Vita Releases a Varroa Infographic

Vita has created an infographic about varroa. It's free and downloadable from the Vita Gallery. It is the second in an infographic series; the first was a Swarm Infographic.   Go to the Vita Gallery to download the Varroa Infographic www.vita-europe.com/gallery Sebastian Owen of Vita (Europe) Ltd said: “Following the very positive response to the first Vita infographic on swarms, we’ve created another. We encourage anyone …

Losses of Honey Bee Colonies Over the 2015/16 Winter

Preliminary results from an international study The honey bee research association COLOSS1 has today announced the preliminary results of their international study of colony losses over the 2015-16 winter. Data were collected from 29 countries in this initiative, which is the largest and longest running international study of honey bee colony losses. In total 18,693 respondents provided overwintering mortality and other …

Research Aims to Grasp Complexities in Plant-Pollinator Networks Across Tallgrass Prairies

University of Kansas LAWRENCE -- According the Environmental Protection Agency, the declining health of pollinators reported for the past decade is tied to a mix of factors, including habitat loss, pests, pathogens, viruses, poor nutrition and pesticides. "Insect pollinators are incredibly important for agricultural ecosystems," said Kathy Denning, doctoral student in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Kansas. "A huge …

2016 California Almond Forecast Up 7.9 Percent

United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service Cooperating with the California Department of Food and Agriculture California's 2016 almond production is forecast at 2.05 billion meat pounds, up 2.5 percent from May's subjective forecast and up 7.9 percent from last year's crop. The forecast is based on 900 thousand bearing acres. Production for the Nonpareil variety is forecast at 780 million …

Varroa Mite Found in Queensland, Australia

(Queensland Government News Release)   Varroa mites have been detected in North Queensland at the Port of Townsville, and Biosecurity Queensland is implementing a surveillance program to prevent any spread of the mite. The mites’ most likely entry path into Australia was on a feral swarm of Asian honey bees arriving at the port. The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries has movement restrictions for …

Deformed Wing Virus: Honeybees Threatened by a More Virulent Virus

According to an international research group, a genetic variant of the deformed wing virus (DWV) is more dangerous to honeybees than the original virus strain. The consortium of researchers is based at Freie Universität Berlin and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. The emerging variant could represent a threat to honeybees worldwide and is probably already widespread in many parts of Europe. …