Missing Bees? More Reasons Why and How to Help

This spring and summer have been remarkable for several reasons – the Texas heat has been unrelenting, our drought has become significantly worse, and we have been missing bees. We are used to hearing their buzzing, especially in the front on our native plants, but this year we have seen only a handful.

I was thus excited to learn that a team of researchers led by Dr. May Berenbaum at the University of Illinois have untangled more of the mystery around colony collapse disorder. (I’m not an entomologist but knew of Dr. Berenbaum from her creation of the Insect Fear Film Festival and the character named after her on the X-Files.)

Beginning in 2006, colony collapse disorder and the resulting missing bees have been a concern to people all over the world. Bee keepers in North America and Europe lost 30-90 percent of their bee colonies and many of the bees were simply never found. Many workers were flying out of their hives and never returning, very un-beelike behavior. Many more were found dead within their hives, passing away seemingly overnight. The most chilling part was no one knew why.

As reported in Time, scientists now have some answers. According to Time:

A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) shows that the causes of CCD may be more varied than scientists expect. The bees may be dying not from a single toxin or disease but rather from an assault directed by a collection of pathogens. A research team led by entomologist May Berenbaum at the University of Illinois compared the whole genome of honeybees that came from hives that had suffered from CCD with hives that were healthy. The sick bees exhibited genetic damage that could account for the die-off, and that damage indicated that they might be afflicted with multiple viruses simultaneously. This could weaken them enough to trigger CCD. “It’s like a perfect storm,” says Berenbaum.

The PNAS team’s work was possible only because the honeybee’s genome is one of the few animal genomes that scientists have decoded in full. The researchers looked at the genes that were switched on in the guts of sick and healthy bees — the gut being both the place pesticides are detoxified and the main region for immune defense. The technique they used is what’s known as a whole-genome microarray, and it’s ideal for this kind of sweeping analysis. “It’s a really powerful tool that lets us look at all 10,000 honeybee genes at the same time,” says Berenbaum. “The causative agents [for CCD] might just leap out.”

In the guts of CCD-afflicted bees, the microarray analysis showed unusual fragments of ribosomal RNA. Ribosomes are essentially the protein factories inside cells — they’re vital to the health of the cell itself and the larger organism. Berenbaum believes that the presence of those genetic fragments inside the CCD-afflicted bees indicates that they may be under attack by a number of insect viruses — including deformed wing virus and Israeli acute paralysis virus — that damage the ribosomes. “It was the one factor that remained consistently associated with the CCD bees we tested, no matter where they came from or how severe the disorder was,” says Berenbaum. “It doesn’t have to be a specific virus, just an overload.” Once the bees’ systems get burdened this way, they are less capable of fighting off any other threat, from pesticides to other environmental causes.

If you are a go-to-the source person, the study’s abstract is available here.

If you want to help the honeybees, here are some ways to do so:

(1) Stop using pesticides. Pesticides can’t discriminate between insects – they kill all of them. Save yourself some money, save your family and neighbors from exposure to toxic chemicals, and give the bees a fighting chance by ceasing to use pesticides.

(2) Plant pollinator plants. The Pollinator Partnership has created a helpful tool to find pollinator plants for your area. Check out their Ecoregional Planting Guides to find plants for your zip code. Our previous articles on creating a certified wildlife habitat and the fabulous book Bringing Nature Home have more ideas and resources for making your yard eco-friendly.

(3) Ask your friends and neighbors to join you. Today’s Seattle Times included a great story about Sarah Bergmann, a Seattle resident who, with help from neighbors, converted a parking strip in her neighborhood into a pollinator zone.

Once a desert of grass with a few maples, the 108-foot-long, 12-foot-wide strip today blooms with plants selected to attract pollinators. It’s buzzing with life that has spilled over to plantings all around the neighborhood. An orange trumpet vine festooning a fence out back is mobbed with bees too busy to bother anyone, some stacked two to a flower.

She hopes to eventually extend the pathway to a mile, in all. “It’s so basic,” Bergmann said. “I consider it local ecosystem support.”

And I bet, in this time of declining property values, that this planting has made the neighborhood much more attractive to potential buyers.

(4) Join ongoing research efforts. Scientific research is beginning to utilize the power of the people. If you live in Illinois, check out the Bee Spotter, a group of citizen-scientists who collect information on bees in their area. The Bee Spotters monitor local bee populations via photograph to preserve the bees. They hope to expand to other states in the near future. If you live outside of Illinois, you can still start right away through the Xerces Society’s Bumblebee Project. This research project is also using citizen sightings to track three species of bumble bees that used to be common. The bees tracked by the project are the rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis), the western bumble bee (Bombus occidentalis), and the yellowbanded bumble bee (Bombus terricola). Identification guides are available on their website. This would be really fun to do as a family!

While the fragility of the web of life is becoming more clear, studies like this one are helping us see what we can do to help other species survive and thrive. To learn more about the impact that missing bees could have on humans, check out the video below.

