Tag Archives: behaviour

Harvard study links pesticides to bee deaths

Posted on May 13, 2014 by

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in honeybees (Apis mellifera) can be linked with low-dose insecticides. Philip Case at the UK magazine Farmers Weekly tells us about research in the States, where CCD is a huge problem. This is a serious matter … Continue reading →

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Leave Them Bee- The Honeybees That Fearfully Avoid Hornets

Posted on October 4, 2013 by

Originally posted on The Plantwise Blog:
Vespa velutina, a species of hornet that preys on honey bees © Daniel Solabarrieta CC-BY-SA 2.0 In bees, fear is shown through avoiding dangerous food sites, thereby reducing the pollination of plants at the…

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Neonicotioids V: Insecticides and Bad Behavior

Posted on June 28, 2013 by

Originally posted on Living With Insects Blog:
Honey Bee Hives The effects of insecticides on insects have been extensively studied. At high enough doses, insects will die. At lower doses, insects may survive, but present physiological and behavioral changes. Insecticides…

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Badger sleeping habits could help target TB control

Posted on January 17, 2013 by

At Exeter University, scientists have found evidence that badgers sleeping in ‘outlying’ setts are more likely than other badgers to carry bovine tuberculosis. This is serious research but I just have to call these badgers ‘dirty stop-outs’.

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Honeybees and Varroa mites

Posted on October 5, 2012 by

I’m grateful to my fellow blogger narhvalur for pointing out this article about how the honey bee (Apis mellifera) seems to fight back against the Varroa mite (Varroa destructor). V. destructor lives down to its scary name. It’s associated with … Continue reading →

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Learning from other organisms

Posted on October 5, 2012 by

If something works, it’s probably been developed already by natural selection. So we humans can learn from other organisms. My fellow blogger Anthropogen drew my attention to bee-brained robots. I like it that these tiny robots might prove useful as … Continue reading →

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Breeding the honeybee?

Posted on September 28, 2012 by

In recent years, hives of the honeybee (Apis mellifera) have been devastated in the States, European countries and Japan by Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). It’s a serious matter because we need bees to pollinate crops and wild plants. CCD isn’t … Continue reading →

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