Threats to Bees - Studies

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Lisbeth
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Threats to Bees - Studies

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30.08.2018 - AFP

Bumblebees acquire a taste for food laced with a pesticide known to harm them, according to a study suggesting the chemicals pose an even greater threat to pollinators than previously thought.

In experiments, researchers showed that bees initially put off by sugar water containing neonicotinoids – the most widely-used class of insecticide worldwide – soon started seeking them out to the exclusion of untainted food.

The findings were published on Wednesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Neonicotinoids, earlier research has shown, disrupt the ability of bees to reproduce and lower their resistance to disease.

Global bee populations are on the decline. And in Southwest China they have become so rare that fruit plantations are no longer being pollinated. Farmers are now doing it themselves.

"At first, it appeared that the bees did avoid the food containing the pesticide," said lead author Andres Arce, a researcher at Imperial College London.

"However, as individual bees increasingly experience the treated food they develop a preference for it."

Even when the position of their feeders was switched, the pollinators made a beeline for the one laced with insecticide.

Declining health

Neonicotinoids target nerve receptors in insects much in the way nicotine – the addictive ingredient in tobacco – does in humans and other mammals.

"Our findings... tick certain symptoms of addictive behaviour, which is intriguing given the addictive properties of nicotine on humans," said lead researcher Richard Gill, also from Imperial.

Unlike contact pesticides, which remain on the plant surface, neonicotinoids are absorbed by seeds and transported to leaves, flowers, roots, and stems as the plant grows.

Several countries have banned forms of the insecticide, mainly due to its impact on Nature's little helpers.

In the European Union, three neonicotinoid-based products will be off-limits in open fields starting on December 19. France has banned five chemical variants starting Saturday.

Canada recently announced it would phase out two neonicotinoids used on canola, corn, and soybean crops.

Widely used over the last two decades, neonicotinoids were designed to control sap-feeding insects such as aphids and root-feeding grubs.

In recent years, fears have been growing over the declining health of bees globally, and the possible role of neonicotinoids.

Pesticides have been blamed as a cause of colony collapse disorder, along with mites, viruses, and fungi, or some combination.

The United Nations warned last year that 40% of invertebrate pollinators – particularly bees and butterflies – risk global extinction.


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Re: Bees get hooked on harmful pesticide - study

Post by RogerFraser »

Amazing how they only find this out now after they been using it for decades .If it has such an effect on small insects one wonders how much human safety trials were actually done on any of these chemicals and how thorough those were O-/


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Re: Bees get hooked on harmful pesticide - study

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We cannot do without the bees! If they disappear so will we O**

The control of the pesticides is not serious enough, especially in the US. There are too many damaging poisons around (both for humans and animals) :evil:


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Re: Bees get hooked on harmful pesticide - study

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Lisbeth wrote: Thu Aug 30, 2018 10:14 am 30.08.2018 - AFP
Neonicotinoids target nerve receptors in insects much in the way nicotine – the addictive ingredient in tobacco – does in humans and other mammals.

"Our findings... tick certain symptoms of addictive behaviour, which is intriguing given the addictive properties of nicotine on humans," said lead researcher Richard Gill, also from Imperial.

Unlike contact pesticides, which remain on the plant surface, neonicotinoids are absorbed by seeds and transported to leaves, flowers, roots, and stems as the plant grows.
.
Hmmm...... and Nicotine spray is probably the pesticide most preferred and used in the organic growing of fruit and veggies O**


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Re: Bees get hooked on harmful pesticide - study

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:shock:

Nicotine addiction! (0!) 0= @#$


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Spying on bees reveals pesticides impair social behaviour

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2018-11-09 14:05 AFP

A new study that allowed humans to spy on bumblebees inside their nests showed that pesticides can impair social behaviour, making it hard for bees to eat and rear their young, researchers said on Thursday.

Previous research has shown that the common class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids can harm bees' ability to forage outside the nest.

The latest findings add to long-standing concerns about these important pollinators' health.

Researchers tracked the changes in bees' behaviour by placing cameras inside 12 specially made boxes that contained one chamber for a nest and another chamber for foraging.

Some bees were exposed to concentrations of the neonicotinoid imidacloprid similar to that expected in the environment. Others were not.

They found the pesticide-exposed bees were less social in a variety of ways than control bees placed in similar boxes but not fed nectar that contained neonicotinoids.

"Exposure to the neurotoxic pesticide resulted in measurable changes in worker bee behaviour within the nest," said the report in the journal Science.

"The workers were less active, less likely to feed and care for larvae, and more likely to be found towards the periphery of the nest."

The effects were particularly noticeable at night.

"Bees actually have a very strong circadian rhythm," said lead author James Crall, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University.

"So what we found was that, during the day, there was no statistically observable effect, but at night, we could see that they were crashing."

Experiments also showed that pesticide exposure made it more difficult for bees to regulate their body temperature, and to build a protective wax cap over the colony.

"Almost all of our control colonies built that cap," Crall said.

"And it seems to be totally wiped out in the pesticide-exposed colonies, so they lose this capacity to do this functional restructuring of the nest."

Researchers said their findings add to mounting evidence of the harm posed by neonicotinoid pesticides.

The European Union has voted to outlaw the use of three neonicotinoids – clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam – in crop fields.

