The present study investigated the effects of farmland management and environmental factors at local and landscape scales on bees in Central Hungary. Bees were sampled in winter cereal fields that varied in the amount of applied fertilizer and insecticide use. Insecticide use had a significant negative effect on total and small bee species richness and on large bee abundance.
De Duitse milieu-organisatie BUND (Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland) heeft in december 2011 een Duitstalige versie van het boek 'The Systemic Insecticides: A Disaster in the Making' gepubliceerd onder de titel »Das Ende der Artenvielfalt – Neuartige Pestizide töten Insekten und Vögel«. Een uitgebreide recensie van het boek verscheen onlangs in het tijdschrift Kritische Oekologie (zie bijlage). De Nederlandse toxicoloog Henk Tennekes beschrijft een rampscenario dat zich voor onze ogen voltrekt, veroorzaakt door een nieuwe generatie insecticiden, de zogenaamde neonicotinoiden, met als belangrijkste vertegenwoordiger het imidacloprid. Het sterk toegenomen gebruik van de neonicotinoiden in de land- en tuinbouw brengt niet alleen bijen in gevaar maar veroorzaakt - ook bij gebruik volgens voorschrift - tevens extreme verontreiniging van het grond- en oppervlaktewater, waardoor deze insecticiden zich in het milieu verspreiden, niet-doelwit insecten vergiftigen, en het voedselaanbod voor veel insectenetende vogels beneden het bestaansminimum brengen. Vogelsoorten die afhankelijk zijn van insecten om hun jongen groot te brengen komen daardoor in steeds grotere problemen. Het Nederlandse landschap verandert in razend tempo in een kerkhof van de biodiversiteit. Wat Rachel Carson een halve eeuw geleden voorspelde, dreigt nu werkelijkheid te gaan worden.
Insects are quietly but rapidly disappearing. Michael McCarthy explains why their loss is bad news for the planet.
In Obstgärten finden unzählige Tiergruppen ihren Lebensraum: Vögel, Fledermäuse, Schläfer, Igel, Spinnen, Schmetterlinge, Schwebfliegen, Käfer und weitere Insektengruppen. Über 1000 Arten von Insekten, Spinnentieren und Tausendfüssler wurden in Obstgärten festgestellt. Besonders wichtig sind Obstgärten für Vögel: Rund 40 Brutvogelarten leben in der Schweiz im Lebensraum Obstgarten. Dies entspricht einem Fünftel der einheimischen Brutvögel.
We grow flowers in our gardens for our own enjoyment. But colour and perfume are really the plants’ way of advertising themselves to insects. Sweet nectar and protein-rich pollen are bait to encourage insects to visit. In return, pollen is carried from one flower to another on their bodies so the flowers are fertilised. Bees are among the most beneficial insects for a garden. The best way to attract them to your garden is to provide them with some of their favourite plants such as lavender, foxgloves, rosemary, sunflowers and bluebells. Flowers with long narrow petal tubes, such as evening primrose and honeysuckle, are visited by moths and butterflies. Only their long tongues can reach deep down to the hidden nectar. Short-tongued insects include many families of flies and some moths. They can only reach nectar in flowers with short florets. Hoverflies, wasps, ladybirds, lacewings, ground beetles and centipedes are the gardener’s friends and will help control garden pests such as aphids and caterpillars. Insects such as spiders, mites, millipedes, sow bugs, ants, springtails and beetles inhabit the soil food web in the uppermost 2 to 8 inches of soil. They participate in decomposing plant and animal residue, cycling nutrients, creating soil structure and controlling the populations of other soil organisms, including harmful crop pests. Decaying organic matter in soil is the source of energy and nutrients for garden vegetables and ornamental plants. By growing flowers attractive to a range of insects, our gardens can also become important feeding stations for bats, hedgehogs, birds and other wildlife. The most important factor when encouraging wildlife into your garden is not to use insecticides.
