This video is called bumblebee nest Bombus Terrestris.
From daily The Morning Star in Britain:
Pesticides killing off bees
Sunday 21 October 2012
Exposing bumblebees to a combination of two widely used pesticides hits individual bees and threatens the survival of their colony, scientists said today.
Research that aimed to mimic conditions in the countryside, where bees come into contact with numerous different chemicals while searching for food, found the combined effects of the pesticides significantly reduced the success of colonies.
Researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London, exposed a common species of bumblebee to two types of pesticides, a pyrethroid and a neonicotinoid, over four weeks at levels they would encounter in the fields.
Using radio tagging to record the behaviour of bees from 40 colonies, which were allowed to forage outside, the researchers found that workers from colonies exposed to the neonicotinoid pesticide were less efficient at foraging, particularly collecting pollen.
See also here. And here. And here.
The Royal Holloway site on this research: here.
Publication of the research in Nature: here.
The research was about buff-tailed bumblebees.
Related articles
- Pesticides put bumblebee colonies at risk of failure, study finds (guardian.co.uk)
- New research links pesticides to bumblebee colony collapse (greenerideal.com)
- Bumblebees, Too, Face Threat from Toxic Pesticides: Study (prn.fm)
- Evidence of pesticide harm to bees is now swarming | Damian Carrington (guardian.co.uk)
- Overwhelming evidence shows pesticides are destroying bees (gonzoj.wordpress.com)
- Combined pesticide exposure affects bumblebee colony success (esciencenews.com)
- Bumblebees, Too, Face Threat from Toxic Pesticides: Study (commondreams.org)
- Pesticides Put Bumblebee Colonies at Risk of Failure (scientificamerican.com)
Das Bienensterben wird mit großer Sorge beobachtet. Es wird behauptet, dass nach ihrem Aussterben alles übrige Leben vergeht
Maybe not all life, but many plants depending on pollination by bees will be in big trouble.
How interesting. You’ve seen my recent blog post ‘Keep Britain Buzzing’ about the neonicotinoid question, about which I haven’t yet decided on my opinion. But the inclusion of pyrethroids in the study you describe here is news to me.
Yes, for me it was the first time that I read about pyrethroids and bees as well. I know this bumblebee species well from gardens not far away.
Could communication devices such as wifi and/or mobile phone towers be interfering with bees ‘homing device’ causing it to malfunction and getting lost from the hive also?…. Bee populations have not declined. They have simply immigrated to countries such as South America. But what is causing them to leave??
Hi, do you gave a credible, science-based source for bee populations supposedly not declining, but going to South America? I also think that pesticides are for likely to harm bees than wifi.
Obviously, pesticides are the primary source of concern. I can’t put my finger on anything about bee immigration, but now that you have asked, and I cannot find, I will be searching for it. I read an article a few years ago about bee populations in certain cities and other countries rising. There was one in Argentina, but I can’t find the article yet. Wifi and mobile phones almost certainly interfere with bees homing devices, but the tech companies wont admit it. It’s taken them 20 years to admit mobile phones cause cancer, so…
It also depends on what you call ‘Reliable’ science-based sources. The royal society, new scientist, chemistry and the like are not as trustworthy as you might think..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/23/can-cities-save-bees
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/nyregion/honeybee-swarms-increase-in-nyc-after-mild-spring.html
Slightly worrying – rt.com/art-and-culture/news/green-honey-mms-france-744/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/apr/26/mobilephones.guardianweeklytechnologysection
Growth Industry: Honeybee Numbers Expand Worldwide as U.S. Decline Continues http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=growth-in-honeybee-population
Hi, thanks for your links. I don’t think that the increase in South America etc. is caused by emigration from the USA etc. I think bees die in the USA; and that there are more efforts in breeding bees in South America etc. now.
“”honey bee hives has increased ∼45% during the last half century”" – http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(09)00982-8
Pingback: Bee-killing pesticides on trial? | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Neonicotinoids killing bees | Dear Kitty. Some blog