tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/colony-collapse-disorder-7303/articlesColony Collapse Disorder – The Conversation2022-11-14T16:41:24Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1944762022-11-14T16:41:24Z2022-11-14T16:41:24ZHoneybee lifespan could be half what it was 50 years ago – new study<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494891/original/file-20221111-20-i8qvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C21%2C4645%2C3073&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Honeybees are vital pollinators</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bee-on-honeycomb-1172702107">BigBlueStudio/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A new paper shows how the lifespan of the adult honeybee appears to have shrunk by nearly 50% in the past 50 years. The <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/conservation/species/redlist/downloads/European_bees.pdf">European Red List for Bees</a> suggests nearly one in ten species of wild bees are facing extinction. Imagine how we would react if human lifespans halved. The equivalent would be if the <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/lifeexpectancies/bulletins/nationallifetablesunitedkingdom/2018to2020#:%7E:text=Consequently%2C%20in%20the%20latest%20estimates,to%202014%2C%20at%2079%20years.">average woman in the UK </a> was living to 41 instead of 82 years old. </p>
<p>Our future is intertwined with bees. Without bees and other pollinators, we cannot grow the majority of crops we depend on for food. </p>
<p>This research could help explain the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/29/beehero-bee-colonies-collapse-us-high-tech-solution">high levels of bee colony deaths</a> around the world over the past few decades. Bee deaths were particularly severe in the USA in the winter of 2006-7, when some commercial beekeepers lost 90% of their colonies. </p>
<p>Unexplained <a href="https://www.cabi.org/ISC/abstract/20113013765">high rates of bee colony deaths</a> have also been reported in Canada, Australia, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Finland and Poland. In the cold winter of 2012-13, 29% of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/apr/07/britain-honey-bee-colony-deaths-worst-europe-study#:%7E:text=A%20landmark%20study%20has%20revealed,of%20the%2017%20countries%20surveyed.">honeybee colonies in the UK</a> died. </p>
<h2>50 years of data</h2>
<p>The authors, Anthony Nearman and Dennis van Engelsdorp from University of Maryland, used <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/970796">mathematical modelling</a> to show lower bee life expectancy could lead to mass colony death. According to their study, since 1969, honeybee life span in the US has dropped from a median of 34 days to just 18 days. </p>
<p>The authors studied worker bees removed from hives and kept in cages, not wild bees, which may have affected their results. But if not, something really worrying is going on.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Beekeeper checking honey on the beehive frame in the field full of flowers" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494892/original/file-20221111-2672-jpxfgn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494892/original/file-20221111-2672-jpxfgn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494892/original/file-20221111-2672-jpxfgn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494892/original/file-20221111-2672-jpxfgn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494892/original/file-20221111-2672-jpxfgn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494892/original/file-20221111-2672-jpxfgn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494892/original/file-20221111-2672-jpxfgn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">We couldn’t do without bees.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beekeeper-checking-honey-on-beehive-frame-1862086774">Juice Flair/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The authors believe modern honeybees may be suffering from higher prevalence of disease such as <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-47447-3">deformed wing virus</a>, which has become more common since its discovery 40 years ago, due to the global spread of its vector, the <a href="https://beeaware.org.au/archive-pest/varroa-mites/">varroa mite</a>. Modern bees may be weakened by <a href="https://xerces.org/publications/scientific-reports/how-neonicotinoids-can-kill-bees#:%7E:text=Neonicotinoids%20are%20a%20group%20of,making%20them%20toxic%20to%20bees.">new generations of pesticides</a> that did not exist 50 years ago. </p>
<p>Often the pollen that bees feed to their larvae is contaminated with pesticides. This could be making matters worse because bees exposed to low doses of a highly toxic group of pesticides called neonicotinoids have <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1314923110">reduced resistance to disease</a>.</p>
<p>Another explanation the authors offer is that bee genes may have changed. Honeybee lifespan is <a href="https://www.apidologie.org/articles/apido/pdf/1982/04/Apidologie_0044-8435_1982_13_4_ART0002.pdf">linked to their genes</a>. Artificial (by beekeepers) or natural selection may favour bees with shorter lifespans. Scientists are seeing this happen in other species. For example <a href="https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10.1139/cjfas-2021-0068">cod</a> now mature earlier and when they are smaller in size because overfishing means fish rarely survive long enough to grow large. </p>
<p>Perhaps stressors in the modern world, such as pesticides and disease, mean honeybees rarely survive for a long time. So their evolution might favour <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-fossil-baby-helped-scientists-explain-how-mammals-thrived-after-the-dinosaur-extinction-new-research-190032">a live-fast-die-young lifestyle</a>.</p>
<h2>Everyone’s problem</h2>
<p>Bees are already facing many pressures on their survival. A <a href="https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/1/5/pgac230/6814445">separate study</a> by the University of Bristol, released in November 2022, found that fertilisers are altering plants’ electric field which is changing the way bees sense flowers. It is putting them off from visiting flowers. And bee habitat is disappearing. Since the 1930s, 97% of wildflower meadows have been lost in the UK as farming has intensified. </p>
<p>Fascinating though it is, this new study raises more questions than it answers (as good science usually does). The data is based on groups of worker bees kept in cages. This method is often used to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3896/IBRA.1.52.1.04">study the effects of stressors</a> (such as pesticides) on bees. </p>
<p>In these sorts of experiments, researchers would normally set up control groups at the same time and under identical conditions. Nearman and van Engelsdorp used the historical data from control groups in many such studies carried out around the USA since 1969. As the authors acknowledge, this is a weakness in their report. </p>
<p>They can’t guarantee that lab conditions have stayed the same since 1969. Perhaps older studies tended to use wooden cages and modern ones use plastic. Cage sizes may become smaller or larger. The ariflow in modern incubators may now be faster – or slower. Such details are rarely noted. Anything that changed over the past 50 years could explain the reduction in longevity.</p>
<p>It won’t be easy for scientists to unravel the study’s findings. But if we could find historical data on wild honeybee longevity from previous decades, we could compare them with measurements from today’s world. This would help scientists rule out the possibility that the study’s results were affected by lab conditions. </p>
<p>Reduced bee life expectancy means reduced pollination. Bees and other pollinating insects are essential to a good harvest for 75% of the crops we grow worldwide. They also pollinate about <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2010.18644.x?casa_token=cvqSFPpOc2AAAAAA%3AGhpigYybS1DR-3-A8hoAFmZZJ0W9soDjUjlkEHwhCIag4qi9uqvluqfTw29Ke-nRcPtWq9hcaZ6HEROp">80% of all wild plants</a>. All species of bees face similar challenges to honeybees, but we do not know if their life expectancy has changed. If bees are really living for less time in the wild, we need to know why.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194476/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dave Goulson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The report results could help explain honeybee colony deaths.Dave Goulson, Professor of Biology (Evolution, Behaviour and Environment), University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1289322019-12-30T21:46:47Z2019-12-30T21:46:47ZAussie scientists need your help keeping track of bees (please)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307333/original/file-20191217-124027-37yps2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Asian honey bee (Apis cerana) has been found in Cairns. It's just one of the introduced bees buzzing under the radar.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tobias Smith</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bees get a lot of good press. They pollinate our crops and in some cases, make delicious honey. But bees around the world face serious threats, and the public can help protect them.</p>
<p>Of more than 20,400 known bee species in the world, about <a href="https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/goodliving/posts/2017/09/bees">1,650</a> are native to Australia. But not all bees found in Australia are native. A few species have been introduced: some on purpose and others secretly hitchhiking, usually through international trade routes. </p>
<p>As bee researchers, we’ve all experienced seeing a beautiful, fuzzy striped bee buzzing about our gardens, only to realise it’s an exotic species far from home. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-farmer-wants-a-hive-inside-the-world-of-renting-bees-94904">The farmer wants a hive: inside the world of renting bees</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>We need the public’s help to identify the bees in Australian backyards. There’s a good chance some are not native, but are unwanted exotic species. Identifying new intruders before they become established will help protect our native species.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307338/original/file-20191217-187581-1k3unpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307338/original/file-20191217-187581-1k3unpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307338/original/file-20191217-187581-1k3unpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307338/original/file-20191217-187581-1k3unpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307338/original/file-20191217-187581-1k3unpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307338/original/file-20191217-187581-1k3unpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307338/original/file-20191217-187581-1k3unpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307338/original/file-20191217-187581-1k3unpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The European honey bee (Apis mellifera) fuels a valuable honey industry and contributes to agricultural pollination. Other introduced species are far less welcome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tobias Smith</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Exotic bees in Australia</h2>
