End Times and Current Events

“If honey bees become extinct, human society will follow in four years.” Albert Einstein.

He was speaking about the symbiotic relationship of all life on the planet all part of a huge interconnected ecosystem, each element playing a role dependent on many other elements, working in concert as a symphony. Should any part of the global body suffer, the whole body suffers.

Many people would be surprised to know that ninety percent of the feral (wild) bee population in the United States has died out. Recent studies in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands have shown that bee diversity is down eighty percent in the sites researched, and that bee species are declining or have become extinct in Britain.

The studies also revealed that the numbers of wildflowers that depend on pollination have dropped by seventy percent. Which came first, the decline in wildflowers or the decline in pollinators, has yet to be determined. If bees continue to die off so will the crops they support and that would cause major economic disruption and possibly famine. But we are more focused on oil because its immediate profits are staggering. Indeed so obsessed are we with oil that the press isn`t even inquiring into the possibility of disguising price gouging behind a scarcity scare.

How much time and space have the media devoted to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill?

Compare that to how much time and space they have devoted to the worldwide collapse of honey bee communities. They treat the story as they might a feature about archaeology when in fact it is a life-and-death matter.

The Deepwater Horizon disaster offers up a villain, BP. It`s about the appearance of something, in this case oil, not the disappearance of something. We pay bills for oil, but our deeper dependence on honey bees is not as apparent.

The gulf spill threatens widespread unemployment, the destruction of fisheries and wetlands, and other disasters. But the loss of the honey bee threatens worldwide famine. Which is the bigger story? How to account for this disconnect? Beekeepers pay the press no advertising money, but oil companies do. Money shapes the news. This in itself is a much bigger story than the breaking news, but don`t expect the press to cover it, and do expect the press to cover it up.

BP is responsible for the gulf catastrophe, but the cultures of all the developed countries of the world are responsible for the collapse of honey bee communities.

Albert Einstein appears to have been right, but Jesus Christ foretold this long ago. 90% of the feral wild bees have died out, and it isn’t surprising - that is if you’re a Christian and Believer of Jesus Christ. Famine is one of the signs Christ give us as a symbol of his return.

"And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven." (Luke 21:11).

"And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28).

From:
http://ivarfjeld.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/if-honey-bees-become-extinct-human-society-will-follow-in-four-years-albert-einstein/

Whistleblower: MONSANTO wants to kill the bees to make way for its “super bee”

http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/thread-729706-1-1.html

Relevant: Monsanto buys company researching death of bees:
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9Q1M0UO0.htm

And for those who said crops aren’t pollinated by bees? You’re wrong. Alfalfa is http://blog.targethealth.com/?p=58

And if you think Monsanto isn’t dominating our government? Read some cables released by wikileaks all about our officials asking for talking points from them, our ambassadords urging trade wars on their behalf:
http://themomu.wordpress.com/2011/04/02/wikileaks-cables-show-u-s-threatening-retaliation-if-europe-wont-accept-monsanto-corn/

Are they evil enough to do this? Read up about Monsanto:
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/05/monsanto200805?currentPage=1

***

http://maryamhenein.tumblr.com/post/16471484566/the-buzz-behind-the-monsanto-beeolgics-acquisition

There was quite a stir amongst beekeepers and anti-gmo activists this past October when chemical and seed giant Monsanto purchased Beeologics , a small company best known for its  “groundbreaking research” vis a vis the application of RNAi technology on honeybees, a mechanism meant to block gene expression.

This was Monsanto’s first acquisition of a pest control biotech company. Yet surprisingly the terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Since its inception in 2007, Beeologics has been developing Remebee,® an anti-viral treatment for use in honeybees affected with Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV), a bee-specific virus, which originated from Australia and found and named in Israel in 2002.

Which brings us back to Monsanto, arguably the most detested chemical company on the face of the planet.

Why were they drawn to Beeologics? Was it because the competition (Syngenta and Bayer Crop Science) had also expressed interest? Or was it because they’d identified some low-hanging fruit to add to their portfolio of proprietary life forms? Perhaps Monsanto, which boasts a revenue of more than $10.5 billion per year, plans on buying anything and everything to do with gene manipulation?

Considering that the honey bee has been sequenced, how long before we bear witness to a genetically modified bee? I’ve been saying this since 2008 for the record!

… Introducing pesticide-resistant SUPER BEE Patent # 2457842149…

I mean, if seeds are any indication, Apis Melifera may also soon belong to Monsanto. Kill the bees with GM and pesticides, offer a band aid solution by creating a bee that is resistant to all the crap peddled on the market and then persuade/force beekeepers to buy Monsanto bees or else. It’s wicked genius.

But I am sure Monsanto and many others would call all of this paranoid phooey.

Take one well known scientist/beekeeper’s take on the subject.

“Honeybees aren’t an organism that anyone, who understands anything about their molecular biology, would advise as a subject for genetic modification,” he recently told colleagues on the online Bee List.  “Do you really think that Monsanto envisions that there would be any substantive return on investment on a patented bee? It would need to be propagated by instrumental insemination, so there would be a very limited market. This discussion is beginning to sound like the Twilight Zone.”

———–

“Beeologics has been developing Remebee,® an anti-viral treatment for use in honeybees affected with Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV), a bee-specific virus, which originated from Australia and found and named in Israel in 2002.”

um..originated in australia..wtf?

an israeli bee virus..now why i am i suspicious?…sheesh..

the super bee with a monsanto logo on its back might be heading to your hive soon..

http://seeker401.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/whistleblower-monsanto-wants-to-kill-the-bees-to-make-way-for-its-super-bee/

The Buzz Behind the Monsanto/Beeolgics Acquisition

There was quite a stir amongst beekeepers and anti-gmo activists this past October 2011 when chemical and seed giant Monsanto purchased Beeologics , a small company best known for its  “groundbreaking research” vis a vis the application of RNAi technology on honeybees, a mechanism meant to block gene expression.

This was Monsanto’s first acquisition of a pest control biotech company. Yet surprisingly the terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Since its inception in 2007, Beeologics has been developing Remebee,® an anti-viral treatment for use in honeybees affected with Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV), a bee-specific virus, which originated from Australia and found and named in Israel in 2002.

I first heard about Beelogics, which is headquartered both in both Florida and Israel, in April 2008 when President and CEO Eyal Ben-Chanoch reached out to Vanishing of the Bees via email after viewing our trailer and spotting some familiar faces.

Eyal explained that Beeologics was assembling scientists, beekeepers and business people “to create the missing corporate support” in an industry that traditionally has only been supported by a few hardware manufacturers. Sure there were hives, tools, bee suits and the like being offered but very little had been invested in technology and medicine for the bees — until Beeologics came along that is.

To put things in context, many scientists were all abuzz about IAPV at the time. Many firmly believed that it was a primer for Colony Collapse Disorder. Remembee, meanwhile, was regarded as a first line of defense to control the virus and its effect on bee mortality. 

We inoculate humans, why not insects?

Eyal assured me that Remembee wasn’t another “snake oil” product but rather a treatment developed by ‘real’ scientists at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. They were testing the product with the help of the University of Florida, Penn State, the USDA/ARS and some of the largest beekeepers in the country including David Hackenberg, CCD’s poster child and the main character in our film.

While CCD is a complex issue no-doubt, I told Eyal that our findings pointed to another cause: newfangled chemicals called systemic pesticides. Instead of being applied to leaves, they are enrobed on seeds and/or entrenched in the soil, allowing for the poison to literally become part of the plant.

Consequently, honeybees bring the systemics back to the hive in the form of pollen and nectar and store it in their honeycomb. When future generations dip into their reserves, they ingest toxins that target their central nervous system, affect their navigational capabilities and impair their memory. More importantly, the chemicals compromise their immune system – the number one key to fighting any kind of insult to the body, including a virus like IAPV.

As a scientist Eyal didn’t quite agree with our conclusions. 

“While I am also concerned with the world we are going to leave to our children, those who are using so-called facts that are based on pseudo or incomplete scientific work are as dangerous as the chemical companies who don’t release the data they have,” he concluded.

Which brings us back to Monsanto, arguably the most detested chemical company on the face of the planet.

Why were they drawn to Beeologics? Was it because the competition (Syngenta and Bayer Crop Science) had also expressed interest? Or was it because they’d identified some low-hanging fruit to add to their portfolio of proprietary life forms? Perhaps Monsanto, which boasts a revenue of more than $10.5 billion per year, plans on buying anything and everything to do with gene manipulation?

Considering that the honey bee has been sequenced, how long before we bear witness to a genetically modified bee? I’ve been saying this since 2008 for the record!

… Introducing pesticide-resistant SUPER BEE Patent # 2457842149…

If seeds are any indication, Apis Melifera may also soon belong to Monsanto. Kill the bees with GM and pesticides, offer a band aid solution by creating a bee that is resistant to all the crap peddled on the market and then persuade/force beekeepers to buy Monsanto bees or else. It’s wicked genius. 

But surely Monsanto and many others would call all of this paranoid phooey.

Take one well known scientist/beekeeper’s take on the subject. 

“Honeybees aren’t an organism that anyone, who understands anything about their molecular biology, would advise as a subject for genetic modification,” he recently told colleagues on the online Bee List.  “Do you really think that Monsanto envisions that there would be any substantive return on investment on a patented bee? It would need to be propagated by instrumental insemination, so there would be a very limited market. This discussion is beginning to sound like the Twilight Zone.”

Insect inoculation may be the latest rave, but is it the best solution?

Today we know that subsequent research failed to confirm a link between CCD and IAPV and found that although IAPV can result in honey bee mortality, the symptoms are not consistent with those of bees dying from CCD.

With that said, why does Monsanto’s site claim that ”the Remebee® product line is now proving to be a viable solution to “Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), “Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) infection and other diseases that threaten the world’s bee population.”

Is this just bad advertising copy?

Opponents meanwhile wonder whether using an antiviral agent will result in any significant decline of CCD when we now know that bees around the country and across the world are constantly exposed to an array of highly toxic pesticides that are known to have serious effects not only on our virgins of toil, but a range of other pollinators.

Perhaps anti-viral remedies are the next generation of products used to combat agricultural pests and pathogens but they don’t deal with the root of our problems such as native bee extinctions & unsustainable agriculture (ie GE crops, pesticides and herbicides).  In the end we will still have a polluted environment.

Furthermore there may likely be unknown effects in gene expression, in anti-viral abilities, and in their cability to evolve inherent defenses against viruses, etc, adds Brian Dykstra, who holds a degree in both environmental policy & in progress pollination biology. He also manages Ethnobeeology’s FB page.

And yet Beeologics is confident that the acquisition comes at an ideal time and that they are in safe hands.

Shortly after the purchase, Nitzan Paldi (CTO and co-founder of Beeologics) posted a blog where he stated that Monsanto’s “leadership team and scientists are just as passionate about helping growers and agriculture as [they] are.”

“As a scientist, it’s gratifying that research we’ve been working on may have an opportunity to be tapped for much broader use in agriculture; potentially helping growers around the world meet the ever increasing demands being placed on agriculture worldwide.”

And if you still have doubts fear not!

According to a Monsanto press release we should not be concerned, because it will be business as usual. Beelogics will continue to “promote bee health” under the new ownership. And Monsanto will simply use “the base technology from Beeologics as a part of its continuing discovery and development pipeline.” Whatever that means. 

How is using science to circumvent the laws of nature ever a positive thing? Facelifts and stem cell research aside of course.

To further reassure folks, the press release goes to describe Monsanto as “a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improves farm productivity and food quality.” They even state that they are into sustainability.

Jaw-dropping. Apparently Monsanto is experiencing delusions about its identity. Because the Monsanto most know is pretty much a ‘U.S. backed bioterrorist organization worthy of international intervention.’

In the past two decades, Monsanto’s seed monopoly has grown so powerful that they control the genetics of nearly 90% of five major commodity crops including corn, soybeans, cotton, canola and sugar beets!!

They make gobs of cash and yet sue farmers in poor countries who make less than $500 per year. In many cases farmers are forced to stop growing certain organic and conventional crops to avoid genetic contamination and potential lawsuits. Between 1997 and 2010, Monsanto admits to filing 144 lawsuits against America’s farmers, while settling another 700 out of court for undisclosed amounts. Due to these aggressive lawsuits, Monsanto has created an atmosphere of fear in rural America and driven dozens of farmers into bankruptcy.

As one person recently remarked on our FB page, “it’s a shitty business model to create something that can’t be controlled except by suing the hell out of people.”

And in India, thousands of farmers have committed suicide- by drinking insecticide no less- because they were promised harvests and income only to have crops fail and debts surmount thanks to their newly planted GM seeds.

So you be the judge. Is Monsanto really getting into bee protection?  Or is this another example of man tampering with the bees - with seemingly a lot more money?

Remembee is currently being reviewed for potential commercial sale by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Another product RemebeePro, is also on its way. For more on RNA interference watch this video.

***STAY TUNED A Q&A WITH BEEOLOGICS AND MONSANTO…..

http://maryamhenein.tumblr.com/post/16471484566/the-buzz-behind-the-monsanto-beeolgics-acquisition

From the April 2009 Idaho Observer:Bayer, Monsanto killing bees with patented chemicals, process

By Dan Eden

For over a year, the media has been reporting about the dramatic loss of bees in Europe and North America. As many as 50 percent to 90 percent of the bee populations have simply vanished, leaving their hives empty and forcing farmers to demand investigations to determine the cause.

The most popular theory, aside from the varroa mite and cell phone RF radiation, has been the belief that a virus—similar to AIDS—has infected the bees. A team led by scientists from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Pennsylvania State University, the USDA Agricultural Research Service, University of Arizona, and 454 Life Sciences (a Roche company) found a significant connection between the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) and colony collapse disorder (CCD) in honey bees.

A team of scientists from Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) and University of California San Francisco identified both a virus and a parasite that are likely behind the recent sudden die-off of honey-bee colonies.

But it now appears that a much more basic culprit has killed the bees—Bayer Corporation. CCD is poisoning with a known insect neurotoxin called Clothianidin, a pesticide manufactured by Bayer, which has been clearly linked to massive bee die offs in Germany and France.

Clothianidin = “Colony Collapse Disorder”

One of the most important food crops is corn. Corn is also used to make ethanol for fuel. But modern varieties of corn are vulnerable to diabrotica vergifera vergifera. Commonly known as the “root worm,” the bug burrows into the newly forming roots of the corn plant and causes the plant to wither and eventually die. By 2003, Bayer Pharmaceutical had developed “Clothianidin” to address the rootworm problem. Bayer’s own studies showed that its pesticide was highly toxic to bees but claimed that, because it would be applied to corn seed and would be buried in the soil, it would be harmless to other creatures.

Farmers were instructed to buy special machines to apply clothianidin to their seeds with a special adhesive seed coating manufactured by Monsanto. The poison is supposed to stick to the seed coat and to be toxic to the rootworm. These poison-coated seeds are now growing all over the globe.

Oooooops!

In July, 2007, the German corn crop was infested with the rootworm. The German government ordered that every possible method should be used to eradicate this pest, including the use of clothianidin. Shortly after the seeds were planted, in May of 2008, some 330-million bees abruptly died.

According to the German Research Center for Cultivated Plants, 29 out of 30 dead bees had been killed by direct contact with clothianidin.

Philipp Mimkes, spokesman for the German-based Coalition Against Bayer Dangers, said: “We have been pointing out the risks of neonicotinoids for almost 10 years now. This proves without a doubt that the chemicals can come into contact with bees and kill them. These pesticides shouldn’t be on the market.”

