What a scientist didn't tell the NY Times on honeybee deaths - Oct. 8, 2010. Jerry Bromenshenk, bee investigatorBy Katherine Eban, contributorOctober 8, 2010: 1:42 PM ET FORTUNE -- Few ecological disasters have been as confounding as the massive and devastating die-off of the world's honeybees.
The phenomenon of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) -- in which disoriented honeybees die far from their hives -- has kept scientists, beekeepers, and regulators desperately seeking the cause. After all, the honeybee, nature's ultimate utility player, pollinates a third of all the food we eat and contributes an estimated $15 billion in annual agriculture revenue to the U.S. economy. The long list of possible suspects has included pests, viruses, fungi, and also pesticides, particularly so-called neonicotinoids, a class of neurotoxins that kills insects by attacking their nervous systems.
What the Times article did not explore -- nor did the study disclose -- was the relationship between the study's lead author, Montana bee researcher Dr. Dr. Bayer v. beekeepers Share this. Global Pollination Project - Pollination & Human Livelihoods. 'Pollination crisis' hitting India's vegetable farmers. 28 September 2010Last updated at 02:46 By Mark Kinver Science and environment reporter, BBC News Falling vegetable yields could have a detrimental impact on people's diets, Indian researchers warn A decline in pollinating insects in India is resulting in reduced vegetable yields and could limit people's access to a nutritional diet, a study warns.
Indian researchers said there was a "clear indication" that pollinator abundance was linked to productivity. They added that the loss of the natural service could have a long-term impact on the farming sector, which accounts for almost a fifth of the nation's GDP. Globally, pollination is estimated to be worth £141bn ($224bn) each year. The findings were presented at a recent British Ecological Society meeting, held at the University of Leeds. Each year, India produces about 7.5 million tonnes of vegetables. Lack of data Instead, his team compared the yields of pollinator-dependent crops with pollinator-independent crops.
Troubling times “Start Quote. BBC - Earth News - Our bees are buzzing off. But why? From the UK to Japan, bees are disappearing In many places, the country air has become just that little bit quieter. The reason: our bees have stopped buzzing. Over the past few years, honeybees have suddenly and inexplicably disappeared from colonies that once thrived across the northern parts of the American and European continents. A mysterious malaise has struck down the fittest and most able bees, laying waste to billions and leaving empty hives starved of once industrious workers. But we are no nearer understanding the exact cause of this carnage. According to a recently published scientific review, there may be multiple causes, each interacting and creating a more complex problem than previously thought. Mass die-off? The initial assumptions that bees were dying out all around the world are not correct, as Prof Elke Genersch of the Institute for Bee Research in Hohen Neuendorf, Germany explains in a review published in the journal Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology.
Saving California's bees, one hive at a time. 8 June 2010Last updated at 16:31 By Peter Bowes BBC News, Los Angeles Beekeeper Keith Roberts moves a large nest of angry bees It was a daunting task, even for an experienced beekeeper. A huge colony of feral bees had set up home in the loft of a house on the outskirts of Los Angeles and they had to be removed. A previous attempt to kill the nest failed because the honeycomb, which contains honey and bee larvae, was left intact. But Keith Roberts had no intention of exterminating the colony. For the fourth year in a row, about a third of honeybee hives in the United States died off during the past winter. Continue reading the main story “Start Quote These bees might very well hold the key to healthier bees in the general pool ” End QuoteKeith RobertsBeekeeper So when Mr Roberts comes across a thriving nest of feral bees, his company views it as an opportunity to replenish the dwindling populations of commercial honeybees.
Pampered bees The team removed an estimated 80,000 bees from the loft.