Save the Bees.
Just as god gave us pistachios so we could grow fingernails, god gave humans to bees so bees could advance their civilisation. Many people around the world have been infected by the bee bug. So they spend much of their time housing bees in bee condominiums, feeding them, making them happy, and trucking them all over the country. The plan was that this enterprise would expand exponentially until bees became the dominant species on Earth, because, can you think of a better one? However, humans employed too many pesticides to push back bugs and weeds that were competing with bees - to the point that those poisons also began killing the bees. With a great decline in bee populations, called Colony Collapse Disorder, many other blights have been visited on our plant, because we have upset the natural order of things.
In the 1980s, Bayer invented synthetic neonicotinoid compounds that could be applied to the seed of a plant and remain effective for the plant’s entire lifespan.
By 2004, Bayer had agreements with the top genetically modified seed companies to coat their seeds with massive amounts of neonics.
By 2007, 80 percent of the corn seed sold by market-leader Pioneer (Monsanto’s rival-cum-partner) was treated with Bayer’s clothianidin-based Poncho.
By 2008, Colony Collapse Disorder was a worldwide problem.
In the E.U., neonics were banned in 2013, but a legal loophole lets Bayer to skirt the neonicotinoid ban.
What began with the collapse of bee colonies has become a full-on insect apocalypse that scientists say is “tearing apart the tapestry of life”, devastating bird populations, impacting human health and threatening the future of foods that rely on pollinators.
The U.S. agricultural landscape is now 48 times more toxic to bees than it was 25 years ago and crop yields for apples, cherries and blueberries are already being reduced by a lack of pollinators.
Why? Because of Bayer’s business model: genetically modified seeds soaked in bee-killing neonic insecticides.
US beekeepers continue to report high colony loss rates, no clear improvement
Beekeepers across the United States lost 45.5% of their managed honey bee colonies from April 2020 to April 2021, according to preliminary results of the 15th annual nationwide survey conducted by the nonprofit Bee Informed Partnership (BIP). These losses mark the second highest loss rate the survey has recorded since it began in 2006 (6.1 percentage points higher than the average annual loss rate of 39.4%). The survey results highlight the continuing high rates of honey bee colony turnover. The high loss rate was driven by both elevated summer and winter losses this year, with no clear progression toward improvement for beekeepers and their colonies. BIP hopes to use the survey results to better understand how colony losses are experienced by beekeepers, and what can be done to reduce losses in future seasons. FULL ARTICLE HERE
Wild bees need deadwood in the forest
How many tree species are there in the forest? How are the trees scattered throughout? How high are the individual tree crowns? Are there fallen trees or hollowed-out tree trunks? Forest scientists characterize forests according to structural factors. “Structural richness is very important for biodiversity in forests. But forests used for forestry are generally poor in terms of structure,” says Tristan Eckerter from the Chair of Nature Conservation and Landscape Ecology at the University of Freiburg. Therefore, together with research teams from the Chair of Silviculture and the Black Forest National Park, he investigated whether structures such as standing timber in forests help to promote the diversity of wild bees. In addition, the researchers analyzed which other natural features of the spruce-dominated forest help wild bees survive. They found that creating deadwood in coniferous forests is a promising restoration measure to promote the abundance of aboveground nesting bees. The scientists recently published their findings in the journal Forest Ecology and Management. FULL ARTICLE HERE
Midwest bumble bees declined with more farmed land, less diverse crops since 1870
As farmers cultivated more land and began to grow fewer types of crops over the last 150 years, most native bumble bee species became rarer in Midwestern states.
New research reveals that these species declined while the average number of different crops grown in these states was cut in half and as modern agriculture began to focus on intensive production of corn and soybeans. A handful of hardy species continue to thrive today, but they also seem to prefer areas with a more diverse assortment of crops such as hay, beans, potatoes and oats in addition to corn and soy.
“This study shows that there’s a lot of opportunity to support biodiversity by adjusting farming practices,” says Jeremy Hemberger, an author of the report who completed the work while a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. FULL ARTICLE HERE
To help the bees, protect the prairie: Prairie strips transform farmland conservation.