Imidacloprid, another neonicotinoid patented by Bayer Cropsciences that has been banned in France and Germany for its affect on bees, is also used widely in the U.S.

An investigation revealed that the seed coating did not stay in the soil but was introduced to the air (and the rest of the plant) by simple abrasion as seeds are stored, moved and injected into the soil by farming machines.

The German government quickly banned this pesticide, gave compensation to the farmers and issued a strong warning against using this chemical in agriculture. According to the German Federal Agriculture Institute, “It can unequivocally be concluded that poisoning of the bees is due to the rub-off of the pesticide ingredient clothianidin from corn seeds.”

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (May 30, 2003): “Clothianidin has the potential for toxic chronic exposure to honey bees, as well as other nontarget pollinators, through the translocation of clonianidin residue in nectar and pollen.” [In the same report] “The fate and disposition of clothianidin in the environment suggest a compound that is a systemic insecticide that is persistent and mobile, stable to hydrolysis, and has potential to leach to ground water, as well as runoff to surface waters.”

“Clothianidin is highly toxic to honey bees on an acute contact basis (killing 50% of tested populations at greater than 389 mg/kg). It has the potential for toxic chronic exposure to honey bees, as well as other nontarget pollinators, through the translocation of clothianidin residues in nectar and pollen. In honey bees, the effects of this toxic chronic exposure may include lethal and/or sub-lethal effects in the larvae and reproductive effects in the queen.”

Clothianidin = neurotoxin

The cigarette industry used to brag that one or two cigarettes doesn’t give a person lung cancer. Likewise, the pharmaceutical companies are quick to show that feeding bees a specific amount of neurotoxins, like clothianidin, doesn’t kill the bees. And, of course, this is true.

While small traces of clothianidin may not kill bees outright, it can and apparently does interfere with their ability to navigate to and from the hive. The pollen that they manage to bring back to the hive is then further concentrated and exposed to the entire colony, causing suppression of their immune systems and subsequent infection by any number of parasites and pathogens. This is exactly what beekeepers and farmers have been reporting — half empty, infested bees or abandoned hives with no dead bodies to be found anywhere. It has also been noted that the empty colonies are absent the usual parasitic bugs that typically take advantage of an abandoned hive. The colonies appear sterile.

Not Just Corn

The tragedy in Germany and France showed how bees that became exposed to clothianidin also infected bee colonies that were not harvesting corn pollen, thus spreading the toxin to regions at some distance from areas cultivating corn plants. It is theorized that they could have become disoriented and mingled with bees from other colonies or contaminated the pollen of plants where other bee colonies were also pollinating.

Update

In the last two years, beekeepers have reported unexplained losses of hives – 30 percent and upward – leading to a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder. Scientists believe that the decline in bees is linked to an onslaught of pesticides, mites, parasites and viruses, as well as a loss of habitat and food.

Bees pollinate about one-third of the human diet, $15 billion worth of U.S. crops, including almonds in California, blueberries in Maine, cucumbers in North Carolina and 85 other commercial crops, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Not finding a cause of the collapse could prove costly, scientists warn.

Clothianidin is also used to coat sugar beet and sorghum seeds and is part of a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids. The pesticide was blamed for bee deaths in France and Germany, which also is dealing with a colony collapse. Those two countries have suspended its use until further study. An EPA fact sheet from 2003 says clothianidin has the potential for toxic chronic exposure to honey bees, as well as other pollinators, through residues in nectar and pollen, but is not being banned in the U.S.

The EPA granted conditional registration for clothianidin in 2003 and at the same time required that Bayer CropScience submit studies on chronic exposure to honeybees, including a complete worker bee lifecycle study as well as an evaluation of exposure and effects to the queen. “The public has no idea whether those studies have been submitted to the EPA or not and, if so, what they show. Maybe they never came in. Maybe they came in, and they show a real problem for bees. Maybe they’re poorly conducted studies that don’t satisfy EPA’s requirement,” Aaron Colangelo said.

Coalangelo is a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council which sued the EPA last year in an effort to have the alleged studies released to the public.

A slightly longer version of the above article was originally published Sept. 18, 2008, at www.viewzone.com

http://proliberty.com/observer/20090408.htm

http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/are-honey-bees-headed-towards-extinction/

March 12, 2012 – WORLD – We have all heard about several animal species becoming extinct, even in the modern world, humans have seen whole generations of some animals disappear. Will bees become one of them? Some experts believe that the bees could be about to die and at least one third of our food depends on pollination of flowering plants. Einstein once said: “If the bees disappear, mankind would have only 4 more years of life.” Over 3 million colonies of bees have died in the USA since 2006 and over a thousand millions of bees have died in this period in the world. Scientists believe that the main reason could be the pesticides (found more than 121 pesticides in samples of bees, pollen, and wax). Another phenomenon that has perplexed scientists is that many of the colonies are abandoned, but they are the bodies of bees, in what has been called the Mary Celeste Syndrome (as inexplicably abandoned ship). Some studies relate the effect produced by telecommunications towers with the disorientation of the bees, leaving them unable to return to their hive. Many of the companies engaged in beekeeping are facing serious economic problems while the research to find the causes of the disappearance of millions of bees has a number of funds proportionate to the seriousness of the problem. –News Pakistan

http://news.yahoo.com/honeybee-deaths-linked-corn-insecticides-221639948--abc-news.html

3/15/12

What was killing all those honeybees in recent years?  New research shows a link between an increase in the death of bees and insecticides, specifically the chemicals used to coat corn seeds.

The study, titled "Assessment of the Environmental Exposure of Honeybees to Particulate Matter Containing Neonicotinoid Insecticides Coming from Corn Coated Seeds," was published in the American Chemical Society's Environmental Science & Technology journal, and provides insight into colony collapse disorder.

Colony collapse disorder, or the mass die-off of honeybees, has stumped researchers up to now. This new research may provide information that  could lead to even more answers.

According to the new study, neonicotinoid insecticides "are among the most widely used in the world, popular because they kill insects by paralyzing nerves but have lower toxicity for other animals."



more

http://news.yahoo.com/latest-buzz-bee-decline-maybe-pesticides-193949303.html

3/29/12

WASHINGTON (AP) — A common class of pesticide is causing problems for honeybees and bumblebees, important species already in trouble, two studies suggest.

But the findings don't explain all the reasons behind a long-running bee decline, and other experts found one of the studies less than convincing.

The new research suggests the chemicals used in the pesticide — designed to attack the central nervous system of insects — reduces the weight and number of queens in bumblebee hives. These pesticides also cause honeybees to become disoriented and fail to return to their hives, the researchers concluded.

The two studies were published online Thursday in the journal Science.

more

Prison Planet.com
Tuesday, May 22, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6cHZP5SWke4

I was outside all the time when I was a kid but never found dead bees. Now I find them almost every time I step out into the garden. Colony Collapse Disorder is a real environmental threat and now Monsanto is hunting down whistleblowers who expose the fact that their herbicides are causing it.


http://www.prisonplanet.com/colony-collapse-disorder-i-keep-finding-dead-bees-everywhere.html

That is so funny that it is from Prison Planet, as sane always deleted or moved my posts on the disappearance of bees.

Really?? It's one thing for Sane, JT, and Geo to do so with posts exposing Catholicism and the Jesuits, but with the DISAPPEARANCE OF BEES ??? Are they really that ignorant over this subject?

sane is, he did not like any posts on this subject at all.

http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=185915.0

WHOOPS...

Well now sports fans, that is basically your proverbial two-handed slam dunk!

http://www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/news/bee-disease-outbreak.17997819

6/28/12

Bee disease outbreak

AN OUTBREAK of American Foulbrood, a disease affecting colonies of honeybees, has been found in an apiary in Inverness-shire.

The disease was confirmed following laboratory diagnosis by Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture. Other outbreaks of AFB have previously been reported – and dealt with – in this area over the last three years.

The movement of bees and related equipment into or out of the affected apiary is prohibited. As there is no permitted treatment for the disease in the UK, the infected hive will be destroyed. There are no risks to public health from AFB and no implications for the quality and safety of honey.
 
Bee farmers and beekeepers are being urged to be vigilant for signs of the disease, to maintain good husbandry practices and to notify any suspicion of disease to BeesMailbox@scotland.gsi.gov.uk. In order to assist Scottish Government Bee Inspectors to control this and other diseases, beekeepers are urged to register on BeeBase, the national bee database.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-IJikX1144&feature=player_embedded

http://www.panna.org/blog/beekeepers-expect-worst-year-bees

1/16/13

“We’re facing the extinction of a species.” That’s what one Midwest-based large-scale commercial beekeeper told me last week at the annual gathering of the American Honey Producers Association (AHPA). And he meant it.

Bee losses have been dramatic, especially in recent years. And beekeepers are feeling the sting. According to many who manage hives, commercial beekeeping won’t pencil out in the future unless things change, and soon.

Beekeepers from across the country gathered in San Diego to swap stories and share best practices in the trade, as well as to learn more about the latest research on declines in bee populations (often referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder). Independent science continues to point to pesticides as one of the critical co-factors in bee losses — alongside nutrition and disease — and beekeepers continue to see major declines. And these losses parallel the ongoing increase in pesticide products used on seeds and in fields across the country.

As one beekeeper told me, “On average, 40% over-wintering losses across the country. That’s what we’re facing. And my losses are closer to 70% — this is likely gonna be the worst year for bees.”

But it isn’t just this year; USDA reports major bee population declines since 2006. Another beekeeper told me he lost over $250,000 in honey business last year alone, and he’s no longer pollinating melon and cherries. As he reminded me, this not only has direct impacts on him, but his employees, their communities, suppliers, vendors, the food system and agricultural economy.

Pesticide industry, front & center

Workshops on pesticides were more common than ever at this annual AHPA conference, as evidence mounts showing pesticides to be a key catalyst in bee declines. And representatives from chemical giants like Arysta, Bayer and Monsanto made their presence known, even hosting workshops to pacify concerned beekeepers.

These corporations have a lot at stake. With the market becoming increasingly consolidated, just a few companies manufacture many of the same seeds and pesticides implicated in honey bee losses. If history is any guide, these corporations will likely continue to object to finding healthy, sustainable and commonsense solutions to bee declines.

Toward commonsense solutions

By the end of the conference, several themes had emerged. Beekeepers, and the farmers they work with, don't have the necessary support from state and federal officials to protect pollinators and maintain productive businesses. They feel victim to a handful of powerful pesticide corporations and lax government regulators.

In order to support healthy pollinators, several beekeepers suggested the following:

• Reduce pesticide use, especially near bees. With the weight of the evidence behind them, beekeepers are encouraging reductions in pesticide use, including the use of products like neonicotinoids and fungicides, and especially near bees.
  
  Fix the system that tracks bee incidents. Beekeepers find it burdensome and ineffective to report pesticide-related bee kills, as the onus is often placed on them, and many states have failed to create systems for monitoring bee kills.
  
  Create transparent state and federal systems for tracking pesticide use. Beekeepers, like rural and farmworker communities, are best served by knowing what’s being used near them, including amount, type and weather conditions. The federal government and most states — except for California, New York and Oregon— have failed to create a meaningful pesticide use tracking program.

Some beekeepers have taken matters into their own hands, forming the National Pollinator Defense Fund. With a commitment to protecting bees and their livelihood, this new band of beekeepers will “defend managed and native pollinators vital to a sustainable and affordable food supply from the adverse impacts of pesticides.”

No doubt it will take all of us to make sure they are successful, and to ensure we will have healthy bees and beekeepers for years to come.

2/16/13

http://news.yahoo.com/fewer-bees-us-threat-worlds-almond-supply-190614961--finance.html

TURLOCK, Calif. (AP) — In an almond orchard in California's Central Valley, bee inspector Neil Trent pried open a buzzing hive and pulled out a frame to see if it was at least two-thirds covered with bees.
 
Trent has hopped from orchard to orchard this month, making sure enough bees were in each hive provided by beekeepers. Not enough bees covering a frame indicates an unhealthy hive — and fewer working bees to pollinate the almond bloom, which starts next week across hundreds of thousands of acres stretching from Red Bluff to Bakersfield.
 
"The bloom will come and go quickly," said Trent, who works for the Bakersfield-based bee broker Scientific Ag Co. "The question is: Will the almond seeds get set? It depends if you have enough of a workforce of bees."
 
That has growers concerned as nomadic beekeepers from across the country converge on the state with their semi-trucks, delivering billions of bees to the orchards for the annual pollination. Most almond trees depend on bees to transfer pollen from the flower of one tree variety to the flower of another variety before fertilization, which leads to the development of seeds.
 
It's a daunting task: California's orchards provide about 80 percent of the global almond supply. And with almond acreage increasing steadily in recent years, the bees must now pollinate 760,000 acres of trees. The number of bees needed is expected to increase as almond demand grows and orchards continue to expand.
 
Already, more than half of the country's honeybees are brought to California at the end of February for almond pollination, which requires about 1.5 million hives from out of state, and another 500,000 from elsewhere in the state. Honeybees are preferred for commercial-scale pollination, because they are social, build larger colonies than other bees, and their hives can easily be moved.
 
Bee brokers, beekeepers and almond growers around the state say there's a shortage of healthy honeybees for this year's pollination, especially after colony collapse disorder took a higher toll this winter. The disorder, in which honey bees suddenly disappear or die, wipes out thousands of colonies each year.
 
The shortage has some growers scrambling for bees — even sub-performers — as trees are about to bloom, driving up bee prices again this year, to an all-time high of more than $200 per colony.
 
"There's definitely a shortage of strong bee colonies," said Joe Traynor, owner of Scientific Ag, which connects growers with beekeepers. "There is a problem covering all the acres of almonds in the state."
 
Since it was recognized in 2006, colony collapse disorder has destroyed colonies at a rate of about 30 percent a year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Before that, losses were about 15 percent a year from pests and diseases. No one has determined its cause, but most researchers point to a combination of factors, including pesticide contamination, poor nutrition and bee diseases.
 
This year, experts say, the die-off has been as high as 40 to 50 percent for some beekeepers.
 
"We have smaller populations in the hives and higher winter losses," said Eric Mussen, a bee specialist at the entomology department of University of California, Davis. "Bees across the country are not in as good a shape as last year. When you stress them far enough, the bees just give in."
 
This year, Mussen said, many bees did not get enough nutrition because a Midwest drought reduced forage. Conversion of pasture land to corn production for ethanol also reduced the number of flowers producing nectar.
 
To compensate for forage loss, beekeepers fed bees more high-fructose corn syrup and other supplements. But such substitutes don't provide all the nutrients pollen does, Mussen said. Malnourished bees are more susceptible to diseases.
 
Lance Sundberg, a beekeeper who hauled his hives for almond pollination from Columbus, Mont., lost 40 percent of his bees this winter due to the drought and mite problems.
 
"You have to buy bees elsewhere to pick up your losses, and not everything we have remaining after the loss is very strong," said Sundberg. "I had a tough time fulfilling my obligations to all the growers."
 
But at least he still has bees, Sundberg said. Some colleagues were not as lucky: they lost 75 percent or even 99 percent.
 
Traynor, the bee broker, said he's been fielding phone calls from desperate beekeepers and growers who are short several thousand colonies — but he has no more good bees to offer them. The shortage will only get worse in the future, he said, as almond acreage grows.
 
Having strong hives is critical, Traynor said, especially during rainy seasons, because bees have a short period of flight time when it's dry enough to pollinate. Fewer bees may not be able to reach all the blooms in time.
 
