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Insects may have feelings, so do we need more humane fly spray?
// New Scientist - News
Increasing research suggests insects may possess basic consciousness, in which case we would need to minimise their suffering, says Peter Singer
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For the first time, bees have been placed on the endangered species list
// The Verge

After years of study, the US Fish and Wildlife Service have placed seven species of Hawaiian yellow-faced bees on the endangered species list, the first time any bee has received such classification.
The service worked in conjunction with the Xerces Society, which advocates for invertebrate species, as well as local Hawaiian officials, to study the status of the bees. On its website, the Xerces Society noted seven species of the insect have been listed as endangered: Hylaeus anthracinus, Hylaeus longiceps, Hylaeus assimulans, Hylaeus facilis, Hylaeus hilaris, Hylaeus kuakea, and Hylaeus mana. In 1996, the service listed 33 species as "Species of Concern".
The bees are native to Hawaii, and have been declining for a number of years due to intrusion from non-native plants and animals, as well as habitat destruction due to urban development. Scientists note that these bees are an integral to the Hawaiian ecosystem as pollinators, and that they are "critical for maintaining the health of plants and other animals across the islands," according to conservation and restoration team manager Gregory Koob, of the Fish and Wildlife Service in Honolulu.
Now that the bees have been placed on the endangered species list, they will receive additional protections from the federal government designed to help boost the species population and protect them from harassment from humans. These protections appear to be critically important as bee populations across the United States have declined in recent years. Other species appear to be poised for protection: the Service is considering endangered status for the rusty-patched bumble bee, which can be found across the United States.
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South Carolina Accidentally Sprayed Millions Of Bees With Pesticides
// Popular Science

The bugs were caught in the crossfire of an attempt to take out mosquitoes
Millions of bees perished in South Carolina on Sunday morning, unintentionally felled by an effort to wipe out disease-carrying mosquitoes.
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Car Crash Leads to Bee Attack
// Neatorama
Two residents of Laurel County, Kentucky, were surprised when they crashed into a fence Tuesday night, and surprised again when they were attacked by a hive of bees! Neighborhood resident Gary Lee Anderson heard a big 'boom' and then saw that a Geo Tracker had crashed into fence, and apparently disturbed a beehive.
"And the guy came out, screaming and squalling, and running around about like a chicken with its head cut off," Anderson said.
Then Anderson says they ran up the road, grabbed a hose outside his home and started trying to spray off the bees.
"I told him, 'You need to get out of that water,'" Anderson said, "but I didn't know he was getting eat up by bees, I thought he was just high."
Noah Elkins and Priscilla Simpson were taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries from the crash and for numerous bee stings. Anderson was stung as well. Elkins was cited for DUI and Simpson for public intoxication. -via Arbroath
(Image credit: WKYT)
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Controversial pesticides may be lowering the sperm count of bees
// New Scientist - News
Widely used neonicotinoid pesticides may harm the fertility and viability of male honeybees, contributing to the collapse of bee populations
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Honey certification project sets industry abuzz
// Phys.org - latest science and technology news stories
Western Australia's honey is set for global recognition following a new partnership program between the industry and Bentley-based Chemcentre which could see honey values take off for local apiarists.
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Honeybees threatened by virulent virus
// Phys.org - latest science and technology news stories
Researchers have found that honeybees in Europe are at significantly higher risk from an emerging viral variant, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
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>
> Release No. 0152.16
> Contact:
> Office of Communications (202)720-4623
>
> During National Pollinator Week, USDA Announces Key Measures to Improve Pollinator Health
>
> USDA's Conservation Reserve Program Currently Provides 15 Million Acres of Healthy Forage for Pollinators, and New Partnership Will Ensure Additional High-Quality Habitat in the Future
>
>
> WASHINGTON, June 23, 2016 – Today, during National Pollinator Week and in advance of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) seventh annual Pollinator Week Festival, the USDA is announcing two initiatives in support of the President's National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honeybees and Other Pollinators, announced just over one year ago. A review of USDA's most popular conservation program found that farmers and ranchers across the country are creating at least 15 million acres of healthy forage and habitat for pollinators, and the department has also entered into a new partnership with leading honey bee organizations that will help to ensure future conservation projects continue to provide benefits to these important species.
>
> "Pollinators are small but mighty creatures who need our help as much as we need theirs, and that is why USDA is dedicating resources from all corners of our department to boost their habitat and better understand how to protect them," said Agriculture Secretary Vilsack. "In addition to creating healthy habitat and food for pollinators through our conservation work, USDA research is leading to breakthroughs in pollinator survival that may reverse the declines we've seen over the past few decades. We look forward to continued collaboration with America's beekeepers and honey producers to ensure this work is meaningful and effective."
>
> USDA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with two honey bee organizations, the American Honey Producers Association and the American Beekeeping Federation, to facilitate an ongoing partnership that will ensure USDA's conservation initiatives are as advantageous as possible to pollinators and that beekeepers understand how they can benefit from USDA's conservation and safety net programs. For several years, USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) have worked closely with these groups and others to help improve habitat for honeybees and other pollinators in various conservation programs. The National Strategy emphasized the need for public-private partnerships like this one to expeditiously expand pollinator-health initiatives to achieve the scale necessary to make meaningful and long-term improvements.
