CHEAP TRAVEL COSTS THE EARTH

Written in 2000 - All these years later, and it's still costing the earth...

CHEAP TRAVEL COSTS THE EARTH

At this gloomy time of year the lure of a sun-soaked holiday on a remote

exotic beach seems irresistible. The cost of air travel has fallen

dramatically in recent years making holidays abroad far more accessible to a

wider section of the population. The effects of price slashing and

‘no-frills’ airlines has grown the number of passengers travelling through

UK airports from 22.5 mIllion 20 years ago to 11.6.8 million Just 2 years

ago. Industry observers predict that London airports atone wlll need to flnd

capacity for an extra 100 million passengers per year by 2015 - the same

number presently using Heathrow. Gatwick, Luton and Stanstead combined. At

least 80% of airborne travellers are holidaymakers. Unfortunately, the

increased number at people taking advantage of cheaper air travel, currently

rising at five to six per cent every year, is planet-threateningly bad.

According to meteorologists attending a world summit on climate change

earlier this year, the 16,000 aircraft circling the globe every single day

have become one of the main sources of atmospheric pollution.

Air pollution and global warming are having a much more devastating effect

on life than was originally feared. By the end of the next century

scientists are now predicting that temperatures will have risen by as much

as eight degrees Celsius — over two degrees higher than earlier

calculations.

The odd degree or two doesn’t sound much, but the one degree rise which has

already occurred has killed between 70-90% of the coral reefs in the Indian

Ocean and wiped out half the polar bear and seal populations. Further global

warming will melt the polar ice caps, which wilt in turn raise the

temperature at sea level. A one metre rise in global sea levels would put 75

per cent of the earth’s land mass under water.

The world’s airlines are dumping 7SOmillion tonnes of pollutants into the

atmosphere every year, mostly the most problematic greenhouse gas — carbon

dioxide — which equates to 3.5% of global warming.

The airline industry insists that it is committed to tackling the problem. A

British Airways spokesman said the company was at the forefront of many

initiatives addressing

the problem. "We have set a target of 30 per cent reduction in emissions

over the next 20 years" he said. "We have already managed to double our fuel

efficiency over a number of years and are looking at many initiatives to

improve further’

The Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions IDETR) is also

looking at a range of methods to tackle the problem, including tightening

the rules on emissions, better aircraft design and further taxation on fuel.

But, according to the New Scientist Magazine, engine emissions are not the

only problems caused by the aeroplanes. A report earlier this year suggested

that the fluids used to de-ice aircraft are polluting the ground water near

major airports and killing aquatic life. Researchers from Western Washington

University had identified the problem as a family of chemicals called

tolytriazoles. which are also used in car de-icers. These were found in high

concentrations in a stream draining an airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On

three occasions when heavy de-icing had occurred, minnows and water fleas

placed in the stream by a researcher all died. In the summer months, when no

de-icing is necessary, 80 per cent of the creatures survived. Researcher,

Devon Cancilla, was quoted as criticising the rules for de-icers, which

regulate only the concentration of glycol — a de-icing substance that is

less toxic than tolytriazoles.

Organic farmers based under flight paths are also facing difficulties in

receiving Soil Association Accreditation due to excess fuel being dumped

into the atmosphere prior to aircraft landing and, therefore, effectively

spraying the ground beneath. The Norfolk region has a particularly acute

problem with a large number of military bases operating air exercises in the

area.

The airlines are claiming a new ‘open discussion policy’ on all aspects of

environmental concerns, including talking to non-government organisations.

One suggestion put forward at the Air Transport Association conference

earlier this year is that aircraft should fly slower and lower. The

environmental group Germanwatch believes this would reduce environmental

pollution as well as dampen the growth in demand for flying.

There is little scientific doubt that aircraft are contributing to air

pollution and global warming, but by how much is still In dispute. The

environmental groups claim the airlines simply pay lip service to global

warming concerns in favour of profit, whilst the airlines dispute the

scientists findings as being ‘over-hyped’.