In recent years, the Almond Board of California, which represents more than 6,000 growers, has poured $1.4 million into bee health research. The group also worked on alternatives to reduce growers' reliance on honeybees, said Bob Curtis, associate director of agricultural affairs.
 
One is the so-called "self-compatible" almond tree, which can set nuts using pollen transferred among its own flowers, thereby needing fewer bees.
 
The group also is urging growers to plant forage to help sustain bees before and after almond pollination. And it's exploring using blue orchard bees, which are solitary bees that do not live in hives but nest in small cavities, to augment the honeybee workforce. But building up those alternatives will take time.
 
"It's tenuous right now," Curtis said. "We've got fewer bees. And if something goes wrong with the weather, some growers could be in trouble."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mat 24:7  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Mat 24:8  All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Feds: Many causes for dramatic bee disappearance
http://news.yahoo.com/feds-many-causes-dramatic-bee-disappearance-152605922.html
5/2/13

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new federal report blames a combination of problems for a mysterious and dramatic disappearance of U.S. honeybees since 2006.

The intertwined factors cited include a parasitic mite, multiple viruses, bacteria, poor nutrition, genetics, habitat loss and pesticides.

The multiple causes make it harder to do something about what's called colony collapse disorder, experts say. The disorder has caused as much as one-third of the nation's bees to just disappear each winter since 2006.

Bees, especially honeybees, are needed to pollinate crops.

The federal report, issued Thursday by the Agriculture Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, said the biggest culprit is the parasitic mite varroa destructor, calling it "the single most detrimental pest of honeybees."

The problem has also hit bee colonies in Europe, where regulators are considering a ban on a type of pesticides that some environmental groups blame for the bee collapse. The U.S. report cites pesticides, but near the bottom of the list of factors. And federal officials and researchers advising them said the science doesn't justify a ban of the pesticides yet.

The report is the result of a large conference of scientists that the government brought together last year to figure out what's going on. Participant May Berenbaum, a top bee researcher from the University of Illinois, said the class of chemicals known as neonicotinoids hasn't been proven to be the sole culprit in the bee loss.

In an interview, she said she was "extremely dubious" that banning the chemical would have any effect on bee health. She was the chairwoman of a major National Academy of Sciences study on the loss of pollinators.

Dave Gaulson of the University of Stirling in Scotland, who conducted a study last year that implicated the chemical, said he can't disagree with the overall conclusions of the U.S. government report. However, he said it could have emphasized pesticides more.

Pollinators, like honeybees, are crucial to the U.S. food supply. About $30 billion a year in agriculture depends on their health, said the USDA's Sonny Ramaswamy.

USDA bee researcher Jeff Pettis said modern farming practices that often leave little forage area for bees is a big problem.

At a news conference Thursday with federal officials, Berenbaum said there's no single solution to the bee problem: "We're not really well equipped or even used to fighting on multiple fronts."

US approves new pesticides linked to mass bee deaths as EU enacts ban

In the wake of a massive US Department of Agriculture report highlighting the continuing large-scale death of honeybees, environmental groups are left wondering why the Environmental Protection Agency has decided to approve a "highly toxic" new pesticide.

The continuing mass death of honeybees, known scientifically as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and a “pollinator crisis,” could well strain production of over 100 crops in the US including apples, zucchinis, avocados and plums. The agriculture value of these products is estimated at over $200 billion globally per year.

As RT recently reported, a new USDA report has taken a broad look at the decline of bee colonies in the country, highlighting a dire situation as the number of colonies has plummeted from 3 million in 1990 to 2.5 million this year. Demonstrating that the decline is a long-term issue, that same report points to the existence of 6 million honey bee colonies in 1947.

Though dire, the report does not offer any immediate solutions, as scientists continue to examine the potential causes for the mass colony collapses, during which adult bees abandon their hives, along with the queen, brood and food supplies.

The USDA cites “multiple factors… including parasites and disease, genetics, poor nutrition and pesticide exposure,” while also citing last summer’s drought as a contributing factor.

Many environmental groups seem convinced that pesticides are a main factor in the continuing colony collapse situation. One group, Beyond Pesticides, has called the EPA’s recent green light for use of a new insecticide known as sulfoxaflor irresponsible in light of its “highly toxic” classification for honey bees.

In late April, the European Union voted to enact a two-year moratorium on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides (sulfoxaflor is considered by many to be a "fourth-generation neonicotinoid") in light of scientific studies that indicate their harm to bees.

As in the US, a number of European countries have also been monitoring declining health and colony collapses in their bee populations, including France, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

Groups such as the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) have praised the continent-wide ban.

rest: http://rt.com/usa/new-pesticides-linked-bee-deaths-130/

Beekeeping Industry 'Doomed' -- Might We See Destruction of Food Supply Before the End of This Decade?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ5riRX1_3w


For several years now, scientists have been struggling to determine why bee colonies across the world are disappearing—a phenomenon dubbed colony collapse disorder (CCD).

 As reported by Dan Rather, the US has recently experienced the highest loss of honeybee populations so far, with most of the nation’s beekeepers losing anywhere from 50 to 90 percent of their bee population.

Honeybees are perhaps one of the least recognized workers in the agricultural industry. They contribute $15 billion in annual agriculture revenue to the US economy alone, as a full one-third of the American food supply depends on them pollinating crops.

Just about every fruit and vegetable you can imagine is dependent on the pollinating services of bees. Apple orchards, for instance, require one colony of bees per acre in order to be adequately pollinated. So, unless the mysterious disappearance of bees is reversed, major food shortages could result.
 
California Almond Orchards Threatened by Bee Loss
 

As discussed in Dan Rather’s report, 80 percent of the world’s almonds come from California’s central valley, an 800,000 acre area of almond orchards that are 100 percent dependent on bees pollinating the trees. Surprisingly, almonds are the number one agricultural product in California.

Once a year, in late winter, 1.5 million bee hives from around the country are delivered to these orchards where the bees’ pollination efforts take place over the course of just a few days. It’s the largest mass-pollination effort in the world.

This year, however, the unthinkable happened. Many of the 6,000 orchard owners simply could not find enough bees to pollinate their almond trees, at any price... One of the beekeepers featured in Rather’s report is John Miller, President of the California state Beekepers Association. His family has tended bees since 1894.

Of the 11,000 hives brought to California by Miller, hundreds of hives turned out to be dead when opened up. According to Miller, “the past 30 years have been tumultuous with 40 percent of the national herd dying or dead.”

Another fourth generation beekeeper named Anderson lost 70 percent of his hives this year. Yet another outfit lost 100 percent of his bees...
 
Fortunately, unsurpassed efforts that included persuading beekeepers as far away as Florida to ship their bees cross country, delayed bloom, and unseasonably good weather thereafter allowed almond growers to dodge the bullet—this year—despite having fewer and weaker-than-ever hives...

This narrowly-achieved success may lead some to reach the mistaken conclusion that beekeepers’ concerns are overblown.
 
Don’t be fooled. One beekeeper goes so far as to say he believes the beekeeper industry is doomed and cannot survive for more than another two to three years unless drastic changes are implemented...
 
What’s Causing Bees to Die?
 

Proposed culprits of bee colony collapse disorder include:
 •Pesticides and insecticides—Nicotinoids such as Imidacloprid and Clothianidin kills insects by attacking their nervous systems. These are known to get into pollen and nectar, and can damage beneficial insects such as bees.
•Malnutrition/Nutritional deficiencies—Many beekeepers place the hives near fields of identical crops, which may result in malnutrition as the bees are only getting one type of nectar. Essentially, this theory is identical to that of human nutrition; we need a wide variety of nutrients from different foods. If you keep eating the same limited range of foods, you can easily end up suffering from nutritional deficiencies. Poor nutrition suppresses immune function, making the bees far more susceptible to toxins from pesticides, viruses, fungi, or a combination of factors that ultimately kill them.
•Viruses and fungi—There's even the possibility that some new form of "AIDS-like" viral infection is affecting the bees.
•Electromagnetic fields (EMFs)—Researchers have discovered that when a cellular phone is placed near a hive, the radiation generated by it (900-1,800 MHz) is enough to prevent bees from returning to them, according to a study conducted at Landau University several years ago.1

 This result was duplicated in 2009 by Sainuddeen Pattazhy, a researcher and dean in the department of zoology at SN College, Punalur, Kerala. His experiments showed that microwaves from mobile phones appear to interfere with worker bees' navigation skills. When cell phones were placed near beehives, the hives collapsed completely in five to 10 days. The worker bees simply failed to return home.

More recently, a study2 published in 2011 found that the presence of microwaves from cell phones have a dramatic effect on bees, causing them to become quite disturbed.
•Lack of natural foraging areas—Mass conversions of grasslands to corn and soy in the Midwest has dramatically reduced bees’ natural foraging areas
 
EPA Blamed for Failure to Protect Bees
 

A general consensus among beekeepers is that the bee die-offs are most definitely related to toxic chemicals. Increasingly, a systemic type of pesticide called neonicotinoids is being blamed for bee die-off’s. Neonicotinoids are now used on most of American crops, especially corn. This newer class of chemicals is applied to seeds before planting, allowing the pesticide to be taken up through the plant’s vascular system as it grows. As a result, the chemical is expressed in the pollen and nectar of the plant.

These insecticides are highly toxic to bees because they are systemic, water-soluble, and pervasive. They get into the soil and groundwater where they can accumulate and remain for many years and present long-term toxicity to the hive.

Neonicotinoids affect insects' central nervous systems in ways that are cumulative and irreversible. Even minute amounts can have profound effects over time. One of the observed effects of these insecticides is weakening of the bee's immune system. Forager bees bring pesticide-laden pollen back to the hive, where it's consumed by all of the bees. Six months later, their immune systems fail, and they fall prey to secondary, seemingly "natural" bee infections, such as parasites, mites, viruses, fungi and bacteria.

The disappearance of bee colonies began accelerating in the United States shortly after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allowed these new insecticides on the market in the mid-2000s. Last month, beekeepers and environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the agency over its failure to protect bees from these toxic pesticides.

Meanwhile, France has banned Imidacloprid for use on corn and sunflowers after reporting large losses of bees after exposure to it. They also rejected Bayer´s application for Clothianidin, and other countries, such as Italy, have banned certain neonicotinoids as well.

The EPA3 acknowledges that “pesticide poisoning” may be one factor leading to colony collapse disorder, yet they have been slow to act to protect bees from this threat. The current lawsuit may help spur them toward more urgent action, which is desperately needed as the food supply hangs in the balance.

In March, according to Dan Rather’s report, the EPA sent Jim Jones, overseer of the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, to talk to California almond growers and beekeepers. But although beekeepers said Jones got the message that bees are in serious trouble, they were dismayed by the fact that he seemed more interested in finding new places for bees to forage rather than addressing the issue of toxic pesticides...

As usual, at the core of the problem is big industry, which is blinded by greed and enabled by a corrupt governmental system that permits the profit-driven sacrifice of our environment. Unfortunately, this motivation reflects an extreme shortsightedness about the long-term survival of the human race, as well as of our planet. Clearly, if the goal of pesticides is to increase food yield to more easily feed 7 billion human beings, this goal falls flat on its face if it leads to the collapse of our food chain.
 
Do You Trust Monsanto to Solve the Bee Colony Collapse Problem?
 

Another forerunning theory of colony collapse disorder (CCD) is that it's being caused by genetically engineered crops—either as a result of the crops themselves or the pesticides and herbicides applied on them, such as Roundup. In one German study,4 when bees were released in a genetically engineered rapeseed crop, then fed the pollen to younger bees, scientists discovered the bacteria in the guts of the young ones mirrored the same genetic traits as ones found in the GE crop, indicating that horizontal gene transfer had occurred.

Chemical companies like Monsanto are clearly seeking to take as much control of the food supply as possible by controlling virtually every aspect of crop production, so research implicating their business as the cause of bee die-offs would definitely cause harm to the company's bottom line. Monsanto has received increasing amounts of bad publicity over their potential role in the devastating demise of bees around the globe.

To better field such lines of inquiry, the company appears to have taken measures to control the direction of the research into their products' effect on bees by purchasing one of the leading bee research firms – one that, conveniently, lists its primary goal as studying colony collapse disorder. Monsanto bought the company, called Beeologics, in September 2011, just months before Poland announced it would ban growing of Monsanto's genetically modified MON810 maize, noting, poignantly, that "pollen of this strain could have a harmful effect on bees.”5
 
Rodale Institute Tackles Bee Problem
 

I recently visited the Rodale Institute and got a tour of their brand new Honeybee Conservancy and research facility. As reported on their website:6
 

“The 2013 Conservancy has a new physical arrangement and a whole new set of beds that include nectar plants that bloom throughout the season and incorporate biodynamic principles... We’ll be looking at the impacts of compost, compost extracts and biodynamic preparations on the health and vitality of the plants.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kox8Ug77MKc

How You Can Help Protect the Bees
 

If you would like to learn more about the economic, political and ecological implications of the worldwide disappearance of the honeybee, check out the documentary film Vanishing of the Bees. If you’d like to get involved, here are four actions you can take to help preserve and protect our honeybees:
 •Support organic farmers and shop at local farmer's markets as often as possible. You can "vote with your fork" three times a day. (When you buy organic, you are making a statement by saying "no" to GMOs and toxic pesticides.)
•Cut the use of toxic chemicals in your house and on your lawn, and use only organic, all-natural forms of pest control.
•Better yet, get rid of your lawn altogether and plant a garden or other natural habitat. Lawns offer very little benefit for the environment. Both flower and vegetable gardens provide excellent natural honeybee habitats.
•Become an amateur beekeeper. Having a hive in your garden requires only about an hour of your time per week, benefits your local ecosystem, and you can enjoy your own honey! Worldofbeekeping.com,7 and beekeeping.org8 are but two websites that can help you get started.
 
If you are interested in more information about bee preservation, the following organizations are a good place to start.
 •Pesticide Action Network Bee Campaign9
•The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees10
•American Beekeeping Federation11
•Help the Honey Bees12
 
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/06/08/bees-dying-off.aspx?e_cid=20130608_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20130608

Researchers Develop Bee Sperm Bank in Hopes of Creating a Super Bee

Researchers at Washington State University announced plans to open a “bee sperm bank” as well as employ genetic cross-breeding methods in order to produce a super bee they hope will not succumb to colony collapse disorder.
 
Concerns over the honey bee, though a constant topic in the news, are not news.
 
In 1922, shortly after tracheal mites were identified as the likely cause of bee deaths on England’s Isle of Wight, the United States restricted the importation of live honey bees, effectively preventing the parasites from reaching the nation’s shores until 1984.

However, once they did, just a few years later a more serious threat, the Varroa mite, made its way across the border.
 
“The Varroa mite feeds on the developing bees, or brood, and also introduces bacteria and viruses that damage the health of the hive,” Susan Cobey, a WSU research associate working on the project said.
 
They’re so deadly, Cobey said, they are known to wipe out an entire colony in just two years if a beekeeper does not interfere. Even if they do, project leader and professor of etymology Steve Sheppard lamented that intervention usually means chemical miticides, which are tolerated by bees in a short time, but cause harm over the long term as chemical residues accumulate in hives.
 
Creating a resistant breed of an organism in order to combat a threat to the species not new either; however, U.S. entomologists were originally forced, in this case, to contend with a limited honey bee gene pool as as result of the import ban that lasted for so long.
 
Thus, in an effort to find and utilize the needed genes, the USDA granted WSU a permit in 2008 to import honey bee semen for breeding purposes, subject to strict screening for viruses.
 
