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Baby bees hatch with damaged brains thanks to pesticides
Study finds that a colony's exposure to pesticides impairs offspring.
11 March, 2020
Image source: Gill, et al/Tonio_75/Shutterstock/Big Think
- Pesticide contamination in bee hives damages the learning capabilities of offspring, according to a recently published study.
- A key area of the affected bees' brains never correctly develops after pesticide exposure.
- Early impairment appears to be irreversible and is likely a factor in falling bee populations.
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/plantsanimals/pollinate/" target="_blank">U.S Department of Agriculture</a>, some 35% of our food crops depend on bee pollination. That means about one of out every three bites of food comes to us courtesy of insects including bees, butterflies, and beetles, or from birds and bats. With the world's pollinator populations in a <a href="https://bigthink.com/robby-berman/the-produce-aisles-in-trouble-if-the-bee-crisis-keeps-going-like-this" target="_self">snowballing state of decline</a>, scientists are racing to discover what's causing this and how it can be stopped. In the case of bees, pesticides — especially neonicotinoids — are the leading suspect, and studies find these chemicals infiltrating <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6359572/" target="_blank">a significant percentage</a> of bee hives. (Pesticides also show up in <a href="https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/roundup-beer-wine" target="_self">our own food and drink</a>.)</p><p>Research prior focused on the damaging effects these neurotoxins have on adult bees. Now a study of young bee brains, led by <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/r.gill" target="_blank">Richard Gill</a> of Imperial College in London and published in <em><a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2019.2442#d3e1602" target="_blank">Proceedings of the Royal Society B</a>,</em> shows that neonicotinoids do disastrous, irreversible damage to bees' neurological development.</p>
Broken learning
<p>The study involved introducing neonicotinoids to the nectar consumed by members of 22 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombus_terrestris" target="_blank"><em>Bombus terrestris audax</em></a> (buff-tailed honeybee) colonies. The learning abilities of their offspring were then measured against a control group of young bees from colonies whose food supply had not been contaminated.</p><p>The test assessed the extent to which a bee could learn to associate a specific smell with a reward, which was a sucrose solution. The bees from the neonicotinoid colony consistently fared more poorly than the control population.</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg2ODE5Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MTAyMzQzMn0.zxOo04Cq-7q4ClAydA0kLAwFMpj84Nr25DIVtR3EzAE/img.jpg?width=980" id="4967e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ba7b1c09f2daa90d686e7ee93ad0138a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="a bumblebee on a purple flower" />Image source: Mr. Meijer/Shutterstock
Tiny computed micrography (CT) scans
<p>In hopes of identifying a structural explanation, the researchers stained the brain cells of 100 bees from the exposed colonies and took non-invasive <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/171050/bee-brains-have-never-seen-them/" target="_blank">micro-CT</a> scans in a machine similar — albeit smaller — to those in which humans are medically imaged.</p><p>The researchers discovered a clear difference in brains of the young bees from pesticide-exposed colonies. A key brain area, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushroom_bodies" target="_blank">mushroom body</a>, was found to be much smaller in these bees' brains than it was in those from control colonies. This makes sense, since this region is believed to be involved in olfactory learning and memory.</p><p>The tests and scans were performed three days after pupal hatching and again after 12 days. The substandard learning capabilities and mushroom body sizes had not been resolved by the second test, indicating to the researchers that the damage caused by the neonicotinoids was irreversible.</p><p>(A honeybee's <a href="https://sciencing.com/life-span-honey-bee-6573678.html" target="_blank">life expectancy</a> depends on its role. Drones live roughly 8 weeks, while sterile workers live for about 6 weeks in the summer or 5 months in the winter. A queen can live for a few years.)</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg2ODIwMC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxODYyNDExNn0.oejYHpeBD1HdgT3ttnSOLyjBIMFcQ1GDYOv1UIl5s_Q/img.jpg?width=980" id="ace39" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dfecbbebdef8988fd1c297e88ee1a7b5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Scans of the mushroom body area of the bees' brains" />Several views of the mushroom body
Image source: Gill, et al
Why this matters
