Bad for Bees
Honeybees (credit: ARS bee labs)
Considering the vital importance of honeybees for pollinating crops as varied as almonds, melons, vegetables, fruits, strawberries, squash, and lengthy list of others, maintaining their health should be crucial. It has been estimated bees provide near $20 billion in benefits to agricultural production in the US. Sadly, bees have been declining from Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) a neurological based condition with pesticides being the prime suspect.
The impact of neonicotinoid pesticides (neonics) on pollinating insects, particularly bees, has become more clear as a key factor in decline of their populations. Neonics are used to coat field crop seeds such as canola (rapeseed), corn, and soybeans. They appear to be the major culprit in colony collapse. Being pollinating insects, bees gather pollen from flowers that may contains pesticide residues and infect the hive when they return with this gathered plant material. These agrochemicals negatively affect an insect's nervous and immune systems and have been the subject of considerable and ongoing research in the USA and elsewhere. The use of neonics has now been banned by the European Union and similar bans are being reviewed here in North America.
Harvard University produced a video to illustrate the environmental and behavorial concerns impacting bees and also the need to act quickly for developing real solutions. Pesticides are bad for bees, indeed! WHB