Bee's at war with Almonds

80% of global almond cultivation can be found in the state of California. Due to a decline in pollinator populations there are too many many flowers with any of the flowers will go unpollinated. As of 2006, due to high levels of colony collapse disorder it appeared almond cultivation was in trouble, however, due to the growing market for almonds, it had become feasible to make it worthwhile for beekeepers to rent out their hives to these almond growers for the blooming months. Many of these beekeepers heavily rely on renting out their hives during bloom season. This is the case as it costs $100 per year for maintenance of these hives yet the bees will only generate roughly $50-$80 in honey. Almond growers offer an enticing $160 per month for each hive to both the commercial and hobbyist beekeepers from across the United States. 

This is a mutualistic relationship for all involved...... except for the bees. Record numbers of honey bees had declined following their transport back from California with beekeepers recording average losses of 38% of their colonies (50 billion within 3 months in Winter of 2018/2019). The main reason  believed as to why this strategy of cultivation is detrimental to the honeybee populations is that bee colonies from different regions of the United States are associated with different parasites which have built up partial immunity due to years of exposure. Individuals foreign to these pathogens had no form of immunity. California has been described as a 'chemical soup' due to high levels of pesticides such as clothianidin and dicamba. These pesticides have detrimental effects on a bees immunity and reproductive cycles. When these major implications are exposed to bees in conjunction to one another it will cause a population to seriously decline. 

Organic bee keepers blame this decline on the over reliance of heavy mechanization, meanwhile, others believe a lack of preparation is responsible. Almond growers rented a diverse range of bee breeds and it is theorized that the European honeybee would out compete the less diverse bees and limiting the growth of these bees. Less common ideas for this decline is said to be a result of being out competed by Africanized bee strains. Africanized bees had been accidentally introduced to Brazil and are known to migrate northwards. California is one of the few areas in the US that these bees may reside due to the temperature and so it satisfies their fundamental niche. The Africanised bees would colonize new hives by killing the hive's Queen and would replace it with their Queen. 

Finally, it is possible that the ecology of California may be unsuitable for bee survival due to the high abundance of animals (bears, honeybadgers etc) that feed off honey and will kill the bees in the process. As the rapid decline has only gained significant attention in the last few years, there is a lack of research done with only hypothesis formed. These educated guesses must be investigated greater so that it can be prevented. Due to the large revenue almond production generates it is unlikely that renting bees will halt and so research is vital so almond growers and beekeepers may help silence the decline we have recently seen. 

Reference

• McGinvey, A., 2020. 'Like Sending Bees To War': The Deadly Truth Behind Your Almond Milk Obsession. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/07/honeybees-deaths-almonds-hives-aoe> [Accessed 9 July 2020].
•  Jacobsen, R., 2009. Fruitless fall: the collapse of the honeybee and the coming agricultural crisis. Choice Reviews Online, 46(08), pp.46-4440-46-4440.
• Schumann, D., 1993. Income Opportunities in Special forest products. 1(1), p.134.

 

Invasive species on the rise?

 1st, October, 2020 - University College, London -  Research led by an international team in conjunction with the University College, London discussed how they've predicted there to be a 36% increase in invasive alien species by 2050 in comparison to 2005.There is significant correlation between the level of a nations GDP and the abundance of invasive species due to improvement in transport, infrastructure etc. It's expected that Europe will see the highest invasion in biological invasions with the predicted arrival of 2,500 species which will be a 64% increase. Invasive species have been an issue in Europe for the past 11 decades, however, enhancement in trapping methods have plateaued where kill traps and mark and recapture methods commonly being deployed (UCL, 2020). There is a large inventory of invasive species data available for island populations, however, this is not the case for mainland populations. Mainland populations are more complicated due to higher potentials of dispersal and information will be vital. This study has used a model with great variations between different regions where the largest increase predicted to be in Europe due to their connectivity to many other continent, high GDP, poor border control, strong political relationships with other high GDP nations etc. Australia have been estimated to seeing the lowest increase due to strong border controls and their dis connectivity from other nations (Blackburn et al, 2019). 

The best time to put controls into place is during the early stages before these populations expand and disperse. Constant surveillance using meta genomics would be a useful tool where it will help detect early introduction where the intensity of invasion is low and will help understand pathway patterns. The success of establishment is heavily related to the propagule pressure which refers to the increased risk of successful establishment is heavily related to the number of individuals introduced into a foreign environment (Amador-Vargas et al, 2018: Blackburn et al, 2019).

The most destructive assemblage are known as Invasive Alien Predators where they exploit the behavioral/ evolutionary naeivity from the native prey species. A cyclical relationship is typically formed between the predator-prey species which ensures the survival of both species. This relationship is formed through many thousand years of co-existence where they evolve in relation to each other (Red Queen Hypothesis), however, when a predator and prey species not native to one another are exposed to one another, there isn't sufficient time to evolve to develop an adequate form of defense (:Simberloff et al, 2000). Other invasive species include establishment of floral species such as rhododendron (rhododendron ponticum) reduces floral diversity where they use their thick leaves to block light and excrete toxic chemicals to prevent the establishment of juveniles. This will then create a bottom up impact where species further up the food chain are impacted by the domino effect created by the reduced species diversity of floral species (Simberloff et al, 2000: Thébault et al, 2017: Amador-Vargas et al, 2018). 

