Bees: Maryland bans neonicotinoids

The temp of Earth was warmer for most of the past 10,000 years.Bees did not die in a warmer environment than today.This is a great example of how tohochitu lies.He refers to an inane study which is the result of $100 billion spent to produce AGW lies.
Are there bees today? Yes .They survived warmer climates than today .Give me a 10 million dollar grant.

 

Earth has had bees for perhaps as long as 100 million years, since the time there have been flowers available as resources. During that time, climate has varied a lot and bees persisted; we got it, OK?

"Earth was warmer for most of the past 10,000 years". For that subject I started a different thread where we might (once again) choose a time scale, look at the data, and consider whether proxies are treated well or poorly. No new posts there yet.

Here we consider role of bees as effective agents in the current human agricultural enterprise, whether any factors (chemical, etc.) could limit their role in this enterprise. If so, how ought that be addressed?

Mojo wants 10 million$ from funding sources that he also wants to disappear. This is perplexing. What do you propose to do, why is it important, how would you do it, and what of your prior work suggests unique capability to achieve stated goals?

All who ask for (scarce) US research funding are obliged to answer those same questions. I personally believe that some 'poor' proposals get funded and some 'good' ones are set aside. It is not a perfect system. Yet I doubt it could be made better by handing the reins to Congressmen who have already said they don't understand science.

 

maybe we can find a neonicotinoid that works on politicians
.

 

The ag sales will likely require permitting and licensing at some level that will make tracking the amount used easier.

I also note that veterinarians can still use the neonics; they are a common ingredient in monthly flea treatments. They are just cheaper to buy from elsewhere than the vet.

The other chemicals coming along with the pesticide family's founder will cause cancer. We could allow smoking in legislative buildings.

 

Three other pesticides are the subject of EPA review

3 Pesticides Are Putting Nearly All U.S. Endangered Species At Risk | ThinkProgress

If thinkprogress linking enrages you, just go to the EPA link

EPA Releases Draft Biological Evaluations of Three Chemicals’ Impacts on Endangered Species | Pesticides | US EPA

PS: no bee that I know is on endangered spp list or IUCN species at risk lists.

 

Bees have many biological enemies; one of the less poorly known is described:

Home | ZomBee Watch

This is another of those 'citizen science' projects. Here I am not enthusiastic about light trapping if it somehow grows to very large scales. A little bit here and there ain't no thang.

As far as collecting dead insects in general and sending them somewhere, there is much more that could be learned The genetic tech. is is hand, but entomologists have scarcely embraced it. To be fair, they are not so many and have a huge taxonomic group to consider. To be slightly less than fair, you will rarely encounter a group of scientists so narrowly focused, even down to "this is my genus of XYZ".

In insects, the big interactive picture seems very important. Presumably, many citizen scientists are standing by, waiting for their efforts to be called upon.

 

Sure they do. But I don't know if they particularly stand out in that regard. For as long as there have been clams (and that is very long), there have been other critters drilling holes in their shells to get at the tasty bits. Earliest such fossils have drill holes.

Bees are a Thing because they are so focused on pollination. That puts them at risk because the 'bad guys' always know where bees will go. The other risky business is colonial life. Most of the 'best' bee killers atack at that node.There are non-colonial pollinators and we don't know them to have as much trouble with virus, fungus, and mites. However' we don't know' are the most important 3 words in that sentence. Sigh.

+++

With apologies I return to mosquitoes. I have argued for their extinction. Now I learn that caribou migration is driven by mosquito troubles. So, BAM, no mosquitoes, what next? Would caribou get lazy, stay home, and destroy their food base? do not know?

 

I don't know. Crabs have a parasite barnacle that sterilizes them and takes over their sexual hormonal system to the point males gain female features and behaviors in order to have the crab care for its eggs.
Sacculina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia