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<DIV class=timestamp-story>Saturday, October 27, 2007</DIV>
<DIV class=story-updated>Story last updated at 12:56 am on 10/27/2007</DIV><!-- timestamp --><MCC HEAD>
<DIV class=story-headline>Programs Turn Up The Buzz On Bees</DIV><BR></MCC HEAD><MCC SUBHEAD></MCC SUBHEAD><MCC BYLINE1>By: <B>Lisa Hare</B><BR></MCC BYLINE1><MCC BYLINE2>Lisa.hare@yankton.net</MCC BYLINE2> <MCC STORY>
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<P>Because of the recent honeybee epidemic known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the value of the honeybee's role in the food chain is gaining notoriety.
<P>The federal government recently released $4 million in funding toward research in honeybee health and protection, and now several states are following suit with their own programs aimed at educating and involving the public.
<P>"With the advent of CCD, the need for more awareness of the role and importance of pollinators has become apparent," said Jon Lundgren, entomologist at South Dakota State University.
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<P>"A decline in the numbers of (bees), the world's most widely distributed semi-domesticated insect, doesn't just mean a shortage of honey for toast and tea," said May Berenbaum, entomology professor at the University of Illinois and committee chair for the National Research Council (NRC) on the status of pollinators in North America for the National Academy of Science, in a recent opinion editorial.
<P>In fact, according to the NRC committee, more than 75 percent of the planet's flowering plants depend on animal pollinators in order to reproduce. The majority of those pollinators are insects, including honeybees.
<P>In a report released by the NRC committee last October, one of the main conclusions on evaluations of apparent pollinator decline was that there simply isn't enough data available. In an effort to expand the database, the committee recommended involving citizen-scientists in monitoring efforts. Thus, Beespotter was born.
<P>Created by a team of entomologists at the University of Illinois, Beespotter is a Web-based partnership between the professional science community and citizen-scientists to meet the need for data collection and to provide opportunities for the public to learn more about honeybees.
<P>"The USDA statistics service has kept records of honeybee colonies managed by beekeepers since 1947, but the annual survey monitors only colonies used in honey production -- colonies used for pollination are not included," Berenbaum said. "We need long-term monitoring of feral honeybees along with other pollinators if we are to understand the true magnitude of pollination services essential for a healthy agricultural economy."
<P>The goals of Beespotter are to engage citizen-scientists in data collection to establish a baseline for monitoring population declines, as well as increase public awareness of pollinator diversity and enhance public appreciation of pollination as an ecosystem service.
<P>"Even in a high-tech age when the human capacity to improve upon nature seems limitless, there is no satisfactory substitute for the honeybee," Berenbaum said.
<P>The western honeybee is the principal managed pollinator worldwide and is responsible for pollinating more than 90 commercially grown crops in North America. Given the importance of honeybees' pollination services to agriculture, their contribution is estimated to be worth more than $14 billion annually.
<P>Lundgren said that although South Dakota currently does not have an educational program regarding pollinators, he hopes an outreach project similar to Beespotter will soon be created.
<P>"As one of the top honey-producing states in the country, South Dakota should be involved in a similar program," he said.
<P>Bumblebees also appear to be experiencing significant reductions in number, according to USDA's Nation Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Of the 49 species native to North America, many function as complementary pollinators of crops such as cucumbers, melons and greenhouse-grown tomatoes. Regional declines and even disappearances of some species have been documented. But currently, no baseline or long-term monitoring data exists for bumblebees in the U.S.
<P>The University of Nebraska Department of Entomology, in cooperation with the Lincoln public schools' Science Focus Program and Folsom Children's Zoo, has created a similar project with Bumble Boosters.
<P>By involving the public, the goal of the Bumble Boosters is to create a community of learners to conduct authentic research on bumblebees -- another important pollinator -- in Nebraska.
<P>A unique aspect of this project is that the participating schools will make important contributions to general data on bumble bee distribution, and abundance, as well as the effects of excluding pollinators from native habitat and cultivated flora. Project results will later be published.
<P>With approximately one-third of the typical American diet -- primarily the healthiest part -- directly or indirectly dependent on pollinators, programs like Beespotter and Bumble Boosters hope to enhance public awareness of the magnitude of the threat of declining bee populations.
<P>"The real key to dealing with (declining populations) ? is understanding the extent of the problem, which may prove to be more of a challenge than figuring out its origins," Berenbaum said.</P></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#004000 size=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="12">Laurie Davies Adams<BR>Executive Director<BR>Coevolution Institute<BR>423 Washington St. 5th<BR>San Francisco, CA 94111<BR>415 362 1137<BR>LDA@coevolution.org<BR><A title=http://www.coevolution.org/ href="http://www.coevolution.org/">http://www.coevolution.org/</A></FONT><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#004000 size=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="12"><BR><A title=http://www.pollinator.org/ href="http://www.pollinator.org/">http://www.pollinator.org/</A></FONT><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#004000 size=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="12"><BR><A title=http://www.nappc.org/ href="http://www.nappc.org/">http://www.nappc.org/</A></FONT><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#004000 size=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="12"><BR><BR>Join the Pollinator Partnership to save the bees, bats, butterflies and more! See <A title=http://www.pollinator.org/ href="http://www.pollinator.org/">http://www.pollinator.org/</A></FONT><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#004000 size=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="12"> for more information.<BR><BR><B><I>Our future flies on the wings of pollinators.<BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></I>Please consider the environment before printing this email.</B></FONT></DIV><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">See what's new at <A title="http://www.aol.com?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001170" href="http://www.aol.com?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001170" target="_blank">AOL.com</A> and <A title="http://www.aol.com/mksplash.adp?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001169" href="http://www.aol.com/mksplash.adp?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001169" target="_blank">Make AOL Your Homepage</A>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>