First US wild bee map reveals 139 ‘trouble zone’ counties The first-ever study to map U.S. wild bees suggests they are disappearing in the country’s most important farmlands — from California’s Central Valley to the Midwest’s corn belt and the Mississippi River valley. A new study of wild bees identifies 139 counties in key agricultural … More Bee decline threatens US crop production

How honey bee gut bacteria help to digest their pollen-rich diet

December 23, 2017

he honey bee gut is colonized by specialized bacteria that help digest components of the floral pollen diet and produce molecules that likely promote bee health. In a study publishing 12 December in the open access journal PLOS Biology, a group of researchers led by Philipp Engel at the University of Lausanne and ETH Zürich, Switzerland, … More How honey bee gut bacteria help to digest their pollen-rich diet

Can Honeybees Monitor Pollution?

December 11, 2017

The tiny pollinators are useful sentinels of what’s going on in an ecosystem, and might just be environmentalists’ best asset. An apiarist tends to beehives at Hastings Urban Farm in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. (Courtesy M. Amini) By Rachel Kaufman It’s a sunny day, and Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighborhood is buzzing. Commuters are commuting, delivery trucks are delivering, … More Can Honeybees Monitor Pollution?

Laws of attraction: Pollinators use multiple cues to identify flowers across continents

December 3, 2017

Source: National Centre for Biological SciencesSummary:Although at least 75 percent of our crop species depend on animal pollinators, little is known about their flower preferences. As global insect populations decline, it is of utmost importance for us to understand what factors attract wild pollinators to flowers, and how these preferences differ in the face of … More Laws of attraction: Pollinators use multiple cues to identify flowers across continents

Varroa mites — bees’ archenemies — have genetic holes in their armor

August 21, 2017

Seemingly indestructible Varroa mites have decimated honeybee populations and are a primary cause of colony collapse disorder, or CCD. Scientists have found genetic holes in the pests’ armor that could potentially reduce or eliminate the marauding invaders. The team’s results have identified four genes critical for survival and two that directly affect reproduction. Michigan State … More Varroa mites — bees’ archenemies — have genetic holes in their armor