Ironically, if the scientists are right, with more and more people being

Jetted off to exotic locations, the aviation industry may end up helping to

sink the very paradise islands it now encourages us to visit. U

~. Organic Iiving March 2000

I

Pickard Brain Talk

Highlights from Prof Robert Pickard's fascinating talk about the Honeybee and human brain. For full transcript and recording click here

We take our lives for granted and we spend all our time worrying about money and income tax, and where the next crumb is coming from, yet here we are with a state of consciousness, sitting in a body that took 2500m years to evolve. An incredible machine. Most of us are able to walk, see, breathe, sense our environment, think about the universe, right the way up to 80 without losing more than 5% of our intellectual capability.
You start to lose your ability to recall memory from about 35 onwards. The important thing there is to rehearse the memories that you want to retain.

  

BEEDANCE HAIKU

Communication

 In the spirit of the hive

 Not competition

The Trouble with Beeks

As I've been rather unkind about beekeepers in this blog, here is a list of beekeepers who have very kind and helpful, and have had a big influence -

Flood Blog

Flood Shepperton Towpath Feb 2014

Come gather 'round people 
Wherever you roam 
And admit that the waters 
Around you have grown 
And accept it that soon 
You'll be drenched to the bone 
If your time to you 
Is worth savin' 
Then you better start swimmin' 
Or you'll sink like a stone 
For the times they are a-changin'. 

Swarming Bees are Healthy Bees

Swarming Bees are Healthy Bees
Article by John Haverson - see  http://hampshire.naturalbees.net 

Until I read John's article (in BBKA News, May 2012), I felt guilty about my bees swarming. It's more of a problem in built up areas, but having a swamp and tolerant neighbours helps...

Bees swarm to reproduce and spread their genes. Healthy offspring

are best produced in optimum conditions of temperature and

nutrition and with a vigorous parent colony. However, like other

organisms, bees will be instinctively driven to reproduce more

when they are subjected to stress, danger and threatened survival.

Beekeepers are constantly being directed to control swarming

at all costs, whether to improve honey harvests or reduce nuisance

to neighbours. I have been wondering if a century of increasing

control over honey bees’ basic natural function has had an adverse

impact on the health of our bees. In this article I have considered

the bee’s reproductive process in a natural environment to see how

it benefits a colony, as well as the impact of swarm control

husbandry.

Swarm preparation phase

During springtime, a colony will build up rapidly, increasing its

stores, brood and adult bees. The colony maintains its brood nest

temperature at 35–36ºC, the optimum for rearing healthy brood.

By late April or early May a healthy colony will reach a state of

affluence, which will enable it to swarm.

Many beekeepers start swarm prevention

inspection in March at temperatures as low as

11ºC. This regular hive opening breaks open

propolis and wax seals; releases heat and

volatile compounds from the nest and disrupts

thousands of worker tasks. The result is a

stressed colony, forced to do unnecessary work

and with a brood temperature below the

optimum. This brood cooling can contribute to

European Foul Brood (EFB).1 The reduced nest

temperature also favours Varroa, which has an

optimum brood temperature of 33ºC; enabling

the colony to maintain a nest temperature of

35ºC works against Varroa.2

Varroa and other pathogens will thrive in

fatigued and weakened colonies. To keep

colonies alive beekeepers are using chemical

varroacides and medications. These substances,

even the organic acids and thymol, are toxic and harmful to bees.3,4

A colony will raise as many drones as it considers necessary.

Often beekeepers cull drones as unproductive honey consumers.

They also use drone brood as expendable varroa traps. This

reduction of the drone population has an adverse effect on the

quality of queen mating. It also consumes significant resources as

the colony strives to replace essential males in time for mating.

The swarm of bees has to find a new home, build comb, stock

it with stores and feed new brood. This requires bees of different

ages and gland development and will not include many old foragers.

An artificial swarm, which merely separates the queen and flying

bees from the house-bees and brood, risks having old spent bees

by the time new brood hatches out and requires feeding.

The colony raises a number of queen cells in specially

constructed round cells. Queen cells are given special treatment;

they are visited 10 times more often than worker bee cells during

the 3–5 day larval stage to ensure the optimum development of

new queens, which become almost double the weight of worker

bees. Queens raised artificially from 2-day-old larvae will receive

less nourishment and care.

