Pesticide link to long-term wild bee decline in 18 year study
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Re: Pesticide link to long-term wild bee decline in 18 year study
#2Pesticides are linked to insect deaths? What a surprise.
Re: Pesticide link to long-term wild bee decline in 18 year study
#3If neonicotinoids are causing a long-term decline in bee populations, why does their introduction correspond with a global increase in beehives?
Re: Pesticide link to long-term wild bee decline in 18 year study
#4If neonicotinoids are causing a long-term decline in bee populations, why does their introduction correspond with a global increase in beehives?
Because more beehives are needed to keep up with the demand as bees die?
Re: Pesticide link to long-term wild bee decline in 18 year study
#5The strange thing is that the response will be "OK so lets create poisons that kill all insects EXCEPT bees".
Re: Pesticide link to long-term wild bee decline in 18 year study
#6If neonicotinoids are causing a long-term decline in bee populations, why does their introduction correspond with a global increase in beehives?
Because more beehives are needed to keep up with the demand as bees die?
The introduction of neonicotinoids corresponds with an increase in the number of active hives, to record numbers in some areas (like Canada).
The number of honeybee colonies in the US (where honeybees are livestock, not an indigenous species) is up since the announcement of CCD in 2006. Colonies are down since around 1990, when wild honeybees were wiped out by the varroa mite --- which mites remain the biggest stressor of honeybee colonies in the US.
Re: Pesticide link to long-term wild bee decline in 18 year study
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because more beehives are needed to keep up with the demand as bees die?
The introduction of neonicotinoids corresponds with an increase in the number of active hives , to record numbers in some areas (like Canada). The number of honeybee colonies in the US (where honeybees are livestock, not an indigenous species) is up since the announcement of CCD in 2006. Colonies are down since around 1990, when wild honeybees were wiped out by the varroa mite --- which mites remain the biggest stres…
Are you saying that neonicotinoids are causing an increase in active hive numbers?
I'm guessing that's not your assertion. But, of course, the argument you appear to be making is just as invalid.
Re: Pesticide link to long-term wild bee decline in 18 year study
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
The introduction of neonicotinoids corresponds with an increase in the number of active hives , to record numbers in some areas (like Canada). The number of honeybee colonies in the US (where honeybees are livestock, not an indigenous species) is up since the announcement of CCD in 2006. Colonies are down since around 1990, when wild honeybees were wiped out by the varroa mite --- which mites remain the biggest stres…
Are you saying that neonicotinoids are causing an increase in active hive numbers? I'm guessing that's not your assertion. But, of course, the argument you appear to be making is just as invalid.
I believe the assertion is that in order to maintain the bee population at the level necessary to meet demands on agriculture given the extraordinary rise in the death rate of both individual bees and entire colonies, the beekeeping industry has had to import far more colonies per year.
Re: Pesticide link to long-term wild bee decline in 18 year study
#9The strange thing is that the response will be "OK so lets create poisons that kill all insects EXCEPT bees".
Given that pesticides have greatly increased agricultural efficiency, does that response not make sense?
Re: Pesticide link to long-term wild bee decline in 18 year study
#10The strange thing is that the response will be "OK so lets create poisons that kill all insects EXCEPT bees".
This response is precisely what has made insecticides so incredibly dangerous for world agriculture. Documentaries like "The Vanishing of the Bees" and "More than Honey" do a great job highlighting just how criminally negligent the agriculture industry as a whole has been to bees. What I haven't seen is an analysis of how devastating the large-scale destruction of insect populations is to the world's ecosystem. We are essentially decimating the most productive food-producing species in the world and expecting not to have to pay for it in spades down the road.