<p>The European honey bee (<em>Apis mellifera</em>) is the best-known introduced species, first brought to Australia in the early 1800s. It is now well-established throughout the country, with profitable industries built around managed populations.</p>
<p>Other invasive species in Australia are less well known (or loved). The European bumblebee (<em>Bombus terrestris</em>) is present in <a href="https://wildpollinatorcount.com/2016/02/22/a-pollination-predicament-bumble-bees-and-their-presence-in-tasmania/">high numbers in Tasmania</a>, but isn’t thought to be established on mainland Australia. </p>
<p>This bumblebee has caused <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.13121">major harm to native bees in South America</a>, competing for resources and spreading disease.</p>
<p>In northern Queensland, the <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/pests-diseases-weeds/bees/the-asian-honey-bee-in-australia">Asian honey bee</a> (<em>Apis cerana</em>) is established around Cairns and Mareeba, from <a href="https://www.beeawarebrisbane.org/blog/a-brief-history-of-honey-bee-incursions-into-australia">a single incursion in 2007</a>. The original founding colony is thought to have been a <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/pests-diseases-weeds/bees/the-asian-honey-bee-in-australia">stowaway</a> on a boat that sailed to Cairns from somewhere in southeast Asia or the Pacific, where this bee is widespread.</p>
<p>New Asian honey bee incursions at Australian ports occur almost annually, <a href="https://www.business.qld.gov.au/industries/farms-fishing-forestry/agriculture/land-management/health-pests-weeds-diseases/pests/invasive-animals/restricted/asian-honey-bees">most recently in Townsville</a> and Melbourne. But swift biosecurity responses have so far stopped them becoming established.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307336/original/file-20191217-187585-pb9i7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307336/original/file-20191217-187585-pb9i7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307336/original/file-20191217-187585-pb9i7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307336/original/file-20191217-187585-pb9i7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307336/original/file-20191217-187585-pb9i7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307336/original/file-20191217-187585-pb9i7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307336/original/file-20191217-187585-pb9i7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307336/original/file-20191217-187585-pb9i7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The European bumble bee (Bombus terrestris) lives in large numbers in Tasmania, but is not established on the mainland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tobias Smith</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why should we care?</h2>
<p>Most insects can spread and establish breeding populations before anyone notices them, so it’s important we pay attention to these small intruders. </p>
<p>Introduced species can bring new parasites or diseases into the country that may harm native insects – including our stingless bees that are so vital to crop pollination – or affect the valuable European honey bee industry. </p>
<p>While bumblebees may <a href="https://wildpollinatorcount.com/2016/02/22/a-pollination-predicament-bumble-bees-and-their-presence-in-tasmania/">help commercial pollination</a> in a handful of Australian crops, they and other introduced species can also compete with native species for resources, or spread weeds.</p>
<p>Most resources go to monitoring invasive species with a more dramatic and understood effect on agriculture and the environment. Bees sneak under the radar – but we’re still curious. </p>
<p>Take the African carder bee (<em>Pseudoanthidium repetitum</em>), which arrived in Australia in the early 2000s. Thanks to citizen scientists, we know they are <a href="https://www.ala.org.au/blogs-news/citizen-science-and-biosecurity-bee-alert-and-bee-alarmed/">spreading rapidly</a>. In 2014, they were the third most common bee species found in a survey of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309383549_Bee-friendly_community_gardens_Impact_of_environmental_variables_on_the_richness_and_abundance_of_exotic_and_native_bees">Sydney community gardens</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307335/original/file-20191217-187585-1y3yzhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307335/original/file-20191217-187585-1y3yzhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307335/original/file-20191217-187585-1y3yzhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307335/original/file-20191217-187585-1y3yzhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307335/original/file-20191217-187585-1y3yzhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307335/original/file-20191217-187585-1y3yzhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307335/original/file-20191217-187585-1y3yzhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307335/original/file-20191217-187585-1y3yzhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An African carder bee spotted in Lismore. They are the third most common bee species in Sydney community gardens.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tobias Smith</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Just recently, we found <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/35668645">two invasive African carder bees</a> in a backyard in Armidale in northern New South Wales while testing out a new insect monitoring method. There are no confirmed records of this invasive bee in Armidale, although we have seen a few <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/36277354">around town since 2017</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bees-how-important-are-they-and-what-would-happen-if-they-went-extinct-121272">Bees: how important are they and what would happen if they went extinct?</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<p>Although it’s usually exciting to find a new record for a native species, finding an exotic bee where it’s not supposed to be is worrying. How long have they been there, and how many others are there?</p>
<p>The European bumble bee was recently sighted on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, prompting a biosecurity investigation. </p>
<p>They are considered one of the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016953471630218X">most significant emerging threats</a> to global biodiversity.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307339/original/file-20191217-187568-sdrrrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307339/original/file-20191217-187568-sdrrrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307339/original/file-20191217-187568-sdrrrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307339/original/file-20191217-187568-sdrrrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307339/original/file-20191217-187568-sdrrrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307339/original/file-20191217-187568-sdrrrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307339/original/file-20191217-187568-sdrrrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307339/original/file-20191217-187568-sdrrrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You don’t have to be totally sure what kind of bee you’ve spotted. Just snap some pictures and upload it to a citizen scientist app like iNaturalist with the date and location.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jean_hort/40848846365/in/photolist-25eF1Sz-DYn9aG-2c8QnBQ-R8MPV2-T7mZ7B-211Z4TY-JB9oag-DYn6Vb-DYnavh-SL5iDU-28f4Mm5-25eG14Z-EHth6S-E1Cu5Q-oXMwxx-CuXzeB-D9y6rW-FfGkMu-TE1RPL-QvNHL5-s1CM1h-gebE2P-oQmJyU-bzTr8Y-DB4ZB9-21D5EoG-M48vNq-PbMz72-2hhDnbD-2hdUiyf-2hhFYwt-2hA1Z7G-bkfgAW-BfNR7c-bnf1Mz-TtF2mk-ANagTa-TF8WZP-TBwxPj-bqVSWn-TBwr3y-dFe8W1-QX7qQP-KDTCAp-7dUrXs-7dUrV3-TrYvaN-2gB6iLi-2hhFXUS-2hDUh1n">Jean and Fred/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<h2>Will you help us keep track?</h2>
<p>Anyone can help keep track of potential new invasive species, simply by learning more about the insects in your local area and sharing observations on citizen science platforms such as <a href="https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/">iNaturalist</a>, or through targeted projects like the <a href="https://www.tanyalatty.com/citizen-science">African carder bee monitoring project</a>. </p>
<p>You don’t need to be sure exactly what species you’ve seen. Uploading some clear, high-resolution photos, along with the date and location of your observation, will help naturalists and researchers identify it.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wasps-aphids-and-ants-the-other-honey-makers-102838">Wasps, aphids and ants: the other honey makers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>You can also participate in events such as the twice-yearly <a href="https://wildpollinatorcount.com/">Wild Pollinator Count</a> or local <a href="https://biocollect.ala.org.au/bioblitz">Bioblitzes</a>. </p>
<p>Your efforts can help us detect emerging threats, and add to our records of both native and non-native bees (and other species). Plus it’s a great excuse to get outdoors and learn more about the insect life in your area.</p>
<p><br></p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article was co-written with <a href="https://karenretra.com/">Karen Retra</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128932/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Manu Saunders is affiliated with the non-profit Wild Pollinators Oceania. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Hall receives funding from Hort Innovation Australia. He is affiliated with the non-profit Wild Pollinators Oceania and the Australian Native Bee Association.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanya Latty receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Branco Weiss Society in Science Fellowship, The CIty of Sydney and Agrifutures Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tobias Smith is affiliated with the Australian Native Bee Association and the non-profit Wild Pollinators Oceania. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Callum McKercher does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Bees innocuously buzzing ‘round the birdbath may be a barometer for burgeoning bee invasions.Manu Saunders, Research fellow, University of New EnglandCallum McKercher, PhD Student, University of New EnglandMark Hall, Research fellow, Western Sydney UniversityTanya Latty, Associate professor, University of SydneyTobias Smith, Ecologist, bee researcher and stingless bee keeper, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1192562019-06-25T19:05:24Z2019-06-25T19:05:24ZClimate change: bees are disorientated by flowers’ changing scents<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280719/original/file-20190621-61737-w167vk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C40%2C3888%2C2543&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Climate change is altering the smell of rosemary, affecting its quality and quantity</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Grégoire Lannoy/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.ipbes.net/deliverables/3a-pollination">Coffee, apples, honey</a> – were it not for the precious work of pollinators, countless things that we eat and drink would not exist, totalling more than 30% of global food production. Most pollinators are insects, particularly from the bee family (close to a thousand species in France alone), along with butterflies and diptera, such as syrphids.</p>