Taking only from the best, the scientists collected semen from Italian bees who are known to reproduce quickly and in order to create a bee resilient to the cold,
 
Sheppard and his team have been collecting semen from bees of the eastern Alps and mountains located in the country of Georgia. Finally, the researchers plan on mixing the strongest stock from Europe with the United States’ strongest.
 
And since live semen will survive at room temperature for about 10 to 14 days, Cobey has exactly that much time to collect the semen and either freeze it or inject it into the selected queen bee’s oviduct.
 
Meanwhile, the question of how to store the genetic material for years, was solved with the help of Sheppard’s graduate student Brandon Hopkins who discovered that liquid nitrogen maintains the semen viability for decades, helping to preserve imperiled subspecies in a honey bee genetic repository for generations to come.

http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/2342/20130607/researchers-develop-bee-sperm-bank-hopes-creating-super.htm

http://news.yahoo.com/tree-netting-planned-protect-ore-bees-115509295.html
6/21/13
Scramble to protect bees after 25,000 die in Oregon parking lot

WILSONVILLE, Ore. (AP) — Workers on Friday plan to wrap bee-proof netting around blooming trees in the parking lot of an Oregon shopping center in an attempt to prevent the deaths of more bees.

Portland-area bee experts with the Xerces (ZERK-zees) Society for Invertebrate Conservation estimate at least 25,000 bumble bees have died in the lot since last weekend. The bees were clustered under dozens of linden trees.

Oregon Agriculture Department officials confirm thousands of dead bees.

The Oregonian reports (http://is.gd/XIiNip ) that Agriculture officials are working with the Xerces Society, the city of Wilsonville and the distributor of an insecticide.

State officials say tests to confirm the cause of the deaths could take two or three more days. They are checking for insecticides as well as possible natural causes.

Wilsonville is southwest of Portland.

Now I wonder who that might be!

more than just bees

Mystery Bee Kill: Causes Being Sought

Tens of thousands of bumble bees and other pollinators were found dead under trees at the Target store in Wilsonville on Monday, June 17th. The discovery was a strange and ironic start to National Pollinator Week, a symbolic annual event intended to raise public awareness about the plight of bees.
 
The massive bee kill was first documented on Monday by Rich Hatfield, a conservation biologist with the Portland-based Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Several shoppers at the store called him to report that there were dead and dying bees all over the parking lot. Specifically, the bees were clustered under dozens of European linden trees. The Xerces Society is internationally known for their work on bee conservation.

“After several calls at the office I visited the Target store in Wilsonville and found a parking lot full of dead bumble bees underneath blooming European linden trees,” said Rich Hatfield. “They were literally falling out of the trees. To our knowledge this is one of the largest documented bumble bee deaths in the Western U.S. It was heartbreaking to watch.”
 
The cause of the bee deaths in unknown but there are two possibilities: acute pesticide poisoning, or a poisonous species of European linden tree.

The Xerces Society contacted the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) who responded by sending staff to collect samples of the bees and foliage from the trees. According to staff at the ODA, they will be working to determine whether pesticides were used at the site.

“We are very happy with the quick action by ODA to get to the site and collect bees for testing,” said Mace Vaughan, Pollinator Conservation Program Director for the Xerces Society. “We are hopeful they will move quickly to determine the cause of this catastrophe.”

Rich Hatfield estimated there were at least 25,000 dead bumble bees at the site, a number that likely represents the loss of more than 150 colonies. There were also dead honey bees, lady bird beetles and other beneficial insects. Bumble bees are especially important to agriculture in western Oregon, where they are considered vital pollinators of many berry crops and Willamette Valley seed crops.
 
“If the trees are indeed toxic they should be cut down and replaced by something that will provide non-toxic pollen and nectar for bees,” said Scott Hoffman Black, Executive Director at the Xerces Society. “On the other hand, if pesticides are the cause, we need to spotlight this as a real-world lesson in the harm these toxic chemicals are causing to beneficial insects. It would be especially alarming to find out whether pesticides are the cause in this case because the linden trees are not even an agricultural crop. Any spraying that happened would have been done for purely cosmetic reasons.”


http://www.xerces.org/2013/06/18/mystery-bee-kill-causes-being-sought/

http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2013/06/after_50000_bees_die_in_wilson.html
After 50,000 dead bees found in Wilsonville, more dead bees discovered in Hillsboro
6/22/13

The City of Hillsboro and the Oregon Department of Agriculture are investigating the deaths of what could be hundreds of bees in downown Hillsboro over the past few days.
 
The city notified state agricultural officials and the Xerces Society Friday. The kill-off is more alarming because its discovery comes after an estimated 50,000 bumblebees were found dead at a Target parking lot in Wilsonville during the past week or so.
 
“We take it seriously,” Hillsboro spokesman Patrick Preston said, Saturday. “We recognize the importance of bees.”
 
Hillsboro officials aren’t sure what’s killing the bees, but Preston confirmed that the trees in downtown Hillsboro were treated with the same pesticide, Safari spray, as 55 trees that were sprayed in Wilsonville. Agricultural officials determined that the insecticide — which is meant to kill aphids — caused the Wilsonville bees’ deaths.

As soon as Preston learned of the Hillsboro die-off Friday, he visited the site along Southwest Washington Street. He saw about 100 dead or dying bees below one tree, and more living bees up in the tree.

Although bees have been found dead elsewhere along the street, Preston said most of them have been found dead below that one tree. It's between Fourth and Fifth avenues.

Workers were planning to cast a large net over that tree Saturday afternoon, to prevent more bees from landing on it and falling victim.
 
The trees in Wilsonville were covered with nets on Friday.
 
Preston said that one interesting difference between the die-offs is that the Wilsonville trees were sprayed recently, while Hillsboro sprayed its trees in March.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/national_world&id=9148432
Bee kill-off due to pesticide, Oregon agency says
Saturday, June 22, 2013

June 22, 2013 (WILSONVILLE, Ore.) --  Oregon officials say a pesticide is to blame for the deaths of tens of thousands of bumble bees in a shopping center parking lot southwest of Portland.

The state Department of Agriculture said Friday that tests on bees and foliage showed the deaths are "directly related to a pesticide application on linden trees" that was meant to control aphids.

It said an investigation is under way to see if the application of the pesticide Safari, done last Saturday, violated the law.

The Oregonian reports that the Agriculture Department, the City of Wilsonville, neighboring towns and some local landscape contractors have covered the sprayed trees with netting in an effort to prevent further insect deaths.

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation has upped its estimate of the bee kill to 50,000. Spokesman Scott Black calls that a very conservative number.

June 22, 2013 - Oregon Bumblebee Deaths Up to 50,000

After Neonicotinoid Safari Sprayed On Trees.

“The bumblebees were literally falling out of the trees.
 To our knowledge this is one of the largest documented bumblebee
 deaths in the Western U.S. It was heartbreaking to watch.”

- Rich Hatfield, Conservation Biologist, Xerces Society, Portland

Dozens of the 50,000 estimated bumblebees that fell dead onto a Target parking lot in
Wilsonville, Oregon, south of Portland, after linden trees were sprayed with the neonicotinoid
 Safari to kill aphids that drip sticky secretions on cars. Nicotine-based insecticides easily kill bee
species and are strongly linked to the persistent deaths and disappearances of honey
 bees around the world since 2006. Images © by Rich Hatfield, Xerces Society.

The Oregon Dept. of Agriculture confirms at least 50,000 bumblebees have died in Wilsonville, Oregon, since the nicotine-based pesticide Safari was sprayed on linden trees earlier this week with the intent to kill aphids. Bees are easily killed by neonicotinoids which are strongly linked to the persistent die-offs and disappearances of honey bees so needed for crop pollination. That's why the European Union in April 2013, issued a 2-year ban on three of the nicotine poisons: imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam to go into effect in December 2013. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) was first reported in late 2006, not long after the first widespread applications of neonicotinoids started in the late 1990s, primarily with imidacloprid. All corn that is planted in the Midwestern United States is treated with either clothianidin or thiamethoxam.

http://www.earthfiles.com/

Safari Insecticide. Where the wild things aren’t.
 
Safari Insecticide, a super-systemic insecticide with quick uptake and knockdown, controls a broad spectrum of ferocious and invasive pests, including Q- and B-biotype whitefly, Hemlock woolly adelgid, emerald ash borer, mealybug, mountain pine beetle 2(ee), leafminer, fungus gnat, black vine weevil, glassy-winged sharpshooter, armored and soft scale and lacebug—some of the most costly pests that affect high value greenhouse and nursery crops such as poinsettia and hibiscus, as well as trees, shrubs and herbaceous ornamentals in the lawn and landscape market. With two formulations, Safari is super-flexible when it comes to application


product info: http://www.valent.com/professional/products/safari/index.cfm

doesnt seem to be associated with Monsanto

http://www.thepost.on.ca/2013/06/19/bees-dying-by-the-millions
6/19/13
Bees dying by the millions

ELMWOOD - Local beekeepers are finding millions of their bees dead just after corn was planted here in the last few weeks. Dave Schuit, who has a honey operation in Elmwood, lost 600 hives, a total of 37 million bees.

“Once the corn started to get planted our bees died by the millions,” Schuit said. He and many others, including the European Union, are pointing the finger at a class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids, manufactured by Bayer CropScience Inc. used in planting corn and some other crops. The European Union just recently voted to ban these insecticides for two years, beginning December 1, 2013, to be able to study how it relates to the large bee kill they are experiencing there also.

Local grower Nathan Carey from the Neustadt, and National Farmers Union Local 344 member, says he noticed this spring the lack of bees and bumblebees on his farm. He believes that there is a strong connection between the insecticide use and the death of pollinators.

“I feel like we all have something at stake with this issue,” he said. He is organizing a public workshop and panel discussion about this problem at his farm June 22 at 10 a.m. He hopes that all interested parties can get together and talk about the reason bees, the prime pollinators of so any different plant species, are dying.

At the farm of Gary Kenny, south west of Hanover, eight of the 10 hives he kept for a beekeeper out of Kincardine, died this spring just after corn was planted in neighbouring fields.

What seems to be deadly to bees is that the neonicotinoid pesticides are coating corn seed and with the use of new air seeders, are blowing the pesticide dust into the air when planted. The death of millions of pollinators was looked at by American Purdue University. They found that, “Bees exhibited neurotoxic symptoms, analysis of dead bees revealed traces of thiamethoxam/clothianidin in each case. Seed treatments of field crops (primarily corn) are the only major source of these compounds.

Local investigations near Guelph, led to the same conclusion. A Pest Management Regulatory Agency investigation confirmed that corn seeds treated with clothianidin or thiamethoxam “contributed to the majority of the bee mortalities” last spring.

“The air seeders are the problem,” said Ontario Federation of Agriculture director Paul Wettlaufer, who farms near Neustadt. This was after this reporter called John Gillespie, OFA Bruce County president, who told me to call Wettlaufer. Unfortunately, Wettlaufer said it was, “not a local OFA issue,” and that it was an issue for the Grain Farmers of Ontario and representative, Hennry Vanakum should be notified. Vanakum could not be rached for comment.

Yet Guelph University entomologist Peter Kevan, disagreed with the EU ban.

“There’s very little evidence to say that neonicotinoids, in a very general sense, in a broad scale sense, have been a major component in the demise of honeybees or any other pollinators, anywhere in the world,” said Kevan.

But research is showing that honeybee disorders and high colony losses have become a global phenomena. An international team of scientists led by Holland’s Utrecht University concluded that, ”Large scale prophylaxic use in agriculture, their high persistence in soil and water, and their uptake by plants and translocation to flowers, neonicotinoids put pollinator services at risk.” This research and others rsulted in the Eurpean Union ban.

The United Church is also concerned about the death of so many pollinators and has prepared a “Take Action” paper it’s sending out to all its members. The church is basing its action on local research. The Take Action paper states among other things, “Scientific information gathered suggests that the planting of corn seeds treated with neonicotinoids contributed to the majority of the bee mortalities that occurred in corn growing regions of Ontario and Quebec in Spring 2012.”

Meanwhile Schuit is replacing his queen bees every few months now instead of years, as they are dying so frequently. “OMAFRA tells me to have faith. Well, I think it’s criminal what is happening, and it’s hard to have faith if it doesn’t look like they are going to do anything anyway,” Schuit says.

Ecosystem crisis: Bees dying by the millions in Canada – cause unknown

 Local beekeepers are finding millions of their bees dead just after corn was planted here in the last few weeks. Dave Schuit, who has a honey operation in Elmwood, lost 600 hives, a total of 37 million bees. “Once the corn started to get planted our bees died by the millions,” Schuit said. He and many others, including the European Union, are pointing the finger at a class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids, manufactured by Bayer CropScience Inc. used in planting corn and some other crops. The European Union just recently voted to ban these insecticides for two years, beginning December 1, 2013, to be able to study how it relates to the large bee kill they are experiencing there also.Local grower Nathan Carey from the Neustadt, and National Farmers Union Local 344 member, says he noticed this spring the lack of bees and bumblebees on his farm. He believes that there is a strong connection between the insecticide use and the death of pollinators. “I feel like we all have something at stake with this issue,” he said. He is organizing a public workshop and panel discussion about this problem at his farm June 22 at 10 a.m. He hopes that all interested parties can get together and talk about the reason bees, the prime pollinators of so any different plant species, are dying. At the farm of Gary Kenny, south west of Hanover, eight of the 10 hives he kept for a beekeeper out of Kincardine, died this spring just after corn was planted in neighbouring fields. What seems to be deadly to bees is that the neonicotinoid pesticides are coating corn seed and with the use of new air seeders, are blowing the pesticide dust into the air when planted. The death of millions of pollinators was looked at by American Purdue University. They found that, “Bees exhibited neurotoxic symptoms, analysis of dead bees revealed traces of thiamethoxam/clothianidin in each case. Seed treatments of field crops (primarily corn) are the only major source of these compounds. Local investigations near Guelph, led to the same conclusion. A Pest Management Regulatory Agency investigation confirmed that corn seeds treated with clothianidin or thiamethoxam “contributed to the majority of the bee mortalities” last spring.
“The air seeders are the problem,” said Ontario Federation of Agriculture director Paul Wettlaufer, who farms near Neustadt. This was after this reporter called John Gillespie, OFA Bruce County president, who told me to call Wettlaufer. Unfortunately, Wettlaufer said it was, “not a local OFA issue,” and that it was an issue for the Grain Farmers of Ontario and representative, Hennry Vanakum should be notified. Vanakum could not be rached for comment. Yet Guelph University entomologist Peter Kevan, disagreed with the EU ban. “There’s very little evidence to say that neonicotinoids, in a very general sense, in a broad scale sense, have been a major component in the demise of honeybees or any other pollinators, anywhere in the world,” said Kevan. But research is showing that honeybee disorders and high colony losses have become a global phenomena. An international team of scientists led by Holland’s Utrecht University concluded that, ”Large scale prophylaxic use in agriculture, their high persistence in soil and water, and their uptake by plants and translocation to flowers, neonicotinoids put pollinator services at risk.” This research and others rsulted in the Eurpean Union ban. The United Church is also concerned about the death of so many pollinators and has prepared a “Take Action” paper it’s sending out to all its members. The church is basing its action on local research. The Take Action paper states among other things, “Scientific information gathered suggests that the planting of corn seeds treated with neonicotinoids contributed to the majority of the bee mortalities that occurred in corn growing regions of Ontario and Quebec in Spring 2012.” Meanwhile Schuit is replacing his queen bees every few months now instead of years, as they are dying so frequently. “OMAFRA tells me to have faith. Well, I think it’s criminal what is happening, and it’s hard to have faith if it doesn’t look like they are going to do anything anyway,” Schuit says. –The Post

http://www.thepost.on.ca/2013/06/19/bees-dying-by-the-millions

Scientists discover what's killing the bees and it's worse than you thought

As we've written before, the mysterious mass die-off of honey bees that pollinate $30 billion worth of crops in the US has so decimated America's apis mellifera population that one bad winter could leave fields fallow. Now, a new study has pinpointed some of the probable causes of bee deaths and the rather scary results show that averting beemageddon will be much more difficult than previously thought.
 
