Toxic Combo: Pesticides and Poor Nutrition
Damage Honey Bee Health

The combined effects of pesticides and a lack of nutrition form a deadly one-two punch, new research from biologists at the University of California San Diego has shown for the first time. In a study published Dec. 20 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Simone Tosi, James Nieh and their colleagues used honey bees due to their important role as …

World Bee Day

The resolution declaring May 20th as World Bee Day is expected to be adopted at the plenary session of the United Nations General Assembly on December 20th, 2017. On November 17th, 2017 the resolution was unanimously adopted at the Economic and Financial Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, with co-sponsorship of 115 countries, including the USA, Canada, China, Russian Federation, …

How Honey Bee Gut Bacteria Help to Digest Their Pollen-rich Diet

The honey bee gut is colonized by specialized bacteria that help digest components of the floral pollen diet and produce molecules that likely promote bee health. In a recent study published in PLOS Biology, a group of researchers from Switzerland uncovered which bacterial species perform which specific digestive functions in the bee gut. The authors measured the repertoire of simple chemical …

New Maps Show Shrinking Wilderness Being Ignored at Our Peril

by the Wildlife Conservation Society   Humans have transformed the landscape to an amazing degree. We are losing our wild places, where much biodiversity of insects still awaits undiscovered. Many species of bees live in these untouched areas, pollinating a great diversity of plants. A new study shows how much of our wilderness areas we have lost since 1993. These maps of our …