Bayer confesses bee-killing

This video from the USA is called Honey Bees Dying – Pesticide Clothianidin – Bayer – GMO.

Translated from daily Trouw, 3 May 2013, in the Netherlands:

“If you spray our weedkillers on a bee, then it will die”, Mieke Hoogendoorn of Bayer in Mijdrecht says. “So, you should not do that.”

Not only honeybees, water insects as well are killed by Bayer’s neonicotinoids. See the article Macro-Invertebrate Decline in Surface Water Polluted with Imidacloprid, here.

Europe Bans Bee-Harming Pesticides; US Keeps Spraying: here.

Related articles

• Bayer corporation censors honeybee science (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Stop Bayer’s killing of bees and their censorship (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Federal agricultural officials swat down Europe’s pesticide ban to aid bees (triblive.com)
• Bee-killing Bayer’s secrets revealed (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Canada not ready to ban pesticides believed responsible for honey bee deaths (vancouversun.com)
• Europe Bans Three Neonicotinoids (cen.acs.org)
• The EU Bans Bee-Killing Pesticides – Sort Of (fastcoexist.com)
• Majority of EU countries support partial ban of bee-killing pesticides (greenpeaceblogs.org)
• Colony Collapse Disorder Is a Fraud: Pesticides Cause Bee Die-Offs (healthimpactnews.com)

British beekeepers demonstrate against neonicotinoids

This video is called Beekeepers March; Action Urged Over Pesticides.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Beekeepers swarm to Parliament

Friday 26 April 2013

Beekeepers and their supporters swarmed to Parliament Square today urging the government to support an EU-wide ban on certain pesticides.

Campaigners in bee costumers joined keepers donned in their protective gear.

The demonstration came ahead of a vote in Brussels on Monday which will decide whether Europe introduces a two-year moratorium on various neonicotinoid pesticides.

Buglife chief executive Matt Shardlow said 73 per cent of the public supported a ban on the insecticides and the government should follow suit.

See also here.

Related articles

• Campaigners blame pesticides for decline of bees (scotsman.com)
• Beekeepers’ Parliament protest calls for pesticides ban (telegraph.co.uk)
• Beekeepers March: Action Urged Over Pesticides (news.sky.com)
• Dr. Reese Halter: Stop Neonicotinoid Pesticides: Protestors to March in London (huffingtonpost.com)
• Beekeepers protest over pesticide (bbc.co.uk)
• Beekeeper Protest Calls for Pesticide Ban (earthfirstnews.wordpress.com)
• Bulgaria to Back EU Moratorium on Bee-Harming Neonicotinoids (novinite.com)
• Pesticides banned to save bees (express.co.uk)

Stop Bayer’s killing of bees and their censorship

This video says about itself:

The buzz about pesticides – by Nature Video

Oct 21, 2012

Bees, the most important pollinators of our crops, are in trouble. All over the world, their populations are decreasing and scientists want to know why. In this video, Nigel Raine and Richard Gill introduce us to the bumblebees they study at Royal Holloway near London. Their experiments show that two commonly used pesticides affect foraging behaviour and brood development, making bumblebee colonies more likely to fail.

Read the Nature paper here.

Translated from daily Trouw in the Netherlands:

‘Bayer corporation’s bee poison should go off the market’

Joop Bouma – 10/04/13, 15:00

The authority deciding which pesticides are permitted in the Netherlands, the Ctgb in Wageningen, should immediately prohibit the use of the insecticide imidacloprid, pending studies on the harmful effects of the neurotoxin on bees.

Nature and Environment says this after reading the scientific studies which formed the basis for the admission of the pesticide. The environmental organization calls on fruit and vegetable producers to no longer use the substance. The pesticide of manufacturer Bayer is suspected of causing much mortality among bees.

Nature and Environment received access from manufacturer Bayer to the studies in a closed reading room. They were not allowed to make copies, partly because Bayer wants to keep the studies secret to competitors.

After reading the scientific publications Nature and Environment concludes that the toxicity of the pesticide is ‘probably much greater for bees than Ctgb and Bayer claim. The organization says that the review of the studies by the Ctgb is ‘very flimsy’.

In tests with the controversial insecticide, according to Nature and Environment, ‘atypically strong’ bee species were used. Moreover, they only looked at mortality among bees and not at additional effects, such as distortion of the sense of direction. Many of the studies commissioned by Bayer lasted no longer than a few days, according to Nature and Environment. “While the effects of imidacloprid on bees take much longer to become apparent.”