Scientists had struggled to find the trigger for so-called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) that has wiped out an estimated 10 million beehives, worth $2 billion, over the past six years. Suspects have included pesticides, disease-bearing parasites and poor nutrition.
 
But in a first-of-its-kind study published today in the journal PLOS ONE, scientists at the University of Maryland and the US Department of Agriculture have indentified a witch's brew of pesticides and fungicides contaminating pollen that bees collect to feed their hives. The findings break new ground on why large numbers of bees are dying though they do not identify the specific cause of CCD, where an entire beehive dies at once.
 
When researchers collected pollen from hives on the east coast pollinating cranberry, watermelon and other crops and fed it to healthy bees, those bees showed a significant decline in their ability to resist infection by a parasite called Nosema ceranae. The parasite has been implicated in Colony Collapse Disorder though scientists took pains to point out that their findings do not directly link the pesticides to CCD. The pollen was contaminated on average with nine different pesticides and fungicides though scientists discovered 21 agricultural chemicals in one sample. Scientists identified eight ag chemicals associated with increased risk of infection by the parasite.

Most disturbing, bees that ate pollen contaminated with fungicides were three times as likely to be infected by the parasite. Widely used, fungicides had been thought to be harmless for bees as they're designed to kill fungus, not insects, on crops like apples.
 
"There's growing evidence that fungicides may be affecting the bees on their own and I think what it highlights is a need to reassess how we label these agricultural chemicals," Dennis vanEngelsdorp, the study's lead author, told Quartz.
 
Labels on pesticides warn farmers not to spray when pollinating bees are in the vicinity but such precautions have not applied to fungicides.
 
Bee populations are so low in the US that it now takes 60% of the country's surviving colonies just to pollinate one California crop, almonds. And that's not just a west coast problem - California supplies 80% of the world's almonds, a market worth $4 billion.
 
In recent years, a class of chemicals called neonicotinoids has been linked to bee deaths and in April regulators banned the use of the pesticide for two years in Europe where bee populations have also plummeted. But vanEngelsdorp, an assistant research scientist at the University of Maryland, says the new study shows that the interaction of multiple pesticides is affecting bee health.
 
"The pesticide issue in itself is much more complex than we have led to be believe," he says. "It's a lot more complicated than just one product, which means of course the solution does not lie in just banning one class of product."
 
The study found another complication in efforts to save the bees: US honey bees, which are descendants of European bees, do not bring home pollen from native North American crops but collect bee chow from nearby weeds and wildflowers. That pollen, however, was also contaminated with pesticides even though those plants were not the target of spraying.
 
"It's not clear whether the pesticides are drifting over to those plants but we need take a new look at agricultural spraying practices," says vanEngelsdorp.

http://www.sott.net/article/264307-Scientists-discover-whats-killing-the-bees-and-its-worse-than-you-thought

That's an understatement!

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Millions of dead bees in Quillón and Liucura High
8/9/13

Since May, when they killed millions of bees, beekeepers and Liucura Quillón Alto, located near the river Itata in the Bio Bio region, seeking solutions to continue with their work.  But SAG, state agency headed by Anibal Ariztía nationwide, does not respond to the emergency that extends to other communities in the region.  Some beekeepers lost all their bees, and others, who were no drawers, only contemplate the flaming centrifugal honey extraction purchased by themselves or in some cases, supported by INDAP.  Not being evaluated so far the influence of the disappearance of these millions of bees in pollination required for fruit crops in the region.  Until last year, the official version was that in Chile SAG had no incidents that show that the country also lived global collapse syndrome of bees.  While government policy Sebastián Piñera continues with the slogan "Chile Food Power", the reality is otherwise contaminated food, high prices of fruits and vegetables for Chileans, and threats to the seed farmer, whose announced privatization further obscures this critical scenario.

 As demonstrated in this incident, the small crop farming only negative externalities agro-export model, intensive use of agrochemicals.  Instead, multinationals like Monsanto, Pioneer and Bayer, producing hybrid and transgenic seeds, but also pesticides, redoubled their lobbying for new privileges through the draft Plant Breeders Act pending in Congress that guarantees delivery unpublished your business, including the prohibition of exchange and store of seed and the right to own the seed patents, to bring to justice those who use their seed producers, accusing them of "piracy".

 Possible Causes

 Beekeepers related mortality of these millions of bees with toxic insecticide application recently banned in Europe, which remain legal in Chile: Poncho (trade name of the active ingredient clothianidin), Gaucho (Imidacloprid) produced by Bayer and Syngenta, and other pesticides used in grape and cherry crops.  Another cause of the plague, as beekeepers, pesticides spraying is carried out in the plantations sector, 80% of which are from Celco and remaining Hosain Senator Sabbath.  A third case mentioned is that foods like fructose and pads vitaminizadoras, supplied officially recommended bees and are made with genetically modified corn that poisons bees.

 Transgenics in the Bio Bio

 By ignorance, beekeepers do not include the issue of GM crops, but in the region of Bio Bio, in Yungay, Los Angeles and other communities in the 2012-2013 season were grown transgenic 3019.23 hectares of experimental and / or certification export.  Of these 2,222 acres are certified transgenic rapeseed, transgenic corn are 431 and there are 125 acres of transgenic soybeans (seed Certification 2012-2013 www.sag.cl ).  According to scientists researching the subject, bees have a "fatal attraction" that leads them to travel greater distances than the usual to make it to the corn flower in search of pollen, transgenic here.  The Bio Bio region ranks third in production of transgenic seeds export, with the regions of Maule and O'Higgins those in the first and second place in the ranking associated with a high use of agrochemicals such as glyphosate (Roundup) and other pesticides

 Maria Elena Rozas, coordinator of Pesticide Action Network RAP-Chile, commented: "The Agriculture and Livestock should have a ban and / or immediate suspension of the use of imidacloprid, clothianidin, fipronil Thiametoxam and responsible for the death large number of families of bees, pollinating insects and birds, and banned in Europe.  The inaction on this issue seriously endangering continue these beneficial insects and biodiversity.  The authority has powers to apply the precautionary principle, and emulate what was done in April this year by the EFSA European health authority in that regard.  Among the reasons for the European ban are the risks posed by these pesticides in pollen and nectar crops attractive to bees. "

 Millions Lost

 Nearly a thousand crates of bees, which in the post-harvest holding about one hundred thousand individuals per drawer miscarry from the first week of May 2013, according to Juan Carlos Abarzúa, one of the beekeepers affected, current president of Quillón Beekeeping Committee.  A box of bees has a value of between 55 and 60 thousand dollars, so that the direct losses reach sixty million pesos, excluding future losses (profits) for the low production of honey.  At the time of producing many offspring are born and total population per drawer should reach skirting the 180-200000 bees.

 Given the ecological disaster, they told beekeepers four Prodesal officials of local, dependent on each other, in the municipalities of Quillón and Bulnes.  The SAG in its report says that the plague is caused by the varroa a mite.  Juan Carlos Abarzúa, of the town of Santa Clara in Liucura Alto, refutes: "No samples were taken that will ensure that.  We have the proper and authorized treatments themselves.  This is not to recognize that large forest piecework sprayed without warning nor warning.  We also know of a fly that was introduced to him to eat pine moth.  But we wonder, this fly has to mutate and what will you eat?  This fly was supposed to die in winter!  At the same time, wild rabbits are dying, the country people thought to die from starvation after this fly them itchy eyes and go blind, bumping into trees.  For SAG, rabbits die from a fever "continues incredulous Juan Carlos Abarzúa.

 SAG Inaction

 In the meeting with agricultural officials beekeepers expressed concern about use of neonicotinoids in grapes to attack two insects, thrips and mealybugs, and the use of carbaryl in cherry.  They complained of lack of control by the SAG.  At this convening, INDAP arrived with Biomiel consultant, represented by Marcelo Rodriguez, whose approach was considered distracting for those affected.  The consultants only referred to the responsibility of the beekeepers in the care of bees, incorporating the figure of the "beekeeper absent" and attributing the millions of dead bees to inattention.

 The damage was patchy.  "Many left with zero drawer drawers I was 25 and I had total loss.  Just this year had made a significant investment: a centrifuge for extracting honey.  Another beekeeper did too, but with funds acquired a centrifuge Indap worth over 2.5 million dollars, "says Juan Carlos Abarzúa, adding that beekeeping requires much attention as investments to succeed is very high.

 Abarzúa continues: "The July 5 meeting was conducted with representatives beekeepers affected Indap, and Mr. Pedro Burgos, SAG official Bulnes city and municipal officials in charge of the respective Prodesal.  We asked them for health analysis they were doing and had no answer.  Neither explained why SAG continues to authorize the use of insecticides that are harmful to bees, as we are informed that clothianidin and tiametoxan are neonicotinoids that kill bees and were banned in other countries for that, but they did not give us answers our concern. "

 In the meeting held in July emanated not proposed solutions, and a month later only concerned beekeepers were summoned to form a Beekeeping Committee, whose characteristics do not know.  Juan Carlos Abarzúa also criticized the role of the consultant Biomiel and added: "It hurts the indolence on the part of the authorities with regard to sustainability in our country and the planet.  Without bees there is no future.  We do not ask for replacement of bees, but clarity about what is going to adopt appropriate measures.  No sampling sani secretariats to give a technical or scientific answer. "

 The latest incidents of death of bees globally occurred in early July this year in Elmwood, in the Canadian province of Ontario, where 37 million bees found dead.  In turn, the British Beekeepers' Association said in a recent report that the past year saw the largest loss of bees in its history, while in Gerona, Catalonia, beekeepers have also lost millions of bees.  David Schuit, who runs a bee farm in Elmwood, states were responsible for a loss of 600 hives insecticides family of 'neonicotinoids', manufactured by the multinational Bayer.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=nl&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dichtbij.nl%2Famsterdam-zuid%2Fregio%2Fartikel%2F2970977%2Foorzaak-massale-hommelsterfte-nog-steeds-onduidelijk.aspx
Cause massive mortality bumblebee still unclear
8/13/13


AMSTERDAM - The article in The Echo South has a lot loosened by readers about the death of a large group of bumblebees in Buitenveldert in Amsterdam last week.  On Dichtbij.nl many people responded and they were not always agree with each other.  According to some, it was precisely because of the nectar of the linden blossom, others doubted that and still being in the direction of RoundUp.  According to District South is not the use of RoundUp.

 Southern District responded as follows: "There is no relationship between mortality and bumblebee RoundUp.  It is used for the end of June last at the RoundUp herbicide.  Whether and when this year comes another round is not yet clear and discussed in the DB (Executive Committee, ed). "

 According to beekeeper Oscar Quite the mortality in this time of year is not unusual and it include the nectar of the lime tree.  That emit an odor that bees coming, but because the blossoms bloomed and / or there is not enough nectar, the bees die.  Also, according to him there are other causes.  The district agrees that argument.  The complete reaction of beekeeper is free this article to read.

 In their comments let readers know that they believe that the mass mortality is due to the lime trees blossom.  F.  van Beek: "There are several reports of hundreds of dead bees entered under linden trees.  The mass mortality is an annual and ancient phenomenon.  The drones die from hunger.  The lime trees where mortalities have enough nectar for the large number of insects that comes at the attractive scent of the trees. "

 Mr.  Bill: "The lime blossom smells throughout the day but gives only nectar from 17.15 to 19.00.  And that does not know the drones and fly as long as their fuel (nectar) that allows.  Many will not make it and if their fuel runs out they die of hunger.  This is an annual event. "

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fg1.globo.com%2Feconomia%2Fagronegocios%2Fnoticia%2F2013%2F08%2Fmilhares-de-abelhas-morrem-em-propriedade-de-bauru-sp.html
8/16/13
Thousands of bees die property of Bauru, SP

 Property master does not know what happened.
 By early accounts, prejudice goes from R $ 500 thousand.

On the ground, the bees are killed and dozens of hives are empty.  The cause of mass death is still unknown, but leaves the producer intrigued.

 The boxes, according to the agronomist Vitor Carvalho, are scattered throughout the plantation for over four years and until today he had not seen anything like it.

 The wild insects are essential for the cultivation of thousands of feet of avocado, a type of avocado widely used by international cuisine, which produces Vitor on the farm in Bauru , in São Paulo.  Bees are responsible for pollinating, which is the transport of pollen from one flower to another.

 Every three months, an average of 30 pounds of honey are produced per hive.  With the loss of 51 boxes and thousands of dead bees, which will directly reach the production of avocado, Vitor calculates a loss of R $ 500 thousand.

 For bee expert UNESP Botucatu, Ricardo Orsi, several factors may have caused the death of bees.  "They could have gone to get food in a radius of a mile or two and some other contaminated source has affected all of them.  Another possibility is the aerial spraying, "he says.

 The farmer went to a police station and recorded Bauru a police report.  The case will be investigated.

Uh yeah, commercial grow operations designed solely out of the love of money. It's a loss, sure, but it's a loss to commercial operations, not the food industry in general.

Big difference between people growing food on their property for their consumption, and commercial operations that are selling the stuff all over the place for a profit.

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.sjzcity.com%2F2013%2F33437.shtml

After spraying insecticide onion ground next to bee deaths batch 

 Shijiazhuang Urban Network Date :2013 -8-20 

After spraying insecticide onion ground, the only network across the hordes of bees began to die.  Four days later, beekeepers say, 106 boxes of bees died nearly 90 percent.  Onion owner was wondering, this is his second spraying, why did all right the first time?

 Ground covered with dead bodies bee swarms

 These days, towns and villages gray wall Luquan Lee Kang village always stand before their own beehive, do nothing.

 From the start at 20:00 on the 15th, Kang began raising bees FCL FCL dead, rescue did not know how to save.

 To yesterday, four days later, Kang calculated, 106 boxes bees died nearly 90 percent.

 Reporter walked into apiary, an acid smell nostrils, beehives scattered outside some flying bees, on the ground there is a layer of bee corpses.

 "Hot days, which is dead bees and hive rotten smell." And Liu Kang with beekeeping, and now hive bad, not to go the rest of the bees, but also will not live long.

 This means that Kang Jiaming revenues all gone, four or five million estimated loss of money.

 Next door to spray pesticides suspected culprit

 Kang recalled the incident the same day 14 am, next door to the ground with onion farmers to spray pesticides, is highly toxic "dichlorvos" and "dimethoate" night bees began to die.

 Yesterday afternoon, the reporter contacted the onion growers Qin, he admitted that on the 15th day did spray the medicine, "10 days before the first spraying, I told beekeepers in advance, he said no problem." So, Qin President felt that the bees only appeared in the second spraying killed him nothing.

 Luquan City Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Plant Protection staff told reporters, "dichlorvos" and "dimethoate" belongs to pesticides, the bees are very sensitive to these drugs.  Currently, Mr. Kang has an alarm.

 "Dichlorvos" and "dimethoate" how much power and other pesticides?  Hebei Academy of Agricultural Sciences Plant Protection Lin Jieshao high share, as long as the spraying of pesticides in certain "safe period", the pesticide can be self-decomposition.  Public consumption before, many times after washing should not cause harm to the body.

