So… You think that you come into contact with a lot of pesticides everyday by merely being a human who lives in this dirty, toxic world? Well, we can say without a doubt that every human on planet Earth doesn’t have it as bad as the honeybees.

You may be thinking, “what the heck do you mean?” Well, here are the details:

Scientists have discovered a new way to gauge the amount of pesticides in honeybees. And preliminary research has discovered that–brace yourselves– residue from 57 different pesticides are commonly found in a typical honeybee.

How Scientists Found the Dreaded 57

To examine the amount of pesticides affecting bees, Tomasz Kiljanek and a team of researchers from the National Veterinary Research Institute in Poland, developed a method to better analyze pesticides. “They [the researchers] can now analyze 200 pesticides at the same time,” Treehugger reports. The method is able to examine many of the pesticides that are currently approved for use in the European Union.

The scientists decided to pursue their research they think bee health should be a public health concern. “Bees are considered critically important for the environment and agriculture by pollinating more than 80 percent of crops and wild plants in Europe,” Kiljanek says.

The scientists involved in the study note that it’s incredibly difficult to find the exact cocktail of pesticides inside bees. But once this information is deciphered, it could help people discover the complex relationship between bees and pesticides. Also, different types of pesticides used over varied periods of time could affect honeybees in different ways.

Checking Current Levels

So, the only way to understand what pesticides are in honeybees right now is to examine the pesticide concentration levels currently in honeybees.

And “what they [scientists] found after investigating more than 70 honeybee poisoning incidents was the presence of 57 different pesticides present in the bees,” Treehugger reports.

Now, Kiljanek notes that this is just the beginning of the research that needs to be conducted. “Honeybee poisoning incidents are the tip of the iceberg,” he notes. “Even at very low levels, pesticides can weaken bees’ defense systems, allowing parasites or viruses to kill the colony. Our results will help expand our knowledge about the influence of pesticides on honeybee health, and will provide important information for other researchers to better assess the risk connected with the mix of current used pesticides.”

We hope future research will reveal more information because we know one thing is certain: Honeybees need our help. Without bees, nothing can survive.

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Image of honeybee via Shutterstock

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We know this sounds crazy, but there may be a mushroom that could possibly help save honeybees.

Two scientists are working to find out if a mushroom could actually help halt colony collapse disorder. Watch the video below to get the “buzz.”

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The post Mushrooms Could be Honeybees’ Savior [Video] appeared first on EcoSalon.

ExclusiveBreaking news of a mysterious bee death epidemic in SF.

Make a list of the foods you love. Then start crossing out the ones that are pollinated by bees, and imagine never eating them again.

I’d have to say goodbye to avocados, strawberries, squash, almonds, okra, cucumbers, broccoli, beets, cauliflower, cabbage, cantaloupe, beans, peppers, citrus, figs, fennel, and coffee. And it doesn’t stop there. Fully one-third of the foods we eat depend on bees for pollination.

Recent history: Bees are dying all over the place, “colony collapse disorder” enters the national consciousness, a leaked EPA memo points to a particular pesticide, Army researchers enter the fray. In the midst of all of this news, just as it seems scientists might be closer to identifying the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder, a new mysterious bee die-off is happening – right now – in San Francisco.

I discovered this entirely by chance when I met a fellow cookbook author named Penni Wisner at a professional gathering. The day we met, she had just learned that the beehive in her Lower Castro San Francisco backyard had collapsed, practically overnight.  As she told the story of how the process unfolded, everyone in the room was swept away by the heartbreaking mystery of the hive’s demise.

Penni’s hive was set up and administered by Robert MacKimmie, whose business, City Bees installs hives in backyards around the city. He’s there to save the bees, but also to market hyper local honey at farmers’ markets around the city. Residents get honey, a vibrant garden full of pollinators, and the distinctive joy of hosting a hive.

When Penni’s bees arrived in June, she was at first a little afraid of being stung. It didn’t take long for her to discover that the bees were gentle good company that greatly improved her quality of life. She described them as a “wonderful, sweet addition to the backyard environment.” Penni found their flight patterns “fascinating” and told us that when she was working in her garden with the bees, she felt “there was something important going on, like I was among an intelligent form of life that I didn’t understand.” Coexisting with the bees gave her a sense of contentment. And the sweet aroma of the brood became a fixture in her life. Turns out that it’s not the scent of honey, but the brood of baby bees that attracts bears.