<p>Apart from helping feed humans, these insects also play a vital role in the reproduction of a wide variety of wild plants, fertilising them by transporting pollen from one flower to another. This results in fruit and seed production. In this way, they contribute indirectly to dairy production through pasture renewal, and help sustain terrestrial ecosystems by supporting the first level of the food chain – plants.</p>
<p>Of course, pollinators do not provide these services selflessly: they search for their own food, nectar and pollen, that they collect from flowers. In their quest for these resources, they use their senses of sight and smell, identifying the density, colour and scent of flowers.</p>
<p>Yet like many other insects, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1722477115">pollinator populations</a> are declining: over the past 30 years in the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-08974-9">United Kingdom</a>, a third of wild species have experienced a decrease in their area of occupancy. The rarest wild species are particularly at risk, due to the disappearance of their habitat.</p>
<p>Pollinators are also under threat from agricultural intensification and climate change. One way in which climate change could affect their pollination activity is connected to smell: climate change alters the scent of plants, and thus the capacity of bees to recognize them and orient themselves.</p>
<h2>The memory of scent</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278677/original/file-20190610-52748-gz05ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278677/original/file-20190610-52748-gz05ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278677/original/file-20190610-52748-gz05ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278677/original/file-20190610-52748-gz05ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278677/original/file-20190610-52748-gz05ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278677/original/file-20190610-52748-gz05ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278677/original/file-20190610-52748-gz05ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278677/original/file-20190610-52748-gz05ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The back legs and side of the abdomen of this wild bee are covered in rosemary pollen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Coline Jaworski</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>In their search for food, pollinators rely on visual signals (the colour and number of flowers) as well as olfactory cues – that is, <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.38.091206.095601">floral scent</a>. A bee is able to remember a fragrance and associate it with the resources provided by a given plant. <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2435.2009.01627.x">Using memory</a>, it is even capable of distinguishing between the scents of plants that produce high- or low-sugar nectar, and flowers that do not contain any nectar at all.</p>
<p>Floral scent consists of hundreds of small molecules emitted by the plant. However, when a plant is stressed (for example, owing to a lack of water or because it has been attacked by herbivores), it responds by emitting defensive compounds that alter its scent. A case in point is the smell of cut grass after mowing the lawn. The strong smell of rosemary – whose flowers have a similar fragrance, but with sweeter notes – is intended to protect the plant, and bees have learned to use it for finding nectar.</p>
<p>Climate change, which in many regions increases the risk of drought and rising temperatures, causes stress in plants, affecting their floral scent. In the Mediterranean basin, rainfall is expected to decrease by 30% by the end of the century. Emblematic species like rosemary, rockrose and thyme are adapted to dry conditions, but climate change will make them more vulnerable.</p>
<h2>Wild bees and stressed rosemary</h2>
<p>Our aim is to assess the impact of climate change on pollination, with a team of researchers from the <a href="https://www.imbe.fr/?lang=en">Mediterranean Institute of Marine and Terrestrial Biodiversity and Ecology</a> (IMBE). In the shrubland of the Massif de l’Étoile, around Marseille, we measured the scent emitted by rosemary under present conditions and in dryer conditions (30% less rainfall). To do this, we enclosed flowering rosemary branches in small bags constantly flushed with ambient air, and we trapped the fragrance molecules in a small tube inserted into the outlet of the bag. The contents of the tube were then analysed in the laboratory. Rosemary under stress was found to emit a more intense and diverse scent (with more molecules). Although the human nose may not be able to detect the difference, bees have a much finer sense of smell. We measured how bees responded to the change in floral scent, that is to say which plants (stressed or not) did they preferably visit. We finally looked at the impact of their choices on fruit production.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278678/original/file-20190610-52771-lp5ndf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278678/original/file-20190610-52771-lp5ndf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278678/original/file-20190610-52771-lp5ndf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278678/original/file-20190610-52771-lp5ndf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278678/original/file-20190610-52771-lp5ndf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278678/original/file-20190610-52771-lp5ndf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278678/original/file-20190610-52771-lp5ndf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278678/original/file-20190610-52771-lp5ndf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A wild bee collects nectar from a rosemary flower.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Coline Jaworski</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Domestic bees abound in the Massif de l’Étoile and they dominate the community of pollinators. They are larger than wild bees, and they collect nectar in small groups. Probably as a result of these differences, we noticed an allocation of resources: domestic bees showed a preference for non-stressed plants (perhaps because of the superior quality of their resources), whereas small wild bees were more likely to choose stressed plants. Apart from changes in floral scent, we were not able to demonstrate any differences in terms of the quantity of flowers, colour or nectar production. However, the nectar might have been affected, for example in the production of different sugar blends.</p>
<p>Finally, we observed that the stressed plants produced slightly more fruit (and therefore more seeds), which suggests a greater pollination efficiency of small wild bees. By choosing the stressed plants and in the context of our study, wild bees therefore boost the production of plants that are better suited to dry conditions, which could enable the plant community to better react to climate change.</p>
<p>To protect wild bees and to safeguard their function of pollination, both in natural and in agricultural environments, it is important to accurately measure how climate change affects the production of floral resources in each environment. Competition with domestic bees could also be mitigated by ensuring a balance between the density of resources and the density of hives: if the environment cannot produce enough flowers to sustain beehives, wild bees will be the first to lack resources.</p>
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<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=121&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=121&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=121&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=152&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=152&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=152&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has been supporting nearly 600 projects around the world conducted by researchers from 54 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the <a href="https://www.axa-research.org/en/">AXA Research Fund</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Translated from the French by Jemma Dunnill for <a href="http://www.fastforword.fr/en/">Fast ForWord</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119256/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Coline Jaworski receives funding from AXA Research Fund. Coline is currently affiliated to (1) Aix-Marseille University, IMBE; (2) Oxford University, Department of Zoology.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benoît Geslin is currently affiliated to Aix-Marseille University, IMBE</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Fernandez ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>As climatic conditions change, plants’ odours are altered, with direct consequences for pollination, especially by bees.Coline Jaworski, Chercheuse Postdoctorale en écologie évolutive / Postdoctoral Fellow in evolutionary ecology, Aix-Marseille Université (AMU)Benoît Geslin, Maître de conférences en écologie, Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d’écologie marine et continentale, Aix-Marseille Université (AMU)Catherine Fernandez, Professeur Ecologie chimique, Aix-Marseille Université (AMU)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1125672019-03-05T19:57:30Z2019-03-05T19:57:30ZHigh-tech agriculture: farmers risk being ‘locked in’ to unsustainable practices<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262172/original/file-20190305-48429-1v69cx4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C43%2C1189%2C700&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Two driverless tractors spray vines in a Texas vineyard. Each one is controlled from a single command station (2012).</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Autonomous_compact_tractors_in_a_Texas_vineyard,_Nov_2012.jpg">ASIrobots/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since World War II, Europe’s agricultural sector has been very receptive to new technology, and the result has been staggering productivity gains – for four generations, farmers have produced more than their parents did. At the same time, however, agricultural prices have fallen around the world and price subsidies have been cut. This has led to a cruel paradox: while farmers have never produced so much, many can no longer make a living from farming.</p>
<h2>Digital technology is a big tent</h2>
<p>Digital approaches in farming are called “precision agriculture”, which aims to measure the needs of crops or livestock as precisely as possible to be able to apply “the right amount at the right time”. This has proven to be a valuable approach, particularly for crops, and has been driven by the development of embedded computing, GPS guidance and machine control interfaces.</p>
<p>The precision-agriculture approach can also help reduce inefficiencies and waste. For example, precision pesticide application methods can significantly reduce spray falling outside areas to be treated and thus the amount of pesticide entering the environment. In this way, sprayers can maintain treatment effectiveness while reducing application rates 20% to 40%.</p>
<p>However, precision agriculture does not call into question pesticide use. It works by refining current practices and does not encourage the exploration of alternatives. This is what scientists call “technological lock-in”, with precision approaches reinforcing pesticide use rather than eliminating it. This in no way prepares us for farming that is less reliant on pesticides – farmers become locked in.</p>
