Honeybee blues

A documentary called Honeybee blues (youtube link) was on SBS last night.  It tells the amazing story of the disappearing honeybees world-wide and how Dr Denis Anderson, my colleague here in CSIRO, fought "Varroa destructor" to save the bees. 


I have known Denis' work for years but I didn't know the larger context of his work.  For instance, I wasn't aware that Australian beekeepers exported bees to the US, because Australia was the only country in the world free of the Varroa mite.  Along with what I gathered when talking to another bee expert and a bee keeper, watching the documentary made me more intrigued by the bees/bee industry/bee keepers' life (they are very Nomadic) and more appreciative of Australian honey, which I enjoy pretty much every day...

Friday post: the beauty of pollination

A youtube video clip. 

Population collapse of bumblebees

"...We show that the relative abundances of four species have declined by up to 96% and that their surveyed geographic ranges have contracted by 23–87%, some within the last 20 y. We also show that declining populations have significantly higher infection levels of the microsporidian pathogen Nosema bombi and lower genetic diversity compared with co-occurring populations of the stable (nondeclining) species. Higher pathogen prevalence and reduced genetic diversity are, thus, realistic predictors of these alarming patterns of decline in North America, although cause and effect remain uncertain (PNAS)."

Colony Collapse Disorder Solved?

A fungus "tag-teaming with a virus" appeared to be the likely cause (NYT article).

Update: maybe not.

Bees help to monitor air quality

In German airport (NYT).

Update: more bee links.

Buzziness as usual or a global pollination crisis?

"Call it a scoping problem — the conclusions you draw from looking through a microscope may be opposite to those you arrive at after examining the same evidence through a telescope. By drawing on both perspectives, scientists have come to a new, more-nuanced revelation: a pollinator crisis does indeed loom, but the crisis they see has little to do with a decline in bees and everything to do with economic globalization (the full story from Worldchanging)."

Update: crisis in India.

Bt cotton: a source of mirid bugs in China

Long-term ecological effects Bt cotton (Science).

Friday post: beautifal insect pictures

More like this.

A vicious cycle: lower diversity, fewer bees...

and even lower plant diversity?

Economic assessment of an insect pollinator decline

A general equilibrium model.

How moths and mice can be substituable

Moths As Good As Mice For Many Drug Tests

A successful conservation story at last

25 years of successful restoration of M. arion in the UK.

Pine beetle infestation could threaten the water supplies of 33 million people in Southwest USA

Yale Environment 360.

The new weapon against cane toads

Meat ants.

Pandora’s Box is open

Another biological control experiment went wrong.

Complexities in predicting impacts of environmental change

A paper on the recent Science explores three layers of complexities: 1) behavioral response: the change in a species' population growth rate in response to an environmental disturbance depends on how the species interacts ecologically with other species in the ecosystem, 2) evolutionary response: species may evolve tolerance to the environmental change, and 3) ecological and evolutionary complexities might interact.

No difference in pest control on conventional and organic farms

According to a large-scale study that was published in Ecology Letters (the lead author is my colleague Sarina Macfadyen)

Ecological impacts of non-native invertebrates and fungi on terrestrial ecosystems

A special issue of Biological Invasion, Vol 11, issue 1. Including one paper on "Ecological effects of invasive alien insects"

fire ants are “passengers” rather than “drivers” of ecological change.

According to this PNAS study

Increasing corn for biofuel production reduces biocontrol services in agricultural landscapes

From PNAS

"Increased demand for corn grain as an ethanol feedstock is altering U.S. agricultural landscapes and the ecosystem services they provide. From 2006 to 2007, corn acreage increased 19% nationally, resulting in reduced crop diversity in many areas. Biological control of insects is an ecosystem service that is strongly influenced by local landscape structure. Here, we estimate the value of natural biological control of the soybean aphid, a major pest in agricultural landscapes, and the economic impacts of reduced biocontrol caused by increased corn production in 4 U.S. states (Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin). For producers who use an integrated pest management strategy including insecticides as needed, natural suppression of soybean aphid in soybean is worth an average of $33 ha⁻¹. At 2007–2008 prices these services are worth at least $239 million y⁻¹ in these 4 states. Recent biofuel-driven growth in corn planting results in lower landscape diversity, altering the supply of aphid natural enemies to soybean fields and reducing biocontrol services by 24%. This loss of biocontrol services cost soybean producers in these states an estimated $58 million y⁻¹ in reduced yield and increased pesticide use. For producers who rely solely on biological control, the value of lost services is much greater..."