Bees

SpaceNut · 2021-06-01 18:53:49

So what bee experiments on the ISS are being done?

RobertDyck · 2021-06-02 09:37:14

SpaceNut wrote:

So what bee experiments on the ISS are being done?

I don't know if ISS has done anything with bees. However, this discussion is about bees on Mars, and Mars has gravity. The difficulty is getting bees to Mars. Rather than trying to get bees to survive and thrive during the trip, I suggest putting larvae in hibernation. Remember, anything sent to Mars has to survive high-G during launch from Earth surface. Then zero-G in Earth orbit. Then moderate acceleration for TMI. Then zero-G for months during transit. Then high-G during Mars atmospheric entry, and a lot of movement and changing acceleration during descent and landing. The spacecraft will be small & confined. Any livestock will not do well.

If putting bee larvae in pure royal jelly, and refrigerating to 8°C, is all you need? Then let's do that. Larvae will eat during hibernation, just a lot less. And suspension in a liquid (jelly) will help protect the larvae during the trip.

According to some resources, feeding a bee larva pure royal honey will make it grow into queen. It becomes a queen in pupa, when it develops from a larva into an adult bee. Other resources say that larva require a little royal jelly but mostly "bee bread" to become workers; to become a queen the larva is fed a lot more royal jelly and just a little bee bread. "Bee bread" is a mixture of honey and pollen from flowers. So it's not all-or-nothing, it's a matter of quantity. Ok. We can let beekeepers (apiarists) work out details of food for bee larvae during hibernation. It may be different than normal, and different again when we increase temperature on Mars to get larvae to mature.

tahanson43206 · 2021-06-02 10:43:03

For RobertDyck re topic ...

Thanks for continuing to develop this line of thought!

SearchTerm:Bees RobertDyck on transportation of bee larvae to Mars plus design of food supply to encourage desired development

http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 37#p180637

I would note that in preparing larvae for transport, there ** may ** be an opportunity to screen for parasites.

That might include raising entire generations of bees in a secure environment to reduce the presence of parasites in the first place.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2021-06-02 18:24:27

Time to google what has bee3n done This is What Happened When NASA Sent Bees to Space bees.gif?w=1000&h=500&crop=1

scientists were studying to see how weightlessness affects biology and animal behavior—and forcing different forms of life to adapt to microgravity produced some pretty strange results

High School Girls Sent Live Bees to the Space Station

1982: Space Shuttle Columbia
The STS-3 mission carried a box containing 12 fly pupae, 24 moth pupae, 24 adult moths, and 14 adult bees.
1984: Space Shuttle Challenger
The week-long STS-41C (originally numbered STS-13) mission had an experiment that investigated the honeycomb-building behavior of 3,400 honeybees in a Bee Enclosure Module.
2003: Space Shuttle Columbia
On the STS-107 mission, a 15-day experiment was designed to study the feeding behavior of carpenter bees.

https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/featu … epers.html

Sounds like we need a specialist for the Companion for Mars Expedition Number One; 17 crew members

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-04-18 04:21:37

EU has decided to restrict bee-harming pesticide

https://www.euractiv.com/section/agricu … n-with-us/

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-07-13 11:22:30

Threatened wild bees in Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest get help from researchers
https://www.ifiberone.com/columbia_basi … 50e9a.html

Huge colony of bees swarms city centre as UK basks in heatwave
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/16386 … ity-centre

According to the British Beekeepers Association, a honeybee colony will swam to reproduce when the old queen leaves a colony with some of the bees.
They leave their hive and find a spot to wait in until scout bees decide on a new home for the colony, typically between the months of May and July.

The Role of Flies as Pollinators of Horticultural Crops: An Australian Case Study with Worldwide Relevance
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/11/6/341/htm

Global trends in the number and diversity of managed pollinator species
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a … 0921003571

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-07-13 11:26:33)

SpaceNut · 2022-07-13 19:25:06

I wonder has there been any Bee experiments on the ISS yet?