>
> FSA also plays a critical role in the delivery of programs that provide a safety net for beekeepers who experience losses due to natural disasters, and the agency administers the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program, which provides assistance for the loss of honeybee colonies, in excess of normal mortality, due to Colony Collapse Disorder or other natural causes. These groups have helped to ensure that these safety net programs work well, and they have helped focus research to learn more about the impacts of USDA programs and make continuous improvements. This MOU creates a framework to ensure ongoing, meaningful information sharing to help beekeepers and honey bees into the future.
>
> In addition to this MOU, a thorough review of USDA's Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has revealed that farmers and ranchers across the country have created more than 15 million acres of healthy habitat and forage for pollinators through the Conservation Reserve Program. Of these, 269,000 acres are enrolled in a pollinator-specific initiative, but these creatures are also helped by several other CRP initiatives on private land that provide wildflowers, shrubs, and safe nesting sites through measures that are intended to improve water quality or create bird habitat.
>
> The National Strategy called for seven million acres of land to be enhanced or restored for pollinators. Since then, USDA has more than tripled the acreage enrolled in CRP's pollinator initiative, through which USDA helps to cover the cost of planting pollinator-friendly wildflowers, legumes and shrubs, and USDA has increased the limit on this initiative in response to landowner demand so that more acres can be enrolled in the future.
>
> USDA conducted the high-level review of existing conservation practices and other studies by the U.S. Geological Survey and universities to determine which voluntary conservation practices benefit pollinators. FSA continues to work with USGS to assess which strategies work best to support pollinator health, and future studies may indicate that additional acres also can be considered pollinator friendly.
>
> In its 30th year, CRP provides incentives to farmers and ranchers with the cost of establishing long-term, resource-conserving plant species, such as approved grasses or trees (known as "covers") to control soil erosion, improve water quality and develop wildlife habitats on marginally productive agricultural lands. This helps to combat global climate change and provides resiliency to future weather changes. This analysis shows that among its many other benefits, CRP also is extraordinarily beneficial to protecting and promoting pollinator species, from honeybees to monarchs, that are essential to agricultural health.
>
> In addition to CRP, other conservation programs like NRCS' Environmental Quality Incentives Program and Conservation Stewardship Program have enabled landowners to make pollinator-friendly improvements on working lands. This voluntary conservation work also strengthens agricultural operations, supports other beneficial insects and wildlife and helps to sustain natural resources. More than three dozen NRCS conservation practices, such as prescribed grazing and cover crops, can provide direct benefits to pollinators. In recent years, NRCS has launched targeted efforts to help honey bees and monarch butterflies to accelerate efforts to create habitat.
>
> USDA's research and outreach agencies are working in other ways to contribute to the President's National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honeybees and Other Pollinators. For example, the U.S. Forest Service is also conducting research on pollinators while restoring and improving pollinator habitat on national forests and grasslands. Over the past six years, the USDA's Agricultural Research Service has invested more than $82 million in cutting-edge pollinator research and over the past decade has published nearly 200 journal articles about pollinators. USDA's People's Garden Initiative has launched a number of efforts to expand pollinator public education programs, including a bee cam that gives real time insight into the 80,000 bees who live on the roof of USDA's Headquarters and pollinate the surrounding landscape.
>
> This fact sheet contains more information about USDA's work to keep pollinators buzzing and contributing to a diverse domestic and global food supply.
>
> To learn more about FSA's conservation programs, visit www.fsa.usda.gov/conservation or contact a local FSA county office. To find your local FSA county office, visit http://offices.usda.gov.
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How honeybees do without males
// Phys.org - latest science and technology news stories
An isolated population of honeybees, the Cape bees, living in South Africa has evolved a strategy to reproduce without males. A research team from Uppsala University has sequenced the entire genomes of a sample of Cape bees and compared them with other populations of honeybees to find out the genetic mechanisms behind their asexual reproduction.
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Sunflower pollen protects bees from parasites
// Phys.org - latest science and technology news stories
Plant pollens vary in quality as food sources for bees, and pollen from the sunflower family (the family that includes dandelions, daisies, and thistles) is known to have some unpleasant qualities. Bees fed exclusively sunflower pollen often develop poorly, slowly, or not at all. Yet many bee species collect pollen exclusively from this family; in fact, specialization on sunflower pollen has evolved multiple times in bees. Research by Dakota Spear and colleagues suggests that parasites could be part of the explanation.
