research about bees
Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 7:19 am
A couple things I just ran into that I thought people here might be interested in. The first one I think people here would have predicted.:
"Apples from trees pollinated by insects are bigger, rounder, and more desirable, according to new research. The study, published in the journal Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, values the annual contribution of insects to two of Britain's most popular varieties, Cox and Gala, at just under £37 million.
It also says that a lack of pollinating insects, such as bees and hoverflies, could be costing the Gala industry millions of pounds a year. ...
The research was carried out on six Cox and Gala orchards in the apple-growing region of Kent. At each site, some of the branches were covered with a fine PVC mesh, allowing wind and rain to get through but keeping insects out.
Trees that were left open to bugs yielded both more fruit, and a larger proportion of higher-value class-one apples. " https://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/stor ... eConsent=A
So though it isn't spelled out quite clearly, apparently the comparison is between insect pollinated trees and wind pollinated. Although it's always good to have evidence, I doubt any of us are surprised that insects are important in the pollination of apple trees and many other crops.
So that one makes this even more important, relevant to the decline in honeybees:
"The brain function of important pollinators can be affected by pesticides even at low concentrations, say scientists.
The study, published in Nature Communications, finds that neonicotinoid and organophosphate pesticides disturb the function of the honeybees' learning centre in the brain.
'These pesticides, at field-relevant concentrations, cause hyperactivity very quickly,' says Dr Chris Connolly of the University of Dundee, one of the study's authors. 'The prediction is that the bee is not able to learn efficiently.
Connolly and his team find that because the two pesticides affect the same part of the brain in the same way, using them together makes the problem even worse.
'Both pesticides have exactly the same effect. They work additively with one another,' he says. "
https://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/story.aspx?id=1420
Incidentally, I was very interested to note the word hyperactivity in there along with learning difficulties. We are currently having an epidemic of ADHD, hyperactivity, and learning difficulties amongst our children....
Organophosphates and neonicotinoid pesticides are major classes of pesticides and between them include a lot of the most used ones. Organophosphates include malathion, methyl parathion, the nerve gas sarin, trithion, guthion, spectracide, and many others. This has more info about them: https://www.toxipedia.org/display/toxipe ... phosphates
Neonicotinoid pesticides include imadicloprid, chlothianidin, dinotefuran and many others. This has a list of brand names of common home garden products containing them, including pretty much anything from Bayer Advanced. https://www.beyondpesticides.org/pollina ... _final.pdf
"Apples from trees pollinated by insects are bigger, rounder, and more desirable, according to new research. The study, published in the journal Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, values the annual contribution of insects to two of Britain's most popular varieties, Cox and Gala, at just under £37 million.
It also says that a lack of pollinating insects, such as bees and hoverflies, could be costing the Gala industry millions of pounds a year. ...
The research was carried out on six Cox and Gala orchards in the apple-growing region of Kent. At each site, some of the branches were covered with a fine PVC mesh, allowing wind and rain to get through but keeping insects out.
Trees that were left open to bugs yielded both more fruit, and a larger proportion of higher-value class-one apples. " https://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/stor ... eConsent=A
So though it isn't spelled out quite clearly, apparently the comparison is between insect pollinated trees and wind pollinated. Although it's always good to have evidence, I doubt any of us are surprised that insects are important in the pollination of apple trees and many other crops.
So that one makes this even more important, relevant to the decline in honeybees:
"The brain function of important pollinators can be affected by pesticides even at low concentrations, say scientists.
The study, published in Nature Communications, finds that neonicotinoid and organophosphate pesticides disturb the function of the honeybees' learning centre in the brain.
'These pesticides, at field-relevant concentrations, cause hyperactivity very quickly,' says Dr Chris Connolly of the University of Dundee, one of the study's authors. 'The prediction is that the bee is not able to learn efficiently.
Connolly and his team find that because the two pesticides affect the same part of the brain in the same way, using them together makes the problem even worse.
'Both pesticides have exactly the same effect. They work additively with one another,' he says. "
https://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/story.aspx?id=1420
Incidentally, I was very interested to note the word hyperactivity in there along with learning difficulties. We are currently having an epidemic of ADHD, hyperactivity, and learning difficulties amongst our children....
Organophosphates and neonicotinoid pesticides are major classes of pesticides and between them include a lot of the most used ones. Organophosphates include malathion, methyl parathion, the nerve gas sarin, trithion, guthion, spectracide, and many others. This has more info about them: https://www.toxipedia.org/display/toxipe ... phosphates
Neonicotinoid pesticides include imadicloprid, chlothianidin, dinotefuran and many others. This has a list of brand names of common home garden products containing them, including pretty much anything from Bayer Advanced. https://www.beyondpesticides.org/pollina ... _final.pdf
It sure does seem like Europe, including the UK, is so far ahead of us on sustainability issues, pesticides, energy conservation, development of solar power and other alternative energy sources, etc.