Bumblebees are larger than honeybees and, while they collect and store nectar from flowers to consume themselves, they do not convert nectar into honey like honeybees. Bumblebees are essential pollinators for many wildflowers and agricultural crops like sunflowers, cranberries, blueberries and tomatoes. Two contemporaneous papers examining bumblebee populations in the UK were recently published by […]
Tag: agricultural chemicals
Study assesses wildlife exposure to rat poison on oil palm plantations
Rodents gnawing on oil palm crops can be a costly business. One study estimated that they can reduce yields by as much as 10%. Among the means used to tackle rat infestations: deploying barn owls and domestic cats, or putting out bait laced with rat poison. A recent review, published in the journal Ecotoxicology, has […]
Popular pesticides kill frogs outright
Commonly used agrochemicals (insecticides, fungicides and herbicides) kill frogs outright when sprayed on fields even when used at recommended dosages, according to new research in Scientific Reports. Testing seven chemicals on European common frogs (Rana temporaria), the scientists found that all of them were potentially lethal to amphibians. In fact, two fungicides—Headline and Captain Omya—wiped […]