Pesticides impair honey bee flying abilities

Posted on June 10, 2017 by GarryRogers

GR: More evidence on pesticide impact on bees. Pesticides are toxic to many more animals than bees. The economic importance of bees, however, has served us all by focusing attention on the dangers of pesticides. Perhaps Monsanto’s next genetic breakthrough (after herbicide resistant GMOs) will be self-pollinating crops. Thus, pesticide use expands, wildlife declines, and Earth becomes more of a biological wasteland of mile-long rows of corn and beans tended by GPS guided artificial intelligences. Where is the farmer? He’s in the shadows shielded from the intense radiation pouring through the ozone free atmosphere.

“The evidence keeps mounting that pesticides are the main driver of honey bee declines. In a new study, scientists with the University of California San Diego showed that a commonly used neonicotinoid pesticide (thiamethoxam) can significantly impair the ability of otherwise healthy honey bees to fly, raising concerns about how pesticides affect their capacity to pollinate and the long-term effects on the health of honey bee colonies.

“Previous research has shown that foraging honey bees that ingested neonicotinoid pesticides, crop insecticides that are commonly used in agriculture, were less likely to return to their home nest, leading to a decrease in foragers.

“Thiamethoxam is used in crops such as corn, soybeans and cotton. To test the hypothesis that the pesticide impairs flight ability, the researchers designed and constructed a flight mill (a bee flight-testing instrument) from scratch. This allowed them to fly bees under consistent and controlled conditions. The study was published April 26 in Scientific Reports.

“The testing showed that nonlethal levels of neonicotinoid exposure — which bees could experience when foraging on agricultural crops–but below lethal levels — resulted in substantial damage to the honey bee’s ability to fly.

“Our results provide the first demonstration that field-realistic exposure to this pesticide alone, in otherwise healthy colonies, can alter the ability of bees to fly, specifically impairing flight distance, duration and velocity” said Tosi. “Honey bee survival depends on its ability to fly, because that’s the only way they can collect food. Their flight ability is also crucial to guarantee crop and wild plant pollination.” –Staff Report, Summit County Citizens Voice (Pesticides impair honey bee flying abilities – Summit County Citizens Voice).

Bees Still Dying

Posted on May 14, 2015 by GarryRogers

It appears that we are powerless against Monsanto and the USDA. Have we no one in government that can defend nature? I guess that’s a foolish question. We can’t even convince Walmart to take its employees off the public welfare system.

Earth Report

Honeybees Still Dying

Just last year, it seemed there was something to celebrate despite planet Earth’s ongoing honeybee apocalypse: Bee colony losses were down. Not by enough, but they were down.

“It’s better news than it could have been,” said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, a University of Maryland entomology professor who led a survey of bee populations that reported a loss of 23 percent of bee colonies — less than 30 percent, the average from 2005 to 2013. “It’s not good news.”

Though scientists cited progress in battles against an Asian mite that has killed many an American bee, they had words of caution.

“One year does not make a trend,” Jeff Pettis, a co-author of the survey who heads the federal government’s bee research laboratory in Beltsville, Md., told the New York Times.

Turns out Pettis was right. VanEngelsdorp and other researchers at the Bee Informed Partnership, affiliated with the Department…

View original post 204 more words

Making Sacramento a haven for honeybees

Posted on April 4, 2015 by GarryRogers

Sacramento is the latest city to become an official honeybee haven. More residents are interested in keeping their own hives. But how do you catch this buzz? Source: www.sacbee.com

GR: Here’s the link to put your honeybee haven on the map. For other posts on bees, pollinators, and pesticides, enter “bees” in the search window.

Six solutions for transforming your balcony into a biodiversity sanctuary

Posted on April 1, 2015 by GarryRogers

Your balcony – a little corner of paradise…

Source: livingcircular.veolia.com

GR: If you live in North America, here’s a good source for beekeeping information: http://www.beeculture.com/directory/find-local-beekeeper/. Beekeeping associations in other parts of the world are listed here: http://honeyo.com/org-International.shtml. You can find more information through the one of the beekeeping forums. Interested? It takes about 30 minutes per hive per week, and 2 hours per hive twice a year to extract honey.

Monsanto’s Roundup system threatens extinction of monarch butterflies – report

Posted on February 5, 2015 by GarryRogers

Monsanto’s Roundup Ready system – a potent herbicide combined with genetically-modified seeds that can withstand it – has decimated the monarch butterfly’s only source of food in the Midwest, putting it on the edge of extinction, according to a new study. Source: rt.com

GR: Evidence indicates that Monsanto is the principal cause of declining bees and butterflies. The article includes an interesting diagram showing the personnel overlap between Monsanto and the U. S. Government.

Tell USDA and President Obama to Stop Dow Chemical’s “Agent Orange” Crops

Posted on August 13, 2014 by GarryRogers

Stop Dow Chemical’s “Agent Orange” Crops

Over a hundred million additional pounds of toxic pesticides associated with cancers and birth defects are coming to a field near you. UNLESS YOU STOP IT!

“Agent Orange” crops are genetically engineered by Dow Chemical to promote the use of 2,4-D, one of the herbicides in the toxic mixture Vietnam veteran’s know as Agent Orange. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is on the cusp of approval, even though they acknowledge the use of this toxic pesticide will skyrocket.
There is a 30-day public comment period and it MIGHT BE OUR LAST CHANCE to stop this chemical assault – Sign the petition today!