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.qq.com%2Fa%2F20130819%2F007608.htm
8/19/13
300 boxes of beekeepers bees mysteriously died or were exposed to pesticides (Figure)

August 17 7:00 pm, the town of Yiyang County beekeepers Master Li Jinping call our hotline (18837996211) reflect Yiyang County West River bridge near a large bee deaths, over 10 beekeepers suffered heavy losses, bees The cause of death is still under investigation.

 Mass death of bees, beekeepers losses

 Aug. 17 8:00 am, reporters came Yiyang county west of the Yellow River near the bridge in Master Li's leadership, the reporter saw a beehive piled on the ground in front of a lot of dead bees.  Master Li said, he was in the morning of August 16 found dead bees, the thought that a big problem, but also no more care.  Available on the 17th morning, he found that more than half of the bees are dead.  "According to this rate, my more than 130 boxes of bees will soon die according to a beehive calculate the market price of 800 yuan, more than 130 boxes bee losses over 100,000 yuan." Master Li says with exasperation.

 "This time the loss can be too great, the whole family we expect these bees live on it." Master Li said anxiously, he knew more than 10 nearby beekeepers have also appeared in such a situation, "all add up to less There are also 300 cases. "

 The cause of death is unknown, or through contact with the spraying of pesticides

 For more than 300 boxes of bees within a short time a large number of deaths, Master Li is considered the beginning of the temperature being too high.  But not a lot of bees found in other places after the death of Master Li suspect that their bees may be poisoned to death, so he dialed 110.

 "This road came just a few days played pesticides, bees are likely to be poisoned." Raised more than 40 boxes of bees master Zhai told reporters, roadside green belt was just a few days before spraying pesticides, bees are may be exposed to these roadside flowers, was dead.

 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon, the reporter interviewed Yiyang County Green Office a staff member surnamed Zhang.  The staff member said that the Green Office does not organize workers spraying pesticides, but near a company in order to sterilization drugs sprayed on the lawn.  "As for the cause of death and this is the bees, but also on the need for further investigation." The staff member said, spraying place relatively far from the hive, you can not jump to conclusions.

 As of press time, Master Li told reporters that most of his bees dead, but the cause of death has not yet find out.

 Hit big, low profits, beekeeping is not easy Mengshengtuiyi

 Master Li said that beekeepers, beekeeping is now relatively low profits, with his more than 130 boxes of bees into the calculation of the scale of farming, the best year for profits nor more than 100,000 yuan, profits are generally four or five million, subsistence can, but you want to get rich is difficult.

 "18-year-old started to raise bees, I am 53 years old, have been kept for 35 years." Said his master Zhai beekeepers beekeeping is the figure of freedom, dealing with bees than 30 years, and my heart has generated feelings.  "Now beekeeping transportation costs are too high, plus the state of the environment is not ideal, you want a good place to find a sufficient pollen has become increasingly difficult." Zhai said the master, now few young people are willing to beekeeping, his son prefer to go out to work after graduation, they were reluctant to follow him beekeeping.  See the mass death of bees raised, coupled with the high cost of bees now, Zhai master also considering whether or not to continue beekeeping.

 For the large number of deaths of bees, Yiyang County Animal Husbandry Secretary Han Gensheng said that compared with pigs and other meat industry, beekeeping does not belong to the leading industry, government's current efforts to support really is not enough.  "We will carry out an investigation report to the higher authorities, hoping to give some support to beekeepers." Han Gensheng said.

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Lantian: several one million bees died mysteriously(China)
9/5/13

WASHINGTON (Reporter Li Xiaobo) went to watch the best breeding bees can Hua Xu Lantian County town has more than ten households beekeepers worried: Bees are mysteriously killed.

 Basically has no bee hive

 Yesterday morning, the town of Hua Xu Dan Village Zhaowei Chun family's yard, 40 beehives surrounded by a rectangle.  Ground everywhere dead bees, beehive opened one by one, which is only ten bees, "per case in previous years, almost 30,000 to 50,000 bees, and now some boxes on the left of the queen bee."

 Zhaowei Chun said that early in August, taking into account the neighborhood has no nectar can be taken, he bought a sugar, ready to look good reward hard work of bees.  But he gradually found beehive bees fly out after fly about 1 m above the direct fall to the ground, or even just out of beehives began crawling on the ground, did not seem fresh wings.  "It feels like a stomach ache, take the hind legs holding his stomach, twitching rolling on the floor." Zhaowei Chun immediately realized that bees are sick, "the home are usually prepared with erythromycin, a hundred of these drugs to kill bacteria, added sugar where sprayed on bee spleen. "But Zhaowei Chun done all this did not play a role," the ground more and more bees, sweep sweep are endless, also four or five days, almost all of the bees died finished. "

 Involved in the investigation of local agricultural sector

 And their local beekeeping different Zhaowei Chun, near the village of Tang An East peace until August 28 from Jingbian flowering rush back, "Just came back good, after three or four days something wrong." Has 15 years of beekeeping An experienced peace said.

 Ann Peace raised 120 beehive, the bees died mysteriously phenomenon is that he has never seen before, "We are basically raised the Italian bee." Ann says peace, no more than two bees death situation, "the Italian bee right bee mite resistance is weaker, but now we are more attention, but also to discover and disposed of, will not easily lead to death. Another popular saying is poor drainage, but are generally in early spring or late autumn to appear , causes most of the problems are because of the feed. "bees now it can not find the cause of death.  So far, their losses in ten million or so.

 It is understood that the beekeepers suffered losses in the 15 or so, at least a few one million bees have died.  Yesterday afternoon, Lantian County Farm Bureau Office Wang Hongbo said that at present has received beekeepers reflection, because beekeeping is not a local leading industries, there is no relevant professional and technical personnel, it has to make a written report to the Agriculture Commission in Xi'an apply for the municipal, provincial relevant departments to organize and coordinate professional and technical personnel to investigate the cause of death to bees.

http://worldtruth.tv/37-million-bees-found-dead-in-elmwood-canada/
37 Million Bees Found Dead in Elmwood Canada
7/8/13

Local beekeepers are finding millions of their bees dead just after corn was planted here in the last few weeks. Dave Schuit, who has a honey operation in Elmwood, lost 600 hives, a total of 37 million bees.

“Once the corn started to get planted our bees died by the millions,” Schuit said. He and many others, including the European Union, are pointing the finger at a class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids, manufactured by Bayer CropScience Inc. used in planting corn and some other crops. The European Union just recently voted to ban these insecticides for two years, beginning December 1, 2013, to be able to study how it relates to the large bee kill they are experiencing there also.

Local grower Nathan Carey from the Neustadt, and National Farmers Union Local 344 member, says he noticed this spring the lack of bees and bumblebees on his farm. He believes that there is a strong connection between the insecticide use and the death of pollinators.

“I feel like we all have something at stake with this issue,” he said. He is organizing a public workshop and panel discussion about this problem at his farm June 22 at 10 a.m. He hopes that all interested parties can get together and talk about the reason bees, the prime pollinators of so any different plant species, are dying.

At the farm of Gary Kenny, south west of Hanover, eight of the 10 hives he kept for a beekeeper out of Kincardine, died this spring just after corn was planted in neighbouring fields.

What seems to be deadly to bees is that the neonicotinoid pesticides are coating corn seed and with the use of new air seeders, are blowing the pesticide dust into the air when planted. The death of millions of pollinators was looked at by American Purdue University. They found that, “Bees exhibited neurotoxic symptoms, analysis of dead bees revealed traces of thiamethoxam/clothianidin in each case. Seed treatments of field crops (primarily corn) are the only major source of these compounds.

Local investigations near Guelph, led to the same conclusion. A Pest Management Regulatory Agency investigation confirmed that corn seeds treated with clothianidin or thiamethoxam “contributed to the majority of the bee mortalities” last spring.

“The air seeders are the problem,” said Ontario Federation of Agriculture director Paul Wettlaufer, who farms near Neustadt. This was after this reporter called John Gillespie, OFA Bruce County president, who told me to call Wettlaufer. Unfortunately, Wettlaufer said it was, “not a local OFA issue,” and that it was an issue for the Grain Farmers of Ontario and representative, Hennry Vanakum should be notified. Vanakum could not be rached for comment.

Yet Guelph University entomologist Peter Kevan, disagreed with the EU ban.

“There’s very little evidence to say that neonicotinoids, in a very general sense, in a broad scale sense, have been a major component in the demise of honeybees or any other pollinators, anywhere in the world,” said Kevan.

But research is showing that honeybee disorders and high colony losses have become a global phenomena. An international team of scientists led by Holland’s Utrecht University concluded that, ”Large scale prophylaxic use in agriculture, their high persistence in soil and water, and their uptake by plants and translocation to flowers, neonicotinoids put pollinator services at risk.” This research and others rsulted in the Eurpean Union ban.

The United Church is also concerned about the death of so many pollinators and has prepared a “Take Action” paper it’s sending out to all its members. The church is basing its action on local research. The Take Action paper states among other things, “Scientific information gathered suggests that the planting of corn seeds treated with neonicotinoids contributed to the majority of the bee mortalities that occurred in corn growing regions of Ontario and Quebec in Spring 2012.”

Meanwhile Schuit is replacing his queen bees every few months now instead of years, as they are dying so frequently. “OMAFRA tells me to have faith. Well, I think it’s criminal what is happening, and it’s hard to have faith if it doesn’t look like they are going to do anything anyway,” Schuit says.

http://www.mndaily.com/news/campus/2013/09/15/u-investigates-sudden-slew-bee-deaths
9/15/13

U investigates sudden slew of bee deaths

Researchers from the U’s Bee Lab suspect pesticides are responsible.

Thousands of Minneapolis honey bees began dying off late last week due to apparent pesticide poisoning.

The University of Minnesota Bee Lab and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture are conducting tests to verify whether pesticides were the actual cause.

Minneapolis resident Mark Lucas noticed the bees he and his family keeps in their back yard behaving strangely Wednesday night, shaking on the edge of the hive and falling to the ground.

“They just come spilling out of the hive like they’re drunk,” he said.

Lucas’ hive was one of at least three hit in the Kenwood neighborhood, north of Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis.

The MDA took samples from hives Friday to test for pesticide contamination. Pesticide is suspected because of the way the bees died, said Becky Masterman, co-coordinator of the University’s Bee Squad, a division of the Bee Lab that educates and mentors local beekeepers.

Beekeepers suspect that a pesticide was used in the area and bees brought it back to their colonies after pollination.

“This was in no way on our radar,” Masterman said, because the colonies were known to be healthy.

One of the Bee Squad’s colonies was also affected by the incident, said Bee Squad co-coordinator Jody Gerdts.

The Bee Lab is conducting its own tests in hopes of getting results faster than the MDA, which could take up to six months, Gerdts said.

More timely results will allow the squad to spread the word about the incident to local beekeepers, who have been vocal about the incident on social media and worry that it could affect them, she said.

“If it waits six months before we can say anything, then the story’s gone,” she said.

The Beez Kneez, a Minneapolis-based honey bee education organization that delivers honey by bike, lost one colony over the weekend and is worried more colonies could be affected.

A typical Beez Kneez colony consists of 40,000 to 50,000 bees at this time of year, said co-owner Kristy Allen. The Beez Kneez owns 45 hives in the Twin Cities area. Though losing a colony could result in revenue loss, Allen said there’s also an emotional side to the incident.

“It’s livestock, but they’re very important,” she said.

Bees are indicators of environmental health, Gerdts said, and the fact that pesticides could have potentially been used incorrectly is “scary.”

“There [are] things that are out there that are being applied to our landscape that can do more harm than perceived good,” she said.

The bee deaths are part of the bigger issue of keeping pollinators healthy, as they contribute to food production, Masterman said.

The Bee Squad is using social media to raise awareness about pesticide contamination.

Lucas said his family will get new bees if his colony is completely wiped out. When he was a child, Lucas’ grandmother kept bees in Elk River, Minn., and he said he’s been interested in them ever since.

He became a certified beekeeper through the University and started building his colony last May.

His kids were hesitant to go into the backyard with the bees at first, he said, but later became very involved in the process — taking pictures and collecting larvae alongside him.

“It was a really interesting thing for our family to experience together,” Lucas said.

In the meantime, Lucas said, he’ll be spreading the word about the “unintended consequences” of the choices people make in their yards — such as fertilizer use — and their effect on the neighborhood.

“It’s crazy how much it’s really all tied together,” he said.

Exactly, which is just what the government and their chemical producers want.

Next thing we know, they'll come out with nano-bot bees, tiny UAV's that go around pollinating commercial crops. The government has already authorized unmanned drones in US airspace, which was expected so the government can operate their own fleet of drones. Technologically, it's theoretically possible to build and operate "nano-bees". I expect that whatever they propose, it will be some kind of replacement, rather than a saving of the bee populations. Can you patent a bee? Some geneticists say yes, but in reality, effectively no. Doesn't take much to see where the love of money is.

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.real.gr%2FDefaultArthro.aspx%3Fpage%3Darthro%26id%3D266731%26catID%3D5
Lost bees
10/7/13

Of ANASTASIAS SIMITSIADI

 The alarm sounding almost beekeepers across the country, as they see their production year after year to shrink without knowing the exact cause of this phenomenon.  This year, in fact, been a reduction in honey production that reaches 50% in many parts of Greece.  This percentage is greater than at least the last five years, which has led professionals to seek production of comprehensive studies.

 As estimated by scientists, factors such as temperature increase and widespread use of pesticides in crops 'visiting' the bees lead to extinction the most important pollinator on the planet.  However, they note themselves, the answer is not so simple and requires further research, as in recent years there are phenomena-such as they do not produce honeydew pines and firs in specific areas of the country that still have not been answered scientifically.

 "This year the production is less than any other year, with the reduction reaching 50% in Magnesia.  This phenomenon is not local but found almost throughout the country.  Especially in chestnut honey produced in the reduction has reached 70% compared to last year's production.  Imagine that from 10 tonnes we took last year, this year we was barely two tons, "said beekeeper and president of the Agricultural Cooperative Beekeeper Volos, Constantine Rat.  However, as stated by Mr. Rat, the same image-with the exception of Crete-presents and pine honey production, which constitutes 65% of the total honey production in Greece.

 Reduction - record
 
 The reasons for the sharp decline seen this year but also for the decreasing honey production in recent years is not due under K. Palo, with a single agent.  The same opinion is shared by the veterinarian of the Beekeepers Association of Greece (OMSE) Katerina Karatasou.  "A particular problem presents a rare variety, vamvakomelo, whose production in the Thessaly region has almost stopped the last 4-5 years.  Beekeepers now choose not to place their hives near cotton crops, and have identified several incidents of collapse of bee colonies.  Those beekeepers placed their hives near cotton crops lost 50% -80% of the bee population, "says the vet.  As she explains in cotton crops used for years neonicotinoid pesticides, which, according to many scientists, contribute to the so-called "collapse of bee syndrome", which is a symptom of the rapid loss of bees from hives.  "There are cases beekeepers who have transferred 300 beehives near cotton fields and gone with a beehive and of course not honey," says the vet OMSE.

 The use of neonicotinoid pesticides are so widespread that these pesticides are used up and the flowers can have a garden.  According to European Union directives, have launched since July revocations compound belonging to the class of particular pesticides and their use has been suspended for two years, in order to consider whether contributing to the extinction of bees.  However, some of the neonicotinoids is so powerful that can persist in soil for more than 15 years.

