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It ’s meter we have the talk . The one about the butterflies and the bees .
in earnest , though , there ’s always so much news coming out about pollinator that it ’s hard to keep up with it . There ’s no way I can write about bees every sentence I see a young study regarding these friends , so here ’s a round - up of pollinator news since the last time I did around - up of pollinator tidings , which was in reality six months ago — metre tent flap when you ’re drop a line about bee .
Managed Bees And Wild Bees Are Not Friends
Here ’s a paradox : Wild - bee population are declining , and farmers and orchardists are bringing in managed bee hive to make up the difference . We ’re really being encourage to keep bees , but it turns out this is actually a terrible idea , grant to researchers from the University of California , Riverside .
“ The use of managed honey bee and bumblebees is link up with several cases of increased disease and universe declines in wild bees , ” enounce lead researcher Peter Graystock . His team find that sometimes deal bees spread disease to wild universe , but more often , the presence of contend bees — even healthy one — stresses out the wild bee .
Graystock paints a pitiful picture :
“ passing of idle pollinators will finally either melt off crop yields or increase the reliance on and monetary value of shipping in more make out bees . This increase price will cascade down to consumer , raising the price of food we put on our tables . ”
citizenry are not going to give up their hive , obviously , so the research team came up with guideline for keeping make do bee while reducing the encroachment on wild bees . These admit :
The “ Do bring off bees drive parasite spread and egress in baseless bee ? ” report was published in theInternational Journal for Parasitology : Parasites and Wildlifelast calendar month .
Flowers Spread Bee Diseases
More workfrom Graystock ’s team at the University of California , Riverside , move over more tough news if you know a bee that like flower , which unfortunately , is every bee . They ’ve found flower are play as parasite host , allow parasites to pass from bee to bee and between pollinator mintage . hard inflict flower become parasite transportation hub , basically .
fan out the risk of infection — that is , leave more flower for bees to visit — is a means to curb this exit .
“ Planting more flowers would provide bees with more option , and parasite spread may thus be reduced , ” Graystock says .
The research team also supposes that the interstate and international flower trade is playing a role in moving pollinator parasites to new surface area . perhaps think double before ordering those Dutch tulip for your grannie ’s natal day .
The full study is published in theProceedings of the Royal Society B.
Good News About Glyphosate?
You read that newspaper headline aright . I ’ve been looking for good news program about the world ’s most used weedkiller , glyphosate , for some clip now , as I write in a blog entry about this chemicallast calendar month . I actually find something ! USDA ’s Agricultural Research Service and Mississippi State University are account thatglyphosatedoes notharm pollinator . researcher try 42 commonly used pesticide , weed killer and antimycotic agent in a cotton wool - landing field setting , mimicking a situation where an adult bee in a cotton wool field accidentally gets sprayed . harmonise to the Entomological Society of America , “ the researchers used pesticides that were in the existent commercial-grade formulations that would be used by farmer in their fields . This is an of import preeminence because most previous research test the fighting ingredients only , which did not include other chemicals that regulate the distribution , engrossment and overall picture of the pesticides to plant and bees . ”
Seven of the chemicals test — including glyphosate and acetamiprid , a pesticide in theneonicotinoid house — killed almost no bee . The negative side of this subject field is that 26 chemicals , “ including many ( but not all ) neonicotinoids , organophosphate and pyrethroids , vote down nearly all of the bees that came into contact with the test pesticide sprays . ”
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