An article posted today on Salon.com said the maker of imidacloprid, Bayer CropScience, found the pesticide in the nectar and pollen of flowering trees and shrubs at concentrations high enough to kill a honeybee in minutes. That December 2007 revelation, plus beekeepers' own experiences in fields treated by the pesticide, have scientists taking a new look at imidacloprid's role in sudden, unexplained bee die-offs that have been reported around the world for the past 10 years.
Scientists have pondered whether there is a single cause of Colony Collapse Disorder or whether the phenomena results from a variety of factors, such as the combined effect of disease, pests and pesticides, as was reported in March by the BBC. Salon reporter Julia Scott spoke to UC Davis Cooperative Extension entomologist Eric Mussen about the pesticide implicated in today's article.
He told Scott that he wasn't surprised about Bayer's research conclusions and that he has seen UC studies with similar results, such as one at UC Riverside that found imidacloprid in the nectar of a eucalyptus tree bloom at concentrations of 550 ppb a year after it was applied.
"From some of the data on the trees, it appears as though there are situations where honeybees can get into truly toxic doses of the material," Mussen was quoted in the article. "This (is) the first time that we've had something you put in a tree that could stay there for a long time."
Still, Mussen said, he doesn't believe imidicloprid or a related pesticide clothianidin carry all the blame for CCD.
"Could it be part of the story? I'm sure. I think any of the pesticides the bees bring back to the beehive is hurting the bees," Mussen was quoted.
Photo by Kathy Garvey.
The case of the missing workers has frustrated investigators for years. There are no dead bodies and few clues; a "disease" is suspected, but can't be pinpointed. How can the culprit be foiled when there is no evidence of wrongdoing?
Entomologists all over the world are trying to figure out what, if anything, is going down in honey bee hives. The story has been widely publicized and made headlines again yesterday when the BBC News published an article and video focused on what has been called Colony Collaspe Disorder. The story notes that even that term is stirring controversy.
An Australian scientist interviewed for the article said that assigning a name without nailing down a syndrome is distracting.
"It's misleading in the fact that the general public and beekeepers and now even researchers are under the impression that we've got some mysterious disorder here in our bees," he was quoted. "And so researchers around the world are running round trying to find the cause of the disorder - and there's absolutely no proof that there's a disorder there."
The story included a video featuring UC Davis entomologist Eric Mussen. He provided information about what is perhaps one component of the problem plaguing bees, the varoa mite.
He said the mite is quite large compared to the honey bee.
"It would be sort of like having something the size of a softball running around on your body," Mussen said.
Excellent word picture.
Worker bees congregate on a hive.
Solitary, hard working leafcutter bees are being imported from Canada to help pollinate seed alfalfa, making the crop profitable in the San Joaquin Valley, according to an article published today in Western Farm Press.
“Economically, seed alfalfa cannot compete with other crops without the leafcutter bees,” the story quoted Bob Sheesley, an alfalfa breeder who is a former UC Cooperative Extenion farm advisor and county director. Working together with honeybees, leafcutters boost alfalfa seed yield 250 pounds to 300 pounds per acre, Sheesley said.
The story was written by Dennis Pollock, who is now doing freelance ag writing after retiring from the Fresno Bee last year. For the leafcutter story, he spoke to UCCE farm advisor Shannon Mueller, who said leafcutter bees are more efficient pollinators than honeybees because they don't seem to mind being slapped in the face by the alfalfa flowers' reproductive structure as they forage for pollen.
Leafcutters won't be putting honeybees out of work, however. Honeybees are less susceptible to pesticides and are kept by professionals, unlike leafcutters, which farmers must manage and care for themselves.
Alfalfa seed.
The headline, a play on the famous orchestral piece "The Flight of the Bumblebee," comes from the Web site tothecenter.com, which carried a rundown this week on the oft-publicized colony collapse disorder, a mysterious ailment that is severely curtailing the country's honey bee population.
The story appears as UC Davis news service distributes a news release about a new $125,000 contribution from Häagen-Dazs to help honey bees. Half of the money will be used to create a one-half acre Honey Bee Haven on the campus, the release says. Häagen-Dazs and UC Davis will determine how the balance of the gift can best be used to benefit honey bees.
Landscape architects will want to take note. The design of the new bee haven is at the center of a competition. The winning design team will see their ideas implemented at UC Davis and will receive recognition on the Häagen-Dazs commemorative plaque in the garden. Best of all, the winner will receive a free year's supply of Häagen-Dazs ice cream.
Information on the design competition may be requested from Melissa Borel at mjborel@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-6642.
Bee dangling from guara blossom.
Welcome to Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, which got its name from the popularity of online purchasing the first work day since the busy Christmas season began. According to Wikipedia, the prevalence of high-speed Internet in homes is diluting the shopping strength of Cyber Monday, so it may just become a day to honor the contributions of the Internet to American life.
Along those lines, I'll use Cyber Monday to bring you the latest cyber news coverage of UC ANR.
The Marin Independent Journal, reporting on the local olive harvest, quoted UCCE farm advisor Paul Vossen.
"Olives are a small-margin crop," he was quoted. "The yields are fairly low, and it's difficult and expensive to harvest - so when you do, you create a product that is quite costly to produce. But compared to common olive oils on your supermarket shelf, almost all California olive oil is going to be fresher and better-tasting."
The Orange County Register ran a story about a firefighter's new invention, a vent cover that blocks burning embers from entering but still allows air flow in attic spaces. UCCE wood durability advisor Stephen Quarles contributed to the story.
"Embers are so small and produced in such quantity it's like a snow storm pushed through vents into attic spaces where they ignite sawdust, paper-faced insulation. I've even seen birds' nests in attics," Quarles was quoted.
Smithsonian.com covered the Linnaean games, an insect trivia competition held at the Entomological Society's meeting in Reno last month. The games, named for 18th century "father of bionomial nomenclature" Carl Linnaeus, is serious business for entomological grad students. This year, a UC Riverside team took home the crown.
According to UC Davis Entomology Department public information rep Kathy Keatley Garvey, who attended the conference, this is the first time since at least 2002 that a UC team has won.
Bay Area news radio KCBS ran a story about Colony Collapse Disorder of honey bees featuring UC Davis bee specialist Eric Mussen. He said California’s bee keepers are hoping for a wet winter. More rain means more flowers and plants which provide more food for the bees.
“If they’ve got abundant food they can build up their largest populations. They’re the most robust, strongest bees you can get and therefore they’re more likely to repel some of these disease we think are a problem [for bees]," Mussen is quoted on the radio station's Web site.
The Desert Sun reported that UCCE Riverside County farm advisor Jose Luis Aguiar has been selected to participate in the California Agricultural Leadership Program.