“The approval for imidacloprid should be immediately suspended until we know more about its harmfulness” said Sijas Akkerman, food expert of Nature and Environment. “And the studies should be made public soon.” The Ctgb is still studying the criticism of Nature and Environment, which arrived yesterday at the pesticide authority’s. “We take this seriously and will look at it carefully.”

Today, the court in The Hague will ruling in an appeals procedure. The Bees Foundation filed suit on publication of the studies. The Ctgb decided earlier to publish part of them, but the Bees Foundation wants all studies to be available to anyone who wants to see them.

Bayer in turn in a counterclaim has asked for the studies which the Ctgb wants to publish to stay secret. Bayer offers the Bees Foundation to have access to the studies in a closed reading room, like happened with Nature and Environment. But the Bees Foundation insists on full disclosure. Nature and Environment also says that the studies should be made public as soon as possible to make scientific research and a thorough assessment possible.

Previously, the European Court had ruled that the underlying studies about another pesticide (propamocarb) must be disclosed. A European Convention requires that citizens should have free access to environmental information.

Greenpeace began a campaign yesterday about the bee mortality. The organization calls for a ban on new pesticides, like the agent of Bayer.

Meanwhile, the court in The Hague has decided that, for the time being, the studies will stay secret. On 18 June, there will again be a session about this.

About Bayer, from Wikipedia:

The Bayer company then [after World War I] became part of IG Farben, a German chemical company conglomerate. During World War II, the IG Farben used slave labor in factories attached to large slave labor camps, notably the sub-camps of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp.^[2] IG Farben owned 42.5% of the company that manufactured Zyklon B,^[3] a chemical used in the gas chambers of Auschwitz and other extermination camps. After World War II, the Allies broke up IG Farben and Bayer reappeared as an individual business. The Bayer executive Fritz ter Meer, sentenced to seven years in prison by the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal, was made head of the supervisory board of Bayer in 1956, after his release.^[4]

Pesticide Suspected in Bee Die-Offs Could Also Kill Birds: here.

Related articles

• Bayer corporation censors honeybee science (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Greenpeace Calls for EU Ban on Seven Pesticides Due to Bee Risk – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
• US Government Sued For Pesticides Killing Millions Of Bees (collective-evolution.com)
• Save honeybees, Internet petition (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Pesticides Definitively Linked to Bee Colony Collapse (anh-usa.org)
• Syngenta and Bayer’s answer to bee decline: Just plant more flowers (sott.net)
• Mood of bee tour marred by big bee losses (journalstar.com)
• Robotic Bees to Pollinate Monsanto Crops (familysurvivalprotocol.com)

Bayer corporation censors honeybee science

This video from Britain says about itself:

Who Killed The Honey Bee? (BBC Documentary)

Nov 19, 2012

Bees are dying in their millions. It is an ecological crisis that threatens to bring global agriculture to a standstill. Introduced by Martha Kearney, this documentary explores the reasons behind the decline of bee colonies across the globe, investigating what might be at the root of this devastation.

Honey bees are the number one insect pollinator on the planet, responsible for the production of over 90 crops. Apples, berries, cucumbers, nuts, cabbages and even cotton will struggle to be produced if bee colonies continue to decline at the current rate. Empty hives have been reported from as far afield as Taipei and Tennessee. In England, the matter has caused beekeepers to march on Parliament to call on the government to fund research into what they say is potentially a bigger threat to humanity than the current financial crisis.

Investigating the problem from a global perspective, the programme makers travel from the farm belt of California to the flatlands of East Anglia to the outback of Australia. They talk to the beekeepers whose livelihoods are threatened by colony collapse disorder, the scientists entrusted with solving the problem, and the Australian beekeepers who are making a fortune replacing the planet’s dying bees. They also look at some of the possible reasons for the declining numbers – is it down to a bee plague, pesticides, malnutrition? Or is the answer something even more frightening?

Translated from Trouw daily in the Netherlands:

Bayer wants judge to stop publishing studies about bee poisoning

By: Joop Bouma – 25/03/13, 11:00

Bayer, manufacturer of pesticides, goes to court in an attempt to prevent disclosure of nearly forty studies that have been used in the registration of agents lethal to bees.

Ctgb, the organisation deciding about permits for pesticides on the Dutch market, decided last week to make a pile of scientific studies of Bayer and other manufacturers available to the public. The Bee Foundation had asked for that. The foundation wants to get to know about the quality of the registration examination.

