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The north-east of England has recorded a honeybee loss rate of 17.1%. Photograph courtesy: Saul Loeb/AFP via guardian
Winged pollinators, most especially bees, are still under attack on a myriad of fronts; and, are suffering staggering decreases in their numbers. The UK, in particular, has suffered a tremendous loss to their honeybee population this winter; and, are trying desperately to bolster the declining honeybee situation.
We, in Canada and the USA, are suffering the same sorts of declines - as are countries all over the world - but, the UK seems to take this crisis much more seriously than other countries. They appear to realize that if we lose our winged pollinators, eventually our entire food chain will collapse.
In 2008, the bee was named "The World's Most Invaluable Species" by Earthwatch during their annual event which is eagerly attended by scientists and non-scientists alike. With all our neighbours across the pond do for bees, it seems a shame that they should have suffered such a loss this winter.
Honeybee populations declined by 13.6% over the winter according to a survey of beekeepers across England. Losses were most severe in the north-east where the survey recorded a loss rate of 17.1%.
Experts worry that the declines will affect plant productivity. There are also concerns that the declines, along with drought conditions in some areas, will mean less English honey this year.
Martin Smith, president of the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA), which carried out the survey, said: "If this was measured against similar losses in livestock it would be seen as disastrous and there would be great concern on the knock-on impact of food prices."
Beekeepers are puzzled by the decline because the cold winter and early spring should have favoured bees. They stay "clustered" tightly in their hives when it is cold and dry, saving energy for spring foraging when the temperature rises about 12C.
However, there is good news that the rate of colony loss has slowed. Four years ago, one in three hives was wiped out.
Beekeepers suspect that poor nutrition is a likely cause of weakness in adult bees that makes them succumb to diseases spread by a parasitic mite.
"The varroa mite is the number one reason why people lose bees, so the government needs to increase research to cure diseases caused by varroa," said Smith. "But a colony that has a good source of pollen and nectar will go into winter stronger and better able to fend off disease."
The association is calling on everyone who has a garden, however small, to plant bee-friendly plants this summer. "It is really important that there are flowering nectar-rich plants around in August, September and October to provide the nutrition that's needed so the bees can top up their stores of honey in the hive to see them through winter," said Smith.
A campaign being launched next week to save all bees, spearheaded by Sam Roddick and Neal's Yard Remedies, pins the blame for the decline on pesticide. It will start a petition to hand to Downing Street in October to ban the use of a class of pesticides that has been implicated in bee deaths across the world.
Roddick said: "These neonicotinoid pesticides penetrate the plant and indiscriminately attack the nervous system of insects that feed off them, disorientating bees, impairing their foraging ability and weakening their immune system, causing bee Aids. On current evidence, Italy, Germany and Slovenia have banned some varieties. In the UK, it's up to the people to show the government that if there is any doubt that they are contributing to bee deaths, we need to ban them."
A spokesman for the government's National Bee Unit said: "The UK has a robust system for assessing risks from pesticides and all the evidence shows neonicotinoids do not pose an unacceptable risk when products are used correctly, but we will not hesitate to act if presented with any new evidence. "
He added: "Although we're pleased the BBKA's seen fewer overwintering losses, bees continue to be affected by pests, diseases, and the weather. Amid a range of initiatives, we're training beekeepers, researching varroa mite controls, and improving the availability of medicines."
On a personal level, I have divided my reasonably-sized balcony into edible and non-edible portions. I grow some edibles for my consumption and try to lay in few flowering veg such as tomatoes for the bees' sake. The other portion is my non-edible, bee-friendly garden which is a riot of winged pollinator-friendly flowers and shrubs. I put a small nest out for mason bees planted a dwarf cherry tree along with several medium-sized shrubs; then sat back and watched.
My favourite chair faces the balcony which is where I spend most evenings sitting watching the wildlife. Now, as anyone who knows me realizes, I live on the 4th floor which may make you wonder "what wildlife?"
I have found, to my utter delight, that my "naturalized" balcony attracts not only the winged pollinators I was after; but, quite an array of bird life. Birds have always fascinated me; and, I can watch them for hours. Unbelievably, I even had a woodpecker visit my balcony the other day.
Bee friendly to our winged pollinators!
Via guardian
Falling vegetable yields could have a detrimental impact on people's diets, Indian researchers warn. Photo courtesy: bbcnews
A decline in pollinating insects in India is resulting in reduced vegetable yields and could limit people's access to a nutritional diet, a study warns.
Indian researchers said there was a "clear indication" that pollinator abundance was linked to productivity.
They added that the loss of the natural service could have a long-term impact on the farming sector, which accounts for almost a fifth of the nation's GDP.
Globally, pollination is estimated to be worth £141bn ($224bn) each year.
