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John Hafernik, a biology professor at San Francisco State University, had collected some belly-up bees from the ground underneath lights around the Universitys biology building. But being an absent-minded professor, he noted in a prepared statement, I left them in a vial on my desk and forgot about them. He soon got a shock. The next time I looked at the vial, there were all these fly pupae surrounding the bees, he said. A fly (Apocephalus borealis) had inserted its eggs into the bees, using their bodies as a home for its developing larvae. And the invaders had somehow led the bees from their hives to their deaths. A detailed description of the newly documented relationship was published online Tuesday in PLoS ONE.
Zombie bees!!!
At last a reason for bee colony collapse disorder may have been found.
Zombie Fly Parasite Killing Honeybees | Observations, Scientific American Blog Network
Zombie bees!!!
At last a reason for bee colony collapse disorder may have been found.
John Hafernik, a biology professor at San Francisco State University, had collected some belly-up bees from the ground underneath lights around the Universitys biology building. But being an absent-minded professor, he noted in a prepared statement, I left them in a vial on my desk and forgot about them. He soon got a shock. The next time I looked at the vial, there were all these fly pupae surrounding the bees, he said. A fly (Apocephalus borealis) had inserted its eggs into the bees, using their bodies as a home for its developing larvae. And the invaders had somehow led the bees from their hives to their deaths. A detailed description of the newly documented relationship was published online Tuesday in PLoS ONE.
Zombie Fly Parasite Killing Honeybees | Observations, Scientific American Blog Network
This dude really is an absent-minded nutty professor. It is more likely that flies laid eggs on the bees after they died & were lying on the ground. He needs to capture live bees & see if the same thing happens.
Zombie bees!!!
At last a reason for bee colony collapse disorder may have been found.
Zombie Fly Parasite Killing Honeybees | Observations, Scientific American Blog Network
Where? Iowa?
Zombie bees!!!
At last a reason for bee colony collapse disorder may have been found.
Zombie Fly Parasite Killing Honeybees | Observations, Scientific American Blog Network
Where? Iowa?
Colony collapse has been a huge issue all over the world. We all rely on honeybees for pollination.
The professor (and the bees) are from SF state.
Zombie bees!!!
At last a reason for bee colony collapse disorder may have been found.
John Hafernik, a biology professor at San Francisco State University, had collected some belly-up bees from the ground underneath lights around the Universitys biology building. But being an absent-minded professor, he noted in a prepared statement, I left them in a vial on my desk and forgot about them. He soon got a shock. The next time I looked at the vial, there were all these fly pupae surrounding the bees, he said. A fly (Apocephalus borealis) had inserted its eggs into the bees, using their bodies as a home for its developing larvae. And the invaders had somehow led the bees from their hives to their deaths. A detailed description of the newly documented relationship was published online Tuesday in PLoS ONE.
Zombie Fly Parasite Killing Honeybees | Observations, Scientific American Blog Network
Zombie bees!!!
At last a reason for bee colony collapse disorder may have been found.
John Hafernik, a biology professor at San Francisco State University, had collected some belly-up bees from the ground underneath lights around the Universitys biology building. But being an absent-minded professor, he noted in a prepared statement, I left them in a vial on my desk and forgot about them. He soon got a shock. The next time I looked at the vial, there were all these fly pupae surrounding the bees, he said. A fly (Apocephalus borealis) had inserted its eggs into the bees, using their bodies as a home for its developing larvae. And the invaders had somehow led the bees from their hives to their deaths. A detailed description of the newly documented relationship was published online Tuesday in PLoS ONE.
Zombie Fly Parasite Killing Honeybees | Observations, Scientific American Blog Network
Read the article. Hope they can find a way to control this pest. Major problem for our agriculture if they cannot.
Thank you for the article.
Might explain Rdean and Truthmatters.
There is great concern across Europe about the collapse of bee populations. Neonicotinoid chemicals in pesticides are believed to harm bees and the European Commission says they should be restricted to crops not attractive to bees and other pollinators. But many farmers and crop experts argue that there is insufficient data. Fifteen countries voted in favour of a ban - not enough to form a qualified majority. According to EU rules the Commission will now have the option to impose a two-year restriction on neonicotinoids - and the UK cannot opt out. The Commission says it wants the moratorium to begin no later than 1 December this year.
The UK did not support a ban - it argues that the science behind the proposal is inconclusive. It was among eight countries that voted against, while four abstained. Wild species such as honey bees are said by researchers to be responsible for pollinating around one-third of the world's crop production. There is heated debate about what has triggered the widespread decline in bee populations. Besides chemicals, many experts point to the parasitic varroa mite, viruses that attack bees and neglect of hives.
After Monday's vote the EU Health Commissioner, Tonio Borg, said "the Commission will go ahead with its text in the coming weeks". "I pledge to do my utmost to ensure that our bees, which are so vital to our ecosystem and contribute over 22bn euros (£18.5bn; $29bn) annually to European agriculture, are protected." Greenpeace EU agriculture policy director Marco Contiero said Monday's vote "makes it crystal clear that there is overwhelming scientific, political and public support for a ban. "Those countries opposing a ban have failed."
An EU vote last month was inconclusive, so the Commission proposal went to an appeals committee on Monday - and again the countries were split on the issue. Some restrictions are already in place for neonicotinoids in France, Germany, Italy and Slovenia. The three neonicotinoids are clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiametoxam. A report published by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) in January concluded that the pesticides posed a "high acute risk" to pollinators, including honeybees. However, it added that in some cases it was "unable to finalise the assessments due to shortcomings in the available data".