Are you missing bees in your area? Have you changed the way you garden or plant recently? Or do you have other ideas for helping bees? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

Bats As A Source of Hope

Earlier this week we drove into Austin to watch the bats emerge from the Congress Avenue bridge. Watching the bats come out to feed was simply incredible. As they flew out from the bridge at dusk, the bats clustered into streams so they looked like gauzy black ribbons floating in the sky. At some points, there were so many bats overhead that we could hear the collective flapping of their wings.

I’ve included a video I found on YouTube on our home page so you can get a glimpse of the sight if you are not in the area. If you are in the area and have yet to see the bats, go! And you are in luck because August and September are the prime viewing months. Read more

Want a Green School? Check Out “Cool the Earth”

Can you tell I’m deep in preparations for the start of school? I’ve been wrestling with how to extend our efforts to green our family to helping create a green school environment. And I want to do this in a way that really is helpful to the school.

Our eldest began kindergarten last fall so I don’t have a lot of experience dealing with schools as a parent. We tried several schools before we found the right fit, which didn’t occur until the end of February, so I have even less experience with our current school. We love, love, love the school’s approach to teaching, the teachers, and the other families but are still learning how the business of the school is structured.

We received our student supply lists and my initial reactions fell into four categories. For items like pencils and notebook paper, I immediately started thinking about products that would be more eco-friendly, like pencils made from recycled wood and recycled paper. Other items came with very precise descriptions, leaving me to wonder if Fiskar scissors were really needed or if the non-Fiskar scissors we already have would suffice. A quick conversation with the teacher will resolve these issues and, since the school has encouraged folks to use items already on hand, I think I know how it will go.

Then came the items that I would prefer not to purchase but will because I understand why they are helpful in a group of small children – things like tissues are included here since I just don’t see 10 kids with hankies working out well during the winter. The last category is where I am struggling. The supply lists for both of my kids included plastic zip lock bags – one box for the youngest and two for the eldest. That means 10 boxes of plastic bags will be used one classroom and 20 boxes in another for a total of 600 plastic bags just for their classes! The very thought of that makes me feel ill. Read more

Green Grants for Schools

As kids begin to head back to school, lots of parents are thinking about eco-friendly school supplies, PVC-free backbacks, and stretching a few more months from existing clothes. There is also much that can be done to green your child’s school environment once the fervor of back-to-school has ended. Here are two recently posted grants for schools that could help your child’s school become more green. Read more

Go Green and Save Money or Save Money and Go Green?

This post is part of August’s APLS Blog Carnival. Learn how to go green and save money by visiting Going Green Mama on August 19 to read all the submissions.

I appreciated the opportunity to write about this month’s APLS topic “Green on the Cheap,” in large part because it has given me the opportunity to make a public confession. I didn’t begin my green journey because I was troubled about the plight of polar bears or was appalled at the size of my carbon footprint. Nope, my initial reasons for going green had nothing to do with living an eco-friendly life. I simply wanted to get out of debt. Read more

Help Support the Sustainable Food Center

On Tuesday, August 25, Edible Austin, Alamo Drafthouse, and the Front Porch Project are hosting a Film Feast at Boggy Creek Farm to support the Sustainable Food Center.

Starting at 7 PM, the event will include cocktails and conversation; a locally-sourced picnic from Alamo chefs John Bullington and Trish Eichelberger; and a screening of the movie FRESH, which “celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system.”

Tickets, which include drinks, dinner, and the movie, are $35. They may be purchased in advance only online at Alamo Drafthouse. Guests are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets to spread out on the lawn as seating is limited.

The Sustainable Food Center is an Austin-based nonprofit which works to “cultivate a healthy community by strengthening the local food system and improving access to nutritious, affordable food. SFC envisions a food secure community where all children and adults grow, share and prepare healthy, local food.”

Through their Grow Local, Farm Direct, and The Happy Kitchen/La Cocina Alegre™ projects, SFC is improving the lives of children and families throughout the Austin area.

Nourish your body, your brain, and your community by attending the Film Feast on August 25.

This article was syndicated on the AustinEcoNetwork. If you live in the Austin area, or want to learn about eco-happenings in Austin, be sure to visit the site.

Family Friday: Nothin’ Better Than Your Own Backyard (for Wildlife)

For August, Lucas Miller discusses a great program run by the National Wildlife Federation and shows how easy it was for his family to create a certified wildlife habitat in their own backyard. (If the reference in the article’s title is unfamiliar, check out Robert Earl Keen’s song I’m Coming Home.)

Whether you have a .35 acre lot in the suburbs, a sprawling ranch in the boonies or a mere balcony in the city, you can attract wildlife that will intrigue and excite your wee ones with a minimal investment of work and money.  The National Wildlife Federation’s Certified Wildlife Habitat program provides you with all the information you need to get started as well as the actual “certification.”  I don’t imagine your local bluebird’s likely to notice the certification sign that you can proudly display but, just perhaps, your human neighbors may ask you a few questions and convert their own piece of turf to a haven for native flora and fauna. Read more