FOOD 2050

The buzz about the disappearance of bees continues – it’s a frenzy of speculation, finger pointing and occasionally, research. Here’s a brief round-up of some recent cyberspace chatter on the subject…

Sorry, wrong number

Radiation from mobile phones is under the spotlight once more, CNN reports (with video) on an Indian university research project that involved attaching mobile phones to a hive and powering them up for two fifteen-minute periods each day. After three months, they found the bees stopped producing honey, egg production by the queen bee halved, and the size of the hive dramatically reduced. Additional coverage has revealed that the experiment studied only 4 colonies – 2 of which were used as control subjects. All-in-all an unconvincing piece of research. Sorry, wrong number.
 

Nalo meli

Pests and disease have made the news in Ireland, Scotland and Hawaii. In Ireland a report warns of the potential impact on regional agriculture as the varroa destructor mite threatens to reduce bee populations (bees are a major contributor to pollination). The BBC has reported on an outbreak of American Foulbrood (a disease that kills-off honeybee larvae) in Scotland, adding that in June, experts claimed three of the UK’s 25 bumblebee species had gone extinct, while half had suffered declines of up to 70%. The varroa destructor mite was already identified as a problem in Hawaii, where the Nalo meli (that’s Hawaiian for honeybee) now has to deal with the recently found and highly destructive small hive beetle.
 

Bee friendly

In the UK, 9 research projects will share 10m GBP as part of the nationwide Insect Pollinators Initiative (IPI). Projects will study the effects of various substances, including pesticides, that are believed to have potential influence on the survival of bee populations. Importantly, the studies recognise the need to make towns and cities more ‘bee friendly’, and aim to help identify the spaces and places where bees can thrive in the urban sprawl.  In the US, members of the public are being recruited to join a countrywide bee hunt. Bee hunters across the United States are asked to take pictures of pollinators and the plants they pollinate, and then upload them to the Discover Life website. An online database will keep track of trends in pollinator populations, hopefully illustrating the effects of climate change, pollution and invasive species.
 

Honey talks

The vast majority of bee coverage in the media focusses on the honeybee. This is no surprise when you consider that honeybee keeping (for agricultural pollination, honey and wax production) is a multi-billion dollar a year industry – money talks. But, let’s not forget the other pollinator species that help us grow our food and gardens – for example, the solitary bee.

The solitary bee is not commercially viable as it does not live in conveniently transportable colonies, but it is an important pollinator. As their name suggests, solitary bees live by themselves – they can do this because all females are fertile, unlike honeybees they do not serve and rely on a queen to produce eggs. Their solitary nature makes them an ideal species for at-home conservation projects – building a solitary bee house is as easy as drilling a few holes in a piece of wood (in fact, that’s how you make one). If you are feeling ambitious (and have a large garden) you could try to compete with this one (video) recently built in London…
 

 
If the reported decline of bee populations is news to you, no worries, click on our bee tag for a decent selection of info and news on bee decline and Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD – a particular form of bee colony decline experienced in North America and Canada).