Pesticides and Bees: Its Complex

Pesticides and Bees Its complex Jim R Bound Web. 3-18-15, 4-21-15
Summary:

Pesticides arent the only thing harming bees

Bees are complex insects
Bees are so helpful for the world

Evaluation: Interesting information you have learned?

New information that was interesting that I learned was that pesticides dont kill
nearly as many bees as I would have thought. I also learned that pesticides arent the number
one cause in the beepocalypse it is Varroa mites a blood sucking bee parasite. There are 3
main things that kill honey bees and it is pesticides, parasites,and at least 14 different diseases.
I also learned that if we were to ban pesticides there would be a huge economic upheaval in
agriculture so that would be a huge problem and it still wouldnt help bees significantly. There
was a large variety of new information that I learned about pesticides and the impact on bees
and I found it to be very useful information.

What insight this gives you into your research topic?

Since my research topic was pesticides in bees this source told me that pesticides
arent the biggest or the only reason there is a beepocalypse. Since this source told me this it
gives me valuable information to test for pesticides in things bees make because according to
this article pesticides arent the biggest reason for bees deaths. Scientists also put pesticides in
bee colonies to see the results and then over the course of the experiment pesticides were nondetectable within the colonies bee bread and honey. To me this was a good sign for the bees
that maybe pesticides dont have as big of an impact as we think and this could end up being a
major point in my project.
Evidence
When our busy brains and complex bee biology collide, misunderstandings are bound to
happen. Most people think the beepocalypse is about pesticides. You know what the #1 killer of
honey bees is globally? Varroa Mites, a blood-sucking bee parasite. Page 1 paragraph 4
The performance of the colonies, measured by the amount of brood (baby bees), capped honey
cells, and capped bee bread cells, was not significantly different from the control (untreated)
hives, even at the highest dose of pesticide they fed. They found no evidence that imidacloprid
affected foraging activity during and after exposure in their experiments. Page 2 paragraph 13

Study Shows popular pesticide hurting health of wild bees_not honeybees out in the
field
Borenstein, Seth Study shows popular pesticide hurting health of wild bees_not honeybees out
in the field, U.S. News 22 Apr.2015

Summary:

If We want to save the bees there are some pesticides that need to be banned.
Experts found that bees might be even more attracted to the pesticide coated crops making the
problem even worse.
Some agricultural companies dont think it is a big problem or see the harm to bees.

Evaluation:
New ideas you now have for your project?
This source or article was completely different than the last one because this one was
really trying to say how harmful some pesticides are to bees versus the last one.This has given
me some new ideas for what to do for my project since this article was very against pesticides
so it gave me a new perspective and is something I would like to incorporate into my project.
Because of all the tests and different experiments scientists did in this article, it got me thinking
about ideas and brainstorming more and I thought it would be cool to do something like this. To
me it would be really cool to conduct my own experiment to test for the presence of pesticides in
hives and how it can affect humans.

Interesting information you learned?

There was tons of new information that I gained from this source that I considered very
valuable for my project. Something that I found very interesting when reading this source was
that when they did an experiment the bees were more attracted to the pesticide coated crops
which makes the problem much worse. Also, different bees respond differently to pesticides with
honeybees having the least amount of an effect. Dennis Van Englesdorp an entomologist at the
University of Maryland said that honeybees are more social of a bee than others so they could
be better adapted at taking abuse than other bee species. It was also said that honeybees have
larger hives with tens of thousands of bees which can absorb and handle more losses than
other species of bees which have smaller hives. I found all this information very fascinating in
the article and will keep it in mind when I am doing my project.

Evidence:
One of the more interesting aspects of Rundolf's study is that she couldn't measure an effect
on honeybees, just wild native bees. There may be an effect but it would be under 20 percent,
she said. The different species of bees respond differently and that only results in confusion
because until now, scientists have used the domesticated honeybees as the model for all bees.
Paragraph 11 page 1
In areas treated with the pesticide, there were half as many wild bees per square meter than
there were in areas not treated, Rundlof said. In the pesticide patches, bumblebee colonies had
"almost no weight gain" compared to the normal colonies that gained about a pound, she said.
Paragraph 7 page 1

Multiple Routes of pesticide exposure for Honey Bees Living Near Agricultural Fields

Krupke H Christian, Hunt . J Greg, Eitzer .D Brian, Andino Gladys, Given Krispin, Multiple
Routes of pesticide Exposure for Honey Bees Living near Agricultural Fields Jan. 2012, PLos
ONE 7 (1): e29268. doilo. 1371/ journal pone.0029268

Summary

The neonicotinoid group has arguably received the most attention as a pesticde.
The results in the experiment conducted proved that bees living near agricultural fields are
highly exposed to neonicotinoids.

Evaluation
Interesting Information you learned?
I feel like this source was probably the most helpful out of them all just because of how well
documented it was and the well explained lab. In the previous sources I looked at it sort of
mentioned information about neonicotinoid pesticides, but not that much and a lot of the
experiment conducted revolved around that. According to this article the neonicotinoid
pesticides are very harmful to the nurse bees that transport pollen to the larvae which then gets
into the larvae and nurse bee causing death. This pesticide also an effect on the honey and bee
bread that bees produce which can become a huge threat to humans. This source has provided
with me with a large variety of information and pretty much found exactly what I was seeking for
my project.

What insight this gives you into your research topic?

This really helped me gain a new understanding of my actual topic because it answered some
key questions for my project which needed to happen. This source was also about a very
specific and common pesticide versus the other sources which was more about pesticides in
general and the impact on bees. This source also gives me something to work with now for my
project and I couldnt be more thrilled about that because it is opening doors to many different
projects. I was very positive about this source and loved how specific it was and how much it
helped me find my way on my project.

Evidence:
Furthermore we show that bees living in these environments will forage for maize pollen and
transport pollen containing neonicotinoids to the hive. Pollen contaminated with levels of
neonicotinoids similar to those shown in our results has been known to impair pollinator health.
Page
The results demonstrate that honeybees living and foraging near agricultural feilds are exposed
to neonicotinoids and other pesticides through multiple mechanisms throughout spring and
summer. Page 2