When do honey bees compete with native bees? Being near pollinator habitat boosts soybean size. EPA to consider endangered species when approving pesticides – without threat of lawsuits.
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Conservation
Photo: Matt Kelly
When do honey bees compete with native bees?
(Twitter, McArt Lab @McArtLab) “When do managed honey bees compete with native wild bees? My summary of Ropars et al. 2022 @Oikos_Journal with @LiseRops and @BenGeslin. An important paper suggesting when there is (and isn’t) competition for floral resources throughout a season.” Blog post
(Twitter, Rich Hatfield @rghatfield) “Interesting thoughts. A few of my own: 1. This paper is from Europe -> HB’s are native, imp. context. 2. Competition is not only factor: DISEASE. 3. June is not late in the season, esp. for bumble bees. 4. When HBs are present NBs used different plants, this [increases] foraging [costs] for NBs.”
Solar park management and design could boost bumble bee populations
(Twitter, Hollie Blaydes @HollieBlaydes) “We show that certain #solar park design and management options could boost #bumblebee populations both inside the solar park and in the wider landscape” Original paper
Virtual training for California Bumble Bee Atlas
(Twitter, California Bumble Bee Atlas @CABumbleBees) “Want to collect data with us for the #California #BumbleBee Atlas? Virtual training workshops begin this Saturday, March 5! Find more info and register here”
Photo: Carl Court, Getty Images
A UN report shows climate change’s escalating toll on people and nature
(ScienceNews) Neither adaptation by humankind nor mitigation alone is enough to reduce the risk from climate impacts, hundreds of the world’s scientists say. Nothing less than a concerted, global effort to both drastically curb carbon emissions and proactively adapt to climate change can stave off the most disastrous consequences, according to the latest report from the United Nations’ International Panel on Climate Change. That dire warning comes as the effects of climate change on people and nature are playing out across the globe in a more widespread and severe manner than previously anticipated. And the most vulnerable communities – often low-income or Indigenous – are being hit the hardest, the report says.
Bell Bowl reprieve extended to June 1. Now what?
(WTTW) A rare patch of 8,000-year-old remnant Illinois prairie has been granted a new three-month lease on life, as the Greater Rockford Airport Authority has again delayed demolition of the natural area, slated for March 1, pending additional environmental review. Though the airport authority declined to comment, a spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration told WTTW News that airport officials had committed to halting construction at Bell Bowl through June 1. Prairie “watchdogs” had camped out Monday night across from the airport to watch for signs of movement, and remain vigilant even with news of the delay.
A vision for more sustainable farmlands
(High Country News) Central California can’t continue to farm at its current industrial scale. As land is fallowed, what could take its place? Some advocates would like to see land be retired around communities where there’s massive overpumping. The idea is to create a dedicated ecological reserve – a sort of living donut around rural communities – designed to promote biodiversity and protect small towns from groundwater depletion and exposure to pesticides.
Economics
Photo: Hannah Levenson
Being near pollinator habitat boosts soybean size
(NC State University) Researchers have found that soybean crops planted near pollinator habitat produce larger soybeans than soybean crops that are not planted near pollinator habitat.
Irish grocery retailer launches “save the bees” campaign to support national pollinator plan
(Twitter, SuperValu Ireland @SuperValuIRL) “Bees have a key role to play in growing fruit & veg SuperValu & @TidyTownsIre have teamed up with the @BioDataCentre to help deliver the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan & have created the SuperValu Save the Bees campaign to show how everyone can take simple steps to help the bees”
(Twitter, Shauna Corr @ShaunaReports) “As part of its #savethebees campaign @SuperValuIRL is sending thousands of schools a totally recyclable pack they can use to educate children on how to protect the planet by saving pollinators”
Drought, pesticides take a toll on Chile’s honey bees
(AP) A drought has gripped Chile for 13 years and the flowers that fed Carlos Peralta’s honey bees around the central town of Colina have grown increasingly scarce. He said he had lost about 300 hives since the start of November and was left with a choice: try to keep the 900 that remained alive with an artificial nectar or move them to a place where flowers and pollen are more abundant. “If the bees die, we all die. ... The bee is life.”
