The Bee Report's Top 10 Most Engaging Stories of 2019 🐝🎉🎉
As we close out 2019, I want to thank each and every one of you for being a dedicated reader of The Bee Report. I can't tell you how much I enjoy connecting you with all of these stories and bits of information, and then hearing from you in return.
One thing that's been particularly exciting to reflect on is the geographic diversity of TBR readers.
The United States and Canada are home to the majority of TBR readers. But the Bee Report newsletter is also keeping people connected in Australia, Chile, Denmark, France and India.
Here's another thing I'm pretty excited about: Over the course of the past year, the Bee Report connected readers with 365 bee-related stories and news items. That's an average of one story per day! These stories covered quite a range of topics.
However, you all found some of these stories far more interesting than others. So below is a list of the Top 10 most engaging stories shared by the Bee Report in 2019.
The process for creating this list was equal parts art and science, but the guiding intention was to represent engagement: Which stories did readers interact with the most through clicking, sharing and commenting? Stories 6 through 10 are those that received the most unique clicks in the newsletter. Stories 1 through 5 received the greatest interaction through the Bee Report Facebook page (total shares + total comments). Enjoy reading these stories again – or for the first time!
Finally, as we head into the new year, I could use your help: What bee-related stories or topics do you think will be most important for the Bee Report to cover in 2020? Please take a few seconds to let me know your thoughts through the TBR contact page. Much appreciated.
All right, my friends. This is it for 2019. I hope you all have had a very happy holiday season. See you in 2020!
The Most Engaging Stories of 2019
10. Sivanto pesticide cocktail can harm honey bees
(UC San Diego) Sivanto was developed as a “bee safe” pesticide, designed to kill a broad spectrum of insect pests but not harm pollinators. However, researchers have shown that worst-case, field-realistic doses of Sivanto, in combination with a common fungicide, can synergistically harm bee behavior and survival, depending upon season and bee age.
9. Declines in insect abundance and diversity: We know enough to act now
(Conservation Science and Practice) “The scientific community has understandably been focused on establishing the breadth and depth of the phenomenon and on documenting factors causing insect declines. In parallel with ongoing research, it is now time for the development of a policy consensus that will allow for a swift societal response… To these ends, we suggest primary policy goals summarized at scales from nations to farms to homes.”
8. New magazine focused on pollinators
(2 Million Blossoms) 2 Million Blossoms, a new quarterly magazine dedicated to protecting our pollinators, will reportedly print its first issue in January 2020. The magazine is planning to offer short and long form articles exploring how bees, birds, butterflies and bats enhance the planet.
7. Wildflower strips bring farmers extra money while helping native bees
(Entomology Today) One practice that can bolster native bee populations is planting strips of wildflowers next to crops; however, a study in 2017 found that, without incentives, few farmers choose to plant flower strips. The key to adoption, therefore, is adequate incentives. Researchers examined all the economic costs and benefits of planting wildflower strips and of selling the resulting seeds; their analysis revealed how profit could be made on the sale of seeds.
6. Bee Observer Cards from the Encyclopedia of Life
(Encyclopedia of Life) Observer cards from the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) are designed to develop the art and science of observing nature. Each set of cards provides key traits and techniques necessary to make accurate and useful scientific observations. Available as an eBook or printable deck. EOL includes the participation of institutions such as the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and Harvard University.
5. Mowing urban lawns less intensely increases biodiversity, saves money and reduces pests
(British Ecological Society) The issue with regular lawn mowing is that it favors grasses, which grow from that base of the plant, and low growing species like dandelion and clover. Other species that have their growing tips or flowering stems regularly removed by mowing can’t compete. Allowing plant diversity in urban lawns to increase has the knock-on effect of increasing the diversity of other organisms such as pollinators and herbivores. Pest species, on the other hand, benefitted from more intense lawn mowing.
4. Communities across Connecticut are creating a pollinator pathway for bees and butterflies
(Connecticut Magazine) A grassroots effort, the Pollinator Pathway has spread from town to town with people from land trusts, garden clubs, conservation commissions and watershed associations working with nature centers, municipalities, schools, Scout troops and businesses. Pollinator conservation has not been subject to a lot of political polarization like many other forms of conservation. However, the biggest challenge leaders face is changing the “perfect green lawn” aesthetic. "It looks kind of uninformed and stupid to have a lawn that looks like a golf course. If you have no clover or dandelions, your lawn is a desert."
3. Bees are dropping dead in Brazil and sending a message to humans
(Bloomberg) Around half a billion bees died in four of Brazil’s southern states in the year’s first months. The die-off highlights questions about the ocean of pesticides used in the country’s agriculture and whether chemicals are washing through the human food supply — even as the government considers permitting more. Most dead bees showed traces of Fipronil, an insecticide proscribed in the European Union and classified as a possible human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
2. Stingless bee species depend on a complex fungal community to survive
(FAPESP) A new study shows that the larvae of the Brazilian stingless bee Scaptotrigona depilis depend on interactions between three different species of fungus to complete their development and reach adulthood. "The new findings demonstrate that the interactions between these social insects and their microbiota are much more complex than we can imagine. This should serve as a warning against the indiscriminate use of pesticides in agriculture, since many are lethal to fungi."
1. Wildflower planting project is saving taxpayers millions in mowing
(WOSU) The Ohio Department of Transportation has begun planting wildflowers along highways across the state with the goal of creating habitats for pollinators. “Just last year, we’ve already saved about $2.28 Million in just reducing our mowing of these areas, and that number’s going to continue to grow as we continue to expand these.”
Send me tips, comments, questions and ideas for collaboration.
Was this newsletter shared with you by someone else?
Well, SIGN UP to get The Bee Report in your own inbox!