Prairie Strips Improve Biodiversity
The Whole Food Diet for Bees
GARDENING FOR BEES . com
Please see Organic Consumers' campaign to help save the bees~!
And here is my tag for the bees and yes there are pictures. / CCD
In the 1980s, Bayer invented synthetic neonicotinoid compounds that could be applied to the seed of a plant and remain effective for the plant’s entire lifespan.
By 2004, Bayer had agreements with the top genetically modified seed companies to coat their seeds with massive amounts of neonics.
By 2007, 80 percent of the corn seed sold by market-leader Pioneer (Monsanto’s rival-cum-partner) was treated with Bayer’s clothianidin-based Poncho.
By 2008, Colony Collapse Disorder was a worldwide problem.
In the E.U., neonics were banned in 2013, but a legal loophole lets Bayer to skirt the neonicotinoid ban.
What began with the collapse of bee colonies has become a full-on insect apocalypse that scientists say is “tearing apart the tapestry of life”, devastating bird populations, impacting human health and threatening the future of foods that rely on pollinators.
The U.S. agricultural landscape is now 48 times more toxic to bees than it was 25 years ago and crop yields for apples, cherries and blueberries are already being reduced by a lack of pollinators.
Why? Because of Bayer’s business model: genetically modified seeds soaked in bee-killing neonic insecticides.
US beekeepers continue to report high colony loss rates, no clear improvement
Beekeepers across the United States lost 45.5% of their managed honey bee colonies from April 2020 to April 2021, according to preliminary results of the 15th annual nationwide survey conducted by the nonprofit Bee Informed Partnership (BIP). These losses mark the second highest loss rate the survey has recorded since it began in 2006 (6.1 percentage points higher than the average annual loss rate of 39.4%). The survey results highlight the continuing high rates of honey bee colony turnover. The high loss rate was driven by both elevated summer and winter losses this year, with no clear progression toward improvement for beekeepers and their colonies. BIP hopes to use the survey results to better understand how colony losses are experienced by beekeepers, and what can be done to reduce losses in future seasons. FULL ARTICLE HERE
Wild bees need deadwood in the forest
How many tree species are there in the forest? How are the trees scattered throughout? How high are the individual tree crowns? Are there fallen trees or hollowed-out tree trunks? Forest scientists characterize forests according to structural factors. “Structural richness is very important for biodiversity in forests. But forests used for forestry are generally poor in terms of structure,” says Tristan Eckerter from the Chair of Nature Conservation and Landscape Ecology at the University of Freiburg. Therefore, together with research teams from the Chair of Silviculture and the Black Forest National Park, he investigated whether structures such as standing timber in forests help to promote the diversity of wild bees. In addition, the researchers analyzed which other natural features of the spruce-dominated forest help wild bees survive. They found that creating deadwood in coniferous forests is a promising restoration measure to promote the abundance of aboveground nesting bees. The scientists recently published their findings in the journal Forest Ecology and Management. FULL ARTICLE HERE
Midwest bumble bees declined with more farmed land, less diverse crops since 1870
As farmers cultivated more land and began to grow fewer types of crops over the last 150 years, most native bumble bee species became rarer in Midwestern states.
New research reveals that these species declined while the average number of different crops grown in these states was cut in half and as modern agriculture began to focus on intensive production of corn and soybeans. A handful of hardy species continue to thrive today, but they also seem to prefer areas with a more diverse assortment of crops such as hay, beans, potatoes and oats in addition to corn and soy.
“This study shows that there’s a lot of opportunity to support biodiversity by adjusting farming practices,” says Jeremy Hemberger, an author of the report who completed the work while a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. FULL ARTICLE HERE
To help the bees, protect the prairie: Prairie strips transform farmland conservation.
Prairie Strips Improve Biodiversity
The Whole Food Diet for Bees
GARDENING FOR BEES . com
Please see Organic Consumers' campaign to help save the bees~!
And here is my tag for the bees and yes there are pictures. / CCD