did написа:Ако някой си мисли, че високоинтелигентите и високообразовани високоизползващи високотехнологични въшки хомо-сапиенси предизвикват само някво си глобално затопляне...
http://money.ibox.bg/news/id_1282517868Nature strikes back.
Глупости. Чети.
COLLEGE STATION -- About 90 percent of the wild honey bees have died and managed hives have declined by 50 percent -- signaling trouble for Texas produce and wildflowers this spring.
The disappearance of honey bees -- the major pollinator of flowering plants -- could greatly reduce production of some 90 Texas crops causing economic losses and shortages of fruits and vegetables, industry officials say.
But a cooperative effort by state and federal agencies joined by local beekeepers and commodity groups hopes to turn the situation around with research and education. They've written a Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Honey Bee Protection and Management Initiative calling for $1.4 million over the next two years from the Texas Legislature.
"The goal of the program is to ensure that the goods and services provided by the activities of honey bees are protected and enhanced for the benefit of Texas citizens and our agriculture enterprise," said Dr. Ray Frisbie, head of Texas A&M University's entomology department.
Honeybees have died off in Texas -- as well as much of the rest of the nation -- due to an invasion of varroa mites, a tiny species that feeds on the blood of honey bees. That deadly parasite comes on the heels of an infestation in 1984 of tracheal mites followed by the invasion of Africanized honey bees and the dumping of Chinese honey on the U.S. market.
"As a result of these events, the number of commercial resident honey bee colonies has dropped in Texas from about 200,000 in 1985 to less than 100,000 today," Frisbie explained.
Control of the mites in hives managed by beekeepers has proven difficult, according to Dr. Rodney Holloway, Texas Agricultural Extension Service pesticide assessment specialist.
"Few chemical pesticides are effective against the mites and yet harmless to honey bees and safe for humans," Holloway said.
The scientists and beekeepers seeking the initiative say research is needed to find ways to control the mites, the single most important problem facing beekeepers.
"The value of pollination of these cultivated crops by managed colonies of bees is estimated to be $487 million," said Dr. John Thomas, Texas Beekeepers Association executive secretary.
In addition to commercial crops, researchers say that wild honey bees are vital to nature because the pollination of flowering plants provides food and habitat for wildlife and vegetative cover for forests and rangeland. Many home garden fruits and vegetables require pollination to produce as well.
"Most of us take for granted the ecological service that honey bees provide as pollinators," said Dr. Robert Coulson, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station entomologist. "However, the demise of feral (wild) honey bee colonies eliminates the principal purveyor of this critical service. It is not clear whether other species of insects can substitute for honey bees and provide pollination of flowering plants in our natural landscapes."
If the initiative is funded, scientists want to look at the reasons why wild honey bees are not as abundant in as many places any more and define what that means for the pollination of both commercial crops and wild flowering plants. Among the studies would be one looking at the interaction and impact of Africanized honey bees on both managed and wild domestic honey bees.
Two other research components would document and evaluate native pollinators other than honey bees and would develop a computerized spatial information management system for beekeepers.
The initiative's partners stress that telling people about the research results will be a vital part in helping to bring back a healthy population of honey bees in the state.
"With the invasion of Africanized honey bees and parasitic mites, beekeeping in Texas has been subjected to more change in the last 10 years than the past 100 years," said Holloway. "These 'new' problems have changed beekeeping management practices and driven some beekeepers out of business. In short supply are local honeys, and bees for pollination contracts and wild flower pollination."
Results from these findings, the cooperative group notes, would be conveyed to beekeepers, wildflower enthusiasts, gardeners and the general public through educational materials and programs developed under the initiative.
I feel terrified, which is... you know, sickest feeling ever.
Brandon Fairclough