How would one be design for safety and for what end results?

tahanson43206 · 2022-07-13 19:45:14

For SpaceNut ... re #32 ... thanks for the inspiration to ask Google:

Student Spotlight: High School Girls Sent Live Bees to the Space Station. On June 29, 2018, a box of live bees launched to the ISS on the SpaceX CRS-15 mission. The experiment was designed by Team NESS, a group of girls from different high schools in Illinois.
Nov 8, 2018
Student Spotlight: Team NESS Sent Live Bees to the Space Station
www.issnationallab.org › iss360 › student-spotlight-high-school-girls-sent-l...
About Featured Snippets

Other citations:

Bees in Space! - Science Center of Iowa
www.sciowa.org › about-sci › sci-blog › general-sci › bees-in-space
Jun 24, 2020 · In 1982, NASA sent about 50 insects into space, including 14 honeybees as a part of the Insect Flight Observations at Zero Gravity experiment.
Missing: international | Must include:international
Bees, Please: Stop Dying in Your Martian Simulator - WIRED
www.wired.com › Science › analog
Oct 29, 2019 · Known as the Lunares Research Station, this privately funded facility simulates what it's like to live and work at a base on the moon or Mars, ...
Robotic “Bees” Are About to Join Astronauts in Space | NASA
www.nasa.gov › feature › robotic-bees-are-about-to-join-astronauts-in-space
Apr 10, 2019 · Developed and built at our Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley, the cube-shaped Astrobee robots will each stay as busy as a bee ...
Bees In Space | Bee Culture
www.beeculture.com › bees-in-space
Nov 20, 2019 · The program gives students in U.S. secondary schools the opportunity to propose experiments for flight on space missions. Bees for the study ...
All the buzz about NASA's new fleet of space bees | Popular Science
www.popsci.com › astrobee-robot-space-station
May 21, 2019 · On Friday, NASA astronaut Anne McClain took one of the trio of Astrobees out for a spin. Bumble and its companion Honey both arrived on the ISS ...
Bees in Space Funding – Bees in Space | Space Impulse
app.spaceimpulse.com › listings › bees-in-space-funding-61311788
... our second experiment of sending bees onto the International Space Station. ... bees onto the ISS and the longest running microgravity bee experiment.

(th)

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-07-28 06:35:03

Since Astronauts are not expert Bee Keepers and the Colony of Bee could multiply to a level where it swarms to unwanted locations with all those stingers and the bee swarm becomes a 'pest' for the rest of the colony then maybe something that is not so dangerously aggressive and stings a lot less

There was a news item about these 'Astrobees' which are not Bees but big AI Robot boxes that go Buzzing on Space Station. Robotic Autonomy and little machine doing space station housework or maybe one day help farm inside the Domes. A good thing about Astrobees is they can scan and map chnages to a farm colony in real time, create 3D maps of a space station’s interior.
However maybe a Robotic Cyborg creature or maybe the animal kingdom is a better choice, the animal, mammal or insect could move seed, nut and food and pollen just as squirrels and birds and insects do, or maybe having animals do their usual work is a great way to save power and resources.

prepare to have thousands in your colony and hives die off?

Bees die off by the thousands in experiment to see whether they could survive in a colony on Mars
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech … -Mars.html
Researchers believe beehives could help feed a human colony on Mars
The bees didn't appear to appreciate conditions simulating life in space
Between 1,000 and 1,200 bees died every four days during the experiment

But not only were bees dying at an accelerated rate, the confined conditions seemed to have a major impact on bee behavior.
Bees entered an ‘overwintering’ state, where they seemed to greatly reduce their activity, typically seen during winter.
They also found the bees to ignore the pots of lavender and spirulina powder that had been placed throughout the enclosed tent to test whether they would attempt pollination.
Instead, the bees mostly remained in the hive or gathered around lights placed throughout the tent.
The researchers found the hive effectively stopped reproducing, something that seemed to accelerate the rate of bee death as the temperature in the tent declined along with the number of live bees.
While bees’ generally short lifespans are offset by the queen bee, who might normally produce over a thousand new bees in a day under normal conditions.
The typical bee lifespan is between four and five months.
Researchers said they would prepare for a future experiment to see if using brighter lights in the tent and using a gradual introduction to the self-contained environment might ease the effect on the bees.
‘Food is probably going to be the hardest thing to make locally on Mars, and you can't just import it all if you want to have a self-sufficient settlement,' University of Florida researcher Keith Cannon said earlier this year.