Bayer said to the Ctgb that they opposed disclosure, invoking protection of copyrights and trade secrets. At first, the Ctgb rejected the request of the Bees Foundation. The Bees Foundation objected to that, and that objection was accepted partly.

“Possibly relevant information”

This involves a total of more than 120 studies. Some thirty studies have been already published. Of the remaining studies, in about fifty cases, the Ctgb refuses disclosure in order to to protect manufacturers’ copyrights and business interests. Among those are also studies which the Ctgb considers to contain “potentially relevant information” on the toxicity of the insecticides (known as neonicotinoids) to bees.

Yesterday, Bayer decided to appeal to the Board of Trade and Industry against the intention of the Ctgb to make the studies available to the public. The Bees Foundation is appealing as well, against the decision of the Ctgb to keep fifty studies secret.

Bayer had previously offered the Bees Foundation to make the reports available in an enclosed space. This has recently happened to a similar request from the Foundation for Nature and Environment. But the Bees Foundation believes that is no solution: the advocacy group believes that everyone should be able to see the studies.

Not Just the Bees: Bayer’s Pesticide May Harm Birds, Too: here.

About Bayer, from Wikipedia:

The Bayer company then [after World War I] became part of IG Farben, a German chemical company conglomerate. During World War II, the IG Farben used slave labor in factories attached to large slave labor camps, notably the sub-camps of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp.^[2] IG Farben owned 42.5% of the company that manufactured Zyklon B,^[3] a chemical used in the gas chambers of Auschwitz and other extermination camps. After World War II, the Allies broke up IG Farben and Bayer reappeared as an individual business. The Bayer executive Fritz ter Meer, sentenced to seven years in prison by the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal, was made head of the supervisory board of Bayer in 1956, after his release.^[4]

Related articles

• Bayer CropScience and Bee Deaths (fromthetrenchesworldreport.com)
• Without honeybees, we may cease to be (salon.com)
• Pro-honeybee Internet petition (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Beekeepers Sue EPA Over Pesticide Approvals – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
• Save honeybees, Internet petition (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• New research adds to evidence that pesticide is driving honeybee collapse (savetheepa.org)
• Groups sue EPA over honeybee deaths, blame some insecticides (science.nbcnews.com)
• Domesticated and Wild Bees Are Both in Trouble (readersupportednews.org)
• Who Will Save The Honey Bee? EU Mulls Pesticide Ban While US Set to Approve More (wakingtimes.com)

Honeybees on snowdrop flowers, video

This video shows honeybees on snowdrop flowers in the Netherlands.

It was recorded in 4 March this year, when it still seemed the wintry weather had ended.

However, meanwhile, the cold has come back.

USA: Mystery Malady Kills More Bees, Heightening Worry on Farms: here.

Related articles

• Snowdrops in February (hilarypnw.wordpress.com)
• in Celebration of Snowdrops (purelyphotography.wordpress.com)
• Plant Appreciation #011 Snowdrops (wearecultivate.wordpress.com)
• Step out on a snowdrop walk (countrylivinged.com)
• Vodka drinking Tulips and heroic Snowdrops (plewspottingshed.wordpress.com)
• The best places to see snowdrops in 2013 (telegraph.co.uk)
• Missing the Snowdrops (supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com)
• Snowdrops – Seldom Seen (myphotoyear2012.wordpress.com)
• Snowdrops (charleymckelvy.wordpress.com)
• Crocuses in March (hilarypnw.wordpress.com)

United States bees neonicotinoid court case

This video is called Honey bees – Natural History 1.

And here is Part 2.

From New Scientist in the USA:

Bees to have their day in court over insecticide use

• 17:35 22 March 2013 by Michael Marshall
• For similar stories, visit the Endangered Species Topic Guide

The lawyers will be as busy as bees. The long-running row over insecticides linked to declines in bee numbers is going to court. Beekeepers and activists are suing the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), saying it should have banned neonicotinoid insecticides.

Neonicotinoids are relatively new chemicals but have already become widely used in recent years because they are taken up by all parts of a plant, giving comprehensive protection against crop pests. However, they may be partly responsible for the ongoing decline of pollinating insects like bumblebees. When ingested, they disrupt key behaviours like navigation, causing population declines. This week, the American Bird Conservancy, a non-profit group based in The Plains, Virginia, released a report claiming neonicotinoids also harm birds.

On 21 March, four beekeepers and five environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the EPA “for its failure to protect pollinators from dangerous pesticides”. The group had previously petitioned the EPA for an emergency ban on one neonicotinoid.