<p>The study's conclusion does not say definitively that the mushroom area is the only brain region impacted by pesticides. However, a smaller mushroom area is significant, explaining, as it does, the mechanism by which a bee's learning abilities and behavior may be impaired over the course of its life.</p><p>Gill says in a <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/195793/pesticides-impair-baby-brain-development/" target="_blank">press release</a>, "Worryingly in this case, when young bees are fed on pesticide-contaminated food, this caused parts of the brain to grow less, leading to older adult bees possessing smaller and functionally impaired brains; an effect that appeared to be permanent and irreversible."</p><p>In fact, after the young bees were returned to their colonies, researchers saw lower-than-expected colony growth two to three weeks after the subjects' reintroduction.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;"><em>"If future generations of workers are predisposed to be inefficient functioning cohorts, this could lead to a density-dependent build-up of colony-level impairment increasing the risk of colony collapse." — Gill, et al </em></p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg2ODIwNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMTUxMDAyN30.jOBiSfYKhVGP0nYZf-oWGEFqeCqL7AFwirgMDGpnDzc/img.jpg?width=980" id="f916f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="93579968ab98750c4a8b349ef692a14f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Illustration of Bombus terrestris audax bee" />Illustration of *Bombus terrestris audax*
Image source: Duda Vasilii/Shutterstock
And then there’s the adult bees
<p>In addition to the problems caused by the behavior of bees hatched with pesticide damage, it's not as if pesticide exposure necessarily abates later on. As lead author of the study <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dylan_Smith8" target="_blank">Dylan Smith</a> explains, "There has been growing evidence that pesticides can build up inside bee colonies. Our study reveals the risks to individuals being reared in such an environment, and that a colony's future workforce can be affected weeks after they are first exposed."</p><p>The study concludes that simply looking at the damaging effect of pesticide on adult bee population misses a significant, and more far-reaching, part of the story:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;"><em>"Bees' direct exposure to pesticides through residues on flowers should not be the only consideration when determining potential harm to the colony. The amount of pesticide residue present inside colonies following exposure appears to be an important measure for assessing the impact on a colony's health in the future. " — Gill, et al</em></p>
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Honeybees just had a record winter die-off
2018's winter was particularly harsh on U.S. honeybees. What's causing bee populations to plummet, and what can we do about it?
23 June, 2019
Photo credit: Damien TUPINIER on Unsplash
- Since 2006, the Bee Informed Partnership has conducted a survey on U.S. beekeepers. The most recent survey shows that the 2018 winter resulted in the biggest die-off since the survey began, with a loss of 37.7 percent.
- This die-off is part of a larger trend. Bee populations have been falling for decades.
- The reasons why are multifaceted and compound on one another.
<p><br></p></div>
<p>Every year since 2006, the University of Maryland's nonprofit <a href="https://beeinformed.org/results/2018-2019/" target="_blank">Bee Informed Partnership</a> (BIP) conducts an annual survey to determine how many bee colonies were lost over the course of the year. The 2018–2019 survey asked 4,696 U.S. beekeepers to report how many colonies they lost, and the preliminary results of the survey suggest that things aren't looking so good.</p><p>Of the more than 319,000 managed bee colonies in the survey, 37.7 percent were lost over the winter. This represents the largest die-off since the survey began, and a full 7 percentage points higher than the previous year. Having fewer honeybees is more than just an ecological problem, it's also an economic one: Every year, honeybees contribute a nearly <a href="https://www.abfnet.org/page/PollinatorFacts" target="_blank">$20 billion value</a> to U.S. crop production. </p><p>Bees are so integral to local ecosystems and economies that some states are paying residents to engage in bee-friendly practices. Minnesota, for instance, is paying residents to cover their lawns with <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/minnesota-to-pay-bee-friendly-lawns-2638908343.html" target="_blank">bee-friendly plants</a> such as creeping thyme, self-heal, and Dutch white clover; Virginia is giving away <a href="https://www.nbc12.com/2019/06/17/virginia-residents-can-get-free-beehives/" target="_blank">free beehives</a>; and the vast majority of states offer <a href="https://www.americanbeeproject.com/50-state-guide" target="_blank">tax exemptions</a> for beekeepers. This is smart policy — without bees, grocery stores would be considerably emptier than they are now.</p>
What's killing the bees?