In 1984, 3400 honey bees (Apis mellifera) joined the crew of the Challenger space shuttle for a mission in space, housed in an aluminium “bee enclosure module” (BEM) as part of a student experiment to so see whether they could build honeycombs in microgravity. Weightlessness didn’t seem to bother the worker bees too much, and they produced a perfect 30 sq. in. comb. The queen laid 35 eggs, but they didn’t hatch. As honeybees won’t foul their nests, and the enclosure was sealed, the bees had to ‘hold it in’ for the duration of the 6-day mission, and were probably glad to return to Earth!
In 2003, the first ever space experiment from Lichtenstein, dubbed “Spice Bees” by its student designers, launched 3 Carpenter bees (probably Xylocopa c. arizonensis) into orbit on space shuttle Columbia. They were housed in a special balsa wood habitat, and deemed to be more active in microgravity than earth. The students were waiting to weigh the balsa block when it returned to Earth, to see how much wood the bees had eaten during 15 days in space. Sadly the bees perished, along with their fellow astronauts, as Columbia burned up on reentry.
https://theunconventionalgardener.com/b … -in-space/

In 2012, scientists at the University of Guelph in Ontario performed a series of experiments on Earth to test whether bumblebees (Bombus impatiens) remain effective pollinators at low atmospheric pressures. NASA and other space agencies currently recommend a pressure of 52 kPa for sealed greenhouse environments (for Mars or the Moon), which is cheaper to maintain than the 101 kPa found at sea level on Earth. Experimental results show that plants will grow well at 52 kPa, and bumblees will pollinate them. In contrast, honeybees can’t fly below about 66.5 kPa, and don’t react well to enclosed environments, making bumblebees a better bet for extraterrestrial pollination.

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-07-28 06:35:41)

SpaceNut · 2022-07-28 20:35:14

Well, robot bee's sure would be a more pleasant sight than one which has a stinger.... power source for flight would be its main restriction.

RobertDyck · 2022-07-29 11:08:29

Re post #34. You have to be careful with some of these "Mars" experiments. Bees are used today to pollinate crops. Conditions of their experiment do not seem reasonable. Bees require a source of food, leaving out trays of spirulina is not food for bees. Try the experiment with a greenhouse of food crops, such as wheat or sugar cane or tomatoes, etc. Will bees pollinate the crop? And do it in a large hypobaric chamber with air pressure reduced to 1/2 Earth at sea level, but oxygen increased to equal a Mars habitat. There are places on Earth with that low pressure, a sealed tent could be erected there to run this experiment. Mount Everest base camp, not the summit, has that pressure. The tent would require increased oxygen, again to simulate a Mars habitat. What is less expensive? To operate a tent in a remote location, or build a large pressure vessel?

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-07-29 12:32:44

I was reading up on the strength, temperament, skills and ability of certain breed of bees, I wonder if a less aggressive Bee could be bred for Mars but still having all the ability of other previous breeds?