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "USDA Office of Communications" <usda@public.govdelivery.com>
Date: May 12, 2016 6:23 PM
Subject: USDA Releases Results of New Survey on Honey Bee Colony Health
> Release No. 0114.16
> Contact:
> Office of Communications
> press@oc.usda.gov
> (202) 720-4623
>
> USDA Releases Results of New Survey on Honey Bee Colony Health
>
> Survey Developed as Part of National Pollinator Action Research Plan Gives New Insight into Losses of Managed Bee Colonies
>
>
> WASHINGTON, May 12, 2016 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) released the results of its first ever Honey Bee Colony Loss survey today. The survey queried more than 20,000 honey beekeepers about the number of colonies, colonies lost, colonies added, and colonies affected by certain stressors and gleans state-level estimates on key honey bee health topics. The survey was developed as part of the "National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators" released last summer, and gleans state-level estimates on key pollinator health topics.
>
> Results from the survey will provide statistically strong baseline information about honey bee losses and can help guide honey bee management decisions in the United States. NASS created the survey questions with input from beekeepers and researchers, and other stakeholders. The results will allow USDA and other federal departments and agencies to create a more unified and complementary approach to implementing the National Strategy, which was unveiled in May 2015.
>
> "Pollinators are essential to the production of food, and in the United States, honey bees pollinate an estimated $15 billion of crops each year, ranging from almonds to zucchinis," said Dr. Ann Bartuska, USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics. "This new data will add to USDA's robust scientific body of knowledge on the inventory, movement and death loss of honeybees in the United States."
>
> For this report, NASS surveyed 3,300 beekeeping operations with five or more colonies on a quarterly basis, following their operations throughout the year. In addition, NASS surveyed a sample of 20,000 beekeepers who have less than five colonies annually. Data collected covers the state in which colonies are located, movement of colonies between states, newly added or replaced colonies, number of colonies lost, colonies renovated, and presence of colony stressors and specific signs of illness. The responses allow USDA for the first time to differentiate patterns between small-scale and commercial beekeepers, analyze data on a state-by-state basis, and compare more specific quarterly losses, additions and renovations for larger scale beekeepers.
>
> According to the survey released today, there were 2.59 million or 8% fewer honey bee colonies on January 1, 2016 than the 2.82 million present a year earlier on January 1, 2015 for operations with five or more colonies. New quarterly colony data allow new levels of analysis. For example, there was an 18% loss of colonies in the January-March quarter in 2015 and a 17% loss in the same quarter in 2016. Honey beekeepers with five or more colonies reported Varroa mites as the leading stressor affecting colonies. They also reported more colonies with symptoms of Colony Collapse Disorder lost in the first quarter of 2016 with 113,930 than the 92,250 lost in the same quarter in 2015.
>
> This research complements other information USDA and partners have been collecting for years. For example, in March NASS released its annual report on honey production and prices for 2015. This report, which is used by USDA, producers, economists, agribusiness and others, found that U.S. honey production in 2015 from producers with five or more colonies totaled 157 million pounds, down 12 percent from 2014. There were 2.66 million colonies from which honey was harvested in 2015, down 3 percent from 2014. Honey prices were 209.0 cents per pound, down 4 percent from a record high of 217.3 cents per pound in 2014.
>
> In addition, for the past 10 years USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture has helped fund collaboration between the Bee Informed Partnership and the Apiary Inspectors of America to produce an annual survey that asks both commercial and small-scale beekeepers to track the health and survival rates of their honey bee colonies. This year's survey results, which were released May 10, were gleaned from the responses of 5,700 beekeepers from 48 states who are responsible for about 15 percent of the nation's managed honey bee colonies.
>
> The data being released by NASS today adds to these two efforts by providing a baseline federal statistical resource to track change of reported numbers and death loss in colonies managed by small hobbyists up to the largest commercial producers.
>
> The National Strategy, developed under the leadership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and USDA) set three overarching goals: 1) reduce honey bee colony losses to economically sustainable levels; 2) increase monarch butterfly numbers to protect the annual migration; and 3) restore or enhance millions of acres of land for pollinators through combined public and private action. The plan was accompanied by a science-based Pollinator Research Action Plan. In addition to the surveys mentioned above, a number of research activities within USDA's Research, Education and Economics mission area have been initiated since the action plan was released; for example:
>
> - NIFA is currently seeking applications for a total of $16.8 million in grant funding for research projects with an emphasis on pollinator health;
>
> - The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is organizing a national bee genebank as part of the agency's response to ongoing problems facing the country's beekeepers. The genebank, which will be located in Fort Collins, Colorado, will help preserve the genetic diversity of honey bees, especially for traits such as resistance to pests or diseases and pollination efficiency;
>
> - ARS has launched a research project aimed at determining the effects of seasonal pollens on brood rearing, on bees' immune response to pathogen stress, and on whether geographic location influences such effects;
>
> - ARS has launched a study to determine whether hyperspectral imaging can be used as a non-invasive method of monitoring bee colony health; and
>
> - ARS has launched a project to determine colony survival, population size, cost and the return on investment of two overwintering strategies for controlling Varroa mites.
>
>
> If you have questions about USDA activities, please visit our Ask the Expert page. This feature is designed to assist you in obtaining the information you are seeking.
>
> USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users).
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Bee Pollen Could Boost Battery Performance
// Livescience.com
Pollen — the pesky, sneeze-inducing stuff that makes allergy sufferers everywhere miserable — could be the next greatest thing in battery research, according to a new study.
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