News — Native Bees

Each month our Bee Informed Blog highlights current news, science, and research related to solitary bee conservation, food insecurity, and sustainability. 1. The loss of insects is an apocalypse worth worrying about (Vox) Perhaps you don’t think much about the value of dung beetles. But without them crawling around farms, stables, and wild savannas today, the world would be pretty, er, shitty. What about the importance of small, mosquito-like flies called midges? Without them, there’d be no chocolate and likely no ice cream because they pollinate both cacao and the plants that feed dairy cows. “There are lots of tiny little things...

Each month our Bee Informed Blog highlights current news, science, and research related to solitary bee conservation, food insecurity, and sustainability. 1. Hundreds of new native bees species added to Oregon database (OPB.org) The Oregon Bee Atlas just got bigger. In an update announced this month, the largest bee and plant database in the state added hundreds of new native bee species that were discovered all over Oregon. The atlas was created because of a lack of information available about the state’s bee populations. The program’s scientists collect data from each county with help from trained volunteers who collect bee specimens. In the latest...

Each month our Bee Informed Blog highlights current news, science, and research related to solitary bee conservation, food insecurity, and sustainability. 1. Bees Exposed to Pesticide Could Take Multiple Generations to Recover - Modern Farmer Calculating exactly what sort of damage certain pesticides pose to pollinators might be trickier than previously thought. New research from scientists at the University of California, Davis finds that repeated exposure to some pesticides could have an additive effect, getting worse with multiple exposures. That could, they write, require multiple generations to recover. Continue reading...     2. Western Honey Bees Most Likely Originated in Asia, Researchers Find -...

Each month our Bee Informed Blog highlights current news, science, and research related to solitary bee conservation, food insecurity, and sustainability. 1. In a New Study, Spring Forest Bees Get Their Due Temperate forests in the eastern United States come to life in April and May with colorful blankets of wildflowers, birds singing from newly leafing tree branches, and plenty of insect activity. That includes one greatly understudied group of native insects: the forest-living bees. A new study, however, is shedding much-needed light on the ecology of these often small but busy bees that do much of the spring pollination work in...