Aggression troubles?
How fast can you run in your Mars suit
Killer Africanized honey bees are typically much more defensive than other varieties of honey bees, and react to disturbances faster than European honey bees. They can chase a person a quarter of a mile (400 m); they have killed some 1,000 humans, with victims receiving 10 times more stings than from European honey bees. They have also killed horses and other animals.
https://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmnh … illbee.htm Having to defend themselves against aggressive insects such as ants and wasps, as well as voracious animals like the honey badger, African honey bees evolved as a subspecies group of highly defensive bees unsuitable by a number of metrics for domestic use
Africanized honey bees exhibit far greater defensiveness than European honey bees and are more likely to deal with a perceived threat by attacking in large swarms
The Afranized Killer bee end to swarm more frequently and go farther than other types of honey bees. Are more likely to migrate as part of a seasonal response to lowered food supply. Are more likely to "abscond"—the entire colony leaves the hive and relocates—in response to stress. Guard the hive aggressively, with a larger alarm zone around the hive. Have a higher proportion of "guard" bees within the hive. Deploy in greater numbers for defense and pursue perceived threats over much longer distances from the hive. Cannot survive extended periods of forage deprivation, preventing introduction into areas with harsh winters or extremely dry late summers
,
https://web.archive.org/web/20160610012 … ll-horses/
, Africanized honey bees are considered an invasive species in the Americas. As of 2002, the Africanized honey bees had spread from Brazil south to northern Argentina and north to Central America, Trinidad (the West Indies), Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Florida, and southern California. In June 2005, it was discovered that the bees had spread into southwest Arkansas. Their expansion stopped for a time at eastern Texas, possibly due to the large population of European honey bee hives in the area. However, discoveries of the Africanized honey bees in southern Louisiana show that they have gotten past this barrier https://web.archive.org/web/20101018060 … 059&page=6 ,
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/bees/ahb.htm ,
https://web.archive.org/web/20161108015 … 00-2-5.htm

Apis mellifera ligustica, commonly called the Italian bee, is a sub-species of the Western honey bee (Apis mellifera)

Behavior
beneficial
https://beekeeping.fandom.com/wiki/Apis … _ligustica
shows strong disposition to breeding and very prolific
excellent housekeeper (which some scientists think might be a factor in disease resistance)
uses little propolis
excellent foragers
superb comb builders
covers the honey with brilliant white cappings
shows lower swarming tendency than other Western honey bee races
for areas with continuous nectar flow and favorable weather throughout the summer

The Carniolan honey bee (Apis mellifera carnica, Pollmann) is a subspecies of the western honey bee. The Carniolan honey bee is native to Slovenia, southern Austria, and parts of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carniolan_honey_bee
It is favored among beekeepers for several reasons, not the least being its ability to defend itself successfully against insect pests while at the same time being extremely gentle in its behavior toward beekeepers.

Character and behavior
Strengths
Gentle and non-aggressive
Can be kept in populated areas
Better sense of orientation relative to the Italian honey bee
Less drifting of bees from one hive to a neighboring hive
Not as prone to robbing from other hives relative to the Italian honey bee
Able to overwinter in smaller numbers of winter bees
Thrifty during Winter, conserving honey stores
Able to quickly adapt to changes in the environment
Good for areas with longer winters
Fast rhythm of brood production and then brood rearing reduction when available forage decreases
Lower use of propolis
Increased resistance to brood diseases
Good build up for areas with strong spring nectar flow and early pollination
Forage earlier in the morning and later in the evening, and on cooler, wetter days
Workers live up to 12% longer than other sub-species

The selected Mars Bee will probably need soem level of resistance the toxic sands and Mars soil the fine regolith, not needed to have especial weakness to cold or perchlorate is a chemical compound and to eventually develop some kind of Cicadas family Cicadoidea rhythm, 687 Earth days be able to hibernate for a 1 year winter.

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-07-29 14:39:05)

RobertDyck · 2022-07-29 13:56:21

If you want a less aggressive bee, we have one. It's called the common honeybee. You want to recommend an Italian bee as a breed of honeybee? Ok.

One thing we could do is test how honeybees perform in a regular size hypobaric chamber. Something used for patients. Something about this size. Again, air and pressure I recommend for a habitat on Mars is 2.7 psi O2, 3.5 psi N2, 1.148 psi Ar, small amount of CO2 and H2O. Potentially traces of Ne, Kr, Xe, which are in Earth's atmosphere. Total pressure 1/2 Earth atmosphere at sea level. Note: O2 on Earth at sea level is 3.078 psi, at Boulder Colorado it's 2.54 psi.

The experiment would set up a minimal bee hive, humming bird feeders with sugar water, and flowering potted plants with nectar and pollen. Can worker bees collect nectar and pollen?

kbd512 · 2022-07-29 14:48:48

Will this test also include the elevated levels of CO2 we plan to run inside the Martian greenhouses?

