Monarchs rebound but still below historic population. Stingless bee colonies have to kill thousands of wannabe queens. But also: How can queen bees live so long?
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Conservation
Photo: Lisa Damerel
Western monarchs rebound but still below historic population
(AP) The number of Western monarch butterflies overwintering in California rebounded to more than 247,000 a year after fewer than 2,000 appeared, but the tally remained far below the millions that were seen in the 1980s, leaders of an annual count said. The Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count revealed the highest number of butterflies in five years but it is still less than 5% of the 1980s population.
Secret site of chequered skipper butterfly’s English revival revealed
(The Guardian) Nature lovers will be able to enjoy the high-speed flight of the chequered skipper butterfly in an English woodland for the first time in more than 45 years this summer. Such is the success of a four-year reintroduction program to return the rare insect to the woods of Northamptonshire, where it fell extinct in 1977, that its secret site can be revealed to the public.
This new map shows where nature is, in fact, healing
(Vox) In an age of extinction and climate change, you don’t often hear about success stories. But late last year an ecologist at ETH Zurich launched Restor, a mapping tool that shows where in the world people are doing effective restoration and conservation of ecosystems. Restor joins a trove of new environmental initiatives that focus on ecological “wins.”
Economics
Photo: Rachel McLaughlin, Penn State
Scientists identify bee that can aid black cherry recovery
(Penn State) A ground-nesting bee family – commonly known as miner bees – could play a heightened role in rebuilding black cherry populations in Pennsylvania and beyond, according to entomologists who investigated pollinators’ contributions to the valuable hardwood species. Black cherry historically has been one of the more premier commercial hardwoods. Yet, fewer seedlings and saplings have been reported growing in the last 20 years. Given that black cherry is insect-pollinated and unable to produce viable seed from self-pollination, a reduction in seed crops could be due to a pollination deficit.
Policy/Law
Photo: Mick Fournier, Wikimedia Commons
US protection sought for threatened Florida ghost orchid
(AP) The rare ghost orchid faces mounting threats in Florida from poaching, loss of habitat and climate change and needs federal protection, environmental groups said Monday. A petition filed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asks that the orchid be placed under the Endangered Species Act and that its habitat in southern Florida be officially designated as critical to its recovery.
Science
Photo: Jorge Ramirez Pech
Some bee colonies have to kill thousands of ‘selfish’ wannabe queens
(New Scientist) About one-fifth of all Melipona beecheii stingless bee larvae start to develop as queens, but the colony accepts only one. The rest are attacked by strong-jawed workers within seconds of emerging from their cells. Biologists suspected that colonies of this species overproduce queens as a clever evolutionary strategy to take over other hives. But it now seems that it’s simply a result of the “selfishness” of individual larvae – to the detriment of the whole colony. “People think there is a design in evolution, but in this case the bees are just making the best of a bad situation. The colony is spending a lot of resources to produce new individuals, and then all they can do afterwards is waste those resources and kill the queens.”
How can bee, ant and termite queens live so long?
(Knowable Magazine) Small animals don’t usually grow very old. Since they’re always at risk of becoming another critter’s quick snack, the best way to ensure that their genes will make it into the next generation is having a bunch of young as soon as possible. This is certainly true for insects, which often have a life expectancy best expressed in days, weeks, or months. In contrast, animals like elephants and humans raise only a few offspring and have bodies that survive for decades: If your size or lifestyle offers protection, you can afford to take your time. This contrasting pattern is so common it suggests that because reproduction and maintenance are both costly, animals simply can’t maximize both. Yet in social insects such as termites, ants, bees, and wasps, the queens appear to have found a way to have their cake and eat it.
Balanced diet can mitigate negative impact of pests for bumble bees
(ScienceDaily, University of Göttingen) Bumble bees are important pollinators because they pollinate many different plant species and are extremely resilient. They can still manage to fly at temperatures that are too cold for other pollinators. Like many other insects, they are in sharp decline. This makes it even more important to find out what bumble bees need to reproduce successfully. A team has shown that a diverse landscape and a diverse pollen diet, which the bumble bees collect as a protein source to nourish their offspring, play a significant role in this. A more diverse diet could even mitigate negative effects of infestation with parasitic wax moth larvae.
Brain composition and scaling in social bee species differing in body size
(Twitter, Lars Chittka @LChittka) “Ha, I always knew it! Bumblebees are smarter than honeybees ;-) ‘the mushroom bodies are larger and comprise more intrinsic neurons in bumblebees than in honeybees’” Original paper
Honey bees and their honey could be a big help in solving police cases
(Phys.org, George Mason University) Teams from a number of different fields are working on an ambitious project to see if the honey produced by bees after feeding on flowers can help them better locate missing persons.
Transparency in butterflies, from A-Z: It’s more of a superpower than we thought
(ScienceDaily, Marine Biological Laboratory) Like invisibility in legends, transparency in nature is a powerful tool. Most transparent animals live in the ocean, where a close visual match with the water renders them almost invisible to predators. On land, transparency is rare and difficult to achieve, but some butterflies and moths do have transparent wings. And a new study indicates transparency can serve not only to camouflage them, but in other cases to signal and warn predators, “Don’t eat me! I’m toxic.”
Society/Culture
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
From rock carvings to rock music: The prevalence of bees in art throughout human history
(The Conversation) With a looming biodiversity crisis and concerns over food security and sustainability, the importance of bees in our society as pollinators and honey producers appears to have led to their increased popularity in many artistic endeavors, such as film, social media, gaming and contemporary art. But bees have been depicted in carvings, jewellery, coins, songs, tools and sculptures for thousands of years. One of the first known depictions of bees is in the form of rock art from 8000 BCE in the Spider Caves (Cuevas de la araña) in Spain.
Technology
Photo: Xerces Society, Stephanie McKnight
Xerces introduces new searchable systemic insecticides reference
(Xerces Society) Systemic insecticides can render some or all of a plant toxic to insects that feed on plant tissue and are commonly used to suppress herbivorous sucking or chewing insects like aphids, caterpillars, and root nematodes. Unfortunately, systemic insecticides also harm beneficial insects. A new webpage from the Xerces Society allows you to look up information about specific systemic insecticides. There you will find more details about these insecticides, including use sites, degree of toxicity to bees, persistence, and predicted strength of systemic activity. You can also download the full table, sorting through the information presented for all the insecticides.
One More Thing…
Beware of people stealing your awesome bee photos. “Looks like they lifted a bunch of images from @BeesBackyard.” From Zach Portman @zachportman via Twitter.