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Whatever happened to the bee apocalypse?

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Re: Whatever happened to the bee apocalypse?

#41

Post by 42e6e8c8-f7b8-4 »

photochemsyn wrote: post #6

(1) Stop using neonicotinoid pesticides. There are plenty of alternatives for protecting food crops from insect infestations, such as neem oil applied as a foliar spray or a soil soak in response to infestations. Neonictoninoides are based on the tobacco nicotine molecule structure, but are typically chlorinated and modified to make them more persistent and toxic to insects relative to animals. There's a good argumen…

Demonization of neonics is misplaced. You can spray at night when bees aren't active. You can spray when your plants aren't in bloom and attracting bees. Oh well, the 2 minutes hate have emerged against neonics and farmers pivot like they ways do.

Re: Whatever happened to the bee apocalypse?

#42

Post by jamal-kumar »

throwaway1777 wrote: post #39
jamal-kumar wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the colloquial term for (edit; the most commonly well-known) many wild bees in English is "bumblebees". They're often burrowing species that don't have honey producing hives (They do stuff like make little caves in moss, dirt, and underbrush), and are often crucial pollinators of certain species of plants which are specifically attractive to certain wild bees (Orchids are a good example here) but which domest…

Not really true, bumble bees are the furry fat ones, but there are lots of other types of wild bees.

Yeah you're correct, I'm just making clear the example of wild bees that most people know. There's a ton of really interesting species that don't even really look like bees (Different coloration like iridescent and black) for sure.

Re: Whatever happened to the bee apocalypse?

#43

Post by bmitc »

vr46 wrote: post #20

It probably helps that millions of people are helping insect and bird populations by planting stacks of wildflowers, doing No Mow May, and being a bit nicer to local wildlife which all adds up.

Just as a note, it is important that people plant native wildflowers and not just any wildflowers.

Re: Whatever happened to the bee apocalypse?

#44

Post by haspok »

Turing_Machine wrote: post #30
rob_c wrote: post #25

Simply put. Please America stop using more and more artificial modern chemicals in your farming and go back to tried and tested agricultural methods. Your soil is getting destroyed through mega tractors. Your buying everything glaxo can sell and your harming your own wasteland that for some reason you grow copious amounts of corn on. The problem is still there and making an article suggesting that it's not for a (sur…

> go back to tried and tested agricultural methods https://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/timeless/images/US... "Tried and tested" agricultural methods produced about 20 bushels of corn per acre. Current "artificial modern chemicals" methods produce about 160. Eight times as much. > your harming your own wasteland that for some reason you grow copious amounts of corn on The reason is that it feeds a substantial po…

Long live High Fructose Corn Syrup!

Re: Whatever happened to the bee apocalypse?

#45

Post by michael1999 »

mandelbrotwurst wrote: post #31
jamal-kumar wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the colloquial term for (edit; the most commonly well-known) many wild bees in English is "bumblebees". They're often burrowing species that don't have honey producing hives (They do stuff like make little caves in moss, dirt, and underbrush), and are often crucial pollinators of certain species of plants which are specifically attractive to certain wild bees (Orchids are a good example here) but which domest…

Hi, why would beekeeping harm wild species please?

For the same reasons that domesticating any animal leads to the extinction of the wild variant

  - habitat displacement  
  - competition for food  
  - disease

Re: Whatever happened to the bee apocalypse?

#46

Post by jamal-kumar »

42e6e8c8-f7b8-4 wrote: post #41
photochemsyn wrote: post #6

(1) Stop using neonicotinoid pesticides. There are plenty of alternatives for protecting food crops from insect infestations, such as neem oil applied as a foliar spray or a soil soak in response to infestations. Neonictoninoides are based on the tobacco nicotine molecule structure, but are typically chlorinated and modified to make them more persistent and toxic to insects relative to animals. There's a good argumen…

Demonization of neonics is misplaced. You can spray at night when bees aren't active. You can spray when your plants aren't in bloom and attracting bees. Oh well, the 2 minutes hate have emerged against neonics and farmers pivot like they ways do.

If we're talking about trying to stem the destruction of wild species here (The problem really isn't about domesticated honeybees), then you should definitely consider the fact that spraying at night won't help those wild bees which are nocturnal [1], nor does your point of view on these address the fact that these pesticides have a degree of environmental persistence. [2] This isn't demonization, it's just straight facts when there's plenty of alternatives out there which aren't feeding the giant agri-industrial complex behemoth.

[1] https://www.buzzaboutbees.net/do-bees-fly-at-night.html

[2] https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.7b06388

Re: Whatever happened to the bee apocalypse?

#47

Post by henearkr »

mandelbrotwurst wrote: post #31
jamal-kumar wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the colloquial term for (edit; the most commonly well-known) many wild bees in English is "bumblebees". They're often burrowing species that don't have honey producing hives (They do stuff like make little caves in moss, dirt, and underbrush), and are often crucial pollinators of certain species of plants which are specifically attractive to certain wild bees (Orchids are a good example here) but which domest…

Hi, why would beekeeping harm wild species please?

This is a problem very specific to North America.

In Europe, the honey bee has always been there, and is no threat to anything else.

Re: Whatever happened to the bee apocalypse?

#48

Post by kergonath »

kevinmchugh wrote: post #18
Overtonwindow wrote: post #2

Tangentially related, I wonder if anyone has done a meta-analysis about media reported calamities, like Zika, the bee population dying off, etc., and doing a follow up. Then comparing it to what the media reported initially. Was this accurate, blown out of proportion, understated, or simply sensational reporting?

It might be hard to tell whether a foretold disaster never materializes because a) it was sensationalized or b) because the attention spurred action (which is good!).

Also sometimes things just don’t happen for some unforeseen or unknown reason. It does not mean that initial reporting was sensationalised.

Re: Whatever happened to the bee apocalypse?

#49

Post by nend »

throwaway1777 wrote: post #39
jamal-kumar wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the colloquial term for (edit; the most commonly well-known) many wild bees in English is "bumblebees". They're often burrowing species that don't have honey producing hives (They do stuff like make little caves in moss, dirt, and underbrush), and are often crucial pollinators of certain species of plants which are specifically attractive to certain wild bees (Orchids are a good example here) but which domest…

Not really true, bumble bees are the furry fat ones, but there are lots of other types of wild bees.

Worth noting that carpenter bees are also furry fat bees, and often confused for bumble bees.

Carpenter bees tend to be a bit shinier, and at least around me, bigger. Which is how I can tell them apart.

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