How will a significantly increased CO2-level affect the honey bees and their hives?

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-07-29 16:10:08

It could be a balance and I believe a new planetary Mars Bee must start breeding new breeds and be engineered for the new Martian colony and Biosphere farms and Biodome climate.

Bees like a pure environment, real Sun, real wind and dislike any kind of air that is not clean such as particle, or droplets, carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, CO2, mold fungus spores or 'smoke', nitrogen oxides, Sulfur content yields sulfur dioxide carbon aerosols, a lot of them fly away, stop stinging defending start to chill out or fly away fall asleep when hit by air from a bee smoker or a smokepot a traditional device o generate smoke from the smoldering of various dried grass, flower, timber, paper twigs, fuels. In general I heard once that bees aren’t overly sensitive to carbon dioxide and a raise in CO2 might even help kill other pests that feed on Bees like tiny Mites that hide on its back and many 'Mites' are more weak against CO2. I knew or maybe still know a beekeeper who would spray their bees with some sweet thing, by cleaning each other or cleaning themselves the Bees doing hygienic work on themselves would clean off their own mites, maybe CO2 would save you cleaning unhealthy bees, the first thing a bee might attack are vulnerable parts in the big animals head, carbon dioxide breath might even attract them to sting the face. Many species of Bee can hibernate, they go into a state of increased carbon dioxide and reduced levels of oxygen conditions normally toxic to humans, but to bees it sends them into a winter trance an ultra low metabolic rate which save energy and traps humidity. However research suggest it is a balance and elevated levels of atmospheric CO2 can mess up their normal foods and decrease the nutritional value of plants

This site says CO2 has an indirect negative effect, https://earthwiseradio.org/2016/06/carb … -and-bees/
'CO2 enables the plant’s starchier parts to grow faster and bigger, which essentially dilutes the protein content. Bees’ diets consist of nectar which is essentially sugar, and pollen, which is a source of protein. With decreasing protein in pollen, it is becoming junk food for bees.'

Quote
'More than 100 previous studies have shown that elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide decrease the nutritional value of plants, such as wheat and rice. But the goldenrod study, published last month, was the first to examine the effects of rising CO2 on the diet of bees, and its conclusions were unsettling: The adverse impact of rising CO2 concentrations on the protein levels in pollen may be playing a role in the global die-off of bee populations by undermining bee nutrition and reproductive success. '
https://e360.yale.edu/features/bee_coll … griculture

If there's a Dust storm the perhaps an artificial image of a warm Sun must be projected on a giant tv screen from the sky of the Bio dome, in the morning, afternoon and evening bees will come back to a colony to a little communication 'dance' to other Bees and tell the other gathering bees where to fly in relation to the Sun and how far away those plant and food sources are. Perhaps natural local grown Mars wood would be used for a hive, a small pond or water holes nearby so the Bee can cool itself or help water their own colony, a Bee must also drink. Maybe the Biodome could connect with a Cave or Lava Tube the Beehive is inside the Cave, when we hear a Warning of a Solar storm fake rain and lighting warning is broadcast, the Biodome is better shileded and the Bee goes back to its sheltered hive near a Cave and has somewhere to hide during Radiation Solar Storms.

RobertDyck wrote:

You want to recommend an Italian bee as a breed of honeybee? Ok.

I think a new breed of Bee should be bred for off world colonies although I'm no expert on the Bee, I only know second hand information from people who have worked with bees. My only real experience of commercial Bees is getting stung by Bees from Bee Keepers which is why I comment on making a less aggressive and worry a citizen born on Mars might be allergic, losing a valuable Colonist to Anaphylaxis might be very costly if they had an essential role in a Mars colony.

As RobertDyck said blue banded bees from Australia hibernate. Maybe in the future we can genetically engineer or breed a new Bees new natural cycle perhaps one that has a different natural rhythm but with all the good traits of other Earth bees, we could make a Bee work longer dryer Summer inside a Dome, resistant to toxic soil and be ready for the Long Winter we could also duplicate conditions that place blue banded bees into hibernation but transfer this breed information to the honey bee?