Policy/Law
Photo: Investigate Midwest
(Investigate Midwest) Before approving new pesticides for use on crops or around homes, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is supposed to determine what impact they’ll have on endangered species. But for decades, usually the only way to ensure the agency would start the process was to sue. In January, however, the EPA announced it plans to assess whether new pesticides will harm plants and animals protected by the Endangered Species Act. If it finds the products do endanger protected species, the agency said it would prevent the harm. Essentially, the agency said – for the first time – it will take a systematic approach to regulating pesticides’ harmful effects instead of being forced to comply one-by-one by different lawsuits. The new approach only applies to new pesticides, not ones already on the market.
(Center for Biological Diversity) The Center for Biological Diversity and Center for Food Safety filed a legal petition today calling for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to end the use of agricultural pesticides on national wildlife refuges. Home to more than 280 species of protected plants and animals, the national wildlife refuge system is the world’s largest and most diverse collection of lands set aside specifically for the preservation of fish and wildlife. Yet the Service allows private operators to grow commercial crops that prompt the annual use of hundreds of thousands of pounds of dangerous pesticides on refuge lands. In 2018 – the most recent year for which complete data are available – more than 350,000 pounds of agricultural pesticides were sprayed on 363,000 acres of commercial agricultural crops in the refuges. Those figures represent a 34% increase over the acreage sprayed in 2016, according to an analysis of refuge pesticide use.
California proposes restricting use of neonicotinoids
(AgriPulse) California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation has proposed limiting the use of neonicotinoid insecticides on farms to protect pollinators. The proposed regulations would affect products containing any of four active ingredients: imidacloprid, thiamethoxam, clothianidin and dinotefuran. It does not affect seeds coated with neonics. “DPR estimates the regulations will impact 57 products currently registered in California and will reduce the amount of neonicotinoids applied across the state by approximately 45%.”
U.K. overrules scientific advice by lifting ban on pesticide
(The Guardian) An insecticide banned due to its harm to bees will be used on sugar beet in Britain this year after ministers authorized an emergency exemption. The government overruled its own scientific advisers and the decision was called “scandalous” by campaigners. The neonicotinoid, called thiamethoxam, was banned in 2018 across Europe after a series of studies found it damaged bees. But British Sugar applied for an emergency exemption and recently the conditions for the exemption were met.
Science
Photo: USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab
Social patterns that resist varroa mite seen in honey bees for first time
(Entomology Today) The mite Varroa destructor has been a devastating parasite and disease vector to honey bees worldwide. However, the mite’s original host, the Asian bee Apis cerana, has been able to survive mite infestations and avoid the colony collapses seen in western honey bees. One significant difference appeared to be a social response among A. cerana called “social apoptosis”. Bee colonies exhibiting this behavior involve delayed development and eventual “intentional” death by female worker bees. On the colony level, social apoptosis produces resistance to varroa. Researchers have found some resistance among stocks of western honey bees recently. Could “social apoptotic” behavior be behind this resistance and develop in western honey bees, too?
A neonicotinoid pesticide alters how nectar chemistry affects bees
(Twitter, Sarah Richman @sarahkrichman) “Neonics complicate effects of nectar secondary chemistry on bumble bees.” Original paper
Society/Culture
Photo: Chad Wildermuth, Xerces Society
Xerces Society launches X Kids Program
(Twitter, Gwen Pearson @bug_gwen) “New from @xercessociety: a FREE workbook designed for children in grades 3–5; available in English and Spanish!!” X Kids Program
‘Bees + Biomimicry’ to open at Metropolitan Museum of Design Detroit
(Hour Detroit) The Metropolitan Museum of Design Detroit opened its Bees + Biomimicry exhibition on Feb. 26. The show – which was created in partnership with local beekeeper organizations Bees in the D and Detroit Hives – aims to bring awareness to the ways in which the buzzy pollinators benefit our world.
Technology
Student’s device enables researchers to easily track elusive insects
(ScienceDaily, Florida Museum of Natural History) With some home security software and a little ingenuity, researchers have developed an inexpensive device that will allow them to study the behavior and activity of insects in regions of the world where they’re most diverse – and at times of the day when they might go unseen. “Most of what we know regarding insect behavior is from species that are active during the day. We study butterflies, bees and ants because we can see them, but there are hundreds of thousands of nocturnal insects out there, all of which have been nearly impossible to track until now.” The device can be built for under $100, a tiny fraction of the lab-based technology that costs anywhere between $1,000 to $4,000.
One More Thing…
“Bumble bee ovaries are some of the most beeautiful tissue to look at under a scope! Wow they are loooooooong” From Alison McAfee, PhD @ali_mcafee via Twitter.