Bee Specific Bee Specific Forgetful bees can’t find their food
Forgetful bees can’t find their food
A mixture of chemicals found in modern pesticides may be killing bee colonies around the world, according to a United Nations report.
Seeds are being coated in systemic insecticides that spread throughout the plant, from the roots to the flowers and into the nectar and pollen. The reports says that the highly toxic chemicals in the insecticides, collectively known as neonicotinoids, can cause loss of the sense of direction and memory on which bees rely to find food.
The United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) report says that when neonicotinoids are combined with certain fungicides, the toxicity becomes a thousand times stronger.The report was ordered in response to the sudden disappearance of bees in many parts of the world, including Britain. It says that the loss of nature’s most important plant pollinators could undermine efforts to fee the world’s growing population.
It concludes that multiple factors are likely to be behind the ‘colony collapse disorder’ which has devastated bee populations in North America, China, Africa and parts of Europe.
In Britain, there was a small increase last winter in the number of colonies dying, up from 14 per cent to 16 per cent. Unep also said that air pollution might be interfering with bees’ ability to find flowering plants. Scents that could travel more than 800m (2,625ft) in the 1800s now reach less than 200m from a plant. The destruction of habitats for wild flowers could also be contributing to the decline in many regions.
The report calls on farmers to take greater care in the choice, timing and application of insecticides and other chemicals. It says that farmers and land owners should be offered higher incentives to restore bee-friendly habitats such as setting aside strips of land for wild flowers next to crops.
The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs is increasing the annual amount paid to famers for protecting wildlife under the Higher Level Stewardship scheme from £84 million this year to £156 million in 2004. But the Government is resisting calls for a ban on products pending a review of their safety.
Martin Smith, President of the British Beekeepers’ Association said “We urge increased planting of wild flower margins around agricultural fields”.
Ben Webster, Environment Editor, The Times March 10th 2011