<p>Like digital approaches developed in other industrial sectors, those for farming tend to impose standardisation and optimisation under well-controlled conditions. The risk, therefore, is that digital technology could increase productivity but also cut employment in the sector, boost farm size, and deepen technological dependence, with <a href="http://new-compass.net/articles/why-competition-agriculture-unsustainable">relatively little positive impact on sustainability</a>.</p>
<h2>A different type of digital agriculture</h2>
<p>On the other hand, digital technology could also be used to empower those working together to improve farming practices, change regulations and influence markets, all built upon the real needs of individual farmers and society. By facilitating such cooperation at the national and multinational scale, digital technology would make it possible for farmers and the wider public to “have a say” in national farming issues. In bringing supply and demand closer together, collaborative digital farming would provide a framework for championing the interests of both producers and consumers, equitably.</p>
<p>In a context of increasing competition, this would protect rural employment, while assuring that agriculture is more widely valued, with farmers being seen as professionals. Existing cooperative approaches, such a local “box schemes”, contribute to this, but <a href="https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/farming/life-on-farms-is-shared-across-the-world-with-digital-technology-890341.html">digital technology would accelerate and extend this process</a>.</p>
<p>The potential of new digital technologies in agriculture is astonishing. Linking farmers digitally would allow them to organise and share equipment, facilitate the sharing or exchanging of fields and support alternative supply and production channels, as well as promoting solidarity. In short, collaborative digital technologies could promote aspects of social and environmental sustainability that the current form of the market neither recognises nor finances.</p>
<h2>What technology should be used for</h2>
<p>The current system will not change if we do not change the criteria we use for <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-battle-for-the-future-of-farming-what-you-need-to-know-106805">evaluating its performance and the way it is managed</a>. We need to be clear as a society about what farming should do. To date, agriculture has been given goals that were not necessarily its own. Some have no direct market value, such as for the maintenance of common resources, including air and water. Others appear to have little immediate societal value, such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-carbon-farming-can-help-solve-climate-change-86087">storage of carbon to mitigate climate change</a>, or do not reward farmers for their efforts. As an example, the value of lavender fields for tourism and for the industry of honey-making exceeds the direct income from selling the lavender for cosmetic use, and yet the lavender farmer will often receive no extra income for supporting these other industries.</p>
<p>It can be argued that the competitiveness of European agriculture will not be achieved by a race for productivity, but rather by doing those things we do well and value that bit better. We need to recognise that agriculture has become much more than a means to produce food, fibre and fuel. It is, just as importantly, a context in which questions of animal welfare and the management of the countryside landscape and resources need to be addressed.</p>
<h2>The million-dollar question</h2>
<p>The processes that take place in the agricultural environment are highly dynamic, changing over seasons and between landscapes, determined by the quality of an animal’s or plant’s interaction with its environment, and this itself evolves over time.</p>
<p>To monitor or change how agricultural systems function, digital technology should be used to evaluate material and energy flows. Just as an industrial system or supply chain must maintain and regulate its proper functioning, agriculture must be able to quantify what constitutes appropriate functioning. At present, we are unable to carry out the measurements needed to support, maintain or even improve the functioning of the agro-ecosystem. The future development of new sensors will revolutionise animal and plant health management.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262215/original/file-20190305-48432-b6l76r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262215/original/file-20190305-48432-b6l76r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262215/original/file-20190305-48432-b6l76r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262215/original/file-20190305-48432-b6l76r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262215/original/file-20190305-48432-b6l76r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262215/original/file-20190305-48432-b6l76r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262215/original/file-20190305-48432-b6l76r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In Australia, many farmers rely on large populations of feral European honeybees to polinate crops. These services, long undervalued, are now under threat. Here, Dr. Denis Anderson of CSIRO Entomology examines a cherry farm near Young, New South Wales (2007).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CSIRO_ScienceImage_6807_Dr_Denis_Anderson_of_CSIRO_Entomology_examining_in_a_hive_at_a_cherry_farm_near_Young_New_South_Wales.jpg">Nick Pitsas/CSIRO/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>It is possible to reduce this vision of digital technology to a simplistic level; that one sensor is used to measure a single variable, such as the weight of an animal. Our vision is that digital technology has the power to be transformative. Multiple sensors measuring multiple variables simultaneously could revolutionise the use of pesticides, for example, by quantifying the state of each field and the risk to human health that pesticides present. This might be by analysing sensor data with artificial intelligence to evaluate soil activity of both the pesticide and pesticide-detoxifying bacteria; estimating whether naturally present biological control agents have the capacity to protect the system from pests; and predicting when crop resistance to fungal pathogens is “switched on”. In effect, this would evaluate whether the system is resilient, being able to both to absorb shock and to rebound to a healthy state.</p>
<h2>High performance, not just high production</h2>
<p>The principle of pesticide-free agriculture must be at the heart of this future, digitally supported agricultural system. Simply characterising the performance of agriculture as one of a production system supported by pesticides will not deliver sustainability. Measures of system performance based on a single economic criterion do not reflect all the other dimensions of sustainability. Instead, digital technology must deliver a transition to a holistic appreciation of agriculture. It will allow us to appreciate aspects of the system that we know are critical but, due to poor measurement or recognition, we only notice once they are gone. Pollination by wild insects is an example of something farmers have, to date, received for free and so have undervalued. It is only now that we are discovering that these insects are in decline there are no longer enough to meet our needs.</p>
<p>Rather than locking in farmers to unsustainable, pesticide-based management, the agricultural digital revolution must show that there are other viable approaches and alternative measures of system performance. At a time when the European Union’s <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/food-farming-fisheries/key-policies/common-agricultural-policy/cap-glance_en">common agricultural policy</a> and other global trade and agricultural agreements are being renegotiated, we must ensure that environmental sustainability and social justice – for both producers and consumers – are central to how performance is measured, and that they can’t just be sacrificed for a few more percentage points of productivity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112567/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Digital innovations have the potential to empower farmers and revolutionise agriculture, but many could also lock them in to unsustainable methods.Xavier Reboud, Chercheur en agroécologie, InraeDavid Bohan, Quantitative ecologist, InraeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/909602018-02-05T18:03:56Z2018-02-05T18:03:56ZPesticide bans might give us a buzz, but they won’t necessarily save the bees<p><a href="https://actions.sumofus.org/a/bunnings-stop-selling-bee-killing-pesticides">Public pressure is growing</a> in Australia to ban the sale of pesticides called <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/neonicotinoids-7304">neonicotinoids</a> because of their <a href="https://theconversation.com/common-pesticides-can-harm-bees-but-the-jury-is-still-out-on-a-global-ban-80267">harmful effects on bees</a>.</p>
<p>The retail chain Bunnings will <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/bunnings-to-pull-pesticide-allegedly-linked-to-bee-deaths-20180113-h0htzq.html">stop selling the Confidor pesticide brand</a> for homes and gardens by the end of 2018. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-years-after-the-crisis-what-is-happening-to-the-worlds-bees-77164">Ten years after the crisis, what is happening to the world's bees?</a>
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<p>Neonicotinoids along with fipronil, another systemic insecticide that has also been <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-18/bee-loses-due-to-chemical-use-by-cotton-industry-keeper-says/8276130">blamed for bee deaths</a>, are widely used in Australia on major crops such as maize, canola and cotton. </p>
<p>Between them they account for <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4284386/">up to 30% of global insecticide sales</a>. Will banning these insecticides stop the decline of bees worldwide? </p>
<h2>Mites and disease</h2>
<p>Insects are in trouble. A recent study found an <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0185809">80% decline in flying insects</a>, including butterflies, moths and wild bees, in German nature reserves. This has prompted questions about the impact of large-scale intensive agriculture. </p>
<p>Colony collapse disorder, in which worker bees dramatically disappear from honey bee hives, increased hugely in the decade up to 2013, particularly in the United States and Europe. This caused international concern and led to a <a href="https://theconversation.com/sometimes-science-cant-see-the-wood-for-the-bees-18532">ban on neonicotinoids and fipronil</a> by the European Union in 2013. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/sometimes-science-cant-see-the-wood-for-the-bees-18532">Sometimes science can't see the wood for the bees</a>
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<p>However, there are no reports of colony collapse disorder in Australia, according to the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority, which regulates the use of pesticides and <a href="https://apvma.gov.au/node/28786">monitors the effect of insecticides on bees</a>. Why not?</p>
