Bees are extremely important to most lifeforms on Earth, as they are responsible for most of the pollination of our crops. Unfortunately, bees populations are decreasing at an alarming rate. In the United States alone, the number of bee colonies per hectare has gone down by ninety percent since 1962. Humans are almost entirely responsible, […]
Tag: neonicotinoids
500 Million Bees Found Dead in Brazil
Beekeepers in Brazil have reported the loss of 500 million bees from hives in 3 months. Bees have been dropping dead and evidence links pesticides to the cause. Regulations across Brazil have been reformed, leading to forest fires and now, increased pesticide use. Reporting from Mongabay said 290 pesticides have been cleared for use in […]
A Widespread Pesticide Causes Weight Loss and Delayed Migration in Songbirds
With winter approaching, White-crowned Sparrows are migrating south from North America’s boreal forest to central and southern United States and Mexico, sometimes flying hundreds of miles in one night. The weeks-long trek is already a major endeavor for the one-ounce songbirds, and pesticides may be making the journey even more perilous, a new study shows. […]
Petition: Ban Use of Pesticides Killing Bees in Texas!
Over 70 percent of the world’s crop species that feed humans are pollinated by bees. Simply put, we needbees. If anyone isn’t interested in the conservation of species just because they deserve to live, then maybe they care that it will affect humans badly if bees were to go extinct. Yet, bee populations are rapidly […]
Half a billion bees dead as Brazil approves hundreds more pesticides
Last century, Albert Einstein predicted that if bees disappeared off the face of the Earth, humans would only have four years left to live. The death of these insects on a large scale, seen as apocalyptic at the time, now constitutes a real warning for humanity. Between December 2018 and February 2019, more than 500 […]
Plummeting insect numbers ‘threaten collapse of nature’
The world’s insects are hurtling down the path to extinction, threatening a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems”, according to the first global scientific review. More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered, the analysis found. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. […]
POLL: Should Monsanto’s global weedkiller be banned to prevent the extinction of bees?
The world’s most used weedkiller damages the beneficial bacteria in the guts of honeybees and makes them more prone to deadly infections, new research has found. Previous studies have shown that pesticides such as neonicotinoids cause harm to bees, whose pollination is vital to about three-quarters of all food crops. Glyphosate, manufactured by Monsanto, targets […]
We’re losing the sound of crickets chirping in the summer
With crickets in decline, some scientists say that the insects’ summer crooning may become a thing of the past. Fireflies may be the more obvious iconic insect of summer evenings, what with their showy fairy-light antics and childhood charm. But what would those warm nights be without the chorus of crickets providing a soundtrack for […]