Showing results for: honey bee Articles
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Comparative Sublethal Toxicity of Nine Pesticides on Olfactory Learning Performances of the Honeybee Apis mellifera
Using a conditioned proboscis extension response (PER) assay, honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) can be trained to associate an odor stimulus with a sucrose reward. Previous studies have shown that observations of conditioned PER were of interest for assessing the behavioral effects of pesticides on the honeybee. In the present study, the effects of sublethal concentrations of nine pesticides on ...
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Fipronil and imidacloprid reduce honeybee mitochondrial activity
Bees have a crucial role in pollination; therefore, it is important to determine the causes of their recent decline. Fipronil and imidacloprid are insecticides used worldwide to eliminate or control insect pests. Because they are broad‐spectrum insecticides, they can also affect honeybees. Many researchers have studied the lethal and sublethal effects of these and other insecticides on ...
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Risks of neonicotinoid insecticides to honeybees
The European honeybee, Apis mellifera, is an important pollinator of agricultural crops. Since 2006, when unexpectedly high colony losses were first reported, articles have proliferated in the popular press suggesting a range of possible causes and raising alarm over the general decline of bees. Suggested causes include pesticides, genetically modified crops, habitat fragmentation, and ...
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Evaluating exposure and potential effects on honeybee brood (Apis mellifera) development using glyphosate as an example
This study aimed to develop an approach to evaluate potential effects of plant protection products on honeybee brood with colonies at realistic worst‐case exposure rates. The approach comprised two stages. In the first stage, honeybee colonies were exposed to a commercial formulation of glyphosate applied to flowering Phacelia tanacetifolia with glyphosate residues quantified in relevant ...
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Dancing Bees Waggle the Way to Happier Habitat
Honeybee waggle dancers are helping researchers identify conservation best practices. The question scientists at the University of Sussex in the U.K. had was simple: Where do honeybees find food? But finding a way to answer that simple question seemed not so simple. Tiny radio or GPS trackers have a limited range, and it would take huge amount of work to survey fields on foot. Instead, ...
By Ensia
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Thiamethoxam: Assessing flight activity of honeybees foraging on treated oilseed rape using RFID technology
This study was designed to assess homing behaviour of bees foraging on winter oilseed rape grown from seed treated with thiamethoxam (as Cruiser OSR) with one field drilled with thiamethoxam treated seed and two control fields drilled with fungicide‐only treated seed. Twelve honeybee colonies were used per treatment group, 4 each located at the field edge (on‐field site), at approximately 500m ...
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The newest strategy for saving bees is really, really old
With pollinators in decline around the world, conservationists turn to traditional farmers for answers. In northwestern India, the Himalaya Mountains rise sharply out of pine and cedar forests. The foothills of the Kullu Valley are blanketed with apple trees beginning to bloom. It’s a cool spring morning, and Lihat Ram, a farmer in Nashala village, shows me a small opening in a log hive ...
By Ensia
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Introducing the Sustainability Adaptive ERG
At Adaptive, we aspire every day to create and cultivate a culture of belonging. As a lifelong conservationist and advocate for responsible consumption, for me, bringing my whole self to work means these passions come to the office with me. Since Adaptive’s early years we’ve operated with environmental responsibility at top of mind. Disposal guides developed by lab staff ensure ...
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Using video‐tracking to assess sublethal effects of pesticides on honey bees (Apis mellifera L.)
Concern about the role of pesticides in honey bee decline has highlighted the need to examine the effects of sublethal exposure on bee behaviors. The video‐tracking system EthoVisionXT (Noldus Information Technologies) was used to measure the effects of sublethal exposure to tau‐fluvalinate and imidacloprid on honey bee locomotion, interactions, and time spent near a food source over a 24‐h ...
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Wings as a new route of exposure to pesticides in the honey bee
In pesticide risk assessment, the estimation of the routes and levels of exposure is critical. For honey bees, the toxicity of pesticides is assessed by thorax contact to account for all possible contact exposures of bees subjected to a pesticide spray. In this study, we tested 6 different active substances with different hydrophobicity, and for the first time, we demonstrated that it is ...
