Once the snow melts, bees will be back in business — pollinating, making honey and keeping busy doing bee things. For at least two urban bee species, that means making nests out of plastic waste. A new study reveals that some bees, including alfalfa leafcutting bees, use bits of plastic bags and plastic building materials … More Urban bees using plastic to build hives
Many beekeepers feed their honey bees sucrose or high-fructose corn syrup when times are lean inside the hive. This practice has come under scrutiny, however, in response to colony collapse disorder, the massive — and as yet not fully explained — annual die-off of honey bees in the U.S. and Europe. Some suspect that inadequate … More Scientists track gene activity when honey bees do and don’t eat honey: Significant differences depending on diet
Honeybees create honey in their hive through the topped-out combs, and they keep beebread — their food — in the other combs. Credit: © gudrin / Fotolia Honeybees — employed to pollinate crops during the blooming season — encounter danger due to lingering and wandering pesticides, according to a new Cornell University study that analyzed … More New data unearths pesticide peril in beehives
Exposure to neonicotinoid seed treated oilseed rape crops has been linked to long-term population decline of wild bee species across the English countryside, according to research by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, published in Nature Communications. The research, led by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology using data provided by Fera Science Ltd and … More Neonicotinoid insecticides linked to wild bee decline across England
Researchers from the University of Calgary studying data from 600 fields in 20 countries have found that managed honey bees are not as successful at pollinating crops as wild insects, primarily wild bees, suggesting the continuing loss of wild insects in many agricultural landscapes has negative consequences for crop harvests. Lawrence Harder, University of Calgary … More Loss of wild insects hurts crops around the world
Following Obama’s call for pollinator assessment, first-ever national bee map shows much farmland at risk The first national study to map US wild bees, from the University of Vermont, suggests they’re disappearing in many of the country’s most important farmlands. If losses of these pollinators continue, the new nationwide assessment indicates that farmers will face … More Wild bee decline threatens US crop production
Spelling more trouble for bees everywhere, the government of the United Kingdom has temporarily lifted the ban on a neocotinoid pesticide that has proven to be directly linked to their sharp decline in recent years. The ban was placed earlier by the European Union after studies clearly showed the pesticide caused significant harm to bees. The … More Spelling more trouble for the bees
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