Taiwanese freeway lane closed for butterfly migration. Evolution of flowers helped boost diversity of sounds on Earth. ‘Mini-meadows’ can be rich habitats for pollinators.
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Conservation
Photo: CNA
Taiwanese freeway lane closed for butterfly migration
(Focus Taiwan) The outer lane and shoulder on a northbound freeway in southern Taiwan were closed for several hours to protect large swarms of purple crow butterflies heading north as part of their seasonal migration, according to a butterfly preservation association.
Managing pollinator habitat: Reducing invasive mantids at Brooklyn Bridge Park
(Ecological Landscape Alliance) While many insects often go unnoticed, one group never fails to attract attention. Large, charismatic and bold, praying mantids are ferocious micropredators that delight anyone who stumbles across them. They have been touted as a gardener’s best friend, willing to dispatch any troublesome pest with their unrelenting appetite for other insects. However, the insects that mantids devour in our gardens are not exclusively horticultural pests but also other beneficial insects and species with declining populations – including those we are trying desperately to conserve.
California seeks volunteers to track imperiled bumble bees
(Xerces Society) With pollinator populations declining and facing increasing threats, a new initiative has been launched to better understand and protect California’s imperiled bumble bees. Spearheaded by a partnership between the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, the new California Bumble Bee Atlas will enlist the assistance of trained volunteers to collect information around the state on bumble bee species diversity and habitat use. California is home to 25 species of bumble bees, including both widespread, common species and some restricted to specific habitat types. A quarter of these species now face extinction and the current distributions of many of the others are poorly understood.
Photo: John Greim, LightRocket, Getty Images
Evolution of flowers helped boost the diversity of sounds on our planet
(Vox) Earth is a noisy place: crickets trill, birds chirp, wolves howl, whales sing their low, mournful-sounding songs – and, of course, all the human-made sounds. But for most of our planet’s history, they didn’t exist. “For 3 billion years, life was nearly silent, its sounds confined to the tremors of cell walls and the eddies around simple animals. At first, sound on Earth was only of stone, water, lightning, and wind.” In his new book, Sounds Wild and Broken: Sonic Marvels, Evolution’s Creativity, and the Crisis of Sensory Extinction, David George Haskell draws a connection between the evolution of flowers and the evolution of sounds – that an increasing diversity of habitat for pollinators and insects led to an increasing diversity of the sounds filling the world.
Researchers ID sex pheromone of invasive giant hornet
(ScienceDaily, University of California – San Diego) Scientists have developed a method for tracking the Asian giant “murder” hornet’s presence and possibly accelerating its removal. The researchers identified the major components of the Asian giant hornet queen’s sex pheromone, an achievement that could be used as bait to trap and track the insects.
Economics
Photo: Steve Fuller
Australian floods kill millions of bees, apiarists warn of effects to horticulture industry
(ABC News) The NSW Apiarists’ Association (NSWAA) estimates up to 5,000 beehives have been lost in the floods.
(The Western Producer) Honey bees have a reputation for hard work, but not all their activity is honest work. When food is needed, some bees will invade another hive and steal whatever is available. In the world of beekeeping, they are known as robber bees. If robber bees steal too much honey from a particular hive, that colony of bees can fail. A larger problem for beekeepers is that robber bees can also spread disease and pests from hive to hive. This includes the spread of varroa mites and genetic resistance to miticides.
Policy/Law
Photo: Gerald Herbert, AP Photo
White House starts key ESA ‘critical habitat’ review
(E&E News) The Fish and Wildlife Service recently stepped closer toward erasing a Trump administration rule that crimped the Endangered Species Act’s definition of “critical habitat”. Records show the federal agency, along with NOAA Fisheries, submitted a long-awaited ESA rule for final White House review. “The Endangered Species Act has saved hundreds of irreplaceable plants and animals from extinction, but it could be doing so much more good.”
UN gathering gears up for push to save planet’s biodiversity
(AP) Nearly all the world’s countries kicked off a recent U.N.-backed meeting aimed at preventing the loss of biodiversity. The two-week meeting of over 190 countries on the Convention on Biological Diversity will be the last gathering of its kind before a major conference in the coming months in Kunming, China, that will try to adopt an international agreement on protecting biodiversity. “We have this one goal, which is to bend the curve on biodiversity loss and really to build that shared future to live in harmony with nature in the long term.”
Science
Photo: Pixaline, Pixabay
Researchers show that even ‘mini-meadows’ can be rich habitats for pollinators
(Wilder, translated from original Portuguese) For many people, lack of space is often the main reason for not creating wildlife-friendly habitats in their gardens. But a team of researchers, with the help of citizen scientists across the U.K., have shown that even a space of just four square meters of wildflowers is enough to provide a rich habitat for pollinators and to support biodiversity.
First record of little-known bee in Vietnam
(Twitter, Hymenoptera Journal @HymenopteraJour) “This #NewSpecies beelonging to the little-known #bee genus Bathanthidium of the family Megachilidae is also the first record of this genus from Vietnam.” Original paper
Are there limits to economic growth? It’s time to call time on a 50-year argument
(Nature) Fifty years ago this month, the System Dynamics group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge had a stark message for the world: continued economic and population growth would deplete Earth’s resources and lead to global economic collapse by 2070. For its time, this was a shocking forecast, and it did not go down well. The study’s lead author and her colleagues stood firm, but the debates haven’t stopped. It’s time for researchers to end their debate. The world needs them to focus on the greater goals of stopping catastrophic environmental destruction and improving well-being.
Society/Culture
New book: A Garden for the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee
(Twitter, Sheila Colla, Ph.D @SaveWildBees) “Our new book about gardening for pollinators is available for pre-order in Canada!”
New Book: Bugs (A Day in the Life)
(Twitter, Dr. Jessica L Ware Lab @JessicaLWareLab) “Excited to hold a copy of this book! Thanks @neonsquidbooks for the chance to work on this book and to @chaayaprabhat for the beautiful artwork!”
One More Thing…
“In the mood for 16th century Flemish tapestries and rusty-patched bumblebees. Spring starts at the top of the image and ends in fall prairie at the bottom. There are greener days ahead!” From Liz Anna Kozik @chase_prairie via Twitter.