Posted on 11/14/2022 5:39:24 AM PST by algore
Honeybees live for half as long as they did 50 years ago, a new study has found.
Scientists at the University of Maryland kept bees in a controlled laboratory environment from the pupae up to the end of their life, and found they lived just 17.7 days on average.
For comparison, honeybees had an average lifespan of 34.4 days in the 1970s.
'Standardised protocols for rearing honey bees in the lab weren't really formalised until the 2000s, so you would think that lifespans would be longer or unchanged, because we're getting better at this,' said PhD student and lead author Anthony Nearman.
'Instead, we saw a doubling of mortality rate.'
The researchers found that these shorter lifespans resulted in increased colony loss and reduced honey production - two effects that have been noted by beekeepers in the US in recent decades
Previous studies have focused on environmental factors, like parasites, diseases, pesticides and food availability.
However, the fact that the scientists noted the shorter life span of bees that had never experienced these suggests that genetics play a part.
Mr Nearman said: 'We're isolating bees from the colony life just before they emerge as adults, so whatever is reducing their lifespan is happening before that point.
'This introduces the idea of a genetic component. If this hypothesis is right, it also points to a possible solution.
'If we can isolate some genetic factors, then maybe we can breed for longer-lived honey bees
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I just rushed to buy and plant a panicle hydrangea before the hard freeze predicted for last night. I got “Vanilla Strawberry”. It looks to be a beauty, but I’ll have to prune it to keep it within my 4 x 4’ raised cedar bed boundaries, since it gets 4-6’ wide.
Kept bees in a controlled laboratory environment
Cabin fever must have got to them.
It sounds like the one I just planted, “Berry White”. Panicles love my yard. The Limelight has grown into a 10ft monster. The PeeGee was close to that before hubby accidently cut it down. I’m hoping Berry gets that big.
I have a liitle panicle “Firelight tidbit” that would fit nicely in a pot. I have it in a corner that unfortunately the deer can get to. I’ll have to put it behind some wire.
That sounds exactly like my wife’s garden. I call it the money pit.
RE: The money pit
If only we had invested the money that it took to establish our flower beds over the years. Plastic flowers would have been much more economical. 😁
I looked over the Tidbit online and decided that I liked the Vanilla Strawberry flowers better. It will be work to prune it, as I will probably have to climb into the 4 x 4' 22" deep cedar raised bed it's planted in, but hopefully it will be worth it. I hope that my neighbor's puny little tree on the other side of my 6' white vinyl fence will not shade out my V.S. It gets the morning sun, but will be shaded by the fence as of the afternoon. From what I've read and been told at nurseries, that's OK for zone 7. The L-shaped cedar bed will have some burgundy/reddish types of heucheras in the side arms to the V.S., as they are more sun-hardy than the lighter colored ones and hopefully a couple of the more sun-hardy hostas to keep them company. That's the shady side of the yard. The other side of the yard is the sunny side, now planted with echinacea, gaillardia, rudbeckia, and a few dwarf shrubs. There's also a butterfly bush in its own large pot. Yeah, it's a money pit but I love my plants and the tiny critters they attract, like hummers and butterflies.
This is because their social security is failing.
Not a problem. That’s still plenty of time for same day voter registration, given that no real ID check is needed in dem states. Pulling the lever, using the punch card machine or filling in the oval used to be a real problem for bees, but vote by mail and vote harvesting has taken care of that problem.
Pooh is angry.
Gilligan’s Island - The Honeybees
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz7gr4hSkNQ
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