<p>We don’t fully understand the causes of colony collapse in honey bees, but it appears that a likely culprit is the <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6273/594">Varroa mite</a> and the lethal viruses it transmits. This parasite feeds on both larvae and adult bees, and has been blamed for <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-17802-3">infecting vast numbers of bees</a> with several viruses including <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6273/594.full">deformed wing virus</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-varroa-mite-the-tiny-killer-threatening-australias-bees-25710">Explainer: Varroa mite, the tiny killer threatening Australia's bees</a>
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<p>Australia’s honey bees, in contrast to the rest of the world, are still free of Varroa mites. A <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-07290-w">CSIRO survey</a> of 1,240 hives across Australia found that deformed wing virus is also not present. The absence of both the mite and the viruses it carries may help to explain why colony collapse has not (yet) been observed in Australia. </p>
<h2>Pesticide and fungicides, oh my!</h2>
<p>While there is clear evidence of harm to bees from the use of neonicotinoids and fipronil, particularly from drift during application, their role as the direct cause of colony collapse is not proven. </p>
<p>And while they can be harmful, neonicotinoids are not necessarily the biggest chemical threat to bees. Perhaps surprisingly, fungicides appear to be at least as significant. </p>
<p><a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0070182">One study</a> found that bees that eat pollen with high levels of fungicide are more likely to be infected with a pathogen called Nosema. <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/284/1867/20172181">Other research</a> showed that presence of the fungicide chlorothalonil was the best predictor of incidence of Nosema in four declining species of bumblebees. What’s more, the toxicity of neonicotinoids to honey bees <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6345/1395">doubles in the presence of common fungicides</a>. </p>
<p>This is not to say that Australian bees are safe, or that neonicotinoids are not harmful. Australia has an estimated 2,000 species native bee species, and studies suggest that the main impacts of neonicotinoids are on <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6345/1393">wild bees</a> rather than honey bees in hives. The combination of widescale use of multiple agrochemicals, loss of plant and habitat diversity, and climate change is a significant threat to both wild and domesticated bees. </p>
<p>And if the Varroa mite and the viruses it carries were to arrive on our shores, the impact on Australia’s honey bees could be catastrophic.</p>
<h2>Banning pesticides affects farmers</h2>
<p>The EU insecticide ban left Europe’s farmers with few alternatives. <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ps.4715/full">Surveys of 800 farms across the EU</a> suggest that farmers have adapted by increasing the use of other insecticides, particularly synthetic pyrethroids, as well altering planting schedules to avoid pests, and increasing planting rates to compensate for losses. Most farmers reported an overall increase in crop losses, in costs of crop protection and in time needed to manage pests.</p>
<p>A ban on fipronil and neonicotinoids would create similarly significant problems for Australian farmers, increasing costs and reducing the efficacy of crop protection. As in Europe, they would potentially increase use of synthetic pyrethroids, organophosphates and carbamates, many of which are even more harmful to bees and other insects. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/give-bees-a-chance-the-ancient-art-of-beekeeping-could-save-our-honey-and-us-too-51322">Give bees a chance: the ancient art of beekeeping could save our honey (and us too)</a>
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<p>Reliance on a more limited range of insecticides could also worsen the incidence of insecticide resistance and destabilise Australia’s efforts to balance resistance management and <a href="https://www.cottoninfo.com.au/publications/cotton-pest-management-guide">pest control</a> with preserving beneficial insects.</p>
<p>Further development of these sophisticated pest management strategies, with emphasis on the use of less harmful alternatives such as microbial and biological controls, offers a route to a more effective, long-term solution to the decline in insects and bee health.</p>
<p>A ban on neonicotinoids might give campaigners a buzz, but it might not save the bees.</p>
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<p><em>This article was amended on March 13, 2018, to clarify that Australia has an estimated 2,000 species of native bees, not more than 5,000 as was initially reported.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90960/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caroline Hauxwell collaborates with companies (including AgBiTech Australia) and the Australian cotton and grain industries to develop microbial alternatives to chemical insecticides and integrate them into farming systems.</span></em></p>Australian bees have so far avoided the ‘colony collapse’ devastating hives around the world, but there’s growing pressure for a ban on certain insecticides blamed for bee deaths.Caroline Hauxwell, Associate Professor, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/771642017-05-07T19:38:51Z2017-05-07T19:38:51ZTen years after the crisis, what is happening to the world’s bees?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168231/original/file-20170507-7673-kg7lmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Bees have been living with the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder for a decade.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Simon Klein</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ten years ago, beekeepers in the United States raised the alarm that thousands of their hives were mysteriously empty of bees. What followed was global concern over a new phenomenon: <a href="https://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/colony-collapse-disorder">Colony Collapse Disorder</a>. </p>
<p>Since then we have realised that it was not just the US that was losing its honey bees; <a href="https://theconversation.com/honeybee-decline-warrants-concern-but-not-panic-5707">similar problems</a> have manifested all over the world. To make things worse, we are also losing many of our populations of wild bees too. </p>
<p>Losing bees can have tragic consequences, for us as well as them. Bees are pollinators for about one-third of the plants we eat, a service that has been valued at <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800908002942">€153 billion (US$168 billion) per year</a> worldwide. </p>
<p>Ten years after the initial alarm, what is the current status of the world’s bee populations, and how far have we come towards understanding what has happened?</p>
<h2>The current status of bees worldwide</h2>
<p>Since the alarm was first raised, many countries have created new monitoring methods to judge the status of their bee stocks. As a result we have much more data on bee populations, although coverage is still patchy and differences in survey methods make it hard to compare between continents. </p>
<p>It is clear that bees in the United States are still struggling. Beekeepers can tolerate up to 15% losses of colonies over winter, but the US is massively above this threshold, having <a href="https://beeinformed.org/results/colony-loss-2015-2016-preliminary-results/">lost 28.1% of colonies</a> over the 2015-16 winter. </p>
<p>Canada, by contrast, reported <a href="http://www.capabees.com/shared/2015/07/2016-CAPA-Statement-on-Colony-Losses-July-19.pdf">16.8% losses</a>. This is better, but still above the level of losses at which beekeepers can easily restock. </p>
<p>Only recently have we had data from central Europe. There, honey bees seem to be doing better: <a href="http://www.coloss.org/announcements/losses-of-honey-bee-colonies-over-the-2015-16-winter">11.9% losses</a> in 2015-16. Meanwhile, in New Zealand surveys only began in the last year and have reported <a href="http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/science/portfolios/enhancing-policy-effectiveness/bee-health">winter loss of 10.7%</a>. Australia does not yet have a countrywide survey of the state of bee colonies.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168232/original/file-20170507-7692-1racbi4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168232/original/file-20170507-7692-1racbi4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168232/original/file-20170507-7692-1racbi4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168232/original/file-20170507-7692-1racbi4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168232/original/file-20170507-7692-1racbi4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168232/original/file-20170507-7692-1racbi4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168232/original/file-20170507-7692-1racbi4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168232/original/file-20170507-7692-1racbi4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Fortunes are mixed for bees around the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Simon Klein</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Honey bees are not the only bees that we should care about: <a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-much-more-to-bees-than-queens-honey-and-hives-41380">wild bees</a> are <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-just-bees-the-buzz-on-our-other-vital-insect-helpers-52373">vital pollinators too</a>. Some plants are pollinated by only one wild bee species, such as the <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/13323697/0">macropis bees</a> that forage on the loosetrife plant. </p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, we have much less data on wild bees than honey bees, and those data we do have point to bigger concerns. For our wild bees we only really have good data for populations that are endangered or that have completely disappeared. Between 2008 and 2013, wild bee diversity in the US <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/113/1/140.full.pdf">dropped by 23%</a>, and a previously common bumblebee species was recently <a href="http://xerces.org/">listed as endangered</a>.</p>
<h2>Do we understand why?</h2>
<p>The good news is that the past decade has seen plenty of progress in understanding the mystery of Colony Collapse Disorder. The bad news is that we now recognise it as a <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214574515000541">complex problem with many causes</a>, although that doesn’t mean it is unsolvable.</p>
<p>For all bees, foraging on flowers is a hard life. It is energetically and cognitively demanding; bees have to travel large distances to collect pollen and nectar from sometimes hard-to-find flowers, and return it all to the nest. To do this they need finely tuned senses, spatial awareness, learning and memory. </p>
<p>Anything that damages such skills can make bees struggle to find food, or even get lost while trying to forage. A bee that cannot find food and make it home again is as good as dead. </p>
