Survey Reports Latest Honey Bee Losses / April 29, 2010 / News from the USDA Agricultural Research Service

Survey Reports Latest Honey Bee Losses / April 29, 2010 / News from the USDA Agricultural Research Service

A honey bee on broccoli, one of the many crops that benefit from honey bee pollination. Photo courtesy of Russ Ottens, University of Georgia Honey bees with colony collapse disorder show their genes Pathogen loads higher in bee colonies suffering from colony collapse disorder Survey reports latest honey bee losses Survey Reports Latest Honey Bee Losses By Kim Kaplan April 29, 2010 Losses of managed honey bee colonies nationwide totaled 33.8 percent from all causes from October 2009 to April 2010, according to a survey conducted by the Apiary Inspectors of America(AIA) and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Beekeepers identified starvation, poor weather, and weak colonies going into winter as the top reasons for mortality in their operations. This is an increase from overall losses of 29 percent reported from a similar survey covering the winter of 2008-2009, and similar to the 35.8 percent losses for the winter of 2007-2008. The continued high rate of losses are worrying, especially considering losses occurring over the summer months were not being captured, notesJeffrey Pettis, research leader of ARS' Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md. ARS is theU.S. Department of Agriculture's principal intramural scientific research agency. The survey was conducted by Pettis and past AIA presidents Dennis vanEngelsdorp and Jerry Hayes. The three researchers said that continued losses of this magnitude are not economically sustainable for commercial beekeepers. The 28 percent of beekeeping operations that reported some of their colonies perished without dead bees present—a sign of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)—lost 44 percent of their colonies. This compares to 26 percent of beekeepers reporting such dead colonies in the 2008-2009 winter and 32 percent in the 2007-2008 winter. Beekeepers that did not report their colonies having CCD lost 25 percent of their colonies. As this was an interview-based survey, it was not possible to differentiate between verifiable cases of CCD and colonies lost as the result of other causes that share the "absence of dead bees" as a symptom. The cause of CCD is still unknown. The survey checked on about 22.4 percent of the country's estimated 2.46 million colonies. The survey reports only winter losses and does not capture colony losses that occur throughout the summer when queens or entire colonies fail and need to be replaced. Those summer losses can be significant. A complete analysis of the survey data will be published later this year. The abstract can be found at http://ento.psu.edu/pollinators/news/losses-2009-10 More information about CCD can be found at www.ars.usda.gov/ccd.

36th Street Racing - Charlotte NC Cycling Group � Dolce Vita Two Wheel Tuesdays

36th Street Racing - Charlotte NC Cycling Group � Dolce Vita Two Wheel Tuesdays: "The ride will start at Noda’s newest business�Espada Bicycles then will move through NoDa to Plaza-Midwood riding to Twenty Two, continuing south through Midtown to Dilworth and East blvd Grill. The ride should double back from there with a stop at �Common Market and the finish at Dolce Vita."

120,000 honeybees buzz atop Ritz-Carlton - CharlotteObserver.com

120,000 honeybees buzz atop Ritz-Carlton - CharlotteObserver.com

120,000 honeybees buzz atop Ritz-Carlton

By Bruce Henderson
bhenderson@charlotteobserver.com

Posted: Thursday, Apr. 22, 2010

Tens of thousands of honeybees have checked in to the rooftop hives at the Ritz-Carlton in uptown Charlotte. JOHN D. SIMMONS - jsimmons@charlotteobserver.com

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• This Earth Day, no burning rivers
  

The penthouse roof of one of uptown Charlotte's swankiest hotels buzzed with activity Wednesday as its 120,000 new residents, honeybees, met their public.

On the eve of Earth Day, the Ritz-Carlton unveiled its new green roof, planted with a groundcover called sedum. Tomatoes, herbs and lavender grow in raised beds on one side. On the other stand two handsome beehives, painted white with copper roofs.

The bees will become urban commuters, visiting condo balconies and city parks in a two-mile radius before returning to their 18th-floor base. Their honey will flavor the hotel's yogurt, granola and brews served at high tea, said executive chef Jon Farace.

"I think we'll just have to categorize it as a wildflower honey," said Randall York of Cloister Honey, which tends the hives. "It should be just a good floral mix."

It's all in keeping with the hotel's environmental ethos.

On Wednesday the hotel became the first Ritz-Carlton to win a green stamp of approval from the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold designation. The hotel hopes to win a similar label for its operating practices.

Only 50 hotels have earned the LEED label, Rick Fedrizzi, chief executive of the Green Building Council, said.

Bank of America, which built the hotel, announced a $20 billion, 10-year environmental initiative in 2007. The bank's new tower in Manhattan earned LEED Platinum, the highest rank for green design.

Here, a Ritz-Carlton employee will adopt the persona of Mother Nature, tucking in kids staying at the hotel, giving eco-tours, appearing at local events.

But York said he knows of no other rooftop hives uptown.

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/04/22/1390920/hive-rise-living-atop-the-ritz.html#ixzz0lr65MusA