 Worried beekeepers

 "We can not attribute the dramatic decrease in production-which in some areas of the country as Grevena and Florina exceeds 50% - the weather, as the weather was this year in many areas of bland.  The situation is particularly worrying as we do not know exactly what is happening.  An example is the area of ​​Vytinas in Arcadia, where the firs in the last three years did not "give" honeydew, "says Paul Bagiatis, president of the Panhellenic Association of Beekeepers, Vasilotrofon - production of royal jelly and a beekeeper for 25 years in the area of ​​Thessaloniki, and adds: "We need to provide funds from the state to make scientific research throughout Greece for reasons which lead to lower production.  Right now all beekeepers marching blindly. "

 Less nectar

 As Andrew says Thrasivoulou, Professor of Apiculture at the Departments of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki important role, in addition to the extensive use of neonicotinoid drugs, plays and the warming observed over the last years in Greece.  This has as consequence the plants to secrete less nectar, which leads to less production of honey.

 According to his teacher, Aristotle, in areas such as Chalkidiki and Thassos the last 3-4 years the trees do not produce honeydew, for reasons that scientists still do not know, which is why the phenomenon investigated.  This leads to shrinkage of pine honey production, which is the main type of honey produced in the country.  Apart from phenomena such as those in Chalkidiki and Thassos, especially worrying is the fact that cases of bee losses increase.  "Many beekeepers from around the country are calling us and telling us that we are seeing strong declines in the populations of bees.  As they tell us, they do not detect dead bees in the hives, which excludes the possibility of diseases.  According to beekeepers, bees do not return to the colonies, which makes us speculate that poisoned by pesticides, "explains A. Thrasivoulou.

 
 

Poisoned fifty hives near Fernandez

Beekeepers estimate that lost more than ten thousand dollars in honey and materials.  It destroyed an important economic resource.

Published on 23/10/2013 - Fernandez, Robles (C) Small producers around this city suffered significant losses over the poisoning of fifty hives, representing one of the most significant revenue.
 
Bee-killing occurred in an apiary located between the district and the site's Penquitas Loaj.
 
Vandals scattered with white dust, which does not release any smell, both inside and in the vicinity of the hives killing all insects within hours.
 
Beekeepers victims are Daniel Garcia (registered in the National Register of Beekeeping under No. G 0918) and brothers Ramon and Oscar Lewis, made the corresponding police station on Monday night to try to clarify this, that hurts twelve members of the families.
 
The LIBERAL was in the scene and interviewed the three producers argue that "annihilated him 50 hives with combs were ready to harvest and 20 cores".
 
"The losses are important in this first harvest, we regarded as good, we were going to get at least two drums of pure honey sold to the current value meant $ 4,200 each, plus the queens we bought from a breeder in Forres.  We must renew periodically and have a value ranging from $ 75 to $ 80, not to mention the material, including now we burn wax from the police to investigate what type of poison used and whether or not it dangerous for humans, birds or small animals, "detailed.

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.elliberal.com.ar%2Fampliada.php%3FID%3D110962

http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=291945
Bee keeper says someone poisoned his hives
5/8/13

LULA, Ga. -- Earlier this week lifelong bee keeper Donald Kuchenmeister started seeing piles of dead bees near several of his hives.  But if he isn't afraid of the millions of bees on his farm, he can't be expected to be afraid of vandals-or a rival trying to destroy his hives. 

"I've been a commercial bee keeper for 48 years, when I lived in south Georgia it was very common for rivals to knock your hives over with a four wheeler, or shoot them,  anything to put you out of business," Kuchenmeister said.

He's not sure who apparently sprayed pesticides in his hives or why, but he knows he'll keep doing what he's done for six decades-keep tending bees and educating others about them. 

"This is basically a lost art, and people don't want to perpetuate it," Kuchenmeister said.  "And I'm doing my best to do that."

That mission is now being helped by nearly a million views for his bee keeping videos on YouTube.  He said while he's lost three to four thousand dollars from the poisoned hives-he's not going anywhere.  And even when he passes on, he'll find a way to keep his bees buzzing over him. 

"I'll be here pushing up daisies, that will keep my bees coming," Kuchenmeister said. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/11/bees-poisoned-china_n_1665705.html
7/11/12
15 Million Bees Killed In Suspected Poisoning In China

A police investigation is underway in Xiazhuang Village of Pingshan County in China for the fatal poisoning of 15 million bees.

Beekeeper Yang Jinfang believes rival keepers are to blame for the incident, which occurred when Yang and his partners transported 600 hives from their farms in southern China to feed on blossoms that flowered later in the season, as they've done for several generations.

Bees were wiped out in 450 of the hives, but two nearby sets of hives, kept by other beekeepers, were not affected. Experts are currently conducting tests on the sugar used to feed the bees and the hives themselves.

Yang explained his suspicions to police, Austrian Times reports:

"On the same night our guard dog was poisoned so we know it must be foul play. There are local bee keepers around here who were jealous of us and thought we were stealing their trade," said Yang.

According to Shanghaidaily.com, police are offering a reward of 10,000 yuan, the equivalent of $1,574, for tips leading to arrests of the guilty parties. Yang's loss, however, amounts to more than 400,000 yuan, or $62,810.

The news come on the heels of another bee poisoning hundreds of miles away. Late last month, the poisoning of 1200 beehives in forests around Batemans Bay in Australia resulted in the deaths of millions of bees.

Plant Virus Makes Bizarre Kingdom Jump to Honeybees

Another explanation for Colony Collapse Disorder and the rapid decline of honeybees follows a surprising discovery involving a virus that typically infects the Plant Kingdom - Tobacco Ringspot Virus (TRSV).

U.S. and Chinese researchers report their findings in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

The plant virus has somehow jumped to the Animal Kingdom, now infecting honeybees.

The first two sentences of the study abstract hold unsettling implications:

    Emerging and reemerging diseases that result from pathogen host shifts are a threat to the health of humans and their domesticates. RNA viruses have extremely high mutation rates and thus represent a significant source of these infectious diseases.

Lead author Ji Lian Li, at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science in Beijing, says:

    The results of our study provide the first evidence that honeybees exposed to virus-contaminated pollen can also be infected and that the infection becomes widespread in their bodies.

More Bizarre Findings

They already knew that bees could spread the disease to other plants through pollination. But how did it spread from the plants to the bees?

From the abstract:

    The tree topology indicated that the TRSVs from arthropod hosts shared a common ancestor with those from plant hosts and subsequently evolved as a distinct lineage after transkingdom host alteration. This study represents a unique example of viruses with host ranges spanning both the plant and animal kingdoms.

Another finding sounds similar to the Bubonic Plague scenario, except instead of fleas carrying the sickness, it could be a little mite. Varroa mites, vampiric parasites, are associated with CCD or weakened colonies. TRSV was found in their bodies but did not lead to an infection in the mites.

Mutating RNA Viruses

EurekaAlert! relays:

    Notably, about 5% of known plant viruses are pollen-transmitted and thus potential sources of host-jumping viruses. RNA viruses tend to be particularly dangerous because they lack the 3'-5' proofreading function which edits out errors in replicated genomes. As a result, viruses such as TRSV generate a flood of variant copies with differing infective properties.

    One consequence of such high replication rates are populations of RNA viruses thought to exist as "quasispecies," clouds of genetically related variants that appear to work together to determine the pathology of their hosts. These sources of genetic diversity, coupled with large population sizes, further facilitate the adaption of RNA viruses to new selective conditions such as those imposed by novel hosts. "Thus, RNA viruses are a likely source of emerging and reemerging infectious diseases," explain these researchers.

Other diseases associated with CCD, known to wipe out hives as early as 2006 include; Israel Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV), Acute Bee Paralysis Virus (ABPV), Chronic Paralysis Virus (CPV), Kashmir Bee Virus (KBV), Deformed Wing Bee Virus (DWV), Black Queen Cell Virus (BQCV) and Sacbrood Virus (SBV).

So - do findings like this serve to mitigate the responsibility of chemical pesticides on environmental health, or could they further implicate them in the results thereof?

It turns out...

...when they studied different colonies classified as either "weak" or "strong," TRSV and other viruses were more prevalent in the weakened colonies. During their studies, the strong colonies could effectively ward off most disease and, unlike their weaker counterparts, could survive the cold winters into February.

Something has weakened modern bee generations...

One study, with contradictory terms appeared to detract attention from chemicals on bee health by emphasizing that the bees are not directly killed, but are stressed.

Recently, another study, showing that chemicals did not directly kill the colony, proved that pesticides were creating smaller worker bees by retarding their growth, ultimately leading to the untimely end of a colony.

The researchers called for more surveillance of potential host-jumping events as part of insect pollinator management programs and concluded:

    The increasing prevalence of TRSV in conjunction with other bee viruses is associated with a gradual decline of host populations and supports the view that viral infections have a significant negative impact on colony survival.

Regardless of the cause, the collective immunity of pollinators is weakening at a rapid pace and bees are falling prey to invaders that previously posed less harm. Imagine the sheer disease-state of honeybees, weakened enough to become susceptible to diseases in the Plant Kingdom....

Please check out the study here for more information:
Systemic Spread and Propagation of a Plant-Pathogenic Virus in European Honeybees, Apis mellifera

http://www.activistpost.com/2014/01/plant-virus-makes-bizarre-kingdom-jump.html

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2014/02/13/honey-price-increases-lead-to-jump-in-beehive-thefts/
2/13/14
Honey Price Increases Lead to Jump In Beehive Thefts

DIXON (CBS13) — The price of honey has jumped in the last decade, leading to a jump in beehive thefts.

That has beekeepers turning to technology to try and stop crooks from taking the hives.

Keepers like Phil Hofland hoping the latest technology will sting those thieves trying to make off with the valuable hives.

“You can come in here with a forklift and snag—I’ve seen people steal 30,000 to 50,000 in a half an hour,” he said.

Beekeepers have always been concerned about theft, and have long tried to develop ways to prevent that from happening.

But the age-old problem has a new remedy. Hofland now uses tiny GPS chips to track if one of his hives is stolen.

“If it gets moved, I get an email or a text on my phone immediately,” the Dixon beekeeper said.

Along with the chips, Hofland also brands his boxes in hopes of scaring away those who may look to swipe the hives.

“I look at it as if my boxes are marked really good and somebody else’s aren’t,” he said. “Somebody has a choice between picking mine and somebody else’s, they are going to do that.”

Commercial bees threaten wild bees, say researchers

The trade in bees used for honey or to pollinate crops could have a devastating impact on wild bees and other insects, say scientists.

New measures are needed to stop diseases carried by commercial bees spilling over into the wild, says a University of Exeter team.

Evidence suggests bees bred in captivity can carry diseases that could be a risk to native species.

Bees are used commercially to pollinate crops such as peppers and oilseed ****.

Species of bees used for this purpose, or in commercial hives, are known to suffer from parasite infections and more than 20 viruses.

Many of these can also infect wild bumble bees, wasps, ants and hoverflies.

The study, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, reviewed data from existing studies to look at the potential for diseases to jump from commercial bees to insects in the wild.

"Our study highlights the importance of preventing the release of diseased commercial pollinators into the wild," said lead researcher Dr Lena Wilfert.

"The diseases carried by commercial species affect a wide range of wild pollinators but their spread can be avoided by improved monitoring and management practices.

"Commercial honey beekeepers have a responsibility to protect ecologically and economically important wild pollinator communities from disease."
'Drastic impacts'

Several diseases of honey bee colonies are known. They include a parasite called the Varroa mite and a virus that leads to deformed wings, which has also been found in wild bumble bees.

Vanessa Amaral-Rogers of the charity, Buglife, said the results of the study showed an urgent need for changes in how the government regulates the importation of bees.

"Wild honey bees can no longer be found in England or Wales, thought to have been wiped out by disease," she told BBC News.

"Now these studies show how diseases can be transmitted between managed honey bees and commercial bumble bees, and could have potentially drastic impacts on the rest of our wild pollinators. "

A study last year on a sample of commercial bumble bee hives imported into the UK found 77% were contaminated with up to five different parasites, with a further three being found in the pollen that was brought in with them, she added.

Commenting on the study, Prof David Goulson of the University of Sussex, said: "It's vitally important that we look after the health of both wild and managed bees.

"We have to be very careful we don't spread diseases from one continent to another."

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30831257

Bees Addicted to Nectar With Harmful Pesticides, Study Finds

Bees have been increasingly getting addicted to neonicotinoids pesticides, used for seed dressing of rapeseed, according to a new study.

The study conducted by researchers from Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University stated that the pesticides could affect the wild bees, interfering with their growth and reproduction.

"The fact that bees show a preference for food containing neonicotinoids is concerning as it suggests that like nicotine, neonicotinoids may act like a drug to make foods containing these substances more rewarding," said lead author of the study, Geraldine Wright, from the Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University.

Researchers noted that the bees are unable to taste the pesticides, and therefore are oblivious of their presence. However, the addictive properties of the neonicotinoid, causes the bees to get hooked to the substance.

"If foraging favor to collect nectar consisting of neonicotinoids, this can have a knock-on unfavorable influence on whole colonies as well as on bee population," added Wright.

 "Our findings imply that even if alternative food sources are provided for bees in agricultural landscapes where neonicotinoid pesticides are used, the bees may prefer to forage on the neonicotinoid-contaminated crops. Since neonicotinoids can also end up in wild plants growing adjacent to crops, they could be much more prevalent in bees' diets than previously thought," said Jane Stout, Professor of Botany and Principal Investigator in the School of Natural Sciences at Trinity College Dublin

The study was published in the journal Nature.

Read more at http://www.newseveryday.com/articles/14746/20150427/bees-addicted-nectar-harmful-pesticides-study-finds.htm#LAUvPuuTtpZv217H.99

40% increase in Honeybee deaths reveals unknown flaw in our agro-ecosystems

Its not unknown!! Its called Monsanto!!!

Last year, we heard that the bee colony losses had become slower. The decrease was not a significant one, but this slowing down was surely reassuring for nature lovers around the globe.

Professor Dennis van Engelsdorp, who teaches entomology at the University of Maryland, said that the news of decrease in the rate of bee colony losses is just better than what most expected it to be. Prof. Engelsdorp was the leader of the team that conducted a survey of the bee population.

The data gathered by the survey team suggest that the last year has seen the destruction of 23% bee colonies. It’s less that the average loss taking place between 2005 and 2013, which is 30%. However, still the news cannot be categorized as “good news”.

(http://i1.wp.com/www.thehoopsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Bee-Loss-over-winter-figure-1.jpg?resize=680%2C533)

Summary of the total colony losses overwinter (October 1 – April 1) and over the year (April 1 – April 1) of managed honey bee colonies in the United States. The acceptable range is the average percentage of acceptable colony losses declared by the survey participants in each of the nine years of the survey. Winter and Annual losses are calculated based on different respondent pools. Credit : Beeinformed

It’s true that scientists have revealed that they have progressed in the fight against the Asian mite responsible for the death of many American bees; however, they have also said that there’s nothing to be elated about at this moment.

According to Jeff Pettis, a coauthor of the above mentioned survey, facts collected during a period of one year cannot be regarded as trends. Here, it must be mentioned that Pettis is the head of the Beltsville-based federal bee research laboratory.

Now, it has been proved that Pettis was right. Engelsdorp along with his co-researchers from the Bee Informed Partnership just revealed that the past one year has witnessed destruction of over 40% honeybee hives. The number is still preliminary; however, already it marks the 2nd highest annual bee colony loss ever if all the recorded data is considered.

University of Georgia’s Keith Delaplane, a coauthor of the study, said that this ongoing bee problem is indicating that something is wrong with our agro-ecosystems. Delaplane added that people are noticing the problem only in honeybees as keeping a count of these creatures is very easy.

