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London (AFP) – Warmer and wetter weather linked to climate change appears to stress out bumblebees and make their wings more asymmetrical, which could ultimately affect their future development, according to UK scientists in a new research paper. "With hotter and wetter conditions predicted to place bumblebees under higher stress, the fact these conditions will become more frequent under climate change means bumblebees may be in for a rough time over the 21st century," scientists at Imperial College, London, wrote in the Animal Ecology journal on Wednesday. The Imperial College scientists looked at more than 6,000 bumblebee specimens in natural...

A deadly threat facing Australia’s bees has expanded, with more properties affected. The infestation could cost Australia $70m a year. The threat to Australia’s honey bees has expanded after a deadly parasite was discovered at more NSW properties. Bees are being exterminated in NSW to stop the spread of the varroa mite parasite, which could cost Australia $70m each year if it is not stopped. On Tuesday, authorities revealed there were now seven infested properties discovered through contract tracing. A Department of Primary Industries (DPI) emergency order has banned the movement of bees throughout the state, with some hives to...

Judges ruled on Tuesday that bumble bees can be classed as fish under California environmental laws. This unlocks protections for the state's four endangered bumble bee species. The ruling clarifies the state's confusing classification in its environmental protections. A trio of judges in California said on Tuesday that bees can be legally classed as a type of fish as part of a ruling that brings added conservation protections for the endangered species. "The issue presented here is whether the bumble bee, a terrestrial invertebrate, falls within the definition of fish," the judges wrote in their ruling. And, they concluded, it...

More communities are encouraging residents to put away their lawnmowers for next month to help pollinator populations grow Two years ago, Appleton became the first city in the U.S. to adopt "No-Mow May," an initiative designed to boost the population of bees and other pollinators. The idea is to give homeowners the option of letting their lawns get a bit overgrown for a few weeks to ensure that bees that are coming out of hibernation have plenty of options for the nectar and pollen they need. The initiative, which is optional everywhere it's been implemented, requires cities to temporarily waive...

A spokesperson for the Giant Company said they are "extremely disappointed" by the recent beehive theft.In the summer of 2020, the Giant Company, which operates 190 supermarkets under the Giant name, announced the completion of a seven-acre pollinator-friendly field at its Carlisle, Pennsylvania headquarters. In addition to planting more than 20 different kinds of wildflowers, the company also partnered with the Planet Bee Foundation to add and maintain several beehives in the field. "From almonds to zucchini and countless fruits, vegetables and nuts in between, nearly one-third of our food supply depends on pollinators, making bees an essential part of...

There would be no life if the bees die’: Beekeepers protesting with beehives in front of Chile's presidential palace said their demonstration was to highlight the drought in the Colina commune that was killing the local bee population.

Time for sex ed with the House speaker. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) blasted the Supreme Court’s conservative justices Thursday after they indicated they would restore a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy — with Pelosi saying, “they need a session on the birds and the bees.” During her regular news conference, Pelosi described listening to Wednesday’s oral arguments before the high court and said it was “a very dark day.” “The court is threatening to trample over the Constitution, destroy Roe v. Wade, and take away a woman’s freedom to make the most fundamental decision that she can...

Asian honey bees scream as they are being attacked by giant hornets, scientists have discovered. By recording acoustic signals from bees defending their nests from hornets, researchers were able to pinpoint an alarm signal akin to screams of fear.... ...Heather Mattila, from Wellesley College, Massachusetts, studies the organization of animal societies and insect communication. In December last year, she published a study showing that honey bees will use animal poop to defend their nests .. Mattila and colleagues have looked closer at what happens before and during an attack. They said hornets and honey bees appear locked in an "evolutionary...

The American bumble bee is destined to go the way of the brontosaurus and the wooly mammoth thanks to manmade climate change, media report. The Center for Biological Diversity and Bombus Pollinators Association of Law Students have launched a petition calling for the bumble bee to be placed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to save it from extinction, USA Today reported Thursday.

A swarm of bees killed more than 60 penguins on a beach near Cape Town, South Africa, officials said Saturday. South Africa National Parks said in a Facebook post that 63 African penguins were found dead at Boulders Beach, noting the deaths “occurred suddenly some time between Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.” The penguins were transported to the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) to conduct post mortems, which found that all of the penguins had “multiple bee stings.” Officials also found numerous dead bees at the site of the incident. Officials will continue to monitor...

