Everything from almonds to apples to avacados depends on the insect Im holding in my hand. Apus molifera you might call it the domesticated honey bee. Trouble is, this ones dead and thousands others are dying and disappearing all over the world. Since the 1950s bees have been on the decline. Scientists dont know why. Mike Hood is a professor of entomology whos been following colony collapse since 2007.
What do we know? Well Peter theres a lot that we have discovered that we dont know. A lot more questions than we have answers for. When bees fly from a colony they can work a very large area, were talking about square miles. So you cant go out and collect these dead bees and do an autopsy on them. You have to deal with what is left behind in the colony which is sometimes, you know you dont have a whole lot to work with.
Despite the problems inherent in studying bees researchers like Dr. Hood are committed to finding answers, but will it be soon enough. Since 2006 some commercial beekeepers have lost 90% of their colonies and thats only the beginning of the story.
Many people think of honey bees they think of the value of the honey, but really the value of the honey bee, our most beneficial insect, is their pollination. Now in South Carolina we grow crops like watermelons, cantaloupes, squash, apples, cucumbers. All those crops are heavily dependent on honey bees for pollination. Without them we couldnt produce anywhere near the amount that we do.
One solution Dr. Hood has developed is a trap that helps control the small hive beetle, a common predator.
Its a simple little device where its got three compartments and has a lid, and what we do is we just attach the lid to the box. We load this with cider vinegar. Cider vinegar is an attractant to the small hive beetle or theyre attracted to it. Now also in the side compartments we put mineral oil, food grade mineral oil, which when the beetles go into the box theyre attracted to the vinegar, they also get the oil on there little feet and they cant escape out the entrance.
The trap I can see working for beekeepers and the people in the business. Is there anything people can do at home in their yards to help encourage bee recovery? Through development, urban spread, urban development, we have eliminated a lot of the honey bees natural habitat or foraging area. And due to that they have a shortage of food many times. So youre, when you have that youre going to have a shortage of bees in the area, anything that you can do to improve the availability of food for bees, such as trees which bloom, or provide pollen for the bees, forage, clover, other plants, are very good for the bees. Anytime you buy a pesticide, before you use it read the directions, it has instructions on there. If it is harmful to honey bees it will have a protection statement, honey bee protection statement, right there, right before you. The problem is most people do not read directions. They will use a product without reading all the directions.
Another thing regular folks can do to help replenish the bee supply is to become an amateur beekeeper.
We have developed a South Carolina master beekeeper program. And this is a program which is made to teach people how to keep bees and its offered to the public through Clemson University, and is also hosted by the South Carolina beekeepers association. But we will take someone who has never been around honey bees and wecan make a hobby beekeeper out of them within about eight weeks.
Mike thanks for giving us a tour of the hive and for bringing us up-to-date about whats going on with bees. Absolutely Peter, honey bees are very important and we need to do whatever we can to protect them and I certainly enjoyed your visit. Well thanks, I hope to be back. It truly is amazing; such a small animal plays such a large part in our lives. This is Peter Kent for Science in Society.
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Bee Box and Bee Huntingby criminyjicket20,709 views
What I believe people should do is plant natives to encourage native insects to their local area. The honeybee is only 1 of the many species of insect pollinators. There is about 100,000 species of wasp, worldwide & their all pollinators. We all need to discourage the cutting down of native forrest & encourage the planting of more native forrest. Let the commercial beekeepers take care of large acre crop pollination. That's my view.
mugsyjeff 1 year ago
Thanks for this video, I think to understand what's happening to honeybees, we need to go right back to mother nature, to understand the like cycle of bees from go to woe. We need to understand how the small hive beetle operates & prevent them from breeding up. I don't believe encouraging people to take up beekeeping as a hobby is the solution, people become time poor, they let their hives go, they don't like entering the brood chamber, they get AFB, it spreads. the beetle takes over. & so on.
mugsyjeff 1 year ago
no bees no life simple even Albert Einstein said this! convert your useless lawns to flowers and oher beautiful life giving plants and berries that use less fertilizers and perticides compost an hlp cell phones elf towers, chemtrails, pesticides help create homes stop buying junk imports infested wih killer mites. great idea on traps! I lant berries, clover, bee bal, lemon balm, butterfly bushes and enjoy the beauty of beneficial insects and hummers and butterflies! I love garden no mower!
karenl1234 1 year ago