Intensive lobbying
Neonicotinoid chemicals are usually applied to seeds, entering every part of a growing plant so all of it becomes poisonous to threats like beetles and aphids. And they are widely used around the world - In the US it's estimated that 94% of corn seed is treated with these chemicals. Given their prevalence in farming it is little wonder that scientists have sought to establish if they have played a role in the decline of bee populations widely seen around the world over the last 10 years.
But the studies carried out to date have not reached a clear conclusion on the impacts of neonicotinoid chemicals. Some have shown significant effects. Others have not. "We're not making this stuff up, we have reason to think this is a problem," Dr Geraldine Wright from Newcastle University told BBC News. "I think there is an effect of neonicotinoids and I think that based on research I've done in my own lab. Before that I was fairly doubtful, but I do actually think there is an influence." There are far more research papers that show an effect than don't, says Dr Wright. However, Dr Julian Little from Bayer in the UK draws a big distinction between studies conducted in the laboratory and those carried out in the field. "We have never argued about the science, what we have been upset about is how that research has been put into policy. Because when you repeat it with real bees, real colonies in real fields, you don't see any effect."
Research into the impacts of nenicotinoid chemicals on bees has been inconclusive say some researchers
But Dr Wright says it is wrong to dismiss the research carried out in the laboratory. She says the work is done there precisely because it is possible to control the variables such as the doses of the chemicals the animals are exposed to, and thereby establish cause and effect. "I think it is incorrect to outright dismiss the work that has been done in the lab on neonicotinoids because it is clearly indicative there is an effect of these pesticides on the bees brain, their behaviour, and I have unpublished data which shows a strong effect on their physiology - the effect we saw we didn't expect and its quite a strong effect." Dr Wright says that the ban is justified. While the field studies might be unclear, the chemicals do have subtle effects on bees, she says. "If you feed this stuff to honeybees and you give them a measured dose, they don't just curl up and die, their behaviour changes subtly. They are dependant on their abilities to learn and remember things in order to find food. If the workers can't do that they are not as efficient and that's a problem for the whole colony."
Bayer believes that the a ban on neonicotinoids will not improve the health of bees. Dr Julian Little says that politicians are drawing the wrong conclusions from the research that has been carried out. "We have two controls for all of this. One is France; we've had massive restrictions on these products for over 10 years, have we seen any improvement in bee health? No. "The other control is Australia where neonicotinoids are used in exactly the same way as in the UK, same formula same crops and they have the healthiest bees on the planet. The difference there is they don't have varroa." Varroa is a parasitic mite that has also played a role in the decline of bees over the past decade. They help spread a range of viral infections that are lethal to the animals. "The varroa mite is key," says Dr Little.
More http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22339191
Might explain Rdean and Truthmatters.
Bee populations, both wild and captive, are in decline in Europe, the Americas and Asia for reasons scientists are struggling to understand, with industrial pesticides among the suspected culprits. Last year, scientists said certain pesticides used to protect crops or bee hives can scramble the brain circuits of honeybees, affecting memory and navigation skills they need to find food, placing entire hives under threat. The EU has since placed a temporary ban on some of these chemicals.
VENOM AND PROTEIN
Now a team led by Newcastle University in England found that a biopesticide made with a toxin from Australian funnel web spider venom and a protein from the snowdrop plant is bee-friendly. Feeding acute and chronic doses to honeybees, beyond the levels they would ever experience in the field... had only a very slight effect on the bees survival and no measurable effect at all on their learning and memory, a university statement said.
Neither adult bees nor larvae were affected, said the study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The biopesticide was previously showed not to be harmful to humans, despite being highly toxic to a number of key pests. Bees account for 80 percent of plant pollination by insects. Without them, many crops would be unable to bear fruit or would have to be pollinated by hand.
POLLINATORS
The Food and Agricultural Organization says that pollinators contribute to at least 70 percent of the major human food crops. The economic value of pollination services was estimated at 153 billion euros (US$208 billion) in 2005. There isnt going to be one silver bullet, study coauthor Angharad Gatehouse said. What we need is an integrated pest management strategy, and insect-specific pesticides will be just one part of that, Gatehouse said.
Australian spider?s venom might save the bees: research - Taipei Times
Damian Magista, a specialist on honeybees and the founder of Bee Local, who recently returned from a trip to Cambodia, told VOA Khmer that he is concerned about a decline in the honeybee population. Bees are "losing ground," with the decline of ecological diversity and the continuation of traditional honey hunting practices, which can wipe out entire colonies, he said. Magista, whose company is based in Portland, Oregon, spent about two weeks in Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey provinces trying to learn more about Cambodian honeybees.
Bees are "losing ground," one specialist warns.
Cambodia has two species, Apis dorsata and Apis florea, which are found mostly in Southeast Asia. The dorsata species, or giant honeybee, can produce a honeycomb up to three meters long. "We don't see them here in the U.S., obviously," Magista said. "You don't find them in a lot of places. If we lose them, we'll be losing out on a lot."
Bees’ benefits, honey’s demand
The bees themselves are also beneficial, he explained, because their combs and honey are rich sources of food, and their wax is used in pagodas and places without electricity. But a reduction in bees means a dwindling of a culture of beekeeping and bee products, he added. "Because the bees are dying out, that culture is slowly dying, as well." Despite the decline, Magista said there's still a market for Cambodian honey, but it will require five- to 10-year programs in order to "have a group of folks teach them beekeeping techniques and provide the support and infrastructure."
Cambodian honey could be sold for as much as $10 per kilogram, more than similar honey from Thailand or Vietnam, according to a USAID assessment. Some non-governmental organizations are dedicated exclusively to helping with beekeeping, such as the Angkor Center for the Conservation of Biodiversity in Siem Reap, and private-sector promotion projects in Pursat province. A New Zealand-supported project in 2013 exported its first 500 liters of honey to Japan.
Decline of Cambodia's Honeybees Raises Concerns
