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Apples are one of the 21 main crops that utilize pesticide spraying, according to a study by the Economic Research Service and USDA
Pesticides in the Field: What Do We Really Know?
- Apr 09, 2019
- By Robert Anderson
- In Bee Health, Pesticides, Research
- 0 Comments
New research on the impacts of neonicotinoid pesticides on bee health has given us important insight into the exact problems that can arise when bees are exposed to these chemicals. However, most of this research has been done in a laboratory setting and has not resulted in any concrete solutions…
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Bees in Danger if They Live Near Farms Using Airborne Pesticide Clothianidin
- Aug 25, 2017
- By Tyler Lew
- In Bee Health, Organic, Pesticides, Research
- 0 Comments
In the American agricultural industry, pesticides are often liberally applied to crops in order to help keep common pests away. One group of pesticide compounds called neonicotinoids is highly toxic to honeybees. They were first introduced in the 1980s by the chemical company Bayer, and as of 2008 comprise a…
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Is this the new Langstroth hive?
- Aug 09, 2017
- By August Easton-Calabria
- In Around the World, Articles, Bee Health, Research
- 0 Comments
Starting the practice of beekeeping can be a daunting task, especially considering the dire state of bee populations worldwide today. Beekeepers in Johannesburg, South Africa, are facing the same declining bee populations that are being seen in the United States. Not only are South African honey bees afflicted by the…
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Genetic Tradeoffs: Some Bees Can Have it All
- Mar 23, 2017
- By Aaron Weber
- In Articles, Bee Health, Research
- 0 Comments
Recently a lot of attention has been given to breeding Varroa mite resistant honey bees. There has been concern, however, that this good-intentioned method could come with a downside. One main way honey bee workers deal with parasites is by socially grooming one-another. Researchers hope that we can create healthier…
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Nosema’s Impact on Honeybee Colony Health
- Jan 27, 2017
- By Becky Cohn
- In Bee Health, Research
- 0 Comments
Honeybees are essential to our food supply as a major pollinator species. Unfortunately, colony health is threatened by many factors including pesticides, diseases, and mites. Among these threats is the fungus Nosema ceranae. If a honeybee eats the spores of this fungus, it will reproduce inside the cells of the…
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Monitoring Honeybees with SmartHive Tech
- Jan 18, 2017
- By Benjamin Ruzzo
- In Around the World, Articles, Conferences, Research
- 0 Comments
For many of us, computers play an important role in everyday life. From news, to entertainment, to our jobs, computers make many things easier. We’re hoping to include beekeeping on this list of computer-aided tasks. As in fields such as agriculture, forestry, and medicine, monitoring beehives with shared control techniques…
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DNA from Honey and What it Tells Us
- Jan 13, 2017
- By Andrew Bradley
- In Bee Health, Conservation, Research
- 0 Comments
HoneyDNA is a service offered by The Best Bees Company that shows you what plants make up your raw honey. It all starts with a small sample of honey straight from the hive (or your favorite jar). The DNA from pollen-proteins in the honey is extracted and multiplied using a…
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Migratory Management of (Stressed Out) Honey Bees
- Jan 04, 2017
- By Shayla Willette
- In Articles, Bee Health, Conservation, Research
- 0 Comments
A recent article published in Nature discussed the effects of migratory management and environmental conditions on the lifespan and oxidative stress of honey bees (Apis mellifera). Migratory management is the transportation of honey bees across the country for pollination purposes in large-scale agriculture. Frequent moves such as these may cause high levels of…
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Immunity to Bacterial Infections in Honey Bees
- Dec 01, 2016
- By Peter Kilian
- In Articles, Bee Health, Research
- 0 Comments
Honey bees constantly struggle against various bacterial and fungal species. For example, Nosema species are very detrimental parasitic fungi that infect honey bees and can cause great harm to an entire colony in a very short amount of time. A hive that is heavily infected with nosema will often collapse, leading to robbing behavior by other colonies and a…
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Bumblebees Can Teach Each Other Learned Behaviors
- Nov 23, 2016
- By Catie Colliton
- In Around the World, Articles, Research
- 0 Comments
A recent study out of Queen Mary University of London shows that bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) can learn to pull a string for a reward then teach others to do the same. This suggests that that bumblebees engage in cultural transmission, a form of social learning. The Experiment In this experiment, individual bumblebees were…