Bee die-off perplexes scientists

[82_28]

We can't, at least I can't, see the images. Would like to see them. But they're not loading.

[backtoiam]

They load fine for me.

[Harvey]

We can't, at least I can't, see the images. Would like to see them. But they're not loading.

Still no joy? I'll repost the images via a different image host in my previous post, let me know if they still don't show up.

This is a fairly recent painting which arose out of concern for the thread topic:

[Luther Blissett]

Almost Half of US Honeybee Hives Collapsed Last Year
The great American beepocolypse continues.
—By Tom Philpott | Tue May 10, 2016 6:02 PM EDT

About a decade ago, beekeepers began noticing unusually steep annual hive die-offs. At first, they'd find that bees had simply abandoned hives during the winter months—a phenomenon deemed "colony collapse disorder." In more recent years, winter losses have continued at high levels, and summer-season colony collapses have spiked. The Bee Informed Partnership, a US Department of Agriculture-funded collaboration of research labs and universities nationwide, tracks this annual beepocolypse, and the latest results, for the year spanning April 2015 to April 2016, are a real buzzkill:


"Acceptable winter loss" measures what beekeepers consider normal attrition. Last season, total losses were nearly triple the acceptable rate—forcing beekeepers to scramble to form new hives, an expensive and time-consuming process. They're not the only ones with a big problem on their hands: About a third of the US diet comes from crops that rely on pollination, the great bulk of which comes from these beleaguered hives.

So far, researchers have not come up with one definitive reason for the dire state of bee health. Suspects swarm like characters in a drawing-room murder mystery. "A clear culprit is the varroa mite, a lethal parasite that can easily spread between colonies," the report states. "Pesticides and malnutrition caused by changing land use patterns are also likely taking a toll, especially among commercial beekeepers."

As I've written about in the past, neonicitinoid pesticides and a new class of fungicides likely share much of the blame for the vast honeybee die-offs; more here, here, and here. Unfortunately, these chemicals are still widely used on farm fields, and hotly promoted by agrichemical companies.

[backtoiam]

Monsanto is absolutely one the super monopolies that deserves credit as one of the wrinkles in the anal sphincter of the asshole of the universe. That abomination needs to be gone yesterday....

[backtoiam]

I dig the shit out of this. I love it. Did you paint this?

[Burnt Hill]

Thermosolar Hive-



https://youtu.be/qZI6lGSq1gU

[Harvey]

I dig the shit out of this. I love it. Did you paint this?

Guilty.

The whole painting was about the bee from the beginning. I was also thinking a few years ago that the shepherd is just a better wolf and while I was painting this the empty bottle in the picture washed up on the river Dee at our feet after bobbing about for just over a hundred years. The dead Bee appeared on our doorstep at about the same time. Resistance is fertile.

[Cordelia]

Wow, what a beautiful painting; thanks for posting it here. (Filled my daily requirement of be-sure-to-view-beautiful-art.)

[82_28]

Beautiful painting! I am so under-talented.

I will say with all the flowers blooming here, I have yet to see one bee this spring and believe me I am surrounded by flowers all around. I used to see bees all the time in all the years past. But I don't know -- just haven't seen a one yet.

[smoking since 1879]

Beautiful painting! I am so under-talented.

I will say with all the flowers blooming here, I have yet to see one bee this spring and believe me I am surrounded by flowers all around. I used to see bees all the time in all the years past. But I don't know -- just haven't seen a one yet.

same here mate, no bees, no wasps, no spiders and no flies

[82_28]

Yeah. Where the hell are the spiders? I saved a small one last week -- I never kill spiders. I just caught it in a glass and let it back outside. Last spring there were webs seemingly everywhere around now which I always leave be. Though I hope not and it's just a glitch it seems like something is up. I know Seattle sprayed the fuck out of the city last week, via airplane to kill Gypsy Moths. I just wonder how the pesticides differentiate between anything other than the moth and the moth alone.

http://www.kiro7.com/news/local/gypsy-m ... /230054038

SEATTLE —

Seattle’s Capitol Hill was the next target to eradicate a gypsy moths across the state.

A plane was seen flying over Capitol Hill about 6 a.m. Wednesday.

They weren't scheduled to spray the insecticide over Capitol Hill until next week, but wanted to take advantage of recent good weather. The state has already sprayed six other cities.

Gypsy moths are an invasive species and state entomologists think the caterpillars are developing sooner with the warm weather.

The warm weather is also perfect for spraying the biological pesticide Foray 48B.

State officials say if you want to minimize your exposure to the insecticide, you should stay inside for 30 minutes after the application.

WTF?

[smoking since 1879]

Yeah. Where the hell are the spiders? I saved a small one last week -- I never kill spiders. I just caught it in a glass and let it back outside. Last spring there were webs seemingly everywhere around now which I always leave be. Though I hope not and it's just a glitch it seems like something is up. I know Seattle sprayed the fuck out of the city last week, via airplane to kill Gypsy Moths. I just wonder how the pesticides differentiate between anything other than the moth and the moth alone.

http://www.kiro7.com/news/local/gypsy-m ... /230054038

SEATTLE —

Seattle’s Capitol Hill was the next target to eradicate a gypsy moths across the state.

A plane was seen flying over Capitol Hill about 6 a.m. Wednesday.

They weren't scheduled to spray the insecticide over Capitol Hill until next week, but wanted to take advantage of recent good weather. The state has already sprayed six other cities.

Gypsy moths are an invasive species and state entomologists think the caterpillars are developing sooner with the warm weather.

The warm weather is also perfect for spraying the biological pesticide Foray 48B.

State officials say if you want to minimize your exposure to the insecticide, you should stay inside for 30 minutes after the application.

WTF?

i don't think it does differentiate, it's akin to carpet bombing

i've started to ask people 'when was the last time you saw a spider' - i'm getting a lot of blank stares for my efforts

[Sounder]

Odd connection here; Foray 48B is BTk (Bacillus thuringiensis).

I have a friend in Missouri that noticed farmers burning their corn stalks in the field and he wondered why they did that rather than turning them into the ground, so he asked and was told that because the corn was BTk treated, the micro-organisms that normally break down dead plant material do not do their work on this material.

Using chemical solutions for everything produces consequences that many people seem to be doing their best to discount and/or ignore.

In the bee die-off situation however, I lean towards confusion in bees caused by electromagnetic field effects as being a more primary causative factor.

[smoking since 1879]

Odd connection here; Foray 48B is BTk (Bacillus thuringiensis).

I have a friend in Missouri that noticed farmers burning their corn stalks in the field and he wondered why they did that rather than turning them into the ground, so he asked and was told that because the corn was BTk treated, the micro-organisms that normally break down dead plant material do not do their work on this material.

Using chemical solutions for everything produces consequences that many people seem to be doing their best to discount and/or ignore.

i can't see that ending well tbh. if you don't put organic matter back you end up with what, sand?

In the bee die-off situation however, I lean towards confusion in bees caused by electromagnetic field effects as being a more primary causative factor.

may well be, i have suspicions along those lines too.

but ask the average person (if you can find one) which the would like to keep, the bees or their cell phones...