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Moths are vanishing from our skies at night, declining in southern Britain by 40% over 40 years, a major new report published on Friday reveals. Three species have become extinct this century already, following the permanent loss of 62 species in the twentieth century. The calamitous and largely hidden effect of human activities on these crucial insect populations has been exposed by light traps set in more than 525 sites across the country, which captured nine million moths between 1968 and 2007. Two-thirds of common and widespread larger moths have declined over this 40-year period, with the Orange Upperwing, Bordered Gothic and Brighton Wainscot all becoming extinct in the last 10 years. Moths are key indicator species for assessing the health of the environment. These findings point strongly to a wider insect biodiversity crisis and mirror declines of butterflies and bees and carabid beetles. The declines could have a knock-on effect for plant pollination and animals reliant on moths for food, such as garden and woodland birds, bats and small mammals. Butterfly Conservation Surveys Manager and lead author of the new report, Richard Fox said: "This report paints a bleak picture about Britain's biodiversity. Much has been made of the decline of butterflies and honeybees but moths represent the massive, but largely un-noticed diversity of insects that form the vast majority of animal life in Britain.

A parasite affecting honeybees has been spotted in Scotland for the first time, potentially posing a new threat to our battered bee population. The new study, published in Parasitology Research, says the Nosema Ceranae parasite is already widespread in bee colonies throughout mainland Scotland. There are two possibilities,' says Dr Christopher Connolly of the University of Dundee, one of the study's authors. 'Either the parasite came in a long time ago and has gone unnoticed because it's fairly innocuous. Or it has come in more recently, spread very rapidly and could be a more serious problem. At the moment it's an unknown threat.' Bee populations around the world are collapsing under the weight of habitat change and disease. The EU recently proposed a ban on neonicotinoid pesticides after research suggested they may also be affecting bee numbers. In the UK, two species of bumblebee have been declared extinct, and the number of managed honeybee colonies has fallen by more than half in 20 years.

The goal of this work was assess the toxic effects of thiamethoxam on newly emerged worker bees of Apis mellifera (africanized honeybee—AHB). Initially, we determined that the lethal concentration 50 (LC50) of thiamethoxam was 4.28 ng a.i./microliter of diet. To determine the lethal time 50 (LT50), a survival assay was conducted using diets containing sublethal doses of thiamethoxam equal to 1/10 and 1/100 of the LC50. The group of bees exposed to 1/10 of the LC50 had a 41.2% reduction of lifespan. When AHB samples were analyzed by morphological technique we found the presence of condensed cells in the mushroom bodies and optical lobes in exposed honeybees. Through Xylidine Ponceau technique, we found cells which stained more intensely in groups exposed to thiamethoxam. The digestive and regenerative cells of the midgut from exposed bees also showed morphological and histochemical alterations, like cytoplasm vacuolization, increased apocrine secretion and increased cell elimination. Thus, intoxication with a sublethal doses of thiamethoxam can cause impairment in the brain and midgut of AHB and contribute to the honeybee lifespan reduction. Using these data, the Spanish ecotoxicologist Francisco Sánchez-Bayo calculated that the toxicity of thiamethoxam to honey bees follows the Druckrey-Küpfmüller equation ctn = constant, where c = exposure concentration, t = median time to lethal effect, and n= time reinforcement exponent, always greater than 1. The actual value of n for thiamethoxam's toxicity to honey bees = 2.21 (r2=0.9, p<0.001). For imidacloprid, the actual value of n = 4.5.

Syngenta today requested that the European Commission retract its proposal to restrict the use of neonicotinoid technology after revealing that the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) report on the risks to bees from their use was fundamentally flawed. Syngenta submitted a response to the EFSA report in January. This showed that EFSA failed to consider key information proving the safety of thiamethoxam seed treatment for use on crops such as oilseed rape and sunflower. Further review has now shown that EFSA based its assessment on unrealistic and excessive seed planting rates between two and four times higher than would be used under modern agricultural practice. Had EFSA used normal sowing rates they would have concluded that the risk to bees is extremely low and that in reality neonicotinoid technology does not damage their health. Syngenta's Chief Operating Officer, John Atkin , said: "The European Commission has been using this flawed EFSA report to justify proposed restrictions on this technology. These latest findings undermine the basis for such action, which would bring considerable economic harm to growers and absolutely no benefit to bees. The European Commission must halt the current process and undertake a comprehensive review to identify the true risks to bee health." Syngenta has written to all EU Member States and the European Commission to inform them of these findings.

