Energy News  
FARM NEWS
Common pesticide damages honey bee's ability to fly
by Staff Writers
San Diego CA (SPX) Apr 27, 2017


This pesticide does not normally kill bees immediately. It has a more subtle effect.

Biologists at the University of California San Diego have demonstrated for the first time that a widely used pesticide can significantly impair the ability of otherwise healthy honey bees to fly, raising concerns about how pesticides affect their capacity to pollinate and the long-term effects on the health of honey bee colonies.

Previous research has shown that foraging honey bees that ingested neonicotinoid pesticides, crop insecticides that are commonly used in agriculture, were less likely to return to their home nest, leading to a decrease in foragers.

A study published April 26 in Scientific Reports by UC San Diego postdoctoral researcher Simone Tosi, Biology Professor James Nieh, along with Associate Professor Giovanni Burgio of the University of Bologna, Italy, describes in detail how the neonicotinoid pesticide thiamethoxam damages honey bees.

Thiamethoxam is used in crops such as corn, soybeans and cotton. To test the hypothesis that the pesticide impairs flight ability, the researchers designed and constructed a flight mill (a bee flight-testing instrument) from scratch. This allowed them to fly bees under consistent and controlled conditions.

Months of testing and data acquisition revealed that typical levels of neonicotinoid exposure, which bees could experience when foraging on agricultural crops--but below lethal levels - resulted in substantial damage to the honey bee's ability to fly.

"Our results provide the first demonstration that field-realistic exposure to this pesticide alone, in otherwise healthy colonies, can alter the ability of bees to fly, specifically impairing flight distance, duration and velocity" said Tosi. "Honey bee survival depends on its ability to fly, because that's the only way they can collect food. Their flight ability is also crucial to guarantee crop and wild plant pollination."

Long-term exposure to the pesticide over one to two days reduced the ability of bees to fly. Short-term exposure briefly increased their activity levels. Bees flew farther, but based upon other studies, more erratically.

"Bees that fly more erratically for greater distances may decrease their probability of returning home," said Nieh, a professor in UC San Diego's Division of Biological Sciences.

This pesticide does not normally kill bees immediately. It has a more subtle effect, said Nieh.

"The honey bee is a highly social organism, so the behavior of thousands of bees are essential for the survival of the colony," said Nieh." We've shown that a sub-lethal dose may lead to a lethal effect on the entire colony."

Honey bees carry out fundamentally vital roles in nature by providing essential ecosystem functions, including global pollination of crops and native plants. Declines in managed honey bee populations have raised concerns about future impacts on the environment, food security and human welfare.

Neonicotinoid insecticides are neurotoxic and used around the world on broad varieties of crops, including common fruits and vegetables, through spray, soil and seed applications. Evidence of these insecticides has been found in the nectar, pollen and water that honey bees collect.

"People are concerned about honey bees and their health being impaired because they are so closely tied to human diet and nutrition," said Nieh. "Some of the most nutritious foods that we need to consume as humans are bee-pollinated."

Research paper

FARM NEWS
When Nature vents her wrath on grapes
Vienna (AFP) April 26, 2017
Making wine is a tough job in most places, what with frost, hail, drought and bushfires to contend with. But nowhere is the task bigger than in Argentina's Mendoza region, where vintners duel "the whole gamut of natural hazards" - not least frequent earthquakes, according to research unveiled on Wednesday. The region tops a new index of wine areas most targeted by Nature's wrath. "W ... read more

Related Links
University of California - San Diego
Farming Today - Suppliers and Technology


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

FARM NEWS
India's Space Agency Saves Over US$ 2 Billion per Year for the Country

NASA instrument looks sky high and to the future

Beautiful Bering Strait image captured by Copernicus Sentinel-3A satellite

Heavy precipitation speeds carbon exchange in tropics

FARM NEWS
2 SOPS says goodbye to GPS satellite

Researchers working toward indoor location detection

Galileo's search and rescue service in the spotlight

Russia inaugurates GPS-type satellite station in Nicaragua

FARM NEWS
New look at satellite data questions scale of China's afforestation success

Long-term fate of tropical forests may not be as dire as believed

Deforestation from a tree's perspective at the TED conference

Scientists examine impact of high-severity fires on conifer forests

FARM NEWS
Turning chicken poop and weeds into biofuel

Nickel: A greener route to fatty acids

Scientists develop efficient multifunctional catalyst for CO2 hydrogenation to gasoline

Fast, low energy, and continuous biofuel extraction from microalgae

FARM NEWS
Photoluminescent display absorbs, converts light into energy

Indian Space Agency Test-Drives Solar Electric Hybrid Vehicle

U.S. renewable power groups defend reliability

Renewable sources now almost one-fifth of US generating capacity

FARM NEWS
U.S. wind power accelerating at near-record pace

CEE Group acquires wind farm with a capacity of 27.6 megawatts in Brandenburg

Norwegian company envisions wind energy role for oil production

Oklahoma to end tax credits for wind energy

FARM NEWS
India's coal plant plans conflict with climate commitments

Coal power dropping as natural gas, renewables grow, U.S. report finds

US environmental groups file suit to block new coal mining on public lands

Adani to begin work on Australia mine by August: report

FARM NEWS
12 dead in tunnel blast in southwest China

Hong Kong remembers bloodiest violence 50 years on

Opera troupe tours rural China defending a dying art

World's only Tiananmen museum returns to Hong Kong









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.