[Pollinator] Researchers focus on bringing missing bees back

[Ladadams at aol.com]

Researchers focus on bringing missing bees back
By GENARO C. ARMAS – 2 days ago  
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Scientists in the field and the lab are trying to  
solve a mystery critical to the future of American agriculture: Why are 
honeybee  hives failing at a disturbingly high rate? 
Some researchers are studying whether pesticides and other chemicals used in  
fields and gardens might affect honeybees, as well as bumblebees and other  
insects that pollinate crops. Other research is focusing on building more  
habitat — planting trees, shrubs and flowers that pollinators prefer. 
Bees are vital to U.S. agriculture because they pollinate many flowering  
crops, including almonds, apples and blueberries. The bee pollination is  
responsible for $15 billion annually in crop value. 
Honeybees, a non-native species from Europe, are the pollinators of choice  
because they are easier to manage and are more plentiful — a single colony can  
contain 20,000 workers. By comparison, a bumblebee colony may have only a 
couple  of hundred worker bees. 
The honeybees have taken a hit over the years from mites and, most recently,  
colony collapse disorder, in which beekeepers have found affected hives 
devoid  of most bees. Bees that remain appear much weaker than normal. 
Beekeepers in 2006 began reporting losing 30 percent to 90 percent of their  
hives. Since then the annual loss rate has been roughly 33 percent, according 
to  government estimates. 
The first case of colony collapse disorder was officially reported in  
Pennsylvania, and Penn State University has been spearheading research. Maryann  
Frazier, a senior extension associate at the school's entomology department,  
said researchers remain concerned about the number and combination of pesticides  
that have been detected in decimated hives. 
"We realize it's much more complicated than what we thought a year ago,"  
Frazier said recently. "From what we know now, it's not something we'll figure  
out very, very quickly." 
Native pollinators also are being monitored. The National Academy of Sciences 
 in 2006 found declining populations of several bee species, along with other 
 native pollinators like butterflies, hummingbirds and bats. 
The report suggested that landowners can take small steps to make sure  
habitats are more "pollinator friendly," like by growing more native plants. 
And that's what scientists appear to be doing on a larger scale across the  
country in hopes of bringing bees back. 
One such track is at the Environmental Research Institute at Eastern Kentucky 
 University, where apiculturalist Tammy Horn oversees an experiment in  
apiforestation, a term described by the school as a "new form of reclamation  
focused on planting pollinator-friendly flowers and trees." 
The project is in its first year. Horn is working with local coal companies  
to plant trees, shrubs, and native wildflowers on reclaimed lands that would 
be  attractive to pollinators, rather than the once-typical scenario of 
planting  only high-value hardwoods to establish a timber industry. 
There are years of study still to go, though there are no signs of colony  
collapse disorder so far, Horn said. 
Local support from residents and coal companies has been encouraging to Horn. 
 It helps that locals have family ties to beekeeping, with parents and  
grandparents perhaps dabbling in the hobby before it started to become less  
popular locally. 
The rallying point has been concern about the disappearing bees, she  said. 
"That's been important for my project to succeed," Horn said in a phone  
interview. "Even people who don't care about beekeeping show up to (beekeeping  
workshops) in eastern Kentucky and know it's important. They like showing up on  
mine sites to see that coal mines care enough to invest in it." 
The idea is intriguing enough to draw interest for similar projects in other  
parts of the country, including California and Pennsylvania. 
"The more of these pollinator-friendly areas we have... the more likely we  
are able to retain bee species," said Karen Goodell, an ecology professor at  
Ohio State University trying to find the right mix of plants and trees to build 
 native bee populations. 
Her project is housed at The Wilds, a private, nonprofit conservation center  
located on nearly 10,000 acres of reclaimed mine land in rural southeastern  
Ohio. 
"It's not as much a scientific study as a 'Let's do this and see what  
happens,'" Goodell said. 
Though Goodell's work deals with native bees, she said the plight of the  
honeybees has drawn more attention to her work. Boosting native bees also could  
end up helping farmers, she added. 
"Those populations would then be contributing to colonizing areas that have  
lost bees because of poor management," Goodell said. "Definitely, these bees  
will be playing a role in pollination services."  
On the Net:
    *   Pollinator Partnership: _http://www.pollinator.org/_ 
(http://www.pollinator.org/) 

 





Laurie Davies Adams
Executive  Director
Pollinator Partnership 
423 Washington Street, 5th  floor
San Francisco, CA  94111
415-362-1137
LDA at pollinator.org

_www.pollinator.org_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 

_www.nappc.org_ (http://www.nappc.org/) 

National Pollinator Week is June 22-28, 2009. 
Beecome  involved at _www.pollinator.org_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 
**************New year...new news.  Be the first to know what is making 
headlines. (http://www.aol.com/?ncid=emlcntaolcom00000026)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/pollinator/attachments/20090107/62649504/attachment.html>