Penni described the scent as physical, almost primal: “An elixir aroma of sweetness, and intoxication, like a tropical fruit…sexy and floral, but funky, too.”

One day in early December, she noticed an absence of brood aroma coming from the hive. That’s what first tipped her off that there might be a problem with her bees.

It seemed impossible. On November 1^st, Robert had harvested four gallons of honey; and the hive had been buzzing with contentment and life. Up through Thanksgiving, there had been plenty of activity and the hive appeared healthy and vibrant. On December 5^th, when Penni noticed dead bees outside the hive, she contacted Robert. When the two opened the hive on December 15, there were only about 150 bees out of a probable peak population of 20,000. Stunned, they simply sat down in the yard in shocked silence and grief.

After speaking to Penni, I got in touch with Robert to see if he had any ideas about the cause of the massive die-off. He told me, “it seems like a brand new syndrome because massive bee die-offs at the hive are normally explained by parasitic tracheal mite infestations, not normally a problem in this area, or more often, from a pesticide kill based on agricultural exposure. This current combination of symptoms doesn’t fit what beekeepers have experienced before. These were all strong, robust hives that completely collapsed within weeks or a month. The reported losses are citywide, so pesticide exposure doesn’t seem to be a likely culprit, especially in November.”

He’s just put the word out to other beekeepers in the city and has confirmed that at least six beekeepers have collectively experienced 10 hives with this type of collapse during recent months. Other collapses where the bees completely disappear have also become more numerous in recent years. The circumstances of these specific collapses are entirely different from what is typically seen in a Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), in which all of the bees disappear, leaving only a queen and a few workers.

“There are new, greater challenges to beekeeping in general, and the ability to keep bees alive has been getting worse during recent years. The past month, it’s just plain bad, though other hives have been completely unaffected,” Robert told me.

Researchers from Davis, UCSF, and San Francisco State are currently analyzing the bee DNA to try to pinpoint the cause of this new die-off, though, because the collapsed bees haven’t been continuously monitored, there can be no indicator of what influences may have changed. For now, it’s too soon to tell how widespread it is. It will probably be at least a month before information is available.

In the meantime, outside of this San Francisco crisis, the media has been abuzz (sorry!) with bee news over the past few months. In October, the New York Times reported that a probable cause of CCD was uncovered by entomologists and army researchers working together. The collaborative team used a military-developed software system to uncover a new DNA-based bee virus, which was then linked to a previously known fungus. Tests on hives that had collapsed found both the fungus and virus present in all cases.

Previously, scientists had thought that a pesticide, specifically one called clothianidin, which is manufactured by Bayer’s Crop Science division, was the likeliest cause of CCD. So this new research looked to be a surprise break-through. Nowhere in the research was Bayer’s pesticide clothianidin mentioned. Shortly after the New York Times story was published, Fortune Magazine revealed that the main scientist involved in the army study had received a funding grant from Bayer. Oops!

Even discounting that appearance of conflict of interest, the army study was hardly conclusive. The virus/fungus combo being present in all collapsed hives doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the only cause of the die off. Another substance could be weakening the bees and making them more susceptible to both. In fact, neonicotinoids, the class of pesticides to which clothianidin belongs, can have cumulative effects on insects that include immune system disruptions and neurobehavioral problems.

On the heels of this news, a leaked EPA memo emerged showing that the core scientific study upon which EPA granted Bayer the conditional registration of clothianidin was deeply flawed, and EPA knew it.

The Bayer-designed study had three major problems: It was conducted on the wrong crop, it was conducted for an insufficient amount of time, and the test fields and control fields were not properly separated. According to this article in Fast Company, the pesticide, though used on other crops, is most commonly used to pretreat corn seeds. MacKimmie told me that concerned parties view the Bayer trials as lacking credibility because instead of testing in the US with neonicotinoid tainted pollen from corn which actually impacts bees, the approved trials were in Canada and used canola.