Perhaps the Human and Robot worker on Mars will be Nomadic like the typically retirees in Recreational vehicle moving great distance, the Mars snowbird will be a person who migrates with their boxed up bee colony, just as people migrate across States from the colder northern parts of North America to warmer southern locales. Bees will have to live in a cycle of a new planet, a long year 687 Earth days, a day with longer sunlight of 24 hours and 37 minutes, as the boxes of bees are moved into a new Biodome the plants will be fertilized and pollinated by new workers.

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-07-29 16:39:58)

kbd512 · 2022-07-29 17:49:17

No citation is given for the "100 previous studies", nor what they actually showed. Were these studies long term studies conducted with actual food crops in various places around the world, or computer model projections, or done in conditions that do not remotely resemble industrialized agriculture?

This is the sort of thing that "Stanford Science" publishes:

Climate change surprise: High carbon dioxide levels can retard plant growth, study reveals

Located in a fenced off section of Stanford's 1,189-acre Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, the novel experiment was designed to simulate environmental conditions that climate experts predict may exist 100 years from now: a doubling of atmospheric CO2; a temperature rise of 2 degrees Fahrenheit; a 50 percent increase in precipitation; and increased nitrogen deposition -- largely a byproduct of fossil fuel burning.
...
The biggest surprise from the study was the discovery that elevated carbon dioxide only stimulated plant growth when nitrogen, water and temperature were kept at normal levels.
...
"The three-factor combination of increased temperature, precipitation and nitrogen deposition produced the largest stimulation [an 84 percent increase], but adding CO2 reduced this to 40 percent," Shaw and her colleagues wrote.
The mean net plant growth for all treatment combinations with elevated CO2 was about 4.9 tons per acre -- compared to roughly 5.5 tons per acre for all treatment combinations in which CO2 levels were kept normal. However, when higher amounts of CO2 gas were added to plots with normal temperature, moisture and nitrogen levels, above ground plant growth increased by nearly a third.
...

The emphasis added is mine.

Once again, "according to studies" (which desperately needs citations and explanations), rising CO2 levels will decrease protein, micro nutrients, and Vitamin B in grain food crop plants. The greatest reduction is in protein value per given quantity consumed, at 19.5%, so 80.5% of its original value, with micronutrient and Vitamin B levels decreased by about 14.5%.

According to the above study to mimic expected future "climate cult conditions", with normal temperature, more water, and more Nitrogen (fertilizer), the crop yield increased by 1/3rd.

133 (crop yield per unit area) * 0.805 (80.5%) = 107.065% <- Crop protein content per unit area
133 (crop yield per unit area) * 0.855 (85.5%) = 113.715% <- Grain food crop micronutrient and vitamin content per unit area

That's how basic math works.

But... What if.... We did farming the way we actually do it... and climate change happened:
184 (crop yield per unit area) * 0.805 (80.5%) = 148.12% <- Crop protein content per unit area

RobertDyck · 2022-07-29 18:09:11

I have argued many times for ambient light greenhouses. Crops that require full sun can be enhanced in a long-narrow greenhouse oriented perfectly east-west with flat mirrors along each side. The mirrors reflect additional sunlight in. Such greenhouses would be twice as wide as high, so still significant size. Cross that thrive in shade, such as many vegetables, could be grown in a circular greenhouse to maximize growth area while minimizing pressure wall area.

Commercial farms today often hire pollination services to deliver bee hives by flat-bed semi-truck. When the crop is pollinated, the hives are packed up and taken to the next farm. On Mars we could move hives from greenhouse to greenhouse. Make the greenhouse off limits while bees are there.

