Field experiments show how removing a pollinator species disrupts foraging patterns
Emory Health Sciences
The absence of a single dominant bumblebee species from an ecosystem disrupts foraging patterns among a broad range of remaining pollinators in the system -- from other bees to butterflies, beetles and more, field experiments show.
Biology Letters published the research, which may have implications for the survival of …
If It Smells Like a Petunia or Shampoo, It Might Be a Pesticide
ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
A scent that petunias and snapdragons release to attract pollinators may be an environmentally friendly control for pests like the spotted wing drosophila fly (SWD) and the brown marmorated stink bug.
Zhang is also investigating whether low doses of methyl benzoate could control Varroa …
Princeton University
As bees' social behavior evolved, their complex chemical communication systems evolved in concert, according to a study published online by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
An international team of researchers, including those from Princeton University, reported that a certain species of bees, called halictid bees, have more sensorial machinery compared with related solitary species. The difference …
Biologist Lynn Adler at UMass Amherst has a $1 million USDA grant to study
the possible role of sunflower pollen in boosting bee health
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
AMHERST, Mass. - Biology professor Lynn Adler at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, an expert in pollination and plant-insect interactions, recently received a three-year, $1 million grant from a special "pollinator health" program of …
In Part II of our series, we continue our discussion of ways to add honey bees to a new hive. Capturing feral swarms of bees is certainly an exciting and economic method, but requires the right timing and careful planning. Whatever method you use, be sure to keep your safety — and the well-being of the bees — a top priority.
There’s …
University of Missouri-Columbia
According to recent studies, declines in wild and managed bee populations threaten the pollination of flowers in more than 85 percent of flowering plants and 75 percent of agricultural crops worldwide. Widespread and effective monitoring of bee populations could lead to better management; however, tracking bees is tricky and costly. Now, a research team led by the University …
There are many ways to add bees to a newly purchased hive. After choosing a good location, assembling your hive and gathering the necessary tools, it’s time to decide how you will obtain your bees. In this first of three Learning Center articles on these options, we cover the positive and negative aspects of using a nucleus, or nucs, to establish …
By Julie Shapiro
Grabbing a meal on the go isn’t easy — and that’s true whether you’re a human or a bee.
Like us, honey bees face a wide variety of challenges every day. Finding nutritious, complete meals is increasingly becoming a problem for these industrious pollinators. The rapid and recent losses of pollinator habitat and forage across North America, driven in …