Bumble Bee Disease & Reproduction Is Shaped by Flowering Strip Plants
Flowering strips – pollinator-friendly rows of plants that increase foraging habitat for bees – can help offset pollinator decline but may also bring risks of…
Bees
Scientists Buzzing Over Virgin Birth and Genetic Mystery That’s Been Solved
Researchers discover a gene in honey bees that causes virgin birth. In a study published on May 7, 2020, in Current Biology, researchers from University…
Deadly Virus Turns Honey Bees Into Trojan Horses, Rapidly Spreading the Infection to Healthy Hives
Honey bees that guard hive entrances are twice as likely to allow in trespassers from other hives if the intruders are infected with the Israeli…
A Question for Almond Growers: To Bee, or Not to Bee?
Pollination by bees is vital even when crops are assumed to be pollinator independent. That’s according to a study co-authored by Ethel Villalobos, a researcher…
Baby Bee Brain Development Impaired by Pesticides – “Permanent and Irreversible”
Pesticides can impair brain growth in baby bumblebees, affecting their ability to perform a simple learning task as adults, according to a new study. Imperial…
Bumble Bees Are Going Extinct in Time of Climate Chaos – “We Have Now Entered the World’s Sixth Mass Extinction Event”
University of Ottawa researchers develop technique to predict impact of climate change on species extinction risk. When you were young, were you the type of…
High-Speed Video Reveals Bumblebees Carry Heavy Loads in Energy-Efficient “Economy Mode”
Bumblebees are the big lifters of the insect world, able to fly back to the hive with almost their own bodyweight in nectar on board….
Scientists Genetically Engineered Bacteria to Protect Bees From Colony Collapse
Scientists from The University of Texas at Austin report in the journal Science that they have developed a new strategy to protect honey bees from…
Surprisingly, Plants Are Better Pollinated in Cities Than in the Countryside
Plants Benefit From More Bees, Especially Bumble Bees Flowering plants are better pollinated in urban than in rural areas. This has now been demonstrated experimentally…
Bumble Bees’ Favorite Flowers Identified to Aid Bee Restoration
Research in the Sierra Nevada region of California illustrates the varying flower choices of bumble bees. Many species of North American bumble bees have seen…
Bad News for Honey Bees: Insecticides Are Growing Much More Toxic
Researchers discover that neonicotinoid seed treatments are driving a dramatic increase in insecticide toxicity in U.S. agricultural landscapes, despite evidence that these treatments have little…
Researchers Abuzz About High Levels of Antibacterial Activity in Australian Honey
Australia has at least seven Leptospermum species that produce honey with exceptionally high levels of antibacterial activity. Australian honey is abuzz with high-value antibacterial activity,…
Bizarre Species of Stingless Bees Depend on a Complex Fungal Community to Survive
A report published in PLOS ONE describes key roles of various microorganisms in the development of the larvae of Scaptotrigona depilis. Researchers warn that this…
Honeybees Are Accomplished Mathematicians
Start thinking about numbers and they can become large very quickly. The diameter of the universe is about 8.8×1023 km and the largest number with…
Colorful New Bee Species Discovered in Fiji, but Extinction From Climate Change Feared
Bee biodiversity barometer on Fiji — New species described as environment changes The biodiversity buzz is alive and well in Fiji, but climate change, noxious…
Male Honeybees Inject Queens With Blinding Toxins During Sex
They say love is blind, but if you’re a queen honeybee it could mean true loss of sight. New research finds male honeybees inject toxins…
Researchers Developing Natural Pesticide Alternative That Doesn’t Harm Honeybees
Researchers at the University of Sheffield’s Institute for Sustainable Food are collaborating with industry to develop a natural, sustainable biocontrol which targets pests without harming…
Scientists Study “Magical” Royal Jelly for Clues to Control Cancer
Royal jelly, or milky-white “bee milk,” has long been known for its mysterious growth effects on future queen honey bees, while also hailed by some…