The EPA would not comment on the case, but a spokesperson said it was accelerating its review of the neonicotinoids “because of uncertainties about these pesticides and their potential effects on bees”.

A European Commission proposal to restrict the use of neonicotinoids in Europe recently failed to secure enough votes. The proposal would have forbidden the use of neonicotinoids on crops that attract bees, and at times of year when the chemicals were likely to be transported in dust. The proposal was triggered by a report issued in January by the European Food Standards Agency, which said it was not acceptable to use neonicotinoids on crops that attract bees.

“I was fully in support of the ban,” says David Goulson, an ecologist at the University of Stirling, UK. “The worst impacts on bees would have been removed.” He says similar restrictions could work well in the US. “The risks are the same, and the bees are essentially the same.”

Related articles

• Birds, bees, aquatic life killed by neonicotinoids (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Groups sue EPA over honeybee deaths, blame some insecticides (science.nbcnews.com)
• Stop bee-killing pesticides, Dutch parliament says (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Beekeepers sue EPA to ban pesticide, protect bees (sacbee.com)
• Groups sue EPA over honey bee deaths, blame some insecticides (reuters.com)
• You: Groups sue to protect bees and pollinators from pesticides (latimes.com)
• Neonicotinoids kill grassland birds (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Please – It’s About the Bees! (savetheepa.org)
• Without honeybees, we may cease to be (salon.com)

Save honeybees, Internet petition

From Avaaz.org:

Dear friends across Europe,

In less than 36 hours, European countries will vote on plans to ban bee killing pesticides, but Bayer and other chemical giants are out in full forcetrying to protect their profits from needed safety regulation. Our governments are buckling under the pressure — let’s counteract the corporate bullying with a flood of messages to our Agriculture Ministers to save the bees! Send a message now:

In less than 36 hours, the European Union will vote on whether to ban toxic pesticides that are killing bees around the world and threatening our food supply. The big corporations profiting from this vile stuff are lobbying furiously to defeat the ban and we’ve just heard that key governments are about to cave — unless they feel the sting of public opinion!

Bees are disappearing around the world at alarming rates. Because bees pollinate our crops, experts are warning that these mass deaths pose a catastrophic threat to our food supply. Thankfully, numerous studies have now identified the likely culprit: a certain class of noxious pesticides. An official EU report found that banning them could solve the problem, but pesticide giant Bayer is trying to convince our leaders to ignore the science to protect their profits.

Over 2.5 million of us have signed the petition that made this vote possible — and now it’s time to tell our politicians that they must side with science to save the bees this week. Let’s flood the inboxes of our Agriculture Ministers, drown out the corporate lobby, and make sure our governments saves the bees and our food — click below to send a message then share this urgent campaign with your friends:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/bye_bye_bees_eu_spread/?bHFhfab&v=23040

Bees don’t just make honey, they are vital to life on earth, every year pollinating 90% of plants and crops and helping to generate an estimated $40bn value and over one-third of the food supply in many countries. Without immediate action to save bees, many of our favourite fruits, vegetables, and nuts could vanish from our shelves.

Last month the European Food Safety Authority gave the most compelling evidence yet that toxic chemicals called neonicotinoid pesticides could be responsible for the bee deaths. Italy has banned some uses of these bee-killing pesticides and has already seen it’s bee populations come back, but Bayer and Sygenta are lobbying to prevent a Euro-wide ban, for fears it would harm their global business. It seems they’re close to having the support of the UK, Spain, and Germany, who want to protect their biggest chemical corporations.

Now the issue is coming to a boil. Just weeks ago, Avaaz delivered a petition signed by over 2.5 million of us to the European Commission, who proposed a ban days later. EU parliamentarians are stepping up their pressure and several other European governments have announced plans to push ahead with new legislation to ban the deadly pesticides on their own. So we have the power to win this, but we need one final push to overcome the pesticide lobby. Send a message telling our governments to support the ban now and then share with others:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/bye_bye_bees_eu_spread/?bHFhfab&v=23040

Our world is beset with threats to what makes it habitable, and to what fills it with wonder. The Avaaz community comes together to defend both — large or small. Whether winning a battle to keep the International Whaling Commission from sanctioning the murder of these giants, or saving bees, the tiny creatures upon which so much depends, we will come together and stand up for the world we all want.

