Busy and valuable: Bees are worth $220bln a year

[CielOnTap]

Bees bred to detect explosives? Yes, it is done in Croatia, where landmines remain in parts of the country. Not only have the bees been trained with food containing explosives or near land with explosives, the bees also continue to make honey. Not sure what the EU regulations on such honey would be!

Bees are viewed as being more cost-effective explosives detectors than trained dogs for the same work.

http://past.theweathernetwork.com/news/storm_watch_stories3&stormfile=_Bomb_Bees__can_sniff_out_landmines_5_kilometres_away_27_04_2013?ref=ccbox_homepage_topstories

[alohasand]

Honey from one place is not always welcome in another place. Two countries in the Caribbean are having an exchange over honey from Grenada. Trinidad & Tobago is using a 1964 law to protect its own honey production from imports.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20130509/business/business1.html

[CielOnTap]

Wild bees in urban spaces have been studied over their nests for larvae-scientists have determined that window sealants and plastic bags were used for nestbuilding. Talk about adaptable building.

http://www.thestar.com/life/2014/02/10/toronto_bees_are_using_plastic_to_build_nests_study.html

Since the scientist who chewed some nest later found out about the sealant, how does he feel about his spontaneous chew test now?

[fishandchips]

Found out that Canada does have a special entity that just studies honeybees! A recent funding announcement will allow the National Diagnostic Bee Centre to obtain two pieces of equipment with the $150,000 grant.
http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/2014/04/20/bee-centre-lands-grant

“Inside the body of the honeybee it’s dealing with fungus infection, viral infection, bacteria infection – and their own body, their immune system is fighting back,” said Castillo.

“But when there is so many stressors around, there’s so many pathogens inside, they cannot fight back and they die.”

These infections inside of the bee can be dyed different colours in the laboratory. For example, if a bee has a fungal infection and a virus – both can be dyed separate colours that can only be seen under the second piece of equipment – the confocal fluorescent microscope.

[pretzels]

I do not eat honey often, only if it's in a sauce or glaze used in a meal. Sure is a lot of work for bees to produce honey. Not envying the beekeepers minding the hives for extraction time.

[CielOnTap]

In Ontario, Canada-Ontario beekeepers are suing the producers of pesticides that beekeepers say are impacting nervous systems of bees who then die.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/09/03/bee_deaths_at_centre_of_lawsuit_by_honey_producers.html

Tonight, I received notice that a German documentary film, More Than Honey, is available for viewing. I will post a commentary after viewing it. The documentary includes video from the viewpoint of bees in flight.

Don't forget, peach and apple crops depend on bees pollinating the spring fruit tree flowers that become the stem ends of the fruits.

[CielOnTap]

Guess that any location experiencing a lack of rain will notice what is happening to the bees when crops and flowers don`t grow.

Quebec is having a dry spell on the east coast.

For beekeepers, the paucity of flowers means there is hardly any nectar for bees to transform into honey. The bees are so hungry, some queens have stopped laying eggs.

"We are not even removing honey right now because it could affect the survival of the hive," said Nicolas Bélanger, a beekeeper at Vallée fleurie farm near Amqui, in the Gaspé region.

Salmon not biting

Ronald Cormier, the head of the non-profit agency that manages salmon fishing in the Gaspé's Bonaventure River, says water levels across the region are also nearing record lows.

"We have rarely seen that," he said. "It's the same everywhere."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/drought-gaspe-lower-saint-lawrence-1.4159880

[fishandchips]

You can get really close to bees in Slovenia, which led the petition for the United Nations to declare May 20 World Bee Day!

Slovenes have a deep respect for honey bees. “If I see dead bees, I call a police SOS number and they send a special inspector to check out the situation,” said Blaz Ambrozic, the beekeeper at Beekeeping Ambrozic-Kralov med, his family-owned apiary that’s approximately one kilometre from the popular resort town of Bled.

With such passion, it’s no surprise that the Slovenian Beekeeper’s Association successfully petitioned the United Nations to proclaim May 20 — the birthday of the native Slovene pioneer of modern beekeeping, Anton Jansa — as World Bee Day, celebrating the importance of honeybee preservation and raising the public’s awareness of how significant bees are to the food supply.

https://www.thestar.com/life/travel/2018/05/26/explore-buzzworthy-apitourism-in-slovenia.html