 

References

·       Amador-Vargas, S. Blackburn, T. Braga, R. Cassey, P. Debille, S. Enders, M. Erhard, F. Farji-Brener, A. Fox, G. García-Díaz, P. Gómez Aparicio, L. Griesemer, J. Heger, T. Jeschke, J. Lockwood, J. Lortie, C. Müller, C. Nordheimer, R. Pyšek, P. Scheiner, S. Starzer, J. Torchyk, O. Vitule, J. (2018) ‘INVASION BIOLOGY Hypothesis and Evidence’, Jeschke, J. Heger, T. Edition 9, pp. 3-124, CABI, Oxfordshire.

Blackburn, T.M. Bellard, C. Ricciardi, A. (2019) 'Alien versus native species as drivers of recent extinctions'. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment,  DOI: 10.1002/fee.2020

University College London. "Alien species to increase by 36% worldwide by 2050." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 1 October 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201001090143.htm>.

·    Vilà, M. Espinar, J.L. Hejda, M. Hulme, P.E. Jarošík, V. Maron, J.L. Pergl, J. Schaffner, U. Sun, Y. Pyšek, P. (2011) ‘Ecological impacts of invasive alien plants: a meta‐analysis of their effects on species, communities and ecosystems’, Ecology Letters, 14(7), pp. 702-706, doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01628.x

Queen bee failures

 8th September, 2020 (University of British Columbia)- Researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC) have been investigating aspects which may be responsible for colony collapse disorder (CCD) where it had been thought that queen bee failures is a significant factor. CCD is when the majority of worker bees disappear from the colony leaving the Queen, nursebees and juveniles. 

It was discovered by the Canadian Association of professional apiarists that the queen could no longer produce sufficient fertilized eggs. To asses this, protein markers are examined. These proteins are activated within a queen bee when put under significant stress ie. heat shock, pesticide exposure, malnutrition etc. 

During this research, the protein markers of the queen bee from a hive experiencing CCD was compared to a queen's from a healthy hive. It was discovered that queen's from hives experiencing CCD had higher levels of heat shock and pesticide exposure which creates detrimental effects on sperm viability. This has negative implications on the genetic diversity which makes it more difficult for offspring to survive, adapt to change etc. It also causes there to be a lack of worker bee population where the worker bees that were produced work themselves to death sooner as each worker bee had more work in sustaining the hive. 

These bees are subject to heat shock due to climate change but the primary reason is the transport of bees from differing climate ie New Zealand to Canada. The high climate fluctuation puts the bees under serious strain due to evolution over millions of years in a completely different climate. 

 

Alison McAfee, Joseph Milone, Abigail Chapman, Leonard J. Foster, Jeffery S. Pettis, David R. Tarpy. Candidate stress biomarkers for queen failure diagnostics. BMC Genomics, 2020; 21 (1) DOI: 10.1186/s12864-020-06992-2

US EPA. 2018. Colony Collapse Disorder | US EPA. [online] Available at: <https://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/colony-collapse-disorder> [Accessed 22 September 2020

Are cukoo the new Dodo?

The British cuckoo population has displayed a 71% decline within the previous 25 years. This decline has been a mystery to many until monitoring was recently taken place. Tracking devices were attached to 42 male cuckoo birds prior to their migration. This survey had discovered that these birds have 2 migratory routes. One route goes from Britain to the African continent via Spain and another where they bypass Italy. Those who flew threw Italy ( a longer route) had a significantly lower mortality rate upon their return to Britain/ Ireland. It was noted that the majority of deaths had occurred prior to reaching the continent of Africa and so it is hypothesized the decline is primarily yet another result of climate change. 

Spain have suffered from severe droughts and fires meaning there will be less water source. More time had been spent in breeding sites for those bypassing Italy with it being expected to be because they're developing a greater deal of pre migratory fattening. Due to this lack of precipitation there is also a decrease in vegetation growth that makes up most of the caterpillar/ moth's diet. This is significant as the caterpillar and moths are the major food source for the cuckoo bird. This lack of food source and water availability will then quite obviously cause death especially during a harsh migratory route. 

Spring migration is commonly associated with energy selected migration and Spring migration is related to time selected migration. There are currently issues on the timing of Spring migration due to the incompatible breeding resources available where the hosts nests are located where the cuckoo wishes to lay leading to an exploitative interaction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cacomantis_flabelliformis.jpg

References

•  Briggs, H., 2016. Cuckoo Decline Finally Mapped. [online] BBC News. Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/news/av/science-environment-36837641/cuckoo-decline-finally-mapped> [Accessed 11 July 2020].
•  Hewson, C., Thorup, K., Pearce-Higgins, J. and Atkinson, P., 2016. Population decline is linked to migration route in the Common Cuckoo. Nature Communications, 7(1).