With hope,

Iain, Marie, Pascal, Emma, Ricken, Alaphia, and the Avaaz team

MORE INFORMATION

EU Proposes ban on bee killer (The Telegraph)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9840497/EU-proposes-ban-on-bee-killer-pesticide.html

Bayer slams draconian EU plans to ban neonicotinoids (Farmers weekly)
http://www.fwi.co.uk/articles/01/02/2013/137451/bayer-slams-39draconian39-eu-plan-to-ban-neonicotinoids.htm

Government to ignore European ban on neonicotinoid pesticides (Independent)
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/government-to-ignore-european-ban-on-neonicotinoid-pesticides-8483916.html

The Battle to ban bee killers (Avaaz Daily Briefing)
http://en.avaaz.org/1326/eu-ban-bee-killing-pesticides-bayer

Studies fault Bayer in bee die-off (Christian Science Monitor)
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0406/Studies-fault-Bayer-in-bee-die-off

March 2013. Buglife – The Invertebrate Conservation Trust is questioning why Owen Paterson, the UK Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) plans to delay the European Commission’s proposed restrictions on three neonicotinoid insecticides in an EU vote on the 15th March: here.

Update: see here.

Fruit growers and solitary bees: here.

Related articles

• Pro-honeybee Internet petition (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Owen Paterson set to scupper plans to ban pesticides linked to bee harm (guardian.co.uk)
• Stop bee-killing pesticides, Dutch parliament says (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Neonicotinoids threaten bees, new report (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• EU Commission Takes Steps To Suspend Bee-Toxic Pesticides (prnewswire.com)
• EU proposes to ban insecticides linked to bee decline (guardian.co.uk)
• EU Says World’s Most Popular Pesticide Causing Massive Honeybee Deaths (organicauthority.com)
• Who Will Save The Honey Bee? EU Mulls Pesticide Ban While US Set to Approve More (wakingtimes.com)
• A Deadly Disorder at the EPA (inthesetimes.com)
• Pesticide ban: food security now or later? | Editorial (guardian.co.uk)

Pro-honeybee Internet petition

From AVAAZ:

Dear friends,

Bees around the world are dying off and Europe’s food watchdog just said certain pesticides are part of the problem. We’ve got 48 hours before key meetings — let’s get a 2-million-person swarm to save the bees. Click to take urgent action now:

Quietly, globally, billions of bees are dying, threatening our crops and food. But in 48 hours the European Union could move to ban the most poisonous pesticides, and pave the way to a global ban that would save bees from extinction.

Four EU countries have begun banning these poisons, and some bee populations are already recovering. Days ago the official European food safety watchdog stated for the first time that certain pesticides are fatally harming bees. Now legal experts and European politicians are calling for an immediate ban. But Bayer and other giant pesticide producers are lobbying hard to keep them on the market. If we build a huge swarm of public outrage now, we can push the European Commission to put our health and our environment before the profit of a few.

We know our voices count! Last year, our 1.2 million strong petition forced US authorities to open a formal consultation on pesticides — now if we reach 2 million, we can persuade the EU to get rid of these crazy poisons and pave the way for a ban worldwide. Sign the urgent petition and send this to everyone — Avaaz and leading MEPs will deliver our message ahead of this week’s key meeting in Brussels:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/hours_to_save_the_bees/?bHFhfab&v=21443

Bees don’t just make honey, they are vital to life on earth, every year pollinating 90% of plants and crops — with an estimated $40bn value and over one-third of the food supply in many countries. Without immediate action to save bees, many of our favourite fruits, vegetables, and nuts could vanish from our shelves.

Recent years have seen a steep and disturbing global decline in bee populations — some bee species are already extinct and some US species are at just 4% of their previous numbers. Scientists have been scrambling for answers and now the European Food Safety Authority is saying that toxic chemicals called neonicotinoid pesticides could be responsible for the bee deaths. France, Italy, Slovenia and even Germany, where the main manufacturer Bayer is based, have banned one of these bee-killing pesticides. But Bayer continues to export its poison across the world.

Now the issue is coming to a boil. EU parliamentarians are stepping up their pressure on the European Commission and key governments to push new legislation to ban the deadly pesticides, and we can offer them the public support they need to counter the powerful pesticide lobby. Sign the urgent petition to Europe’s leaders, then forward this email widely:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/hours_to_save_the_bees/?bHFhfab&v=21443

Our world is beset with threats to what makes it habitable, and to what fills it with wonder. The Avaaz community comes together to defend both — large or small. Whether winning a battle to keep the International Whaling Commission from sanctioning the murder of these giants, or saving bees, the tiny creatures upon which so much depends, we will come together and stand up for the world we all want.