<p>Because of this, bee populations are very vulnerable to what we call “sublethal stressors” – factors that don’t kill the bees directly but can hamper their behaviour.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168233/original/file-20170507-7695-10hcl8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168233/original/file-20170507-7695-10hcl8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168233/original/file-20170507-7695-10hcl8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168233/original/file-20170507-7695-10hcl8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168233/original/file-20170507-7695-10hcl8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168233/original/file-20170507-7695-10hcl8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168233/original/file-20170507-7695-10hcl8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168233/original/file-20170507-7695-10hcl8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">For solitary species such as the blue-banded bee, difficulty foraging can be a very serious problem.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Simon Klein</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>In a <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169534716302439">recently published review</a>, we argue that modern agriculture and industry have created a host of sublethal stressors that damage bees’ cognition. For example, <a href="https://phys.org/news/2013-10-diesel-exhaust-honeybees-forage.html">diesel fumes</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/neonicotinoids-linked-to-wild-bee-and-butterfly-declines-in-europe-and-us-63999">neonicotinoid pesticides</a> both reduce bees’ foraging efficiency by disturbing chemical communications in their brains. Modern intensive agriculture <a href="https://theconversation.com/poor-nutrition-may-be-another-reason-for-the-declining-honey-bee-population-48684">disturbs bee nutrition</a>, which impairs their brain. <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/10730667/Bees-and-the-crops-they-pollinate-are-at-risk-from-climate-change-IPCC-report-to-warn.html">Climate change</a> interferes with the relationship between bees and the plants on which they feed. </p>
<p>In addition, managed honey bees are afflicted by a range of pests, viruses and predators that have been spread around the world as a side-effect of international trade. The worst is the ominously named <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-varroa-mite-the-tiny-killer-threatening-australias-bees-25710"><em>Varroa destructor</em> mite</a>, which causes brain development disorders.</p>
<h2>What can we do?</h2>
<p>At the global level, to preserve our bees we have to improve the environments in which they collect food. Every small action can make a difference. Planting flower borders with <a href="https://rirdc.infoservices.com.au/items/12-014">bee-friendly flowers</a> in your garden can provide food for both wild and domestic bees. You can reduce or eliminate the use of herbicides or pesticides when gardening. Even <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301688107_Influence_of_the_reduction_of_urban_lawn_mowing_on_wild_bee_diversity_Hymenoptera_Apoidea">mowing the lawn less often</a> can help bees out. </p>
<p>You could install a <a href="http://www.sugarbag.net/">native bee hive</a> or <a href="http://www.sgaonline.org.au/insect-hotels/">insect hotel</a>. Another tempting option is to buy local honey, which often has a more distinctive flavour than mass-produced versions.</p>
<p>In Australia, we are fortunate in that our bees seem to be doing better than many other parts of the world. The Varroa mite has not yet invaded our shores, and in many areas bees can access pesticide-free bushland (although unlike Europe, Australia has <a href="https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/australias-complacency-in-the-face-of-worldwide-bee-decline,8002">not yet banned use of neonicotinoids in agriculture</a>).</p>
<p>Australia also has an incredibly rich diversity of wild native bees: <a href="http://www.aussiebee.com.au/">up to 1,600 different species</a>, including our emblematic stingless bees. Even so, to protect this diversity we need better surveys of how these species are doing.</p>
<p>Ten years on from the alarm over disappearing bees, it is fair to say we now know the nature of the problem and what can be done to fix it. It’s up to us to take the steps needed to sustain these precious pollinators of our food for the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77164/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Barron receives funding from a Special Cooperative Agreement with the US Department of Agriculture.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Klein does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s a decade since US beekeepers first noticed that their bees were mysteriously dying. Now we know much more about Colony Collapse Disorder, raising hopes that we can turn bees’ fortunes around.Simon Klein, Doctorant, Université de Toulouse III – Paul SabatierAndrew Barron, Associate Professor, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/566482016-05-24T00:53:01Z2016-05-24T00:53:01ZDeciphering the mysterious decline of honey bees<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123669/original/image-20160523-11017-1evesla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Working bee colonies</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elina L. Nino</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Honey bees are arguably our most important commercially available pollinator. They are responsible for pollinating numerous food plants that make our diets more exciting and nutritious, including many fruits, vegetables and nuts. </p>
<p>Beekeepers expect some of their bees to die off from season to season – typically, around 17 percent annually. But in recent years, losses have been <a href="https://beeinformed.org/results/colony-loss-2014-2015-preliminary-results/">more than twice as high</a>. </p>
<p>As an extension apiculturist for the <a href="http://www.caes.ucdavis.edu/outreach/ce">University of California Cooperative Extension</a>, I talk to many people, from beekeepers and growers to members of the general public, about honey bees. Most of my audiences are concerned about how honey bee losses could affect the security of our food supply. While the massive and sudden colony collapses that occurred a decade ago have abated, honey bees are still dying at troubling rates. Laboratories like mine are working to understand the many factors stressing bees and develop strategies for protecting them.</p>
<h2>Impacts of honey bee losses</h2>
<p>In 2006 beekeepers in the United States reported that a mysterious affliction, dubbed <a href="http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572">Colony Collapse Disorder</a> (CCD), was causing widespread die-offs of bees. In colonies affected by CCD, adult workers completely disappeared, although plentiful brood (developing bees) and the queen remained. Beekeepers found no adult bees in and around the hives, and noted that pests and bees from neighboring hives did not immediately raid the affected hives, as might be expected. </p>
<p>Scientists now agree that CCD was likely caused by a combination of <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0006481">environmental and biological factors</a>, but nothing specific has been confirmed or proven. CCD is no longer causing large-scale colony death in North America, but beekeepers all over the United States are still reporting troubling colony losses – as high as <a href="https://beeinformed.org/2016/05/10/nations-beekeepers-lost-44-percent-of-bees-in-2015-16/">45 percent annually</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123259/original/image-20160519-4490-1aqrb5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123259/original/image-20160519-4490-1aqrb5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123259/original/image-20160519-4490-1aqrb5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123259/original/image-20160519-4490-1aqrb5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123259/original/image-20160519-4490-1aqrb5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123259/original/image-20160519-4490-1aqrb5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123259/original/image-20160519-4490-1aqrb5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Overwinter colony losses (Oct 1 - April 1) of managed honey bee colonies in the United States.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://beeinformed.org/2016/05/10/nations-beekeepers-lost-44-percent-of-bees-in-2015-16/">U.S. Department of Agriculture</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While beekeepers can recoup their losses by making new colonies from existing ones, it is becoming increasingly costly to keep them going. They are using more inputs, such as supplemental food and parasite controls, which raises their operating costs. In turn, they have to charge growers higher prices for pollinating their crops. </p>
<h2>Multiple stresses</h2>
<p>Beekeepers’ biggest challenge today is probably <a href="http://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/index.cfm?tagname=varroa%20mite"><em>Varroa destructor</em></a>, an aptly named parasitic mite that we call the vampire of the bee world. <em>Varroa</em> feeds on hemolymph (the insect “blood”) of adult and developing honey bees. In the process it <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.023853-0">transmits pathogens</a> and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0501860102">suppresses bees’ immune response</a>. They are fairly large relative to bees: for perspective, imagine a parasite the size of a dinner plate feeding on you. And individual bees often are hosts to multiple mites. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123654/original/image-20160523-11032-1bp724h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123654/original/image-20160523-11032-1bp724h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123654/original/image-20160523-11032-1bp724h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=215&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123654/original/image-20160523-11032-1bp724h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=215&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123654/original/image-20160523-11032-1bp724h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=215&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123654/original/image-20160523-11032-1bp724h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123654/original/image-20160523-11032-1bp724h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123654/original/image-20160523-11032-1bp724h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bee carrying two Varroa mites at right, next to a healthy bee (click to zoom for larger view).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bernardo D. Niño</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Beekeepers often must use miticides to control <em>Varroa</em>. Miticides are designed specifically to control mites, but some widely used products have been shown to have negative effects on bees, such as <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1603/0022-0493-95.1.28">physical abnormalities, atypical behavior</a> and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0076536">increased mortality rates</a>. Other currently used commercial miticides have lost or are rapidly losing their efficacy because <em>Varroa</em> are <a href="https://hal.inria.fr/file/index/docid/891866/filename/hal-00891866.pdf">developing resistance to them</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://elninobeelab.ucdavis.edu/">Our laboratory</a> is evaluating several novel biopesticides for effectiveness against <em>Varroa</em> and safety to bees. These products are mostly plant-based, and are designed to be used as part of an <a href="http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/GENERAL/whatisipm.html">integrated pest management</a> (IPM) plan. IPM emphasizes prevention and monitoring of pests and using a range of control methods to minimize negative effects on the environment. </p>
