News — Science and Research

Each month our Bee Informed Blog highlights current news, science, and research related to solitary bee conservation, food insecurity, and sustainability. 1. Australia is in a unique position to eliminate the bee-killing Varroa mite. Here’s what happens if we don’t (The Conversation) Varroa mites – notorious honey bee parasites – have recently reached Australian shores, detected at the Port of Newcastle in New South Wales last year. If they establish here, there would be significant implications for agricultural food security, as honey bees are heavily relied on for the pollination of many crops. However, while Australia is the last continent to be...

Each month our Bee Informed Blog highlights current news, science, and research related to solitary bee conservation, food insecurity, and sustainability. 1. She ripped up her manicured lawn and challenged the norms of gardening stories (npr.org, by Melissa Block) "I love a person who talks kindly to plants," poet Camille Dungy writes in her new contemplative memoir. And for sure, Dungy can be counted among those who do exactly that. In Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden, Dungy describes her years-long project to transform her weed-filled, water-hogging, monochromatic lawn in suburban Fort Collins, Colo., into a pollinator's paradise, packed instead...

Each month our Bee Informed Blog highlights current news, science, and research related to solitary bee conservation, food insecurity, and sustainability. 1. Celebrate Earth Day with a bee walk (Environment America, By Steven Blackledge) Earth Day—April 22nd—is a day to not only celebrate our planet but also to take part in environmental education and activism to build a greener, healthier world. And what better way to help the planet than by helping the fuzzy little critters whose hard work holds up entire ecosystems? I’m talking about bees. These humble heroes pollinate 80% of the world’s flowering plants, and there are more than...

Each month our Bee Informed Blog highlights current news, science, and research related to solitary bee conservation, food insecurity, and sustainability. 1. "How the New Vaccine - For Bees - Works" (Sam Westreich, PhD, NewsBreak Contributor) For a tiny insect, bees are vitally important to many aspects of our daily life, even if you don’t enjoy a bit of honey in your tea. But recently, commercial honeybees have been under attack by a dangerous bacterium. This bacterium is named Paenibacillus larvae, and it causes a disease in bees known as American Foulbrood. The bacterium infects the bee larvae, growing in their guts...