Secular Café: Pesticides Suspected in Bee Colony Deaths

Secular Café Serious discussion of science, skepticism, evolution, pseudoscience, and the paranormal

Pesticides Suspected in Bee Colony Deaths Mar 30th 2012, 01:23 Quote: Pesticides suspected in mass die-off of bees Two studies show that a class of chemicals known as neonicotinoids created disorientation among bees and caused colonies to lose weight, which may have contributed to a mysterious die-off. Quote: Bumblebees and pesticides Bumblebees exposed to neonicotinoids in a study produced 85% fewer queens per colony and gained 8% to 12% less weight, on average. “If that went on for years, the consequences could be pretty dramatic,” said David Goulson of the University of Stirling in Scotland, who led the study. (David Goulson, University of Stirling / July 31, 2004) By Eryn Brown, Los Angeles Times March 29, 2012, 5:13 p.m. Doublequote: "You can't point your finger at one thing and say, 'That is the problem.'" Scientists have identified a new suspect in the mysterious die-off of bees in recent years — a class of pesticides that appear to be lethal in indirect ways. The chemicals, known as neonicotinoids, are designed to target a variety of sucking and chewing insects, including aphids and beetles. Bees are known to ingest the poison when they eat the pollen and nectar of treated plants, though in doses so tiny that it was not seen as a threat. But two reports published online Thursday by the journal Science indicate that the pesticides are not altogether benign. One study found that bumblebee colonies exposed to amounts of the insecticide similar to what they'd encounter in the wild gained less total weight than colonies that weren't exposed. Another study used miniature radio frequency chips to track honeybees and found that the pesticide impaired their ability to navigate back to the hive after a feeding expedition. "If it's blundering around and can't return to the hive ... the bee might as well be dead," said Christian Krupke, an entomologist at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., who was not involved in either study. Beekeepers became alarmed that honeybees were vanishing from their nests across the U.S. in the fall of 2006 — victims of a perplexing and pervasive malady now known as colony collapse disorder that wiped out as many as 90% of bees, in some cases. Scientists don't know exactly why the ailment strikes, but they believe it results from a combination of habitat degradation, infection by pathogens and parasites and pesticide use. Researchers have also documented sharp declines in bumblebees, which are important crop pollinators but are not domesticated. .... http://www.latimes.com/news/science/...,4969345.story and: http://motherjones.com/tom-philpott/...e-bees-studies

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