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-08-01 15:36:35

‘Insect apocalypse’ may cause plants to battle for pollinators and ‘destabilise’ co-existence

https://www.independent.co.uk/independe … 30746.html

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-08-29 09:32:20

What are bee lawns? And how can they help pollinators and people? | George Weigel
https://www.pennlive.com/life/2022/08/b … ators.html

Managing Pests & Pollinators
https://www.midwestfarmreport.com/2022/ … llinators/

Wyoming Scientists Worried About Declining Bee Population
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2022/08/28 … opulation/

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-09-02 12:52:06

Humber College plants its largest-ever pollinator garden
https://www.toronto.com/news/humber-col … 6aec9.html

Pretty in purple: Heather blooms across moorland
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw5e5gke72lo

Bee gathers pollen from thistle and packs it on her belly hairs
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/bee-gathers-p … 14546.html

The fight for street gardening
https://thefifthestate.com.au/urbanism/ … uidelines/
Community gardening won a battle for the streets, after the Melbourne's bayside City of Port Phillip backflipped

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-09-04 06:41:39

UND Aerospace, Australian tech firm to test precision pollination
https://www.agweek.com/business/und-aer … ollination

Autonomous Flying Microrobots (RoboBees)
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=8147

Adding bees might mean the need for health care.

During 2000–2017, a total of 1,109 deaths from hornet, wasp, and bee stings occurred, for an annual average of 62 deaths. Deaths ranged from a low of 43 in 2001 to a high of 89 in 2017. Approximately 80% of the deaths were among males.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6829a5.htm
Number of Deaths from Hornet, Wasp, and Bee Stings,* Among Males and Females — National Vital Statistics System, United States.

older article

'Bear Grylls unrecognizable after life-threatening allergic reaction to bee sting'
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/b … -bee-sting

"The irony of Bear the survivalist being stung, having the potential of an allergic reaction, and needing to be treated with an EpiPen, was a bizarre moment,” said Shanmuganathan. “That was crazy!"
Grylls, a former SAS serviceman previously had a run-in with bees in 2016 while filming “Born Survivor,” now “Treasure Island” in Baja California, Mexico when he was stung while rummaging for honey – though the reaction was much milder.

Yes, You Can Develop Bee Allergies Late In Life
https://starmedicaltours.com/2016/12/12 … e-in-life/
Getting stung by a bee is never a fun experience, but if you don't suffer from allergies from bees, you're mostly safe. That said, bee allergies can actually develop later in life when you're an adult. How do you know if this happens and why does it happen?

Why An Epinephrine Is A Good Investment
If you're worried that you may have developed a bee allergy after showing the symptoms above, or if you just want to be safe, an allergy epinephrine is a good investment. These items can be injected into the skin the moment you begin to suffer from an allergic reaction. They will cause the out-of-control reaction to slow down and reverse.
They are typically immediately successful, helping to prevent any more serious symptoms from developing. That said, you should still go to a doctor immediately to ensure that none of the lingering poison from the sting is pumping through your system. This poison may cause another allergic reaction when you least expect it.

Anaphylaxis symptoms
https://www.southerncross.co.nz/group/m … naphylaxis
An anaphylactic reaction occurs when the body's immune system overreacts to the insect venom by releasing chemicals such as histamine that trigger the allergic reaction.

'A severe anaphylactic reaction is a medical emergency'

A reaction that may initially seem mild, may progress to being more severe.

Severe anaphylactic reactions need immediate treatment with a medication called adrenaline, given in the form of an injection. The main action of adrenaline is to strengthen the force of the heart's contraction and to open the airways in the lungs. Adrenaline is usually sufficient to reverse the reaction, though more than one dose may be required to achieve this.

Other medications that may also be used to further reduce the allergic reaction include corticosteroids and antihistamines.

Self-injectable adrenaline (eg: EpiPen) is available for people known to have anaphylactic reactions. The injection device is filled with adrenaline and is administered into the large muscle in the front of the thigh when an anaphylactic reaction is experienced. The device holds only one dose, so medical assessment after the adrenaline has been administered is crucial in case the reaction worsens and further doses of adrenaline are required.

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-09-04 07:02:05)

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-09-06 03:53:14

Things that pollinate but are not 'Bees' and other things that look like bees and become pests?

Invasive Species in US
https://mywaterearth.com/invasive-species-in-us/

According to the USDA, Invasive Species in the US can be plants, animals, or any other living non-native organisms that are among the leading threats to native wildlife, easily adaptable, & can reproduce quickly in this country’s particular area but can cause great economic and environmental harm.
Many invasive species are introduced into a new region by human activity accidentally or introduced as a form of pest control and other times, alien species are brought in as pets and released to a different habitat.

