Review of Bee Health

CATCH THE BUZZ – N.Y. honeybees stung hard by varroa mite, researchers find

July 6, 2017

From: Bee Culture | The Magazine of American Beekeeping

By David Nutt

A small mite is causing big trouble for New York’s honeybee population and putting in peril the fruit and vegetable crops that depend on these pollinators.

Other beekeeper team findings:

• A study of 30 apple orchards revealed a high level of pesticide exposure (five acute cases, 22 chronic). The majority of the high-risk insecticides appear to be coming not from the apples or the pollen that bees are collecting from the apples, but from wildflowers surrounding the orchards, which points to a potential issue in grower spray practices.
• A study to determine the impact of different landscapes and farming practices on wild bees found that colonies placed in suburban sites performed poorly, weighing 40 percent less and having 19 percent fewer bees than those colonies placed in natural areas, and conventional agriculture and organic agriculture landscapes. This study adds to the growing literature highlighting the influence of landscape on pollinator populations.

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