First spotted in the U.S. in 2019, Asian giant hornets—you know, murder hornets—have become an ongoing problem. As if you don’t already have enough to worry about, murder hornets are now an annual problem in the U.S. The Washington State Department of Agriculture on Thursday announced that it located and eradicated the first nest of Asian giant hornets, better known by the much more catchy murder hornets, in the state this year. The nest contained some 1,500 hornets “in various stages of development,” WSDA said in a press release, and photos released by the department show many were in the...

Although busy hives filled with honeybees tend to dominate mainstream imagery and conversations about bee populations, 90 percent of the insects are actually solitary creatures that prefer to live outside of a colony. This majority, which is comprised of tens of thousands of species, are also superior pollinators in comparison to their social counterparts because they’re polylectic, meaning they collect the sticky substance from multiple sources, making them even more crucial to maintaining crops and biodiversity.

Bees have an excellent sense of smell to detect chemicals, such as pheromones, and Dutch scientists are using their natural power to identify samples infected with coronavirus. Scientists in the bio-veterinary research laboratory at Wageningen University trained the insects by giving them sugary water after as a reward for spotting the virus in samples and no reward after being shown a non-infected sample. After numerous tests, the bees were able to spontaneously extend their tongues to receive a reward when presented with an infected sample, said Wim van der Poel, a professor of virology who took part in the project....

A torrent of media stories from 2013-2014 presented frightening tales of “unprecedented” colony collapse disorder (CCD) among honeybees, conjuring up visions of a “bee-pocalypse” and “a world without bees,” a world in which flowers and agriculture would be decimated.Many articles blamed neonicotinoid pesticides, while others added climate change and biotech (GMO) crops as likely culprits. Some mentionedVarroa destructor mites and various viruses and diseases as possible causes. Virtually none suggested that organic food industry chemicals could also be implicated in bee deaths. The overall tone was “deep concern,” bordering on hysteria. But it sold papers and air time.Over the next...

Curious if there are many FReeper beekeepers. If I get a decent response, I would like to start a weekly beekeeping Ping list. In order to make this list successful, participation on everyone's part is vital.

a Las Cruces shopper left their car windows down while heading into a grocery store. When they returned and began to drive away, they realized thousands of bees had invaded their vehicle, Thankfully, firefighter Jesse Johnson works as a beekeeper in his spare time. Although he wasn’t working that day, the team called him in for his expert help. Johnson arrived at Albertsons grocery store in a full safety get-up with a hive kit and lemongrass oil. It took two hours for the hive master to get all the insects from the car. The bees were then relocated to Johnson’s...

The world’s largest hornet, the Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia), has been popularly dubbed the “murder hornet.” Credit: Washington State Department of Agriculture ==================================================================== Honeybees spread animal dung on the entrance of their hives to effectively ward off giant hornets. What’s the best way to ward off giant hornets if you’re a honeybee? Animal dung, according to a first-ever University of Guelph study. U of G researchers have discovered honeybees in Vietnam collect and apply spots of animal dung around hive entrances to deter deadly nest raids by an Asian hornet (Vespa soror) whose North American cousins have been dubbed...

Insect researchers are buzzing in Florida this week over the rediscovery of the blue bee, a rare little creature thought to have gone extinct shortly after it was discovered. Researchers in Florida say the blue calamintha bee (Osmia calaminthae) has been spotted for the first time since 2016, stoking hopes that it might be possible to save the insect from extinction. Blue calamintha bees nest alone and feed on Ashe’s Calamint, a threatened plant found only in Florida. The bees were first recorded in 2011 and dropped out of sight a few years later, despite calls to protect their threatened...

We've long known honey bees shake their behinds to communicate the location of high-value flower patches to one another, a form of signaling that scientists refer to as "waggle dances." A group of US biologists have now decoded the meaning of over 1,500 of these jigs, providing conservation groups trying to boost the imperiled species' population with new insights into their dietary preferences. "The thing I think is the most interesting about bees is their communication," Morgan Carr-Markell, a PhD student at the University of Minnesota and the lead author of a new study published in the journal PLOS One,...

In the past five years, almond milk consumption in the United States has exploded over 250 percent. The lower-calorie, vegan milk alternative is a staple in grocery stores and coffee shops across the country now, but its booming popularity comes at a heavy environmental cost. According to a new report from the Guardian this week, the titanic and growing demands of the California almond industry are placing a huge strain on the hives of bees used to pollinate their orchards, wiping out billions of honeybees in a matter of months. “My yard is currently filled with stacks of empty bee...