<p>Another potential strategy is breeding <em>Varroa</em>-resistant bees. <a href="http://elninobeelab.ucdavis.edu/research.html">Our research</a> explores biological processes that regulate <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/imb.12016">the honey bee queen mating process</a>. To breed pathogen- and parasite-resistant honey bee stock, we often need to use
instrumental (artificial) <a href="http://articles.extension.org/pages/28332/instrumental-insemination-of-honey-bee-queens">insemination</a>. We hope to help improve that process by understanding which seminal fluid proteins from male honey bees (drones) cause specific post-mating changes in queens, such as triggering egg-laying or contributing to queen bees’ longevity.</p>
<p>Honey bees also are exposed to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2011.09.003">viruses, bacterial diseases and fungi</a>. For example, deformed wing virus (DWV) causes wing deformities that prevent bees from performing normal work functions such as foraging for food. Viruses have been implicated as an important factor in honey bee health declines, but we are just starting to understand <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1004713">how honey bees’ immune systems fight against them</a>. We may be able to help strengthen bees’ immune responses by making diverse foraging resources, such as a variety of wildflowers, easily accessible. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123263/original/image-20160519-27853-lu7bs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123263/original/image-20160519-27853-lu7bs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123263/original/image-20160519-27853-lu7bs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123263/original/image-20160519-27853-lu7bs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123263/original/image-20160519-27853-lu7bs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123263/original/image-20160519-27853-lu7bs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123263/original/image-20160519-27853-lu7bs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Artificial insemination of a queen bee.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/commissariat/5633427989/in/album-72157626530215588/">Kris Fricke/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Pesticide impacts</h2>
<p>Questions about how pesticides affect honey bee health have spurred passionate debate. One key issue is whether neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides that affect insects’ nervous systems, are causing widespread bee deaths. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is currently <a href="https://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/schedule-review-neonicotinoid-pesticides">reviewing possible risks to pollinators</a> from neonicotinoids. Its first results, released earlier this year, found that the pesticide <a href="https://www.epa.gov/pesticides/epa-releases-first-four-preliminary-risk-assessments-insecticides-potentially-harmful">imidacloprid</a> can have negative effects when it is present at concentrations above thresholds that can sometimes be found in certain crops, including citrus and cotton.</p>
<p>There are <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0136928">many gaps</a> in our knowledge about neonicotinoids and other types of pesticides. We have little understanding about the impacts of pesticide combinations and how they affect developing bees and <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-just-bees-the-buzz-on-our-other-vital-insect-helpers-52373">other pollinators</a>. To fill some of those gaps, our lab is testing combinations of various agriculturally important pesticides on adult worker survival and queen development. </p>
<p>Studies show that when bees have access to optimal nutrition, they are better able to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0152685">deal with diseases</a> and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2014.10.002">pesticides</a>. But intensive farming and urbanization have reduced the amount of readily available forage that bees need to thrive. Research labs at <a href="https://polleneaters.wordpress.com/">UC-Davis</a> and elsewhere are analyzing what types of flowering plants provide the best supplemental forage for bees. Growers can support bees by planting these species near their crops. </p>
<h2>Be bee-friendly</h2>
<p>Many people who are not beekeepers or growers want to know how they can help. One easy step is to grow forage plants, especially varieties that bloom at different times during the year. For suggestions, see our <a href="http://hhbhgarden.ucdavis.edu/plantsofthehaven">Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven Plant List</a>. </p>
<p>Second, reduce your pesticide use for gardening and landscaping, and follow <a href="http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PDF/PMG/pnw591.pdf">guidelines to reduce bee exposure</a>. Finally, you can support local beekeepers by <a href="http://www.honey.com/">buying their honey</a>. Ultimately, however, making our society more pollinator-friendly will likely require some drastic and long-term changes in our environmental and agricultural practices.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56648/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elina L. Niño receives funding from the California State Beekeepers Association, Project Apis m, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's IR-4 Project. She serves as Parliamentarian for the California State Beekeepers Association. </span></em></p>Honey bees, which pollinate many valuable crops, are threatened by parasites, pesticides and development. But selective breeding, more benign pesticides and better nutrition could help turn the tide.Elina L. Niño, Assistant Extension Apiculturist, University of California, DavisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/513222016-01-04T19:14:02Z2016-01-04T19:14:02ZGive bees a chance: the ancient art of beekeeping could save our honey (and us too)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105178/original/image-20151210-7438-16xql7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A beekeeper uses smoke to calm bees in a Langstroth hive</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/moosicorn/10125276955">moosicorn/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s no denying it: we’re in a long-term relationship… with bees. Recent evidence published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v527/n7577/abs/nature15757.html">Nature</a> shows that humans have been depending on honey bees for about 9,000 years.</p>
<p>Researchers conducted chemical analyses of over 6,000 fragments of pottery revealing the presence of beeswax in pots in Neolithic Europe, the Near East, and North Africa, and therefore our long association with these beneficial insects. </p>
<p>Other than utilising bees for honey as a sweetener and food source (the oldest pot fragment in this study was a cooking pot), beeswax served multiple purposes for Neolithic and Antiquarian people, some of which are still evident today. People used beeswax to waterproof pots, in cosmetics, for its healing properties, for rituals, and in technological applications.</p>
<h2>How it all began</h2>
<p>Exactly how and when honey bees became “domesticated” by humans is unknown, but it likely began as honey-hunting, where people sought out wild bee colonies (naturally nesting in cavities) in order to harvest their honey. This practice probably <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7zvpg1">became seasonal</a>, with people returning to the same colonies to collect honey year after year.</p>
<p>A natural extension of this was to bring the bees closer to where humans live, and beekeeping was born.</p>
<p>At first, people would have moved bee colonies <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7zvpg1">closer to their homes</a> in the segments of tree that contained the cavities in which the bees lived, and this practice continues in some places in the world. However, this process of extracting honey combs from these structures is difficult and destructive, and people began to experiment with new types of bee real estate.</p>
<p>In ancient Greece, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440301908271">pots were used as early beehives</a> and people began to use other cheap materials, such as woven straw, to make structures (hives) in which to keep their bees.</p>
<h2>The modern hive and the birth of commercial beekeeping</h2>
<p>It took until the 1800s for the beekeeper Lorenzo Langstroth to invent a bee hive that allowed for easy hive manipulation and removal of honey – which is the same bee hive model we use today.</p>
<p>The basic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langstroth_hive">Langstroth hive</a> consists of 8 to 10 (usually wooden) frames each surrounding a sheet of beeswax foundation provided by the beekeeper. The worker bees, using the wax from their own bodies, then build the walls of the cells that are used to house the developing brood, and to store pollen and nectar. The bees will eventually turn this nectar into honey.</p>
<p>The hives are designed so that all of the frames and the boxes that contain them are interchangeable, allowing the beekeeper to stack and move resources between hives when necessary. By adding a lid and an opening for the hive entrance (and bees of course), Langstroth bee boxes become bee hives.</p>
<p>The uniformity of the Langstroth hive has also allowed beekeepers to transport the bees from place to place. Migration is perhaps the defining feature of modern commercial beekeeping, where beekeepers relocate their bees in order to maximise honey production and ensure the bees have proper nutrition. The modern commercial beekeeper needs a truck (ranging in size from ute to large flatbed) and has beehives on modified pallets, which they move using forklifts and cranes. </p>
<p>Although maximising honey production may have been the initial reason for moving hives, the motivation for migration in many countries is increasingly to provide commercial pollination services to agricultural producers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105210/original/image-20151210-7431-wasxcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105210/original/image-20151210-7431-wasxcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105210/original/image-20151210-7431-wasxcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105210/original/image-20151210-7431-wasxcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105210/original/image-20151210-7431-wasxcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105210/original/image-20151210-7431-wasxcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105210/original/image-20151210-7431-wasxcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A bee flies among almond blossoms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/anieto2k/6786093786">anieto2k/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The most striking example of this is in the United States, where beekeepers bring their bees from all over the country to California in order to pollinate vast almond crops, which are 100% <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/274/1608/303.short">dependent on honey bee pollination</a>. But bringing together the bees of nearly an entire country like this can allow for the rapid exchange of honey bee pests and parasites between usually separated bee populations.</p>
