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Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

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Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#121

Post by aardvarkr »

xwdv wrote: post #115
yawz wrote: post #101

I’m a beekeeper and every passing year it becomes harder to keep my colonies alive. I’m really glad that we’re taking this threat seriously, because we don’t need one more problem on our list of things that kill our bees. While I’m at it, please allow me to remind everyone that there are thousands of solitary bee species in the world. They are the ones that go extinct or in real danger compared to our honey bees. The…

What will happen when bees go extinct? Edit: I don’t understand the vicious pointless downvotes over this question.

Not a beekeeper but it’s pretty easy to connect the dots from bee extinction to ecological collapse. No pollinators leads to decreased germination which leads to less food for the lower levels of the food chain and on and on

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#123

Post by nix23 »

xwdv wrote: post #115
yawz wrote: post #101

I’m a beekeeper and every passing year it becomes harder to keep my colonies alive. I’m really glad that we’re taking this threat seriously, because we don’t need one more problem on our list of things that kill our bees. While I’m at it, please allow me to remind everyone that there are thousands of solitary bee species in the world. They are the ones that go extinct or in real danger compared to our honey bees. The…

What will happen when bees go extinct? Edit: I don’t understand the vicious pointless downvotes over this question.

Peoples with brushes on trees and bushes...and for everything that doesn't make money and is dependent on bees will go extinct too (flowers, trees etc..). And now back to school.

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#124

Post by dragonwriter »

jessriedel wrote: post #4

So they really think the infestation is small enough that it's feasible to find and destroy all the nests by hand?

> So they really think the infestation is small enough that it's feasible to find and destroy all the nests by hand?

No, they probably think that it is likely that, if that is not the case, it is likely to still be small enough that the progress can be significantly slowed by that means until a more complete solution is found.

Given that magnitude matters a lot and that it's a major threat to bee populations and through them much of the agriculture of the country, stalling tactics are a lot better than nothing.

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#125

Post by seattle_spring »

11235813213455 wrote: post #99
TulliusCicero wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I know bees are fundamental but I think we should adjust ourselves along with nature, and not try to always dictate things. Nature? You realize this almost certainly happened because of international travel/trade, right?

> "this happened" You mean hornets? Of course I know, but we can still adapt our consumption mode, honeybees are for what? honey mostly. We can also reduce planes travel, that wouldn't hurt as well

> honeybees are for what? honey mostly

And, you know, pollinating all of the plants we use for food.

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#126

Post by CameronNemo »

varenc wrote: post #117
chiefalchemist wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any evidence of such attempts to neuter Mother Nature actually working? Unless, global trade ceases, can this effort be maintained and successful over the long haul? I'm not suggesting it's bad or wrong to try, only whether there's evidence that the odds favor doing so.

There are some success stories, like the European Grapevine Moth in CA [1]. The key seems to be aggressive action when the threat is still in it’s infancy and contained. Given that murder hornets weren’t reported in the US until this year, I’m hopeful. For something like the invasive ice plant already covering the West Coast there seems little hope. [1] https://entomologytoday.org/2019/03/08/invasive-species-succ...

>For something like the invasive ice plant already covering the West Coast there seems little hope.

Perhaps little hope for widespread eradication, but important areas can be cleaned up.

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#127

Post by ender7 »

ineedasername wrote: post #113
jameshart wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

‘All the resources’ make you nauseous? Seems like a weird reaction. Washington State department of agriculture’s budget is public information; they spend about a quarter of a billion dollars a year on all their programs. I can’t imagine this particular operation is making much of a dent in that overall spend. According to the captions of those photographs, they have entomologists and pest control specialists on staff…

The department may very well need more significant resources to continue this fight, as will surrounding states if Washington isn't effective in fighting this. I'm not against government spending. I think there are plenty of problems that market forces alone cannot solve. I think the government should provide a solid safety net for its citizens. That is precisely why I lament the resources required for this. They are…

I don't see what there is to lament. If this is necessary spending (it seems it is) and there is other necessary spending, then it seems we must pay for both of those things.

I guess we could wish that the hornets never arrived here, but the life of a government is solving thousands of problems like these. If not the hornets, it would be something else. The uplifting moment is that this was a successful containment. Money well-spent :)

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#128

Post by ineedasername »

fnbr wrote: post #46
Exmoor wrote: post #19

It makes me a little nauseous to think about all the resources going to tracking down these insects, but this is truly an area where an ounce of prevention is worth many pounds of cure. The scope of North America's invasive species problem is enormous. For many folks in urban areas, it's possible that you might go your whole day only encountering one native bird species (American Crow), but a whole host of invasive s…

I’mfrom Alberta. My favorite party trick when talking to non-native Albertans is to pull up the “world rat population” map: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/657947826782505650/ I have no idea how accurate it is, of course.

Antarctica is clearly doing something right, I'd suggest we emulate them. A a well-funded coalition of wildlife experts should be deployed to determine what special conditions have conspired to produce such a resistant ecological niche.

Hemelin, Germany on the other hand only found a temporary solution to the problem when the anonymous Pied Piper visited the area. Perhaps he was unaware that some rats can swim up to a mile and simply drove the local rat population to the surrounding area. Regardless, the example clearly illustrates that music-based solutions to the problem are, at best, temporary.

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#129

Post by [deleted] »

dang wrote: post #76
jameshart wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

‘All the resources’ make you nauseous? Seems like a weird reaction. Washington State department of agriculture’s budget is public information; they spend about a quarter of a billion dollars a year on all their programs. I can’t imagine this particular operation is making much of a dent in that overall spend. According to the captions of those photographs, they have entomologists and pest control specialists on staff…

Please omit personal swipes from your HN posts. You sparked a flamewar with that last bit, and your comment would have been just fine without it. The first bit too. The middle of the sandwich was good. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

[deleted]

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#130

Post by sosborn »

aardvarkr wrote: post #121
xwdv wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What will happen when bees go extinct? Edit: I don’t understand the vicious pointless downvotes over this question.

Not a beekeeper but it’s pretty easy to connect the dots from bee extinction to ecological collapse. No pollinators leads to decreased germination which leads to less food for the lower levels of the food chain and on and on

Bees aren't the only pollinators out there. Yes, they are super important, but others exist. https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/animals-ecology/incredibl...
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