France has gone even further and banned these three neonicotinoids plus thiacloprid and acetamiprid, both outdoors and in greenhouses.

In recent years, bees have been mysteriously dying off from "colony collapse disorder", blamed partly on pesticides as well as mites, viruses, and fungi.

The United Nations has warned that 40% of the planet's insect pollinators, particularly bees and butterflies, risk global extinction, which would have serious implications for food production and ecosystem health.


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Re: Bees get hooked on harmful pesticide - study

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German state to accept environmentalists' bee-saving plan

2019-04-04 21:39 -AP

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The German state of Bavaria is set to accept in large part a plan by environmentalists to save bees and protect biodiversity, averting a referendum on the issue.

In February, backers of the plan collected nearly 1.75 million signatures, over 18% of the region's electorate and enough to force a vote. It would set aside more space to protect imperilled insects and banish many pesticides from a third of Bavaria's agricultural land.

Leaders of Bavaria's two governing parties — both traditional allies of farmers, who have criticised the proposal — said on Wednesday that they would back the plan in the state legislature. But news agency dpa reported that they said some aspects would be clarified and there would be payments to farmers to cushion the impact.


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Re: Bees - Studies

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Wild bee species critical to pollination on the decline

2019-04-19 22:54 - AP

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Photo. (Getty images/Gallo images)

More than a dozen wild bee species critical to pollinising everything from blueberries to apples in New England are on the decline, according to a new study.

Researchers from the University of New Hampshire wanted to understand if the documented declines hitting honeybees and bumblebees were also taking a toll on the lesser studied bee species in New Hampshire.

So, they examined 119 species in the state from a museum collection at the college dating back 125 years. Writing in the peer-reviewed journal Insect and Conservation Diversity this month, Sandra Rehan and Minna Mathiasson concluded 14 species found across New England were on the decline by as much as 90%. Several of them are leafcutter and mining bees, which unlike honeybees, nest in the ground.

"We know that wild bees are greatly at risk and not doing well worldwide," Rehan, assistant professor of biological sciences and the senior author on the study, said in a statement. "This status assessment of wild bees shines a light on the exact species in decline, beside the well-documented bumble bees. Because these species are major players in crop pollination, it raises concerns about compromising the production of key crops and the food supply in general."

Bees have been on the decline for more than a decade across the globe and scientists have blame a range of factors including insecticides called neonicotinoids, parasites, disease, climate change and lack of a diverse food supply. Bees are critical pollinators and about a third of the human diet comes from plants that are pollinated by insects.

Jeff Lozier, a bee expert from the University of Alabama who did not take part in the research, called the study "interesting" and said the findings are critical step in expanding research into lesser known species of bees. He did, however, caution that researches only studied bees in New Hampshire and depended upon bees in museum that were not collected "for the purpose of large scale population surveys".

"The most important use of the data in my view is in providing a baseline set of hypotheses for groups of species that are potentially declining or stable across a much greater set of species than is usually examined, which can then be investigated in more detail to determine why they may be changing," Lozier said in an email interview. "This study doesn't really determine the why quite yet, but gives us a reference point for further study."

Rehan said she was hopeful the study would inspire other researchers to take a closer look at these rarely studied bee species including understanding why they are declining. While the museum collection couldn't pinpoint whether possible causes such as urban development or pesticides are behind a drop in their numbers, it did hint a one possible cause: Climate change.

The study found that half of those bees on decline were now more prevalent at higher elevations like the White Mountains than in southern areas near sea level like the coastal areas of New Hampshire. As they shift northward, some of the species may not have the access to the same kinds of flowers and plants.

"They have nowhere else to go. That is the biggest concern," Rehan said.

As for saving these species, Rehan said some clues could come from wild bees that are faring better. Eight species studied from the collection have seen their numbers increasing in New Hampshire. Researchers could use the success of these wild bees to develop management strategies for those faring worse, Rehan said.

"They are not all declining and that is important to point out," she said. "It's not so hopeless. There are some bees still faring well. We still have to do better by the bees but some bees are doing OK."


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Re: Bees - Studies

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SA's honey bees under threat


The insects play an essential part in pollinating various food sources, but they are under threat. Courtesy #DStv403

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's honey bees are being targeted by criminals.

The insects play an essential part in pollinating various food sources, but they are under threat.

Beekeepers have raised concerns about the growing number of plundered hives and unregistered bee removals.

Lack of pollen, poison, extreme weather conditions and urban development continue to threaten bee populations.

And in South Africa, they face an additional challenge.



Criminals have been plundering hives in search of their most prized product, honey.

"People do not leave the hives alone, they break, rob and destroy them. So in South Africa, that is a big challenge for us. You can't put down hives anywhere, because the people will rob them," said Hannes Grobler, Bee Ware.

This mutual coexistence is also under pressure from unregistered bee removals.

"People go around and say they remove them, but they actually kill them. So there is not proper removal taking place," said Grobler.

Pollination by bees is essential to agricultural food production.

So protecting the honey bees is key, not only for their survival but also for our own.

https://www.enca.com/news/sas-honey-bees-under-threat


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Re: Bees - Studies

Post by Lisbeth »

This is a disaster 0= Stupid people 0-


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