The action by Notcutts, Hillier, Squires and Blue Diamond, which between them operate 60 garden centres across the UK, follows similar moves - revealed last month by Friends of the Earth - by DIY superstores B&Q, Homebase and Wickes. Concern about the impact of neonicotinoid pesticides on bee populations has risen sharply in recent months. Last month the European Commission proposed restictions on three neonicotinoid chemicals following a report by the European Food Safety Authority. Friends of the Earth is urging people to contact their local garden centres to ask them to remove products containing neonicotinoid pesticides. Friends of the Earth's Head of Campaigns Andrew Pendleton said: "It's great to see garden centres across the UK heeding the warning from European safety experts and pulling pesticide products linked to bee decline from their shelves." The approach of leading retailers stands in stark contrast to the Government's reluctance to back European efforts to safeguard bees from pesticides.

Twelve papers in this series were derived from two conference sessions focusing on causality in field studies. Eight of these papers involve case studies examining biological effects of chemical contaminants in field situations. Using a weight-of-evidence approach, these case studies were evaluated against seven proposed criteria for establishing causality. The seven criteria were: strength of association; consistency of association; specificity of association; time order; biological gradient; experimental evidence; and biological plausibility. One of these seven criteria, ‘specificity of association’ was found to be of little utility for establishing causality in these field studies. The case studies are presented in approximate order of increasing levels of biological organization (i.e., going from endpoints at the suborganismal level to endpoints at the population or community level). In case studies examining higher levels of biological organization, it appears that the ‘biological gradient’ criterion was also not useful in establishing causality. These results, together with suggestions from other papers in the series, are used to recommend a set of modified criteria for establishing causality in field studies of the biological effects of chemical contaminants.

According to the American Bee Journal, almond growers in California may not have access to the honey bee colonies necessary to pollinate this year’s crop. “We need 1.6 million colonies, or two colonies per acre, and California has only about 500,000 colonies that can be used for that purpose. We need to bring in a million more colonies but due to the winter losses, we may not have enough bees,” says Eric Mussen, PhD, extension apiculturist at the University of California Davis (UC Davis) Department of Entomology. While CCD appears to have multiple interacting causes, including malnutrition, pests, parasites, pathogens, and stress, a range of scientific evidence points to sublethal pesticide exposures as important contributing factors. Neonicotiniods, a class of potent systemic insecticides, are particularly suspect, especially in combination with the dozens of other pesticides bees are exposed to in their hive and when foraging.

Swiss group Syngenta forecast another year of record sales as high crop prices and erratic weather spur farmers to use more of its pesticides, fertilisers and advanced seeds to boost yields. Net profit rose 17 percent to $1.87 billion to beat the average analyst forecast in a Reuters poll. Sales at Syngenta, which competes with DuPont, and Germany's Bayer, rose 7 percent in 2012 to $14.2 billion, falling just short of the average analyst forecast of $14.3 billion. Syngenta, which sells products to kill weeds and bugs as well as genetically-modified seeds, is targeting sales of its top eight crops of $25 billion by 2020. The Basel-based firm announced a dividend of 9.50 Swiss francs per share, up from 8 francs a year ago. A sharp fall in bee populations around the world in recent years has prompted criticism of pesticide use and last week the European Commission said it wanted EU member states to suspend the use of neonicotinoid insecticides. Mack said the decision was "scientifically misguided", but said it would have no material impact on 2013 sales as any restriction would only come into place after the sunflower, oil seed rape and corn is largely sown. Its pesticide, named Cruiser OCR, makes up less than 0.5 percent of group sales, and Chief Executive Mack said Syngenta would try to offset any loss in revenue through other products.

Last year's drought took a big bite out of the two most prodigious US crops, corn and soy. But it apparently didn't slow down the spread of weeds that have developed resistance to Monsanto's herbicide Roundup (glyphosate), used on crops engineered by Monsanto to resist it. More than 70 percent of all the the corn, soy, and cotton grown in the US is now genetically modified to withstand glyphosate. Back in 2011, such weeds were already spreading fast. "Monsanto's 'Superweeds' Gallop Through Midwest," declared the headline of a post I wrote then. What's the word you use when an already-galloping horse speeds up? Because that's what's happening. Let's try this: "Monsanto's 'Superweeds' Stampede Through Midwest."