I'm no bear, but I like honey and I know bees make honey so I like bees..therefore, I like honey bees
I like pussy too-FYI
bees are in trouble with all the stupid thngs that people do to them... from using pesticides, to destroying habitat, to killing bees because they are "feral"....that's what they did on the Channel Islands years ago...killed them..I was watching a public TV show about the Channel Islands recently and the guy most responsible for the thousands of animals killed, Russel Galipeau, was talking about the newest threat: the evils of Asian kelp...Galipeau is obese and a joke but somehow still keeps his job and benefits.. I think he should be in jail for animal abuse, but apparently, I'm the only one..
but here's what they did -verbatim- and I find it unbelieveable that this crap passes for science...they actually introduced mites to help kill the bees!!!
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| FAT AND NON-NATIVE!! |
ABSTRACT
In 1988, we began to remove European honey bee
colonies from Santa Cruz Island, California, in order to restore
native bee populations and pollination systems in the
Channel Islands National Park. Of the five islands in the
Park, only Santa Cruz Island had honey bees, introduced
more than 120 years ago. Initially, we located colonies by
improved beehunt techniques and began to eliminate colonies
on the eastern half of the island at the end of the third
season. We also recorded swarms trapped in decoy hives
and in cavities formerly occupied by colonies, eventually
tallying nearly 300 colonies on the 25,000 hectare island.
Midway in the program, drastic changes in the ecology (e.g.,
cattle removal, spread of exotic weeds, abundant rainfall)
led us to employ a biological control agent to eliminate the
remaining colonies. In December 1993, January 1994, and
February 1994, we loaded a total of 85 mites (Varroa
jacobsoni, parasitic only on bees of the genus Apis) onto
foraging bees at a few sites on the eastern half of the island.
Colony mortality remained unchanged in 1994 and 1995 but
escalated in 1996 and 1997. All 117 of the routinely monitored
feral colonies had perished by January 1998.
Keywords: Feral honey bees, Apis mellifera, native bees,
ecosystem restoration, exotic weeds, biological control,
Varroa jacobsoni, Santa Cruz Island.
INTRODUCTION
An earlier contribution in this series (Wenner and
Thorp 1994) provided comprehensive coverage of the rationale,
goals, scope, and progress to date in our long-term
feral honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) removal project on Santa
Cruz Island. The question addressed at that time: Will removing
an introduced insect species change habitat quality
for native plants and pollinators and also restore and/or increase
species diversity and abundance?
That earlier report placed the study into ecological
perspective, reviewed foraging behavior and the role of
honey bees in ecosystems, outlined the seasonal sequence
for nectar and pollen production by native and introduced
plants, and summarized the distribution, abundance, and
mortality of feral honey bee colonies as of that time. That
report also contained a summary of results from studies of
plant visitation by insects; honey bee removal on the east
half of Santa Cruz Island had altered the relative insect representation
on plant species under study in favor of native
forms (Figures 2 and 3 in Wenner and Thorp 1994).
By the end of the first five years of this project, several
events forced a change in approach. In particular, after
removal of most sheep and cattle, exotic weeds (a primary
food resource for the exotic honey bees) dramatically increased
in island coverage. In addition, the long-term series
of drought years had ended. Those two factors combined
provided a vastly increased food supply for honey bee colonies,
enhancing colony replication via swarming.
Unexpectedly, and a factor in line with our goals, another
development impinged on our project, as outlined
briefly in the Wenner and Thorp (1994) report. Some honey
bee colonies in Florida and Wisconsin had perished due to a
parasitic mite (Varroa jacobsoni; Oudemans 1904) infestation
the very month (October, 1987) that we received approval
to initiate this project.
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| licorice and honey...yummy!! |
That voracious, blood-sucking mite had crossed over
from parasitization of the Asian honey bee (Apis cerana F.)
to the European honey bee (A. mellifera) three decades earlier
in central Asia (e.g., Mobus and de Bruyn 1993) and
became rapidly and unwittingly transported around the world
by beekeepers and bee researchers. Within only a decade
after first discovery in the United States, varroa mites occurred
in all of the mainland states and Alaska (Wenner and
Bushing 1996). Colony mortality was recorded in Ventura
County, California as early as October 1989.
We recognized the inevitability of invasion of Santa
Cruz Island by varroa mites and pre-empted that eventuality
with a deliberate use of those mites as a biological control
agent against the European honey bee, in line with our...
blah,blah,blah
what can I do about all these crazy biologists killing honeybees and everything they percieve a non-native threat...what can I do to get them to stop?
grab 'em by the pussy, I guess
