Honeybees

We performed various laboratory bioassays to assess the effects of clothianidin on the survival and behavior of winter bees. Oral lethal and sublethal doses were administered throughout 12-day. The obtained LD50 values at 48, 72, 96 h and 10 days were 26.9, 18.0, 15.1 and 9.5 ng/bee, respectively. Concentrations <20 µg/kg were found to be sublethal. Oral exposure to sublethal doses was carried out for 12-day and, the behavioral functions were tested on the respective 13th day.

The nation’s honey bees are still in trouble, a report released Tuesday shows. Beekeepers reported losing 44 percent of their total number of colonies managed over the last year, close to the highest annual loss in the past six years. The Bee Informed Partnership, in collaboration with the Apiary Inspectors of America, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its annual report. The results are preliminary and could change.

Neonicotinoids are the most widely used insecticides in the world. They've been linked to the decline of honeybees. But scientists now say they also harm many terrestrial, aquatic, and marine invertebrates. They damage sea urchin DNA, suppress the immune systems of crabs, and affect the tunneling and reproductive behavior of earthworms. They kill off the insects that many birds, amphibians, and reptiles rely on for food.

In the Nov. 2015 Bee Culture magazine I wrote of the 1973 report, “The Indispensable Honey Bee.” Compared to the 1973 report regarding the issues with honey bees today: no learning has occurred. The bee industry has continued to state they are on their last legs, and the industry is weak. While many of the commercial beekeepers from 1973 are still commercial beekeepers, or their sons have taken on the business, their sons are now aging, and their sons are highly skeptical of the long-term viability of the industry.

Pflanzenschutz ist die Notwendigkeit, Kulturpflanzen in Land- und Forstwirtschaft, Gartenbau sowie im Haus- und Kleingarten vor biotischen und abiotischen Schadfaktoren zu schützen. Die EU-Richtlinie 2009/128/CE deklariert den Integrierten Pflanzenschutz als Handlungsmaxime. Darunter versteht man die Anwendung von biologischen, züchterischen, kulturtechnischen und eben auch chemischen Maßnahmen zur Verminderung und/oder Vermeidung der Schädigung von Kulturpflanzen und deren (Lager-) Produkte unter Berücksichtigung ökologischer und ökonomischer Anforderungen und Notwendigkeiten.

Earth Day, which was April 22, reminds us that life is a web, of which humans are an integral part. We think of ourselves as depending on grains and vegetables and meat for survival, but really it is the host of invertebrates and microbes that form the base of the pyramid of life, without which our carrots and cows could not exist. The use of persistent pesticides in our yards and farms poses a threat to the life forms that support us. Neonicotinoid insecticides are a class of poisons that persist for years in leaves, stems and roots of plants.

Pestizide rücken immer stärker ins Licht in der Diskussion um den Rückgang der Biologischen Vielfalt. In der Landwirtschaft großflächig Verwendung findende Pestizide wirken nicht nur auf die Zielorganismen, sondern direkt oder indirekt auf teils hochgradig gefährdete Arten unter europäischem Schutz. So finden vor allem die Auswirkungen von Neonikotinoiden auf Bienen aktuell starke Beachtung. Neue Veröffentlichungen weisen nun auf den Einfluss von Neonikotinoiden auf Vögel und Säuger hin. Dies kann durch eine direkte Wirkung geschehen, indem z.B.