Comments on: EU will ban neonicotinoid pesticides to save the honey bees https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/04/29/eu-will-ban-neonicotinoid-pesticides-to-save-the-honey-bees/ Sat, 01 Jun 2013 01:17:37 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.6 By: The Neonicotinide pesticide debate: a new frontier of the ever-expanding ethical sphere? | spineless https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/04/29/eu-will-ban-neonicotinoid-pesticides-to-save-the-honey-bees/#comment-486927 Sat, 01 Jun 2013 01:17:37 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=16479#comment-486927 […] a range of blogs that comment on the issue, the following are just examples I have stumbled across (http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/04/29/eu-will-ban-neonicotinoid-pesticides-to-save-the-honey-…, […]

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/04/29/eu-will-ban-neonicotinoid-pesticides-to-save-the-honey-bees/#comment-486926 Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:59:42 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=16479#comment-486926 Ah, you are right, thanks. I was thinking of ants.

]]> By: Gerard. https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/04/29/eu-will-ban-neonicotinoid-pesticides-to-save-the-honey-bees/#comment-486925 Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:02:53 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=16479#comment-486925 Bees do not actually move eggs. The queen lay the egg in an empty cell. The larva hatches in the same cell. It is fed until it is ready to pupate then the cell is closed with wax.

In CCD something is killing bees in the field or impairing their ability to find the hive. Extra energy expenditure is easily noted in reduced honey crop. Merely damaged bees die also in the hive and can bee examined. So it is none of these.

Neoinicotinoids apparently impair the bees orientation ability long before it is killed. This conforms really well with the observed result. The bees that find the hive are fine. At least until the next trip.

Also, I’m surprised no one has commented on this, bees that navigate poorly will enter the wrong hives much more often. And being laden with pollen will be admitted by the new hive. This is a vector for other deceases! It could very well be that affected zones have much higher spread of other deceases than normal. Someone should study this.

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