<p>This particular winter die-off is part of a much larger trend; honeybee populations have been in a <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6229/1255957" target="_blank">major decline</a> for the last 50 years. There are a variety of reasons, each of which interacts with and compounds each other.</p><p>First, bee habitats are disappearing or changing profoundly. Many wild bees are <a href="https://time.com/3951339/bees-climate-change/" target="_blank">losing</a> their habitats, but managed bee colonies are also made to live in habitats that aren't ideally suited to healthy bee populations. Many managed colonies exist on farmland or are brought to farmland to assist in pollination. As a result, honeybees feed on the pollen and nectar from just one or two kinds of plants. Biologist <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6229/1255957" target="_blank">Dave Goulson</a> and colleagues explained the impact of this in a research paper: </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"If a human were to consume nothing but sardines one month, chocolate the next, turnips the month after, and so on, one could reasonably expect that person to fall ill. This may seem a frivolous example, but it is a reasonable parallel to the experience of some honey bee colonies, particularly those in North America that are transported back and forth across the continent each year to provide pollination for major crops such as almonds in California, blueberries in Maine, and citrus in Florida."</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTYxNzAxMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5NDUzOTY1OH0.NcVT1VmKMUMYh8hn72EubKL_hxgTETc8fzqmcTvq_9c/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C295%2C0%2C296&height=700" id="a4c43" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="258084cf345fc4a7c5d46063e49e7673" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Photo credit: Matthew T Rader on Unsplash
<p>During the wintertime, bees are often supplied a single food source by beekeepers as well, such as corn syrup. This monotonous diet has been linked to a weakening of bees' <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8467746.stm" target="_blank">immune systems</a> and to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1756239209000263" target="_blank">colony collapse disorder</a>, in which the majority of worker bees abandon a colony along with its food, young, and queen.</p><p>A poor diet, in turn, makes bees more susceptible to parasites and diseases. There are several of these, but one of the most worrisome one is the <em>Varroa destructor </em>mite. The aptly named <em>V. destructor</em> can wreak havoc on bee colonies, primarily because North American bee species are not resistant to it. <em>Varroa </em>mites originated in Asia, and there they would have stayed if bee colonies were not <a href="https://beekeep.info/a-treatise-on-modern-honey-bee-management/managing-diseases-and-pests/varroa-short-history/" target="_blank">shipped</a> around the world.</p><p><em>V. destructor</em> can be damaging to bee colonies first because they act as a vector for disease, especially deformed wing virus, an RNA virus that causes various physical deformities.</p><p>More directly, <em>V. destructor</em> also weakens bees by feeding on their fat. This becomes problematic since bees rely on their fat stores to survive the winter and also to <a href="https://www.sciencenews.org/article/honeybee-parasite-may-be-more-fat-stealer-bloodsucker" target="_blank">detoxify pesticides</a>. Without their fat reserves, bees are far more susceptible to the negative impacts of various toxic chemicals in pesticides, contributing to their struggles when trying to survive the winter.</p>What can we do to preserve bee populations?
<p>Fortunately, there's plenty of ways we can strengthen bees' resilience to these challenges. For one, we can plant bee-friendly plants, such as Minnesota is encouraging its residents to do, or plant semi-natural flower fields around farmland. We can also reduce our reliance on pesticides by implementing <a href="https://extension.psu.edu/integrated-pest-management-ipm-tactics" target="_blank">integrated pest management practices</a>, or IPM. IPM considers the use of pesticides as a last resort and acknowledges that the complete eradication of pests is not feasible nor worth the effort. </p><p>Finally, stricter shipping policies can help prevent the introduction of harmful parasites like <em>V. destructor</em> to bee populations with no resistance. There's plenty of actions we can take to help bolster bee populations. But if we don't take action, the 2018 winter won't be the worst one for U.S. bee colonies.</p>
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Active ingredient in Roundup found in 95% of studied beers and wines
The controversial herbicide is everywhere, apparently.
01 March, 2019
(MsMaria/Shutterstock)
- U.S. PIRG tested 20 beers and wines, including organics, and found Roundup's active ingredient in almost all of them.
- A jury on August 2018 awarded a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma victim $289 million in Roundup damages.
- Bayer/Monsanto says Roundup is totally safe. Others disagree.
<p>If there were a Hall of Fame for chemicals people worry about, it's likely that Monsanto's weedkiller Roundup would sit near or at the top of that dark pantheon.</p><p>It's been <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/15-health-problems-linked-to-monsantos-roundup-1882002128.html" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">linked</a> to cancers, diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, liver disease, kidney disease, birth defects and more. On top of that, many believe it's what's been <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/09/25/651618685/study-roundup-weed-killer-could-be-linked-to-widespread-bee-deaths" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">killing off the world's bees</a>, vital participants in the human food chain. </p><p>Now, <a href="https://uspirg.org/feature/usp/glyphosate-pesticide-beer-and-wine" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">research</a> just published in February by the education group <a href="https://uspirg.org" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">U.S. PIRG</a>, illumines that the active ingredient in Roundup, glyphosate, may be impacting humans routinely via our drinking habits. In the group's study, 20 beers and wines, including some organic beverages, were tested for the presence of glyphosate. It was found in 19 of them.</p>
What are you drinking?
