Rare Australian bee rediscovered. Regulators sue ethanol plant. Neonics threaten squash bees.
Conservation
(The Conversation) “It’s not often you get to cast your eyes on a creature feared to be long-gone. Perhaps that’s why my recent rediscovery of the native bee species Pharohylaeus lactiferus is so exciting — especially after it spent a century eluding researchers. But how did it stay out of sight for so long?”
Graveyards are surprising hots pots for biodiversity
(Scientific American) Researchers are just beginning to recognize the role of burial places as protectors of biodiversity. In 2015 scientists found rare orchids thriving in cemeteries in Turkey, and another team discovered a variety of medicinal plants in the graveyards of Bangladesh in 2008. And in Ukraine in 2014, ancient burial mounds were found to safeguard the last remnants of Europe’s dwindling steppe grasslands. In Illinois, cemeteries where early European colonists were buried are sustaining patches of endangered prairie vegetation, which has largely been wiped out by modern agricultural practices.
Birds, bees, butterflies have new home thanks to Tampa Housing Authority
(Fox 13) The Tampa Housing Authority paused construction in its Encore! District and enlisted the Butterfly Conservatory of Tampa Bay to install plants that would be more attractive to native pollinators and be more Florida friendly in the Tampa climate.
Santa Fe City Hall is abuzz over bees
(Santa Fe New Mexican) Santa Fe’s Quality of Life Committee endorsed a plan Wednesday to accept a resolution designating the city as a Bee City USA affiliate, which if approved by the full City Council would codify the city’s devotion to promoting healthy habitats for bees, butterflies, beetles and other pollinators.
Policy/Law
Nebraska regulators sue ethanol plant, citing pollution
(E&E News) State regulators filed a lawsuit accusing a Nebraska ethanol plant of repeatedly failing to comply with their orders to clean up wastewater and old, pesticide-laced seed corn. Unlike most ethanol plants that buy corn for processing, the AltEn plant uses surplus seeds that it receives at no cost. The seeds are often coated with agricultural chemicals, making their leftover residue unsuitable for use as an animal feed supplement. The director of the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy, said his agency doesn't believe the chemicals have migrated into the soil or groundwater in the town of Mead. Officials were testing the area to confirm that it is safe. However, testing of water in a ditch near the plant showed high levels of neonicotinoids.
Science, polling support renewed New York bill to save bees
(NRDC) New York Senator Brad Hoylman introduced new language for the Birds and Bees Protection Act (S699A), legislation that would prohibit the sale of certain neonicotinoid products, and require the Department of Environmental Conservation to review the latest scientific information concerning certain active ingredients.
Court tosses Trump EPA’s ‘secret science’ rule
(The Hill) A federal court has vacated the Trump administration’s “secret science” Environmental Protection Agency rule. Trump administration officials had billed it as a transparency measure and a way to combat “secret science”. Opponents warned that it could hamstring the use of major health studies that keep their data under wraps for legitimate reasons including privacy.
Interior Department reverses Trump policy that it says improperly restricted science
(The Hill) The Interior Department reversed a Trump policy that the Biden administration says “improperly restricted” the department’s use of science and data. Similar to what became known as the “secret science” rule at the EPA, a 2018 Interior Department order limited the agency’s use of studies that are not supported by publicly available data.
Science
Pesticide imidacloprid threatens future for key pollinator
(University of Guelph) This study of pesticide impacts on a ground-nesting bee in a real-world context found female hoary squash bees exposed to imidacloprid dug 85% fewer nests, collected less pollen from crop flowers and produced 89% fewer offspring than unexposed bees.
A diamond in the pumpkin patch
(Lopez-Uribe Lab) “We had found a mosaic gynandromorph, where male and female characters are patchily distributed throughout the body. These bees are very rare to find in the field and the mechanisms that lead to their development are not well known.”
Lab test rapidly IDs potential mite pest of honey bees
(Entomology Today) In North America and Europe, the mite Varroa destructor has been well-studied as a problem for the European honey bee. Over the past few decades, another variety of mites, those in the genus Tropilaelaps, have plagued bees in tropical and subtropical Asia, and have been moving out of their native range. A more precise identification is important because only two species have been shown to harm A. mellifera, while the Asian honey bees have developed relatively effective defenses to reduce severe infestations of Tropilaelaps, defenses that European honey bees lack.
Society/Culture
Ecology, conservation literature dominated by men and a handful of countries
(EurekAlert, CNRS) A team of two researchers has shown that the vast majority of scientific articles in the fields of ecology and conservation biology are authored by men working in a few Western countries.
One More Thing…
Two more contenders for best use of a popular meme for bee-related purposes.
From Sheila Colla, Ph.D @SaveWildBees via Twitter.
And from Charlotte de Keyzer @cwdekeyzer via Twitter.