Whatever the causes, bees are dying, our food supply is threatened, and we have the EPA knowingly approving the use of the pesticide that has been shown to harm bees. Meanwhile, a new and mysterious collapse disorder is unfolding in San Francisco.

It’s time to pay attention to the bees. They might be trying to tell us something.

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

Image: Mike Baird via Flickr

The post Exclusive: EPA Ignores Its Own Science and Approves Bee-Killing Pesticide; Mysterious New Die-Off Unfolds appeared first on EcoSalon.

You’re relaxing in your backyard when you hear that ominous noise: the unmistakable buzz of a swarm of bees. The sight of a writhing mass of wild stinging insects is enough to turn almost anyone into a shrieking horror movie heroine, but whatever you do, don’t harm them! Natural care of feral bees could be a key to overcoming Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).

They’ve yet to pinpoint the exact cause, with guesses focusing on everything from tiny mites to pesticide overload, but one thing scientists do know is that we need the bees to pollinate, since a third of our food crops are rapidly disappearing. But treating honeybees with even more chemicals is just fueling the fire, according to one subset of beekeepers.

“We’re “˜Backwards’ because we rely on observation and natural practices rather than pesticides and other chemicals to keep our bees thriving,” write the self-proclaimed Backwards Beekeepers, a group of organic beekeepers in Los Angeles who are determined to help local bee populations thrive.

While CCD has hit commercial bees hard, wild bees seem to be doing just fine – and Backwards Beekeepers believe their health is due to their more natural way of life. The Backwards Beekeepers trap feral swarms of bees, transfer them to new hives and provide organic chemical-free support while allowing nature to do most of the work.

Conventional beekeepers place sheets made of plastic or wax in their hives for their honeybees to build upon, but the problem is, bees aren’t too fond of plastic and the wax is contaminated by chemicals and pesticides. The hexagonal cell pattern on the sheets is often too large, encouraging the growth of oversized bees that may gather more pollen and make more honey, but are also more susceptible to mites and thus require chemical treatment.

The Backwards Beekeepers – made up of Kirk Anderson, Charles Martin Simon and Michael Bush – believe that this just plain unnatural system is adding unnecessary stress to bee populations. Their own system relies on wood strips painted with chemical-free beeswax taken from their own previous harvests.

Simon outlines the 10 Principles of Beekeeping Backwards, explaining that observation, working with nature and above all supporting the health of the bees are the most important things you can remember, adding “Beekeeping is not about honey – it’s not about money – it’s about survival.”

Want to get started as a Backwards Beekeeper? Check out our primer, ‘How to Keep Bees: Basics of Bee Keeping for Beginners‘ and then bone-up on natural beekeeping methods at Beehuman.blogspot.com.

Image: hr.icio

The post Backwards Beekeeping: Natural Care of Feral Bees appeared first on EcoSalon.

Buzzzzzzzzzz. These little pollinators are a boon to gardeners, helping edible crops and ornamental plants flourish – and while they may send you running for the house, they’re way more interested in nectar than in you.

It does take time and effort, but the rewards of keeping bees are sweet. Almost too sweet – many backyard beekeepers end up with so many gallons of honey, they don’t know what to do with it all. But who doesn’t want another excuse to make sticky baked goods like honey buns?

So, why not come up with a plan bee? Even beginners can get a hive up and running within a few months, and before long you’ll have busy little bees working hard in your yard. These basic suburban beekeeping tips will help you get started.