<p>This form of commercial pollination is <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bies.201000075/full">one of many potential stressors</a> that are contributing to the global bee decline. Others include pesticides, climate change, and the spread of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-varroa-mite-the-tiny-killer-threatening-australias-bees-25710">Varroa mite</a>, which acts as a disease vector between honey bee colonies.</p>
<h2>Back to basics: the art of beekeeping</h2>
<p>Many people see small-scale beekeeping as an antidote to the multitude of issues facing bee populations today (and it could help if done properly). The good news is that anybody can keep bees: you simply need to buy a Langstroth hive and the bees to live in it – and, of course, get the proper permission to keep bees on your property.</p>
<p>But there’s more to beekeeping than meets the eye. Beekeeping is considered by many to be an art, with a successful beekeeper understanding such things as colony balance, seasonal requirements, and bee health.</p>
<p>It is vital that any aspiring beekeeper learn to identify the pests and diseases that can affect honey bees and how to manage them. Some are quite infectious (to other bees) and honey bees can cover several kilometres while foraging, making a poorly-managed hive a threat to its neighbours.</p>
<p>Also if you choose to keep bees, be mindful that they depend on the local flora for food and may need supplementary feeding in drought, the winter and/or when pollen is scarce. In temperate climates (think places with cold winters and warm summers, such as much of Australia), honey bees produce the most honey in the late spring/summer, when the most flowers are blooming and nectar is plentiful.</p>
<p>Still, the challenges faced by bees the world over are unlikely to disappear any time soon. These challenges are further magnified by the fact that the <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/112/48/14743.full">demand for honey bee agricultural pollination services</a> is predicted to increase with a growing human global population. As an added concern, the impact of honey bees on ecosystem health is largely unknown and unstudied.</p>
<p>To ensure we keep these valuable insects in sufficient health and numbers to fulfil their various roles, researchers and beekeepers will need to continue to work together on how to best manage and preserve honey bees in our changing environment.</p>
<p><em>Thank you to West Australian beekeeper <a href="http://www.ciber.science.uwa.edu.au/People/TiffaneBates/tiffinfo.html">Tiffane Bates</a> for her invaluable contribution to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51322/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marianne Peso has received past funding from the Australian Produce Commission. </span></em></p>Bees and humans share a long history. But now bee populations are in a worrying decline. So can beekeeping teach us how to live in harmony with the world’s most famous pollinator?Marianne Peso, Lecturer/Postdoctoral Research Associate, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/185322013-09-24T13:44:05Z2013-09-24T13:44:05ZSometimes science can’t see the wood for the bees<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31796/original/q2cpxnw3-1379946532.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Bees are dying, but scientists and beekeepers are at loggerheads over what to do about it.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Ansell/PA </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The EU banned the use of neonicotinoid pesticides for two years in April, after a sustained campaign by beekeepers, green groups and environmental organisations across Europe.</p>
<p>These groups are convinced that the neonicotinoid class of insecticides are the main cause of the collapse of honeybee numbers seen across much of the world, dating back to at least the 1990s, but accelerating since 2006.</p>
<p>The UK government was among the minority of states that voted against the ban, having <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/221052/pb13937-neonicotinoid-bees-20130326.pdf">issued briefs against it</a> throughout the debate. While the ban was a significant victory for the beekeepers and their allies, it’s only for two years and the scientific evidence on both sides is fiercely contested. This is by no means the end of the story.</p>
<p>Among those researching the field of science, technology and society, it is argued that scientific knowledge is never just about facts, but also about power. Facts are not simply discovered by science as absolute truths, but are instead constructed in social contexts that are riddled with power relations. As the old adage suggests, knowledge and power are always intertwined.</p>
<p>What becomes a fact and what does not is a social and political issue that is concerned with what kind of knowledge - and importantly whose knowledge - acquires legitimacy and therefore authority.</p>
<p>Thinking about the debate over neonicotinoids in these terms is revealing: many French beekeepers became convinced more than a decade ago that the worsening trend of honeybee losses was linked to the introduction of <a href="http://www.bayercropscience.us/products/seed-treatments/gaucho-XT/">Gaucho</a>, a brand of products from the German agro-chemical company Bayer that contains Imidacloprid, a widely used neonicotinoid.</p>
<p>Their campaign against these products went international in 2007 after researchers at Pennsylvania State University looking into the causes of particularly dramatic bee losses in the US the previous autumn, produced a <a href="http://www.beekeeping.com/articles/us/ccd.pdf">report</a> in which they named the condition <a href="http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/about/intheworks/honeybee.htm">Colony Collapse Disorder</a> (CCD).</p>
<p>This new term was picked up and quickly became ubiquitous in media reports worldwide. Its apocalyptic overtones caught the public imagination, so that CCD came to be perceived as an unprecedented and urgent crisis not only of honeybees but of pollination, threatening agriculture and food production.</p>
<p>This helped to create the conditions in which the anti-neonicotinoid campaign was able to enlist many more allies, until it was strong enough to achieve the considerable coup of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22335520">out-lobbying</a> the big pesticide companies within the EU legislative process, if not within all member states.</p>
<p>The relationship between the politics and science of CCD is complex. Despite ongoing research, neonicotinoids have not yet been shown to be a convincing, sole cause of CCD. Instead the emerging scientific view is that the problem is a complex, multi-causal phenomenon. The interaction of various pesticides with each other and other factors serve to ratchet up the existing threats posed to honeybees from parasites and viruses.</p>
<p>In the absence of a smoking gun, two political approaches have emerged. One is to insist that more research is needed, as a toxin must be shown to be specifically responsible before it can be withdrawn. This is the UK and US government stance.</p>
<p>The other is to adopt the <a href="http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/consumers/consumer_safety/l32042_en.htm">precautionary principle</a>, which argues that if there is good reason to suspect a toxin then it should be withdrawn while further research is carried out. This is the position that underpins the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/liveanimals/bees/neonicotinoids_en.htm">EU’s recent decision.</a></p>
<p>Some science studies scholars have argued that the first of these positions ignores and de-legitimises the practical expertise and knowledge of beekeepers in favour of a narrow conception of scientific authority. Whereas the precautionary principle acknowledges that in complex cases those practitioners working “on the ground” may sometimes have the edge over laboratory scientists.</p>
<p>Ruling out other forms of knowledge as “unscientific” is typical of what James Scott has called “<a href="http://www.lrb.co.uk/v21/n11/paul-seabright/the-aestheticising-vice">seeing like a state</a>”, whereby techno-bureaucracies impose top-down schemes rooted in “expert” ways of knowing and doing that are divorced from the real intricacies of practical experience. This can often lead to huge waste and inefficiency, abject failure, and sometimes even disaster.</p>
<p>Yet the UK government is not averse to dismissing scientific expertise in favour of practical wisdom when it suits, as illustrated by its recent insistence on culling badgers to appease disgruntled farmers <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/oct/13/badger-cull-mindless">in spite of expert advice</a> that this will do very little to reduce bovine TB.</p>
<p>So there is more to this than a preference for science over other forms of knowledge, and sociologist Ulrich Beck’s theory of <a href="http://www.ulrichbeck.net-build.net/uploads/constellations.pdf">risk society</a> provides a further way to understand what may be going on.</p>
<p>Beck argues that in contemporary societies the social mechanisms for managing the risks of industrial technologies have broken down. Once risks were managed by the institutions of insurance, precautionary after-care and the polluter-pays principle. But in the nuclear, chemical and biotechnological age, risks have become so pervasive and so great in magnitude that they are effectively incalculable, individual polluters often unidentifiable, and precautionary after-care rendered meaningless. Society is essentially uninsured.</p>
<p>The vacuum is filled by the dogma of technological infallibility, and by the denial or normalisation of risk. Consequently every accident corrodes public confidence in scientific authority and political integrity.</p>
<p>It becomes much easier then to see why the anti-pesticide campaign has grown much faster than the specific evidence against neonicotinoids, and it is not just an anthropomorphic response to lovable, stripey little bees. It draws upon a much deeper public anxiety concerning the risks to human, animal and ecological health associated with techno-scientific progress, and the willingness of politicians and regulatory institutions to manage such risks in the interests of the public, rather than those of powerful corporations and lobbyists.</p>
<p>As honeybee losses continue at an unsustainable rate, the US and UK governments’ rejection of the precautionary principle suggests such anxiety is by no means unwarranted.</p>
<p><em>First published on Policy@Manchester’s <a href="http://www.manchester.ac.uk/policyblogs">Manchester Policy Blogs</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/18532/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richie Nimmo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The EU banned the use of neonicotinoid pesticides for two years in April, after a sustained campaign by beekeepers, green groups and environmental organisations across Europe. These groups are convinced…Richie Nimmo, Lecturer in Sociology, University of ManchesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.