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Agriculture's dependence on pollinators, including both wild and domesticated bees, has increased fourfold since the 1960s. A recent study of these pollinators found that they provide up to $577 billion a year of crops, half of which comes from wild pollinators. These ratios underline the severity of their collapsing numbers. More than a third are facing extinction.
Gemma Cranston, head of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership team that participated in the study, warned that "less than half the companies sampled know which of the raw materials they source depend on pollinators", adding that there needs to be more research to get the full picture.
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Plight of the bees hits unaware businesses
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Plight of the Bees Hits Unaware Businesses
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @06:55PM (7 children)
That might kill the mites but will it cure the bees? Most research on the subject I've seen suggests insecticides are at least part of the problem.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday April 17 2018, @08:08PM (5 children)
He was pretty successful (in Central Florida) with just the mite treatment. We actually met when he took a bee lease on our property, which is mostly palmetto/oak woods with an orange grove about a half mile away. So - he wasn't near any intensively pesticide treated areas. Some of his bees naturalized on to our land and are still there today.
I forget the exact name, but there's one insecticide in particular that has been linked to CCD, banned in Europe, etc.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday April 18 2018, @03:27AM (3 children)
I believe that's the neocorticoid pesticide. A part of the problem with that one is that it's persistent. Another part is that it's a slow contact poison...so it can get carried back to the hive.
For an analogy, consider the way ants are killed with a syrup based on sweetened arsenic. But I really think a large part of the problem can be traced to a multi-drug interaction with the neocorticoid pesticide being only the most recent component added. I suspect that by itself and in isolation it wouldn't cause the perceived effects at the typically encountered dosage.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Wednesday April 18 2018, @10:11AM (1 child)
I think you mean neonicotinoids not neocorticoids. They are a group of pesticides based on nicotine.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday April 18 2018, @05:22PM
Yeah, that looks better. I couldn't remember the exact term, and for some reason when I looked in Google it didn't show up.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday April 18 2018, @11:51AM
Which is how it passes safety testing... then we get to argue about methods for 20 years while Bayer makes bank on it.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 18 2018, @05:38PM
Are you talking about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neonicotinoid [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday April 18 2018, @03:23AM
I'm rather certain that insecticides are a major part of the problem, but do remember that different insecticides affect different insects differently. This one *apparently* affects mites but not bees. Perhaps.
The problem comes with multi-drug interactions...which it's really difficult to avoid, since bees don't just sit around in one place.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.