The researchers haven’t pinpointed any particular cause of the demise of the bees. They said that colony collapse disorder, which is often linked to mass deaths of honey bees, cannot be regarded as the obvious reason behind this sharp increase in the rate of bee hive destruction. According to them, the destructions might be caused by a combination of factors including poor nutrition, extreme weather conditions, pesticides, and so on.

http://www.thehoopsnews.com/2015/05/16/5145/40-increase-in-honeybee-deaths-reveals-unknown-flaw-in-our-agro-ecosystems/

http://rt.com/news/265600-bees-alzheimer-aluminium-pollution/
'Bees with Alzheimer’s?' Aluminium pollution linked to dementia in bees
Published time: June 07, 2015 14:15

The decline in the bee population could be caused by the insect’s high contamination of aluminum, a chemical element implicated as a factor in Alzheimer's disease in humans, a new study has found.

It's believed that a number of factors are likely to be involved in the decline of bees: from a lack of flowers to attacks by parasites. But biologists at Keele University and the University of Sussex in the UK decided to find out whether aluminum, the "most significant environmental contaminant of recent times," could prove to play the key role in the insect’s decline.

READ MORE: 40 percent of US honeybee population lost over year, as mysterious die-off accelerates

Previous research had suggested that when bees forage for nectar they don't avoid nectar which contains aluminum. So researchers measured the content of aluminum in bee pupae taken from naturally foraging colonies in the UK.

They found levels of the metal content in bee pupae that ranged from 13 to 193 ppm [parts per million.] In humans, brain aluminium content in excess of 3 ppm "might be considered as pathological with possible contributions towards neurodegenerative disease including Alzheimer’s disease," the study, published in the journal PLOS One, said.

Researchers say that a number of human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels resulting in “acid rain” and the mining of aluminium ores to make aluminum metal and salts, have contributed to the thriving biological availability of this "non-essential metal."

As a result, fish, trees, crops and humans have all been affected by aluminium. Evidence suggests that bees are not immune to its increasing prevalence, with analysis from Brazil having previously indicated that "pollen is heavily contaminated with aluminium."

“Aluminum is a known neurotoxin affecting behaviour in animal models of aluminum intoxication. Bees, of course, rely heavily on cognitive function in their everyday behaviour and these data raise the intriguing spectre that aluminium-induced cognitive dysfunction may play a role in their population decline – are we looking at bees with Alzheimer’s disease?” said Professor Chris Exley, a leading authority on human exposure to aluminium, from Keele University.

US wild bee numbers decline as land is converted for biofuel

Wild bees in the US have declined in many farming areas according to the first national effort to map their numbers.

The study suggests that between 2008 and 2013, the numbers of wild bees went down across almost a quarter of the US.

The researchers say that the conversion of land to grow corn for biofuels is a key element in the decline.

If the trend continues say the scientists, it could drive up costs and destabilise crop production.

Wild bees play an important role in pollinating many US crops and plants. It's estimated that they contribute around $3bn to the value of agriculture every year.

In 2014, President Obama issued a memorandum calling for an assessment of the state of honey and wild bees across the US, in the face of an increasing number of threats such as colony collapse disorder.

To map the abundance of wild bees across the country, this model combines a number of databases with expert opinion.

The results show that numbers of wild bees likely declined by 23% between 2008 and 2013 in key agricultural regions in California, the Midwest, in Great Plains states and in the Mississippi river valley.

The study also showed that 39% of US croplands that depend on pollinators are suffering a significant mismatch between the demand for pollination and the supply of bees.

Land for fuel

The most important reason for the decline in numbers according to the authors is the increased demand for biofuels, which has seen more land turned over to growing grains. US law requires that all gasoline sold contains at least 10% ethanol, mostly made from corn.

In the areas that have seen the most serious reduction in wild bees, there have been 200% increases in the amount of corn planted.

REST: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35153196

America’s Wild Bee Populations Are Dwindling at Alarming Rates

“It’s clear that pollinators are in trouble,” cautioned Taylor Ricketts, lead author of a study mapping the decline in pollinator populations by researchers with the University of Vermont, published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Despite Ricketts’ rather restrained statement, the study’s findings clearly indicate the pollinators — specifically, wild bees — aren’t the only ones in trouble. According to the study:

“If losses of these crucial pollinators continue, the new nationwide assessment indicates that farmers will face increasing costs — and that the problem may even destabilize the nation’s crop production.”

 
Between 2008 and 2013, wild bee populations across the contiguous U.S. declined an alarming 23%, according to the research team led by UVM’s Gund Institute for Ecological Economics researcher, Insu Koh. Perhaps even more gravely, 39% of all croplands that depend on native pollinators — more than $3 billion of the U.S. agricultural economy — “face a threatening mismatch between rising demand for pollination and a falling supply of wild bees.”

Following a June 2014 presidential memorandum warning about the “significant loss of pollinators, including honey bees, native bees, birds, bats, and butterflies,” the White House called for a “national assessment of wild pollinators and their habitats” — which led to this study and its stunning findings.

Some of the most vital farmlands in the U.S., the researchers discovered, could be seriously jeopardized if the decline in pollinator populations can’t be reined in and reversed. One-hundred-thirty-nine counties “in key agricultural regions of California, the Pacific Northwest, the upper Midwest and Great Plains, west Texas, and the southern Mississippi River valley” were identified by the study to “have the most worrisome mismatch between falling wild bee supply and rising crop pollination demand.”

Those counties tend toward either of two issues: they grow specialty crops that are heavily dependent on pollinators, or they grow very large quantities of crops that aren’t as pollinator-dependent. But of marked concern are areas with crops both most heavily dependent on pollinators — such as pumpkins, watermelons, pears, peaches, plums, apples, and blueberries — that are also experiencing sharp declines in the supply of pollinators and increased demand for them.

“These are crops most likely to run into pollination trouble,” Ricketts, who is also director of the Gund Institute, explained, “whether that’s increased costs for managed pollinators, or even destabilized yields.”

While threats to bees and other pollinators from pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and disease may be widely known and reported about, the researchers found a striking parallel between bee population decline and something activists have been warning about for years:

 monoculture. Loss of natural habitat could be the most insidious and understated cause for concern found in this study:

“In 11 key states where the new study shows bees in decline, the amount of land tilled to grow corn spiked by 200 percent in five years — replacing grasslands and pastures that once supported bee populations. ‘These results reinforce recent evidence that increased demand for corn in biofuel production has intensified threats to natural habitats in corn-growing regions,’ the new study notes.”

 This is particularly distressing, considering wild bees provide some crops with the majority of their necessary pollination, while in crops more heavily dependent on managed pollinators, wild bees’ pollination assistance can increase yield. Researchers are hopeful the study’s mapped results will lead to aggressive conservation efforts. This mapping was the first of its kind. As Koh said, “Now we have a map of the hotspots. It’s the first spatial portrait of pollinator status and impacts in the U.S.”

“By highlighting regions with loss of habitat for wild bees, government agencies and private organizations can focus their efforts at the national, regional, and state scales to support these important pollinators for more sustainable agriculture and natural landscapes,” said Rufus Isaacs of Michigan State University, one of the co-authors of the study.

“Most people can think of one or two types of bee, but there are 4,000 species in the U.S. alone,” Ricketts explained. “Wild bees are a precious natural resource we should celebrate and protect. If managed with care, they can help us continue to produce billions of dollars in agricultural income and a wonderful diversity of nutritious food.”

Hopefully, this sounding of the alarm bells will be heeded with the seriousness it deserves.

http://theantimedia.org/americas-wild-bee-populations-are-dwindling-at-alarming-rates/

msn.com/en-us/news/us/africanized-bees-kill-two-dogs-in-west-texas-injure-owner-with-more-than-50-stings/ar-BBtRn3e?ocid=spartandhp
Africanized bees kill two dogs in West Texas, injure owner with more than 50 stings
6/4/16

A swarm of Africanized bees killed two dogs in Midland and injured the dogs’ owner, stinging the man more than 50 times in a frenzied attack.

James Roy of Midland went outside to check on his dogs on Thursday and thought the two dogs were fighting, but they were in fact being attacked by a swarm of bees. The two dogs, Susie and Sammy, were stung more than 1,000 times, according to News West 9, and the dogs later died at a veterinarian’s office in Midland.

The dogs were rescued just under a year ago, Roy told News West 9.

The swarm then attacked Roy, chasing after him as he ran for help. The bees ultimately stung him more than 50 times, the West Texas TV Station reports.

A neighbor and some contractors were nearby and helped him by using a water hose to douse the bees on his body.

An expert spoke with the TV station and said there’s no way to prevent this type of bee, but large groups of bees should be avoided. If there’s a hive nearby, an expert should be called to remove it from the area.

Africanized honey bees, or killer bees, descend from southern African bees imported to the Americas in 1956 by Brazilian scientists trying to breed a honey bee that can adapt better to the South American climate, according to DesertUSA.

The website reports these types of bees are super sensitive to noise and vibrations, with some even responding viciously to random triggers, such as stimuli from vehicles, equipment and pedestrians.

Their venom isn’t more potent than honey bees, but they attack in far greater numbers, making their stings much more of a threat.

Bees are dying at alarming rate in the US: 60% of colonies dying off in Pennsylvania and 44% nationwide

No Bees.... NO FOOD!! Also how does evolution explain that?  (http://www.freesmfhosting.com/gallery/endtimesandcurrentevents/0/1_08_06_13_6_25_16.gif)

http://strangesounds.org/2016/06/bees-are-dying-at-alarming-rate-in-us-60-percent-of-colonies-dying-off-pennsylvania-44-percent-nationwide.html

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/18-study-bees-finally-sheds-184100396.html
An 18-year study of bees finally sheds light on something that may be wiping them out

August 16, 2016

For years, there's been suspicion that a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids are bad for bees. The chemicals, which farmers apply to their crops to keep away insects that munch through their harvests, are among the most used bug-killers out there.

But ecologists have worried the chemicals also affect the insects that help support harvests.

Bees have been mysteriously disappearing in what's called colony collapse disorder, which some scientists believe neonicotinoids are contributing to.

That's a problem because the pollination work bees do is hugely valuable. Commercially managed honeybees produce about $15 billion in value for the US alone and wild American bees another $9 billion.

There's finally a study that tries to actually parse out the effects neonicotinoids have on bees in the wild. It looks at 62 different wild bee species in the UK.

That's important because while only three species of bees and bumblebees are kept by beekeepers and used commercially, experts believe there are closer to 250 wild species in the UK and 4,000 in the US. And while we don't manage them, we do benefit from their pollination.

The new study, which was published August 16 in the journal Nature Communications, also looks at an 18-year timespan that begins before neonicotinoids were introduced in 2002. That means the researchers could actually establish a baseline for how bees were doing before farmers began widely using the chemicals.

Neonicotinoids are used particularly on rapeseed, one variety of which is turned into canola oil. During the month or two they bloom, the flowers turn swaths of the British countryside a shocking yellow.

Some bees like the flowers; some don't. So the scientists were able to divvy bees up by their taste for rapeseed, then look at how their populations changed over almost two decades of surveys.

For a few bees, the scientists estimate about a fifth of their population declines was due to neonicotinoids.

That's not enough to kill off bees taken by itself. But pesticides aren't the only challenge bees are facing. Climate change, differences in how we use the land and what plants they can feed on, and parasites and diseases that infect bees are also putting a dent in populations.

And it doesn't necessarily mean we should stop using neonicotinoids cold turkey. "It needs to be taken in a very holistic perspective, you can't just say as long as we can save the bees everything else can go to hell, that's not where you want to be at," lead scientist Ben Woodcock told the BBC.

Both the Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates pesticides in the US, and the European equivalent are already in the process of re-evaluating their rules for neonicotinoids.

The study isn't quite the gold standard of science, since the researchers were just watching what happened from changes already in place rather than carefully controlling circumstances so that pesticide exposure was the only difference between groups.

But that kind of study is really hard to do in ecology — and getting a long-term, large-scale look at a range of species is better information than we've had before.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/01/us/hawaii-bee-species-endangered/index.html
10/1/16
Bees placed on endangered species list -- a first in the US

(CNN) — The United States is on a mission to save some of its busiest workers: bees.

In a first for bees in the nation, seven bee species native to Hawaii are now protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service said it added the yellow-faced bee species to the federal list of endangered species Friday night after years of research concluded they are under threat.

The rule is effective October 31.

Bees pollinate plants producing fruit, nuts and vegetables, and are crucial for the nation's food industry.

This is one of the seven bee species protected under the Endangered Species Act.

This is one of the seven bee species protected under the Endangered Species Act.

They have declined sharply in recent years due to various factors, including habitat loss, wildfires and loss of genetic diversity.

"Native pollinators in the US provide essential pollination services to agriculture which are valued at more than $9 billion annually," said Eric Lee-Mäder, pollinator program co-director at the Xerces Society, which was involved in petitions calling for the protection of the bee species.

During pollination, insects, birds and bats transfer pollen between plants, which allows them to make seeds and reproduce.

Listing the bees allows authorities to provide recovery programs and get funding for protection.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/bumblebee-listed-as-endangered-species-for-first-time/ar-BBy7rvN?OCID=ansmsnnews11
Bumblebee listed as endangered species for first time
1/10/17

A bumblebee is now on the endangered species list for the first time in a "race against extinction," the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday.

The agency placed the rusty patched bumblebee on the list because of a dramatic population decline over the past 20 years. Since the late 1990s, the population of the species has plummeted 87%.

Named because of the rust-colored marks on its back, the bee was once common and abundant across 28 states from Connecticut to South Dakota. Today, the bee is only found in small, scattered populations in 13 states.

“Our top priority is to act quickly to prevent extinction of the rusty patched bumblebee," wildlife service Midwest regional director Tom Melius said in a statement. "Listing the bee as endangered will help us mobilize partners and focus resources on finding ways right now to stop the decline."

Bees are responsible for pollinating most of the plants that require insect pollination to produce fruits, seeds and nuts. Like other bees, rusty patched bumblebees pollinate important crops such as tomatoes, cranberries and peppers.

It's not just the rusty patched bumblebee that is struggling in the U.S. Other species have experienced dramatic declines in recent decades. The reduction is believed to be caused by a combination of habitat loss, disease, pesticide use, climate change and an extremely small population size.

The endangered designation is made by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act for species at risk of becoming extinct throughout all or a portion of their range.

Environmental groups praised the designation, including the group that originally petitioned for the listing in 2013, the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation: "We are very pleased to see one of North America’s most imperiled species receive the protection it needs,” said Sarina Jepsen, director of endangered species for the group.

Environment America’s Christy Leavitt said that “protecting the rusty patched bumblebee and all bees is essential for our ecosystem and our food supply. If bees go extinct, it’s simple: no bees, no food," she added.

“Today’s Endangered Species listing is the best — and probably last — hope for the recovery of the rusty patched bumblebee," said Rebecca Riley, and attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Bumblebees are dying off, vanishing from our farms, gardens, and parks, where they were once found in great numbers."

People can help boost the rusty patched bumblebee population by growing a garden or adding a native flowering tree or shrub to yards and minimizing pesticide use, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said. Leaving some areas of the yard unmowed in summer and unraked in fall can also help since bumblebees need a safe place to build their nests and overwinter. Additionally, try leaving some standing plant stems in gardens and flower beds in winter.

This is the first bee of any type in the continental U.S. to be placed on the list. In September, the Obama administration designated seven species of bees in Hawaii as endangered.