1. Check your local ordinances and if backyard beekeeping is legal in your area, determine where you’d put your hives. A sunny spot that’s not directly situated next to a recreational area like a picnic table or playground is ideal. It’s best to plant a hedge or put up some kind of barrier around your bee colonies to prevent vandalism, protect the hive from wind and induce the bees to fly upward when leaving the hive (rather than through your neighbor’s yard.) Speaking of neighbors, you’ll need to talk to them about your plans. As long as none of them are allergic to bees, a little bribery with some honey should put them at ease.
2. Avoid a buzzkill by reading up on all things bee prior to ordering or building any equipment. It’s important to understand how colonies work including biology, social order, behavior patterns and potential problems like mites, colony-killing pests and intruders from other hives. A gentle, well-kept colony won’t bother your family or your neighbors. Don’t be too intimidated – the bees will do most of the work.
3. Find your own queen bee – a local beekeeping expert, that is. Take a course or visit a beekeeping farm or an experienced backyard beekeeper and ask plenty of questions. Many areas have amateur beekeeping groups where you can talk to other hobbyists and get the 411 on what it’s really like to keep bees in the city.
4. Consider your options in terms of equipment. TheFarm.org has a rundown on what you need for a conventional set-up, which includes supers, frames, a bottom board, a hive body, a queen excluder, inner and outer covers, a feeder, a smoker and protective clothing. BeeSource.com offers free plans for building your own hives, or you can purchase them from a recommended list of suppliers. Top bar hives are a great option for beginners, since it’s an inexpensive way to produce smaller quantities of honey.
5. Get your buzz on! Find a local source of bees if possible, or order them online. Honeybees are usually shipped in two- to five-pound packages containing about 9,000 – 22,000 bees. Once you’re accustomed to handling bees, you might be ready to capture a swarm that has branched off from another colony. “Beemaster” John Clayton has tips on how to find, inspect and gather swarms and acclimate them to your hive.
6. Prepare to be stung. It will inevitably happen every now and then, but there are a few tips to keeping your bees calm and happy. The University of Kentucky’s entomology department recommends that you avoid passing directly in front of a colony of bees, working from the side or back instead. If you are stung, remove the stinger by scraping it with a fingernail and wash the area so the scent of venom doesn’t get the other bees excited. If your colony consistently displays aggressive behavior, re-queening with a queen of gentle stock can help mellow them out again.
7. Get into the groove of seasonal honeybee management, feeding and medicating during the first two months of the year and inspecting the hives for growth and disease symptoms in February. By mid-April, your bees will begin gathering nectar and you can watch your supers fill with delicious honey over the summer.
8. Harvest that sticky, succulent honeycomb. While expensive honey extractors are available, there’s an easier and much more frugal way for beginners. Just cut chunks of honey-filled comb from the frames and wrap them in plastic or put them in sterilized containers, and enjoy the bounty of your buzzing bees!

Image: Don Hankins

The post The Buzz on Backyard Beekeeping for Beginners appeared first on EcoSalon.

One-third of our world’s growing fields rely on the European honeybee, the type of bee kept by beekeepers in western countries. But according to a study conducted to solve the mysteries of CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) honeybees are dying of infections that are difficult to identify and cure.

Research highlighted in Scientific American finds there are many possible contributing factors but no single culprit in the deaths of colonies. Bees suffering from CCD appear to be infested with multiple pathogens (including a newly discovered virus) and solving the problem may require “taking better care of the environment and making long-term changes to our beekeeping and agricultural practices.”

As I’ve described in past posts on CCD, many of the varieties of super foods and fruits and vegetables we consume –  apples, blueberries, broccoli and almonds – are greatly at risk as they require bees to flourish. The study reports that even before the onslaught of CCD, farmers watched their honeybee populations diminish because of a number of ailments.

While colonies have always collapsed, the drop in 2006 was major. The population was estimated at around 2.4 after the disorder took out colonies in large numbers, reducing the overall population to half of what it was in 1949. The losses got worse in 2007 and 2008. So much attention has been focused on this issue that there even is a website devoted entirely to CCD news, opinions and research.

SciAm says the concern now is not the extinction of our friend the honeybee but rather the disappearance of the skilled bee keeper.

“If beekeepers’ skills and know-how become a rarity as a result, then even if CCD is eventually overcome, nearly 100 of our crops could be left without pollinators and large-scale production of certain crops could become impossible,” states the report. It says we would still have starchy staples like corn, wheat, potatoes and rice, but much of the important and nutritious food we consume today we become “the food of kings.”

Here are a few major points from this important research:

• Millions of beehives worldwide have emptied out as honeybees mysteriously disappear, putting at risk nearly 100 crops that require pollination.
• Research is pointing to a complex disease in which combinations of factors, including farming practices, make bees vulnerable to viruses.
• Taking extra care with hive hygiene seems to aid prevention. And research into antiviral drugs could lead to pharmaceutical solutions.

Image: Kuribo

The post Solving the Mystery of Our Vanishing Bees appeared first on EcoSalon.