GR: The dangers of pesticides are pervasive and worth repeating. Weed managers spray millions of gallons of pesticides on crops, along roads, and in parks. The U. S. Bureau of Land Management uses pesticides throughout the public lands of the 17 western U. S. states. The farm upstream from my home has weed-free zones that are probably maintained by pesticides. Bees serving as pollinators on the farm catch a full dose. Bees in yards and gardens downstream from the farm receive small doses that washed off the farm into the stream and into the groundwater. When home gardeners respond to the massive pesticide marketing efforts and use pesticides around their homes, they easily reach lethal levels.

The Great Sunflower Project

Posted on August 6, 2014 by GarryRogers

People all over the country are collecting data on pollinators in their yards, gardens, schools and parks. Together, we take counts of the number and types of pollinators visiting plants (especially sunflowers). We have been gathering information on pollinator service since 2008, and now have the largest single body of information about bee pollinator service in North America. Thanks to our thousands of observers, we can determine where pollinator service is strong or weak compared to averages.

Why It’s Important

Over the past few years, scientific studies have suggested that both honey bee and native bee populations are in trouble. What we don’t know is how this is affecting pollination of our gardens, crops and wild lands. In 2008, we started this project as a way to gather information about our urban, suburban and rural bee populations and to give you the tools to learn about what is happening with the pollinators in your yard.

How You Can Help

While we love to get data from our namesake species, Lemon Queen Sunflowers, you can participate by watching a plant and recording how many pollinators visit, or recording pollinators as you take your favorite hike!

Seeds can be purchased at your local store or through Renee’s Garden who will donate 25% of her proceeds if you use the coupon code FR225A. Do join us!

We would love to have you; let’s help our most important pollinators together!

Source: www.greatsunflower.org

GR: Here’s a splendid opportunity to contribute to nature conservation. Choose a location and make a checklist of the butterflies, bumblebees, and hummingbirds you see. Report your results to the Great Sunflower Project. Now you’re working.

New tests find bee-killing pesticides in 51% of “bee-friendly” plants from garden centers across U.S. and Canada

Posted on July 2, 2014 by GarryRogers

Washington, D.C. – “Many “bee-friendly” home garden plants sold at Home Depot (NYSE: HD), Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) and Walmart (NYSE: WMT) have been pre-treated with pesticides shown to harm and kill bees, according to a study released today by Friends of the Earth and allies.

“The study, Gardeners Beware 2014, shows that 36 out of 71 (51 percent) of garden plant samples purchased at top garden retailers in 18 cities in the United States and Canada contain neonicotinoid (neonic) pesticides — a key contributor to recent bee declines. Some of the flowers contained neonic levels high enough to kill bees outright assuming comparable concentrations are present in the flowers’ pollen and nectar. Further, 40 percent of the positive samples contained two or more neonics.

“The study is a larger follow up to a first-of-its-kind pilot study released by Friends of the Earth last August. The new study expanded the number of samples and number of locations where plants were purchased, and also assessed the distribution of neonic pesticides between flowers and the rest of the plant.

“The high percentage of contaminated plants and their neonicotinoid concentrations suggest that this problem continues to be widespread,” said Lisa Archer, director of the Food & Technology program at Friends of the Earth-U.S. “Most gardeners have no idea that their gardens may be a source of harm to bees. We’re calling on retailers to get neonicotinoid pesticides out of their plants and off their shelves as soon as possible. Until then, gardeners should buy organic plants to ensure the safety of bees.

“Our data indicate that many plants sold in nurseries and garden stores across the U.S. and Canada are being pre-treated with systemic neonicotinoid insecticides, making them potentially toxic to pollinators,” said Timothy Brown, Ph.D., co-author of the report from the Pesticide Research Institute. “Unfortunately, these pesticides don’t break down quickly so these plants could be toxic to bees for years to come.”

Source: www.foe.org

Don’t Forget Butterflies! Our Pollination Crisis Is About More Than Honeybees

Posted on June 28, 2014 by GarryRogers

When the White House signed an order on pollinator health last week, it included all pollinators — not just honeybees.

“Obama announces plan to save honeybees,” CNN proclaimed. “White House creates new honeybee task force,” the Wire echoed. “White House task force charged with saving bees from mysterious decline,” the Guardian added, referencing the colony collapse disorder that contributed to the death of 23 percent of managed honeybees last winter.

“But those headlines overlooked the most important part of the presidential order: it encompassed all pollinators, including birds, bats, native bees, and butterflies — not just honeybees. The memorandum will spur the creation, within the next 180 days, of a National Pollinator Health Strategy that will lay out ways for the U.S. to better study and better tackle the problems facing pollinators, both wild and managed. While the plight of bees has gotten deserved attention of late, many species of pollinators face the same threats: habitat destruction, climate-induced changes in flowering and weather patterns, and in some cases, pesticides.”

Source: thinkprogress.org

GR: Dropping pesticides and interspersing food plants with crops will help pollinators, but there are other things to consider. Construction, farming, logging, livestock grazing, invasive species, and toxic pollutants (including greenhouse gasses) are eliminating habitat much faster than farmers are recovering it. Until humans control their population and correct the ways they use resources, pollinators and other species will continue to decline.