<p> The only drink tested that contained no glyphosate was Peak Beer Organic IPA. The comestible with the highest amount of glyphosate? Sutter Home Merlot. The 19 are shown below with the parts per billion (ppb) of glyphosate they contained.</p><p><strong>Beers</strong></p> <ul> <li>Tsingtao Beer: 49.7 ppb</li> <li>Coors Light: 31.1 ppb</li> <li>Miller Lite: 29.8 ppb</li> <li>Budweiser: 27.0 ppb</li> <li>Corona Extra: 25.1 ppb</li> <li>Heineken: 20.9 ppb</li> <li>Guinness Draught: 20.3 ppb</li> <li>Stella Artois: 18.7 ppb</li> <li>Ace Perry Hard Cider: 14.5 ppb</li> <li>Sierra Nevada Pale Ale: 11.8 ppb</li> <li>New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale: 11.2 ppb</li> <li>Sam Adams New England IPA: 11.0 ppb</li> <li>Stella Artois Cidre: 9.1 ppb</li> <li>Samuel Smith's Organic Lager: 5.7 ppb</li> </ul> <p><strong>Wines</strong></p> <ul> <li>Sutter Home Merlot: 51.4 ppb</li> <li>Beringer Founders Estates Moscato: 42.6 ppb</li> <li>Barefoot Cabernet Sauvignon: 36.3 ppb</li> <li>Inkarri Malbec, Certified Organic: 5.3 ppb</li> <li>Frey Organic Natural White: 4.8 ppb</li> </ul> <p>Should such small amounts be of concern? Maybe. The report says:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"While these levels of glyphosate are below EPA risk tolerances for beverages, it is possible that even low levels of glyphosate can be problematic. For example, in one study, scientists found that 1 part per trillion of glyphosate has the potential to stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells and disrupt the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0300483X09003047" target="_blank">endocrine system</a>."</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTI0MjEyMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NDEwNzQwOH0.ttSSvL4BgxS2cuQCw15h51V2ECSawaDqYsuaqMwXOXU/img.jpg?width=980" id="d5aa0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0f9036fe32c0246b10420de4f79924eb" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />(Sheila Fitzgerald/Shutterstock)
Roundup on trial
<p>The EPA <a href="https://www.ewg.org/research/california-proposes-safe-level-roundup-more-100-times-lower-epa-limit/californias-proposed" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">says</a> glyphosate is safe up to 2 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day, and Bayer, who now owns Monsanto, claims that its safety for consumption by humans has been proven by years of research. However, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer, among many others, disagrees, and <a href="https://monographs.iarc.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/mono112-10.pdf" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">considers</a> glyphosate a potential human carcinogen. In addition, a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1383574218300887" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">new study</a> finds that people exposed to glyphosate are 41 percent more likely to develop non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. France has banned Roundup's use, and other European nations are said to be considering their own bans on the weedkiller.</p><p>There's also a trial underway in federal court in San Francisco that consolidates 760 of the <a href="https://www.consumersafety.org/legal/roundup-lawsuit/" target="_blank">U.S.'s 9,300 Roundup cases into a single suit</a> against Bayer by Edwin Hardeman, a California resident. It's viewed as a test case.</p><p>Hardeman is currently in remission from non-Hodgkin's after having used Roundup extensively beginning in the 1980s to control poison oak and weeds on his property. He was diagnosed with lymphoma at age 66 in 2015. Bayer asserts that Hardeman has other conditions — his age and history of Hepatitis C — that more likely led to his illness; in any event, their lawyers say, non-Hodgkin's is often <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/idiopathic" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">idiopathic</a> anyway.</p><p>The judge has divided the case into two phases. In the first, jurors are to determine whether Roundup caused Hardeman's illness based on scientific evidence presented in court. Unfortunately, the jurors are not scientists, and one may wonder just how reasonable an endeavor this really is — it's likely to come down to the persuasiveness of evidence that's inevitably cherry-picked by the opposing legal teams to support their case.</p><p>If the jurors find Roundup <em>is</em> the illness's cause, a second phase can commence to assess responsibility. The plaintiffs have called this bifurcation "<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bayer-glyphosate-lawsuit/bayer-faces-second-trial-over-alleged-roundup-cancer-risk-idUSKCN1QD0I8" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">unfair</a>," specifically because they believe their scientific evidence involves Monsanto's repression of research damaging to claims of glyphosate's safety, and the judge is not allowing any such supposedly off-topic submissions.</p><p>In <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-monsanto-cancer-lawsuit/monsanto-ordered-to-pay-289-million-in-worlds-first-roundup-cancer-trial-idUSKBN1KV2HB" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">August 2018</a>, a more conventional courtroom approach led to a finding that Monsanto was to blame for school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma because they failed to warn its users of Roundup's potential risk as a cancer-causing product. That jury awarded Johnson $289 million in damages. The amount was later reduced to $78 million.</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTI0MjEzOC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NDM5NDg2OH0.0M0v7cgUsAYRo4dpNAWWh64KLyostQbl5C8ILZjgyy8/img.jpg?width=980" id="395c8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2945e268bc89e834ce4fc52d40baa6a7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />There's enough Roundup sprayed every year to spray nearly half a pound of glyphosate on every cultivated acre of land in the world, says U.S. PIRG.
