Tagged With: bees
Pollination and education in the Peaks
By Ida Griffiths – education officer for Pollinating the Peak at the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. Bumblebees are awesome! But perhaps, being the education officer for Pollinating the Peak – a new Heritage Lottery funded project from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust – I have to say that… However, it’s not just me, my colleagues and keen … Continue reading
Bees are a political issue
Dr Barbara Knowles MBE FRSB is senior science policy adviser at the Royal Society of Biology, and an active conservation volunteer working to protect biodiversity in farmed landscapes. These are her views, not necessarily those of the Society. Bees and neonic insecticides are in the news again as the Secretary of State for Defra decided … Continue reading
Pollen protects honeybees against pathogens
Rebecca Nesbit, press officer at the Society of Biology, reports on Professor May Berenbaum’s talk at the Impact of Pesticides on Bee Health conference organised by the Biochemical Society, the British Ecological Society and the Society for Experimental Biology. In 2006, American beekeepers were alarmed by sudden losses of hives to colony collapse disorder, where … Continue reading
How to sketch the hind leg of a honeybee
In advance of the Society of Biology training course she is giving in March, Wildlife and Natural History artist Cath Hodsman shares tips on accurate insect drawing. I paint and sketch all wildlife but my main specialism is entomology. I seek to get as much detail in my work as possible in order to pay … Continue reading
Get buzzing for Biology Week and the 24 Hour Lecture
Philippa Skett is an intern with the Society of Biology, who sometimes gets to watch YouTube videos as part of her job. With the 24 Hour Lecture taking place this evening, get yourself ready with her and Professor Adam Hart’s pick of buzzing videos of ants and bees. Giant honeybees: These bees are brave enough to … Continue reading
Sometimes you need your own space – DIY for solitary bees
In advance of Professor Adam Hart’s 24 hour lecturethon, David Urry from the Society of Biology shares his experiences of building a bee hotel. I am not the most practically minded person in the world, but I do enjoy a bit of D.I.Y. After coming across an old picture frame and backing board in the … Continue reading
World Biodiversity Day
Caroline Bellingan, a student at Wimbledon High School, shares her thoughts on World Biodiversity Day Biodiversity is the term given to the degree of variation in life forms with in a given species or ecosystem and it is a hot topic that is being flagged up very frequently at the moment amongst those in the … Continue reading
Are neonicotinoids distracting us from the bigger picture?
by Rebecca Nesbit, Society of Biology The much awaited vote by EU member states on the potential neonicotinoid ban takes place on Monday. There has been strong environmental lobbying to encourage Environment Minister Owen Patterson to vote in favour of a ban, but to what extent is the fate of bees really hanging on this … Continue reading
Bumblebees’ gruesome parasites
Guest blog by Sive Finlay, a PhD student from Trinity College Dublin who recently won Best Biology Student at the 2012 SET awards for her undergraduate project Bee populations are in severe decline, an alarming and worrying trend when you consider their vital importance as commercial and ecological pollinators. Research and media attention often focuses … Continue reading