In New Zealand, two hoverfly species in Switzerland are being investigated for introduction as biological control agents of hawkweeds in New Zealand. https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.biocontrol.2005.06.013 Flower flies or syrphid flies, make up a lot of the NEw Zealand pollination insect family. Syrphidae "Coriander (Coriandrum sativum) "companion plants" can attract hover flies, and may reduce infestation in cabbages". New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science. https://doi.org/10.1080%2F01140671.2000.9514141 Hover flies are important pollinators of flowering plants in many ecosystems worldwide. https://semanticscholar.org/paper/3a146 … ff075cc3f0 Syrphid flies are frequent flower visitors to a wide range of wild plants, as well as agricultural crops, and are often considered the second-most important group of pollinators after wild bees. Insects such as aphids are considered a crop pest, and therefore the aphid-eating larvae of some hover flies serve as an economically (as well as ecologically) important predator and even potential agents for use in biological control, while the adults may be pollinators.

Another New Bee Species Settles in Iceland
https://www.icelandreview.com/news/anot … s-iceland/
Recently it was reported that a new bumblebee species had settled in Iceland but now it turns out that there were two new species that look alike. The first new species spotted was the new garden bumblebee (Lat. Bombus hypnorum) but now the common carder bee (Lat. Bombus pascuorum) has also joined the group of new settlers.

Bee Behavior
https://www.polartrec.com/expeditions/c … 2016-06-26
This project is named for pollinators, but we haven't talked about bees at all. How could that happen? Bees are the least common pollinators in Greenland, but they are also the most effective ones because they carry more pollen than flies or mosquitoes; they can carry thousands of grains of pollen, while the others can carry only a few. There are more than 25,000 species of bees in the world, but only two in Greenland: Bombus polaris and Bombus hyperboreus. (There are also some managed hives of honeybees further south.) These Bombus bumblebees are hairier than other bees.

Biomimicry
There are also flies here that look much like bees and are called botflies. When any species develops to resemble another species, usually for its own protection, this is called biomimicry. Botflies are black and yellow, so they can be mistaken for bees. Botflies are also parasites, laying their eggs in the respiratory systems (noses and throats) of caribou. This can inconvenience the caribou, or in extreme cases, it can cause the caribou to suffocate.

Icelandic Bees on ‘Road to Recovery’
https://www.icelandreview.com/nature-tr … -recovery/

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-09-13 15:16:57

Winter habitat for pollinators
https://www.calgary.ca/parks/wildlife/p … -care.html

Tagging events for Monarchs, the ‘poster child’ of pollinators, help conservation efforts
https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2022-09 … on-efforts

Asclepias flowering plants known as milkweeds, named for their latex, a milky substance containing cardiac glycosides termed cardenolides, exuded where cells are damaged. Most species are toxic to humans and many other species, primarily due to the presence of cardenolides, although, as with many such plants, there are species that feed upon their leaves and from their nectar. Most notable are monarch butterflies, who use and require certain milkweeds as host plants for their larvae.
http://www.wiu.edu/AltCrops/milkweed.htm

Amazing Life Cycle of the Monarch Butterfly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AUeM8MbaIk

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-09-13 15:19:55)

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-09-23 03:56:48

The more bees the merrier farmer
https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/20 … er-farmer/

Almond industry moves towards self-fertilising future as varroa mite biosecurity threat analysed
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-21/ … /101457988

A Sunraysia farmer is "thanking his lucky stars" he was able to produce a commercial almond crop this year

Pesticides impair the ability of bees to pollinate strawberries
https://www.earth.com/news/pesticides-i … awberries/

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-10-02 18:24:22

EU backs pesticide limits to protect bees
https://nz.news.yahoo.com/eu-backs-pest … 04345.html

Our ancestors ate a Paleo diet. It had carbs
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/10 … had-carbs/

Blueberries and their pollinators aren’t native to South Africa but local honey bees can help
https://theconversation.com/blueberries … elp-189316

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