Under pressure from the US State of California, pesticide manufacturers have voluntarily withdrawn the pesticide imidacloprid from usage on almonds. Imidacloprid is widely blamed as contributing to the dieoff of honeybees around the world. Apparently, industry voluntarily removed almonds from the list of “approved uses” rather than undergo the public scrutiny and cost involved in re-evaluating a pesticide which industry now says is a "small-market” for them. Almonds are a major cash crop for politically influential and ecologically-aware California. The voluntary withdrawal of this pesticide was reportedly so unusual to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) that they were, apparently, unsure how to process the application.
2010 veröffentlichte der holländische Toxikologe Henk Tennekes ein international beachtetes Fachbuch mit dem Titel »Disaster in the Making«. Er beschreibt das extreme Artensterben bei Insekten und Vögeln der Agrarlandschaft – in England genauso wie in Holland oder Deutschland. Rebhühner, Kiebitze, Haubenlerchen und Braunkehlchen und selbst die früher so häufige Feldlerche werden immer seltener. Tennekes belegt das Artensterben mit vielen wissenschaftlichen Publikationen, die er in seinem Buch vorstellt. Die Ursache sieht der Toxikologe in einer Gruppe neuer Pestizide, der Neonikotinoide. Diese fordert er sofort zu verbieten. Noch vor Weihnachten 2011 kam die limitierte deutsche Ausgabe mit dem Titel »Das Ende der Artenvielfalt – Neuartige Pestizide töten Insekten und Vögel« auf den Markt.
Prosecutor Guariniello has charged the managing directors of Bayer CropScience in Milan and Syngenta Crop Protection in Italy with the spreading of diseases (or mass-killing) of animals and plants, and thus posing a danger for the national economy. The penalty, if they are found guilty, ranges from one to five years in jail. The plant protection product which ended up in the crosshairs of the magistrate is called ‘Poncho’. It kills insects by blocking the transmission of nerve impulses. So they die. Bayer produces it, Syngenta sells it. Guariniello has collected reports from many beekeepers in the province of Turin and examined pathology analysis from bee post-mortems, which, after 24 hours show no traces of neonicotinoids. So they went further and "field testing" has confirmed the cause and effect relationship between the death of bees and this kind of insecticide.
Honeybee carcasses coated the ground around hundreds of Florida beehives after a mysterious massacre claimed millions of bees and mutilated a way of life for local bee keepers. The massive bee die-off has stung Charles Smith, whose Smith Family Honey Company lost $150,000 worth of bees. 'I'm a pretty tough guy but it is heart wrenching,' he told News 13 in Orlando. 'Not only is it a monetary loss here, but we work really hard on these bees to keep them in good health.' Smith scooped up handfuls of dead bees that littered the ground around his hives. The bees he raises go to farmers around the country to pollinate numerous crops, he said. 'The fact that it was so widespread and so rapid, I think you can pretty much rule out disease,' Bill Kern, a University of Florida entomologist, told Florida Today. 'It happened essentially almost in one day. Usually diseases affect adults or the brood, you don’t have something that kills them both.' County officials sprayed mosquito-killing pesticide from the air last week, though they said the poison dissipates quickly and should not have harmed the bees. 'I'll never get completely compensated for this unless someone handed me 400 beehives,' Smith told Treasure Coast Newspapers. 'I lost the bees, the ability to make honey and the ability to sell the bees.'
The influence of insecticides commonly used for agricultural purposes on beehive depopulation in Uruguay was investigated. Honeycombs, bees, honey and propolis from depopulated hives were analyzed for pesticide residues, whereas from active beehives only honey and propolis were evaluated. A total of 37 samples were analyzed, representing 14,800 beehives. In depopulated beehives only imidacloprid and fipronil were detected and in active beehives endosulfan, coumaphos, cypermethrin, ethion and chlorpyrifos were found. Coumaphos was present in the highest concentrations, around 1,000 microg/kg, in all the propolis samples from active beehives. Regarding depopulated beehives, the mean levels of imidacloprid found in honeycomb (377 microg/kg, Standard Deviation: 118) and propolis (60 microg/kg, Standard Deviation: 57) are higher than those described to produce bee disorientation and fipronil levels detected in bees (150 and 170 microg/kg) are toxic per se. The other insecticides found can affect the global fitness of the bees causing weakness and a decrease in their overall productivity.