Flowers are like dirty doorknobs: Spreading disease among bees
Thank you very much for allowing me an additional week to work on the many projects I have going on right now, including today’s story for the podcast. Never a dull moment here.
I promised you a story about flowers, pathogens and bees, and that’s exactly what I have to share with you today. I had the incredible good fortune of speaking with both Lynn Adler from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Laura Figueroa from Cornell University on the exact same day about the role flowers play in spreading disease among bees. It was like binge watching everything we currently know about this aspect of the bee-flower relationship.
The new episode will post by 5 pm EST today. Be sure to check it out!
The Bee Report podcast is available on all major podcasting platforms such as Apple and Stitcher. Thank you to everyone who has left a 5-star rating and a review of the podcast. If you haven’t yet, please do! These things help other people find the show, which means more and more people getting regularly connected to the world of bees!
Do you have tips, comments, questions or ideas for collaboration? Please send them to tbr@bymattkelly.com.
Addressing racism in our fields and in the field
It would be impossible to send out the newsletter this week without acknowledging the tragedy that’s currently gripping the United States. George Floyd being killed by Minneapolis police officers. Americans filling the streets to call for justice, equality and change. State and federal governments responding with militarized force – batons, tear gas, rubber bullets and armored vehicles. The systemic racism of our country is part of every conversation we’re having right now. Including conversations about science, entomology, ecology and just who gets to spend time out in the natural world.
I’d like to share a few of the sources that I’ve found helpful as I’ve been listening and learning over the past week. And please take a moment to read the poem by Audre Lorde at the end of this newsletter.
I know there are many other voices that we need to be paying attention to as well. So please feel free to let me know who those people are.
Twitter hashtags to follow
#BlackInNature #BlackInSTEM #DiversityInSTEM #BlackEcologists #BlackBirdersWeek
Being black while in nature: ‘You’re an endangered species’
(The Guardian) “This is a story beyond one person, a story beyond that park. It is a story writ large of who owns spaces, who has privileges to those spaces.”
Outdoor Afro: Where black people and nature meet
“Outdoor Afro has become the nation’s leading, cutting edge network that celebrates and inspires Black connections and leadership in nature. We help people take better care of themselves, our communities, and our planet! Outdoor Afro is a national non-profit organization with leadership networks around the country. With nearly 80 leaders in 30 states from around the country, we connect thousands of people to outdoor experiences, who are changing the face of conservation. So come out in nature with us, or be a partner to help us grow our work so that we can help lead the way for inclusion in outdoor recreation, nature, and conservation for all!”
“All of these events are a stark reminder that BLACK LIVES still don't matter in the United States. As Black Ecologists, we stand together with our brothers and sisters in condemning this senseless act of state violence.” The Black Ecologists are an organization that seeks to develop safe space for its members to address the many challenges that black ecologists face in academia. They have an established chapter in the Ecological Society of America.
Entomological Society statement: Why black lives matter to entomology
(Entomological Society of America) “The field of entomology has been immeasurably enriched by black scientists... But these scientists have faced numerous barriers, both historically and, sadly, through the present day... ESA will continue to seek out ways to support and facilitate the full participation of black scientists and other scientists of color in the entomological community and the scientific community as a whole. We work for a day when entomology will truly be a discipline for all, with no barriers to contribution or achievement.”
Xerces Society statement of solidarity for racial justice: We speak their names
(Xerces Society) “These deaths and the depth of inequality they represent work against our mission to make the world safer for the diversity of life: both the human and nonhuman communities that make up our one wild and beautiful earth. Conservation organizations, including our own, have an obligation to unequivocally condemn racism in all its forms and to work towards an equitable, livable future for all.”
Conservation
Hedging against biodiversity loss
(The Applied Ecologist) Hedgerows and road verges are important habitats across the globe. Hedgerows are ubiquitous around the world because of their historical use as livestock barriers, markings of land property, and wood production. Road verges cover an estimated 0.2 percent of the earth’s land surface – an area equivalent to the entire United Kingdom. New research is showing that the benefits of these habitats to both nature and people are numerous.
Policy/Law
Judge rejects Trump administration attempt to toss endangered species lawsuit
(The Hill) A federal judge has rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to dismiss a challenge to its rollback of endangered species protections, ruling late Monday that the 17-state lawsuit can proceed. The August rule significantly weakens protections under the landmark Endangered Species Act, allowing economic factors to be weighed before adding an animal to the list and limiting how aspects such as climate change can be considered in listing decisions.
Science
A call to refocus away from bowl traps and towards more effective methods of bee monitoring
(Annals of the Entomological Society of America) “Effective monitoring is necessary to provide robust detection of bee declines. In the United States and worldwide, bowl traps have been increasingly used to monitor native bees and purportedly detect declines. However, bowl traps have a suite of flaws that make them poorly equipped to monitor bees.”
Once is enough for long-term memory formation in bees
(The Scientist) French researchers have found that honey bees can remember reward-associated odors three days after a single learning experience. These results differ from the common understanding that insects need to repeat a training experience at least three times to form long-term memories.
Bees grooming each other can boost colony immunity
(EurekAlert/University College of London) A new study finds that honey bees that specialize in grooming their hive mates to ward off pests play a central role in the colony. These allogroomer bees also appear to have stronger immune systems, possibly enabling them to withstand their higher risk of infection.
One More Thing…
The Bees | by Audre Lorde
In the street outside a school
what the children learn
possesses them.
Little boys yell as they stone a flock of bees
trying to swarm
between the lunchroom window and an iron grate.
The boys sling furious rocks
smashing the windows.
The bees, buzzing their anger,
are slow to attack.
Then one boy is stung
into quicker destruction
and the school guards come
long wooden sticks held out before them
they advance upon the hive
beating the almost finished rooms of wax apart
mashing the new tunnels in
while fresh honey drips
down their broomsticks
and the little boy feet becoming expert
in destruction
trample the remaining and bewildered bees
into the earth.
Curious and apart
four little girls look on in fascination
learning a secret lesson
and trying to understand their own destruction.
One girl cries out
“Hey, the bees weren’t making any trouble!”
and she steps across the feebly buzzing ruins
to peer up at the empty, grated nook
“We could have studied honey-making!”