The findings were presented at a recent British Ecological Society meeting, held at the University of Leeds.
Each year, India produces about 7.5 million tonnes of vegetables. This accounts for about 14% of the global total, making the nation second only to China in the world's vegetable production league table.
Despite the concern, no study had been done to assess directly the scale of the decline in natural pollinators, explained Parthiba Basu, from the University of Calcutta's Ecology Research Unit.
"The ideal situation would have been if we were able to compare the overall pollinator abundance over the years, but that kind of data was just not available," he told BBC News.
Instead, his team compared the yields of pollinator-dependent crops with pollinator-independent crops.
"Data shows that the yields of pollinator-independent crops have continued to increase," Dr Basu said. "On the other hand, pollinator-dependent crops have levelled off."
He explained that certain crops did not depend on insects for pollination, including cereals. Instead, the plants used other mechanism - such as relying on the wind to carry the pollen.
However, many vegetables - such as pumpkin, squash, cucumber and gherkin - were reliant on insects, such as bees.
He added that the fall in yield per hectare was against the backdrop of a greater area being turned over to crop production each year.
The exact cause for the decline of pollinators, especially bees, still remains a mystery. Photo courtesy: bbcnews
In an attempt to identify an underlying cause for the pollinator decline, the team is carrying out a series of field experiments, comparing conventional agriculture with "ecological farming".
Defined as "a farming system that aims to develop an integrated, humane, environmentally and economically sustainable agricultural production system", ecological farming is almost a hybrid of conventional and organic farming, looking to capitalise on returns from modern farming methods as well as drawing on natural ecological services, such as pollination.
Dr Basu said: "There is an obvious indication that within the ecological farming setting, there is pollinator abundance. This method typically provides the habitats for natural pollinators - this is the way forward."
He added that if the team's findings were extrapolated, this would offer a "clear indication" that India was facing a decline in natural pollinators, as ecological farming was only practiced on about 10-20% of the country's arable land.
Figures show that agriculture accounts for almost one-fifth of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP), compared with the global average of just 6%. The sector also provides livelihoods for more than half of India's 1.2 billion population.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that of the slightly more than 100 crop species that provide 90% of food supplies for 146 countries, 71 are bee-pollinated, primarily by wild bees, and a number of others are pollinated by other insects.
In order to gain a clear insight into the scale of the global problem, the FAO has established the International Pollinators Initiative, which includes a project involving seven nations (India is among them) with the aim of identifying practices and building capacity in the management of pollination services.
In a 2007 assessment of the scientific data on the issue, the UN Environment Programme observed: "Any loss in biodiversity is a matter of public concern, but losses of pollinating insects may be particularly troublesome because of the potential effects on plant reproduction and hence on food supply security."
Dr Basu said food security was unlikely to be the main consequence facing India.
"There has been a debate within India about this, but most of the cereal crops are not pollinator dependent, so if there is a pollination crisis it is not going to affect food security as such.
"What is going to be affected is nutritional security."
The concept of food security was first established by a FAO committee in 1983. Nutritional security was soon added as a key pillar to ensure "access by all people at all times to enough food for an active and healthy life".
Dr Basu said that vegetables such as pumpkins, squash, cucumber, and gherkins were "quite substantial" in terms of delivering necessary nutrients to the population.
"But there are many other vegetable crops that are eaten by people who are around the poverty level, so-called minor vegetable crops like eggplant, for which is there is no or very little data," he explained.
About a quarter of India's population is believed to live below the poverty level, which - under the UN's Millennium Development Goals - refers to people who live on less than US$1 a day.
In industrialised nations, such as the US and in Europe, many farms employ the services of commercial hives to pollinate fruit trees and food crops, and ensure they harvest adequate yields.
But Dr Basu said the use of domesticated bees in this context was not widespread in South Asia.
"There are honey farmers, but using hives in the field to pollinate crops is not at all common in India," he said.
"That is why a lot of the political noise about a global pollination crisis came from the US and Europe, because their managed/domesticated bee population was declining."
In 2007, about one third of the US domesticated bee population was wiped out as a result of a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), with some commercial hive owners losing up to 90% of their bees.
The exact cause remains a mystery, and last year a number of UK agencies - including the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) - began a £10m project to help identify the main threat to bees and other insect pollinators.
A number of possible causes have been suggested, including the misuse of pesticides, habitat loss and fragmentation, and the spread of parasites and diseases.
Dr Basu said that as a result of his team's field experiments, it was clear that India too was experiencing a decline.
However, he cautioned: "There are many kinds of natural pollinators. As a result, we - not only in India, but in other parts of the world - do not really know what is happening to natural pollinator populations."
Via bbcnews
The north-east of England has recorded a honeybee loss rate of 17.1%. Photograph courtesy: Saul Loeb/AFP via guardian
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