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EPA Releases Preliminary Risk Assessment for Neonicotinoid Insecticide Imidacloprid
On January 6, 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in collaboration with California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) announced the release of a preliminary pollinator risk assessment for the neonicotinoid insecticide, imidacloprid (Preliminary Risk Assessment or Assessment). In its assessment, EPA states that imidacloprid potentially poses a risk to hives when the ...
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Bumble bee pollinators in red clover seed production
Bumble bees pollinate red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) but impact on seed production depends on the species, abundance, and synchrony with bloom. The objectives of the current study were to examine pollination by a native bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii (Radoszkowski), determine the bumble bee fauna associated with red clover in Oregon, and assess if seed set is limiting. In a cage study, ...
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World Bee Day
The 20th of May marks World Bee Day, aiming to raise awareness about the importance of bees in our ecosystem. Bees are vital to pollinate the food we eat as well as the trees and flowers which are habitats for wildlife, thanks to bees we can enjoy a range of foods from apples to coffee. Approximately 75% of the world’s crops depend, to some degree, on pollinators to provide high yields of good ...
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Enzymatic biomarkers as tools to assess environmental quality: A case study of exposure of the honey beeapis mellifera to insecticides
This work was intended to evaluate the responses of enzymes in the honey bee Apis mellifera upon exposure to deltamethrin, fipronil and spinosad and their use as biomarkers. After LD50 determination, honey bees were exposed at doses of 5.07 and 2.53 ng/bee for deltamethrin, 0.58 and 0.29 ng/bee for fipronil and 4.71 and 2.36 ng/bee for spinosad (equivalent to LD50/10 and LD50/20, ...
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Metal contaminant accumulation in the hive: Consequences for whole colony health and brood production in the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.)
Metal pollution has been increasing rapidly over the past century, and at the same time, the human population has continued to rise and produce contaminants that may negatively impact pollinators. Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) forage over large areas and can collect contaminants from the environment. The primary objective was to determine whether the metal contaminants cadmium (Cd), copper ...
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Fipronil promotes motor and behavioral changes in honey bees (Apis mellifera) and affects the development of colonies exposed to sublethal doses
Bees play a crucial role in pollination and generate honey and other hive products; therefore, their worldwide decline is cause for concern. New broad‐spectrum systemic insecticides like fipronil can harm bees, and their use has been discussed as a potential threat to bees' survival. In the present study, the authors evaluated the in vitro toxicity of fipronil and noted behavioral and motor ...
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Ontario Horticulture Research Priority Report 2016
Sector Consultation The Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association partnered with Vineland to host a research strategy workshop in November 2014 with the goal of defining the top five research priorities for each crop group. Grower organizations were invited to nominate two representatives to participate on their behalf and a number of researchers from relevant fields were invited to ...
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Agroecology can help fix our broken food system. Here’s how.
The various incarnations of the sustainable food movement need a science with which to approach a system as complex as food and farming. This story was co-published with Food Tank, a nonprofit organization focused on building a global community for safe, healthy, nourished eaters. Thumb through U.S. newspapers any day in early 2015, and you could find stories on President Obama’s ...
By Ensia
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No impact of DvSnf7 RNA on honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) adults and larvae in dietary feeding tests
The honey bee, Apis mellifera L. is the most important managed pollinator species worldwide and plays a critical role in pollination of a diverse range of economically important crops. Due to this species' importance to agriculture and its historical use as a surrogate species for pollinators to evaluate the potential adverse effects for conventional, biological and microbial pesticides, as ...
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Woodland Burial Sites
The Funeralcare Co-operative Plan Bee Wildflower Meadow Creation As part of the ambitious Plan Bee project (which aims to save the plight of honey bees and pollinators across the UK), the Funeralcare Co-operative Woodland Burial Sites have been awarded funding to create bee friendly wildflower corridors. BritishFlora are managing the habitat creation of two wildflower meadows in Dorset of up ...
By BritishFlora
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