(U.S. PIRG)
A little extra kick in your beverage
<p>This isn't the first time glyphosate's been found to have made its way into adult beverages. In Germany in 2016, the Munich Environmental Institute <a href="https://www.globalresearch.ca/german-beer-industry-in-shock-over-glyphosate-contamination/5633850" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">found it</a> in every single sample they tested, including beers from independent brewers. A study in Latvia found the same thing. Using glyphosate directly on barley — beer's primary ingredient — is <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/glyphosate-weed-killer-found-in-german-beers-study-finds/a-19072785" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">illegal</a> in Germany, so it's most likely that the soil in which the crop was grown had been previously exposed to Roundup.</p><p>It's unlikely nine laypeople in a San Francisco courtroom will definitely answer the question of glyphosate's safety. It's clear that questions surrounding this ubiquitous weedkiller remain, Bayer's assertions notwithstanding.</p><p>U.S. PIRG concludes its report with a recommendation:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Based on our findings, glyphosate is found in most beers and wine sold in the U.S. Due to glyphosate's many health risks and its ubiquitous nature in our food, water and alcohol, the use of glyphosate in the U.S. should be banned unless and until it can be proven safe."</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTI0MjE1Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDcxOTI4N30.aOqFFRdw3v3L2mC8MsHi6TEgLXUEF4bPgubFjRT7mxo/img.jpg?width=980" id="0e3b5" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4cbb7e7e58879211414ad961f06d6177" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />(Kichigan/Shutterstock)
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Surprising behavior of bees during total solar eclipses discovered
A buzzworthy study looks at the strange actions of bees.
16 October, 2018
- Scientists recorded the activities of bees during the 2017 total solar eclipse.
- They found that bees completely stopped flying and buzzing.
- A team of professional and citizen scientists was involved.
</li></ul><p>There is good science to be done in the unusual. Case in point - researchers just demonstrated the existence of a strange phenomenon, proving that during the solar eclipse of August 21st, 2017, bees did not buzz at all.</p><p>The research team based their hypothesis on a few previous reports which indicated that bee activity drops during eclipses. But the scientists did not expect the bees to completely stop doing everything. </p><p>To study the question, researchers from the University of Missouri recruited a team of citizen scientists and elementary school teachers and students to set up 16 acoustic monitoring stations across Oregon, Idaho and Missouri. </p><p>Originally field-tested for remotely tracking bee pollination remotely via soundscape recordings, the stations were adapted to listen to the bees during the 2017 eclipse. They used tiny USB microphones and temperature sensors placed near flowers to record what transpired. What the devices reported is that when total darkness hit, the bees entirely ceased to buzz. As that sound is just the noise made by the bees beating their wings at 200-230Hz (cycles per second), the lack of buzzing also meant the lack of flying.</p><p><img src="https://assets.rbl.ms/18729889/980x.jpg"><small>Different habitat sites of bees monitored during the total eclipse of August 21, 2017.</small> <small>(Candace Galen, Ph.D., University of Missouri)</small></p><p><small>The study's lead researcher, <strong>Candace Galen,</strong> professor of biological sciences at the University of Missouri, explained that the team thought there'd be differences in the bees' behavior come the eclipse, but they had "not expected that the change would be so abrupt, that bees would continue flying up until totality and only then stop, completely." He compared it to suddenly having 'lights out' at summer camp.</small></p><p><small>The research team used a grant from the the <a href="https://aas.org/" target="_blank">American Astronomical Society</a> to engage more than <strong>400</strong> participants in the study. Members of the team hung the recording devices on lanyards next to bee-pollinated flowers, then sent the devices back to Galen's lab for analysis.</small></p><p><small><br></small></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image"><small>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODcyOTkwNy9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5NjQxNzAxMX0.cQFiaR3H3CcZhjnkazPhDo5ZinIwBAAA1Lg5gzMGiaw/img.png?width=980" id="2304c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3d691ecb968028e8086bd6dd83bb18bd" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">A cartoon drawn by one of the students for the study.