With hope,

Luis, Ari, Alice, Iain, Ricken, David, Alaphia, and the Avaaz team

SOURCES

Pesticides pose danger to bees (European Voice)
http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2013/january/pesticides-pose-danger-to-bees/76158.aspx

Crop pesticides are ‘killing our bees’ – says MEP (Public Service Europe)
http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/article/3007/crop-pesticides-are-killing-our-bees-says-mep#ixzz2JGICse6a

Death knell for nerve agent pesticides in move to save bees (Independent)
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/death-knell-for-nerve-agent-pesticides-in-move-to-save-bees-8454443.html

Give Bees a Chance! (The Greens European Free Alliance)
http://www.greens-efa.eu/give-bees-a-chance-9012.html

Studies fault Bayer in bee die-off (Christian Science Monitor)
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0406/Studies-fault-Bayer-in-bee-die-off

Dutch video on dying honeybees: here.

Related articles

• Neonicotinoids threaten bees, new report (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Insecticide ‘Unacceptable’ Danger to Bees, Report Finds (articles.mercola.com)
• Insecticide ‘unacceptable’ danger to bees, report finds (guardian.co.uk)
• Some Bee-Harming Pesticides Could Face More Bans throughout EU (scientificamerican.com)
• Syngenta, Bayer Pesticides Pose Honeybee Threat: Food Safety Watchdog (scientificamerican.com)
• New pesticide threat to bees (telegraph.co.uk)
• EFSA Study: Pesticides Harming Bees (greenerideal.com)
• Frankenfish salmon threat, petition (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Doctors Health Press Reports on Study: Pesticide and Parkinson’s Linked (prweb.com)

Giant honeybee migration

This video is called Giant honey bees – Life in the Undergrowth – BBC Attenborough.

From PLOS ONE:

Migrating Giant Honey Bees (Apis dorsata) Congregate Annually at Stopover Site in Thailand

Willard S. Robinson

Biology Department, Casper College, Casper, Wyoming, United States of America

Giant honey bees (Apis dorsata) of southern Asia are vital honey producers and pollinators of cultivated crops and wild plants. They are known to migrate seasonally up to 200 km. It has been assumed their migrations occur stepwise, with stops for rest and foraging, but bivouacking bees have rarely been seen by scientists.

Here I report discovery of a site in northern Thailand where bivouacs appeared in large congregations during the wet seasons of 2009 and 2010. The bivouac congregation stopover site is a small mango orchard along the Pai River. Bivouacs rested in branches of mango and other tree species in the immediate vicinity.

Departures were preceded by dances indicating approximate direction and apparently, distance of flights. Such consistent stopover sites likely occur throughout southern Asia and may support critical, vulnerable stages in the life history of giant honey bees that must be conserved for populations of the species to survive. …

Published: September 19, 2012

Help honeybees with Internet game

This video from the USA is called Beeing – iPhone Game Trailer.

Translated from the site I love Beeing in the Netherlands:

Everyone knows the story of the flowers and the bees. The bees love the nectar from the flowers, and with their feet they take pollen along to other flowers. So they make sure that the other flowers can reproduce. But things are not going well for bees, we face massive bee deaths. For Foundation The Tipping Point that is a reason to take action …

One of their ways to take action is an Internet game.

The game works like this:

Play the game and save the bee!

Fly along with other online Beeing players to a flower field.
Collect as much flower nectar as possible. Your nectar points will make the Beeing beehive residents’ numbers grow!
For each bee which one of you will save in the game, we will ensure that a real bee will fly through the air. Maybe it will fly in your garden!
The more bees you will save, the higher you will rise in the bee hierarchy. The best-Beeing bees can win the grand prize: Will you be this week’s the queen bee (or king bees)?

See also here.

There is also an English language game with the same name.

Pollinating insects contribute to agricultural production in 150 (84%) European crops. These crops depend partly or entirely upon insects for their pollination and yield. The value of insect pollinators is estimated to be €22 billion a year in Europe. Declines in managed pollinators, such as honeybees, and wild pollinator such bumblebees, solitary bees and hoverflies, are therefore of growing concern as we need to protect food production and the maintain wildflower diversity: here.

ScienceDaily (Sep. 16, 2012) — Johns Hopkins scientists report what is believed to be the first evidence that complex, reversible behavioral patterns in bees — and presumably other animals — are linked to reversible chemical tags on genes: here.