In an unstressed colony the queen brood survival rate can be

as low as 53% from egg to adult; 33% in a stressed colony.5 The

colony appears to be weeding out substandard queens during

development. During artificial swarm manipulation, when we

destroy unwanted queen-cells, how do we know we have selected

the best two larvae? What are the chances they will fail or produce

substandard queens, resulting in a queen-less or a poorly

performing colony?

The swarm cluster

On leaving the nest, the swarm pours out of the hive or nest cavity

and mills around before settling in a cluster on a nearby bush, tree

or structure. Hundreds of forager bees become scouts and seek

cavities suitable for a new home. Instinctively they know what

constitutes a good cavity. After assessing a site, each scout returns

to the cluster and conveys its information to the cluster-bees in a

waggle dance. After considering different waggle

dances and checking the sites, the bees

eventually reach agreement about a site and the

scouts lead the swarm-bees to the new cavity.

This reconnaissance, communication and

consensus-reaching is an important part of the

bee’s metabolism, decision-making and

intelligence development. The new site is most

probably 300–500 metres from the home nest.6,7

This has the benefits of reducing

competition for forage as well as reducing the

risks of transfer of pathogens by drifting or

robbing. Fries and Camazine suggest8 that intercolony

transmission of pathogens by swarming

will result in a benign host-parasite relationship,

but the horizontal transfer of pathogens from

one colony to another by drifting, robbing and

comb exchange will result in more virulence.

The high colony density in large apiaries and the

‘splitting’ of colonies to achieve increase will

favour pathogen virulence.

Building the new nest

At the new site, bees make the cavity draught-proof with propolis

and start making wax. Bees construct honeycomb and forage for

stores; both are needed before brood rearing can commence. A

coating of antibacterial, antifungal propolis is applied to the cavity.

Temperatures of up to 40ºC are required to make comb9 and the

nest temperature will have to be maintained at 35ºC for brood

rearing. The swarm will be broodless during the nest building

period. Varroa will have no uncapped brood cells in which to hide,

and develop. They will be exposed to grooming by bees and fall to

the bottom of the cavity, far from the comb.

While the new nest is being constructed, stores collected

and brood started, the swarm is vulnerable to conditions of poor

weather, poor forage and predators. Seeley6 considers that about

three quarters of new swarms fail. Beekeepers reduce this

vulnerability by providing suitable nest sites and emergency

feeding to prevent starvation, often using sugar. Sugar is a poor

Swarming Bees are Healthy Bees

Swarm arrival. Photo by Bernhart Ruso.

BBKA News incorporating THE BRITISH BEE JOURNAL May 2012 17

substitute for nutritious honey10; brood

reared on poor nutrition will not

achieve optimum development and

immunocompetence will be reduced.

The home nest

The original nest is reduced by a queen,

about half of its adult bees and some of

the honey stores. It still has virgin queen

cells, developing brood, an extant nest

structure and good stocks of stores. It

is quite wealthy but will not be so if

beekeeper manipulation denudes it of

nurse bees and honey stores.

The first virgin queen could emerge eight days after the swarm

departure. Other brood will have hatched. The queen will take

time to mature and mate. Her egg laying may not commence for

three or four weeks after the swarm departs, depending on

weather conditions. Again a broodless period will work against

varroa. The collection of pollen and increased foraging will indicate

when brood rearing commences. Constant hive opening to check

for eggs is highly disruptive to a new and developing nest.

The first virgin queen may be allowed to kill her siblings, but if

the mother colony is strong and conditions are favourable, the

workers may protect some virgin queens so the colony can

produce secondary swarms, to spread its genes.

On the mating flights, colonies escort valuable virgin queens

providing a ‘herring shoal’ protection effect against bird predators.

Large escorts ensure successful returns whereas smaller escorts

from mini-colonies, favoured in artificial breeding, suffer queen

losses of some 33%.9 On the mating flight a vigorous queen will

require a good drone to catch her. Poor queens will be caught by

good males but can also be caught by poor drones increasing the

chances of low grade offspring.