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Credit: Olivery Ni.</small></small></p><p><small>The data showed that bees were active before and after the total eclipse but stopped all flying during the event. Of additional note is the fact that right before and after the totality, the bee flights were longer in duration. This could be due to less available light, according to the scientists. Bees tend to fly slower at dusk, returning to their colonies at night. The eclipse could have caused a similar response, suggest the researchers.<br></small></p><blockquote><small>"The eclipse gave us an opportunity to ask whether the novel environmental context—mid-day, open skies—would alter the bees' behavioral response to dim light and darkness. As we found, complete darkness elicits the same behavior in bees, regardless of timing or context. And that's new information about bee cognition," <a href="https://phys.org/news/2018-10-buzzbees-silent-total-solar-eclipse.html" target="_blank">said Galen.</a></small></blockquote><p><small>Most of the bees involved in the study were <strong>bumble bees</strong> (genus Bombus) or <strong>honey bees</strong> (Apis mellifera).</small></p><p><small>Check out the new study published in <a href="https://academic.oup.com/aesa/advance-article/doi/10.1093/aesa/say035/5123345" target="_blank">the <em>Annals of the Entomological Society of America.</em></a></small></p>
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It's Time for this Bumble Bee to Come Under Government Protection
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service believes a species of bumble bee – the rusty patched bumble bee – should be under federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.
26 September, 2016
The rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) has suffered a 90% decline over the last 20 years. (Photo Credit: Smithsonian's National Zoo/ Flickr)
<p>It has finally come to this: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service believes a species of bumble bee –the rusty patched bumble bee – should be <strong>under federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.</strong></p> <p>The <a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-09-22/pdf/2016-22799.pdf">petition was filed</a> September 22, 2016 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which attributes the decline in its report to disease, pesticides, climate change, and habitat loss.</p> <p>The rusty patched bumble bee can be identified by the red coloring on its abdomen. You may be able to spot the bee if you happen to live in the upper Midwest or Northeastern part of the United States. Then again the species has <strong>suffered a great decline in its population – 90% since 1990 – </strong>so maybe not so much. </p> <p>“[The] <a href="http://fortune.com/tag/endangered-species/" target="_blank">Endangered Species</a> Act safeguards are now the only way the bumble bee would have a fighting chance for survival,” Sarina Jepsen, of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, told Reuters.</p> <p>It’s no secret bees have been dying off at an alarming rate, suffering from colony collapse, a disease which causes a number of worker bees to abandon the hive. This decline is thought to be caused by pesticides, which some researchers believe <a href="http://bigthink.com/ideafeed/solving-the-mystery-of-the-dying-honey-bees" target="_blank">impairs the bees’ behavior in some way</a>. </p> <p>Scientists have pointed the finger specifically at <a href="http://www.xerces.org/neonicotinoids-and-bees/" target="_blank">neonicotinoid</a> pesticides, typically used in agriculture, causing a scientific debate to become slightly politicized. However, if nothing is done, <a href="http://bigthink.com/robby-berman/the-produce-aisles-in-trouble-if-the-bee-crisis-keeps-going-like-this" target="_blank">America could be losing some valuable free labor</a>. After all, <strong>bees are responsible for pollinating 75% of the fruits, nuts, and vegetables we eat. </strong></p> <p>"Honeybee pollination alone adds more than <strong>$15 billion in value to agricultural crops</strong> each year in the United States," the White House said.</p> <p>Without pollinators, many flowering crops will require workers to go out into the field and manually induce pollination. To do this, you need to identify the male flowers, pluck them, and rub them up against the female flowers within a certain window of time during the day.</p> <p>If these bees do fall into extinction, their absence will create quite a few job openings.</p> <p>Get to know the more eccentric side of bees here, with Jonathan Keats.</p> <div class="video-full-card-placeholder" data-slug="jonathons-keats-and-the-honeybee-ballet" style="border: 1px solid #ccc;">
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