Bees: The Good and Bad - Update

Bees face another killer: Selenium
Toxin could affect multibillion-dollar agricultural industry

Selenium, a potent toxin, is showing up in alarming concentrations in the pollen and nectar of two plants common in Calif.’s Central Valley. The rocks, soil and groundwater of California's San Joaquin Valley contain some of the highest natural levels of selenium found anywhere — in some places up to 14 parts per million.

... researchers are surprised to find that nectar and pollen collected from plants grown in a laboratory contained between 108 and nearly 2,000 parts per million of selenium -- many times the lethal level for most insects.

"In insect systems we've studied, it's toxic at around 15 to 20 parts per million, so this is way too high," ... "Pollen and nectar with that much selenium will likely kill all pollinators that feed on it."

Bumblebee flight is not quite in sync:

Unlike soaring eagles, graceful butterflies, and swiftly swooping bats, bumblebees are heavy and wide. Their wings are short. And according to the new study, one wing flaps out of synch from the other...One finding is that basic rules of aerodynamics — which explain how airplanes and some birds fly — simply don't apply to bees, which flap their wings 200 times a second...

[they] set up a wind tunnel that was 1.5 meters (about 5 feet) long, with flowers on one end and a beehive on the other. As 100 trained bees buzzed their way through the tunnel, high-speed cameras captured up to 2,000 frames each second. Lines of smoke filled the tunnel, allowing the scientists to study vortexes formed around each flapping bee wing. After many hours of analysis, the researchers were surprised to see the left and right wings operating independently.

Some Good News for US Bees
Survey finds slower decline of bee colonies: The decline of honeybee colonies has slowed slightly since last fall, but a mysterious combination of ailments is still decimating the insect's population, federal researchers say. U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers found that honeybee colonies declined by 29 percent between September 2008 and early April. That's an improvement over the last two years, when researchers found that 32 percent and 36 percent of all beekeepers surveyed lost hives.

Destructive mite threatens Hawaii bees
Could threaten Big Island's thriving queen bee export industry

"This is going to be for us a nightmare," said Michael Kliks, head of the Hawaii Beekeepers' Association and owner of Manoa Honey Co. "When I saw that mite I knew exactly what it was. I knew exactly what it meant and I fell to my knees and almost began to weep because it's inexpressible what that sea change is for us in Hawaii."

Everything About Bees