Re: OT: weather and bees
- To: <iris-talk@onelist.com>
- Subject: Re: OT: weather and bees
- From: M* S*
- Date: Fri, 9 Apr 1999 08:57:59 -0700
From: "Mike Sutton" <suttons@lightspeed.net>
Hi Bill,
Lots of bees buzing around here. Very audible hum going on (when the sun is
shining) and I got hit in the head with a large bumblebee yesterday when I
was driving the quad. It really hurt! :-(
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Shear <BILLS@hsc.edu>
>From: Bill Shear <BILLS@hsc.edu>
>
>I'm sure many of you have noticed the dearth of honeybees in your region.
>Flowering shrubs that would have been teeming with buzzing bees ten years
>ago are strangely silent this spring, and have been increasingly so for the
>last few years. There also seem to be far fewer bumblebees this spring. A
>plague of mites has decimated honeybee populations, and indiscriminate use
>of pesticides is hurting the bumbles (systemic pesticides get translocated
>to pollen, which the bees use to feed their larvae). Meanwhile, our native
>(mostly stingless) bees have been nearly wiped out by habitat destruction
>and pesticides.
>
>Pollination of our crops is an important function of all of these bees.
>Look for food prices to continue to rise, for this and other reasons.
>
>Bill Shear
>Department of Biology
>Hampden-Sydney College
>Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
>(804)223-6172
>FAX (804)223-6374
>email<bills@hsc.edu>
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