(The Nature Conservancy) In order to sufficiently fund the protection of nature, we need to know exactly how much we’re currently spending – and how much more is needed. In essence, we need to determine what our nature funding gap looks like.
(ABC News) How do you keep bees in your orchard when there are more attractive flowering plants in the vicinity? The answer may lie in pheromones. Dollops of pheromones have been sprayed into flowering almond orchards in Australia, with the aim of creating excitement among bees, thus creating more nuts.
(KCBS) “We know that smoke interacts with the type of smells used to find food, and basically either hides them or destroys them. So, it could well be that if you have these effects over such prolonged periods of time that bees start to get real trouble to find food.”
(Daily Mail) Researchers in Argentina found that exposing bees to foods scented with synthetic sunflower odor altered their choices about which plants to visit later. Exposure to the scent of sunflowers created ‘bee memories’ that influenced the insects to seek out sunflowers and bring back more sunflower pollen to their hives. This increased visitation also boosted flower production by somewhere between 29 to 57 percent, depending on the sunflower hybrid grown.
(CBS13) It’s a hard reality to see what’s left of Caroline Yelle’s Bee farm in ashes. Five hundred of her hives in Vacaville and at another location in Napa Valley all burned. The flames from the LNU Lightning Complex Fires surrounded Yelle’s seven years of work. The fire also destroyed her mentor’s home and four decades of his own legacy that he left to her.
(Fast Company) The snack company Kind says it plans to source almonds only from “bee-friendly” farmland by 2025. Almond suppliers working with Kind are making two major changes. They’ve stopped using two types of pesticides – neonicotinoids and chlorpyrifos – that can kill bees. They will also convert between 3% to 5% of their orchards to a habitat that supports bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
(EurekAlert, University of Minnesota) Many farmers are used to sharing big equipment – like tractors and other costly machinery – with neighboring farms. Sharing cuts costs, lowers the farmer’s debt load, and increases community wellbeing. But big machinery might not be the only opportunity for farmers to reap the benefits of cost-sharing with their neighbors. New research suggests that the concept could also be applied to a more lively kind of agricultural resource: wild bees. “What we’re proposing is that those farmers providing bee habitat could be rewarded for doing so, to the benefit of all.”
(USDA NASS) The total number of colonies has increased, but so has the number of colonies lost to colony collapse disorder. Varroa mites are a top stressor. Read the full report. You can also read past reports.
