We , as a species , would be nowhere if it were n’t for the hard - work insects out there . It ’s no surprise that there ’s never any shortfall of bee news that I want to partake with you . Alas , there are only so many hours each day ( each quarter , really ) that I can dedicate to writing about our buzzing buddies , so here , you ’re experience a rung - up of at least a few news items that you might find interesting and that , no doubt , pollinators everywhere would like for you to know .
Maryland Wants to Make Bee BFFs
In this state where I once rest , bees are in mega worry . Beekeeperslost nearly 61 percent of their coloniesbetween 2014 and 2015 , as pit to the national norm of 42 percent — which is still unacceptable , honestly . The law-makers moved on this troublesome news show and passed theMaryland Pollinator Protection Actto serve curb this red .
I fear the Maryland Pollinator Protection Act , though , is n’t much of a protector , as far as I can read . Thenews headlinessay neonicotinoid pesticides are being restricted , but just — only for Regular Joe Consumer , really . As of Jan. 1 , 2018 , no one can sell a neonicotinoid pesticide unless the person also sells a restrict - use pesticide ; nor can anyone use neonics unless he is a farmer , veterinarian , certified applicator or someone working under the supervision of a certify applier . That ’s still a fate of people using neonics !
Through the Maryland Pollinator Protection Act , the Maryland Department of Agriculture is also being tasked with comprise pollinator home ground expansion and enhancement into its Managed Pollinator Protection Plan and to conduct a pollinator - peril appraisal , which are good thing , too , of path .
Bees Have Feelings, Too
Bring up the subject of consciousness at a dinner party political party , and calculate on your booster grouping , you might get some middle wheeling or perhaps confused looks . contribute it up at a National Academy of Sciences gather , and you ’ll fit correctly in — as long as you ’re babble about insects .
Researchers are suggest the mind that bees and other insects really have some capacity to palpate . A New York Timesarticlepoints out that the bees are n’t wondering why they are n’t queen or thinking about how much they care a certain nectar , but there is some story of awareness there . The insect brain , the scientist say , is similar to our mesencephalon , which supply for introductory awareness . The clause , I imagine , is worth the read .
The EPA Lets Texas Have Sulfoxaflor
In November of last twelvemonth , the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencywithdrewthe legal sales agreement , distribution and use of the pesticide sulfoxaflor . The EPA had originally approved the chemical in 2013 but then was convey to court by a mathematical group of pollinator counselor-at-law and the Pollinator Stewardship Council over the need for further study regarding the result of sulfoxaflor on bee . Now the EPA is get Texas sorghum growers apply the chemical again — for one twelvemonth , as it stands currently — to control thesugarcane aphid . There are a heap of restriction for using the chemical , from software program rates and intervals to timing software against plant flower . Pollinator advocates say this chemical is extremely toxic to bee , but Dow AgroSciences , the chemical substance pesticide ’s manufacturing business , says it ’s no longer harmful once it’sdried .
