The fifth edition of The State Energy Efficiency Index (SEEI), initiated by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), in association with Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE), to evaluate the annual progress of energy efficiency implementation in the states. The State Energy Efficiency Index (SEEI) identifies and addresses gaps concerning …
The researchers present results of a three-year study to determine the fate of imidacloprid residues in hive matrices and to assess chronic sublethal effects on whole honey bee colonies fed supplemental pollen diet containing imidacloprid at 5, 20 and 100 μg/kg over multiple brood cycles. Various endpoints of colony performance …
Can honey bees keep away “gundhi bug” (locally called bambuchi) in paddy? Definitely, says Ramakrishna Shenoy, an agriculturist and an ex-serviceman, from Beluvai in Mangaluru taluk. Mr. Shenoy said that the “gundhi bug” was a major menace in his paddy field for rabi crops (November-February) and not for kharif crop …
A new analysis exposes how the American and European pesticide industry is using ongoing EU-US trade negotiations to lower human health and environmental standards in order to increase trade in toxic pesticides. A new study by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), Lowest Common Denominator: How the EU-US trade …
A warming world could be bad news for honeybees. Scientists have found that the spread of an exotic bee parasite, now found worldwide, is linked to climate and not just superior competitive ability. In order to examine the spread of bee parasites, the scientists compared pathogen growth in honeybees that …
Ontario plans to reduce the use of an insecticide that has been linked to bee deaths, making it the first jurisdiction in North America to do so. Ontario, Canada’s largest producer of corn and soybeans, said today that by 2017 it intends to cut by 80 percent the acreage sown …
Climate change threatens the survival of the UK's honey bee population, according to research by scientists at Queen's University, Belfast. An exotic parasite that targets the insects is set to flourish in northern Europe if the Earth continues to warm, the study says. It assessed the future threat posed by …
California regulators violated the law by approving expanded use of pesticides that have been shown to hurt honeybees needed for pollinating key American crops, according to a lawsuit filed against the state by environmental groups on Tuesday. The lawsuit seeks an injunction prohibiting the state Department of Pesticide Regulation from …
These moths, whose olfactory abilities are as good as a bloodhound's and vastly better than a human's, can fly up to 80 miles (130 km) a night searching for their favorite flowers such as the Sacred Datura. The nectar of these fragrant white, trumpet-shaped flowers that bloom only once at …
Regulations on pesticides have failed to prevent poisoning of almost all habitats, international team of scientists concludes. The world’s most widely used insecticides have contaminated the environment across the planet so pervasively that global food production is at risk, according to a comprehensive scientific assessment of the chemicals’ impacts. This …
Numerous surveys reveal high levels of pesticide residue contamination in honey bee comb. We conducted studies to examine possible direct and indirect effects of pesticide exposure from contaminated brood comb on developing worker bees and adult worker lifespan.
Global pollinators, like honeybees, are declining in abundance and diversity, which can adversely affect natural ecosystems and agriculture. Therefore, we tested the current hypotheses describing honeybee losses as a multifactorial syndrome, by investigating integrative effects of an infectious organism and an insecticide on honeybee health. We demonstrated that the interaction …
Initiatives and innovations promoted by Keystone Foundation have helped promote bee keeping amongst farmers and tribal communities around the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. The impacts are visible in terms of better yields in coffee, mango and vegetable crops.
One way that family farmers improve their resilience to both climatic and economic shocks is to diversify what is produced. More and different crops and livestock, particularly local varieties and breeds are being promoted. Two other options stand out too – bees and trees. These have the added advantages of …
The best quality honey is produced from Aegialitis rotundifolia and Cynometra ramiflora, according to the mangrove cell. In a bid to encourage locals to conserve mangrove forests, the Mangrove Cell will soon introduce apiculture. The GOI-United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) committee, which met in Mumbai last week, has approved a …
Landmark research shows 29% of honeybee colonies died in winter of 2012-13, with summer losses also high at 9.7% A landmark study has revealed the UK is suffering one of the worst rates of honeybee colony deaths in Europe. In the cold winter of 2012-13, 29% of honeybee colonies in …
Almost a quarter of Europe's bumblebees are at risk of extinction due to loss of habitats and climate change, threatening pollination of crops worth billions of dollars, a study showed on Wednesday. Sixteen of 68 bumblebee species in Europe are at risk, the Red List of the International Union for …
Honeybees utilise floral odours when foraging for flowers; we investigated whether diesel exhaust pollution could interrupt these floral odour stimuli. A synthetic blend of eight floral chemicals, identified from oilseed rape, was exposed to diesel exhaust pollution. Within one minute of exposure the abundances of four of the chemicals were …
Exposure to pollution from diesel exhaust fumes can disrupt honeybees' ability to recognize the smells of flowers and could in future affect pollination and global food security, researchers said on Thursday. In a study published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, scientists from Britain's University of Southampton found that the …
Three widely-used pesticides made by Switzerland's Syngenta and Germany's Bayer pose an acute risk to honeybees, the European Union's food safety watchdog said on Wednesday, but stopped short of linking them to bee colony collapse. Fears over the effects on bees of neonicotinoid insecticides - among the most commonly used …
Prem Kumar Nirania, 32, is an advocate in Abohar’s local courts. In March, he saw a newspaper advertisement on a training camp at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Ferozepur, and decided to join. He started beekeeping immediately after the training camp ended. Today Nirania has about 70 bee colonies and has also …