Local bees will be genetically conditioned to the local

environment. In UK this can be cool, wet weather during the

swarming season. Local bees will be able to cope with inclement

weather and achieve successful mating when exotic bees from

warmer climates may not. The natural mating with up to 20 drones

will ensure genetic diversity, essential to species survival. Nature

will select for characteristics to enable survival in its environment

and against pathogens. These will not necessarily be the docility,

productivity and non-swarming sought by beekeepers.

Afterword

The entire swarming process brings

into play a huge array of diverse

behaviours affected by natural

selection. The colonies that survive the

dangerous adventure of swarming will,

on the whole, be the fittest. If we

short-circuit this fundamental

behavioural feature of the honey bee,

we reduce the opportunity for nature

to hone the fitness of the bee

population.

There is growing anecdotal and

scientific evidence11,12 that wild bees

are surviving and coping with varroa. It is clear to me, that the

ability to swarm naturally is a significant factor in their survival. I

believe we should be considering how we might better manage

swarming to make use of its colony health benefits; perhaps using

bait hives and informed, non-intrusive ‘reading’ of colony activity.13

This might reduce honey harvests, but there would be more bees.

Man can live without honey, but not without bees.

John Haverson, Hampshire BKA

References

1. Somerville D. European foulbrood and its control. Primefact

1000, 2010; p1–4. Available at http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/

__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/333388/European-foulbrood-andits-

control.pdf.

2. Kraus B, Velthius HHW. The impact of temperature gradients in

the brood nest of honeybees on the reproduction of Varroa jacobsoni,

Utrecht University archives, Netherlands, 2001.

3. Johnson RM, Ellis MD, Mullin CA, Frazier M. Pesticides and

honey bee toxicity — USA. Apidology, [online] 2010. Available

at http://entomology.unl.edu/faculty/ellispubs/Pesticides.pdf.

4. Mullin CA, Frazier M, Frazier JL et al. High levels of miticides

and agrochemicals in north American apiaries: Implication for

honeybee health. PLoS ONE [online] 2010. Available at

http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0009754.

5. Winston ML. The biology of the honeybee, Harvard University

Press. Cambridge, 1987.

6. Seeley TD, Morse RA. Nest site selection by the honey bee,

Apis mellifera. Insectes Soc 1978; 25:323–37 .

7. Davis CF. The Honey bee inside and out, 2004. Available at

Beedata.com.

8. Fries I, Camazine S. Implications of horizontal and vertical

pathogen transmission for honey bee epidemiology. Apidologie

2001; 32: 199–214.

9. Tautz J. The buzz about bees; biology of a superorganism, Springer,

Heidelberg & Berlin, 2008.

10. Nicolson S, Thornburg RW. Nectar chemistry, In: Nectary and

nectar: A modern treatise. Pacini E, Nepi M, Nicolson S (eds), pp

215–263, Springer, 2007.

11. Seeley TD. Honey bees of the Arnot Forest: a population of

feral colonies persisting with Varroa destructor in the

northeastern United States. Apidologie, 2007; 38(1): 19–29.

12. Le Conte Y, de Vaublanc G, Crauser D et al. Honey bee colonies

that have survived Varroa destructor. Apidologie 2007; 38: 566–72.

13. Storch H. At the hive entrance. Observation handbook. How to

know what happens inside the hive by observation on the outside.

European Apicultural Editions, 1985. English translation available

at http://www.scribd.com/doc/54926139/At-the-Hive-Entrance-

Swarm hanging in a tree. Photo by scf courtesy of Vita-europe. H-Storch

Swarm moving up into brood box. Photo by John Haverson.

Propolis

 Marla Spivak's talk on propolis...

This is from the Propolis news in Japan, where propolis is valued highly:

I make propolis tincture like this (£5.00 per 10ml dropper bottle)  and with its anti-fungal, antibiotic, antiseptic properties it has been effective for skin problems, chest and throat infections and cuts (- it seals the wound and is a pain killer).

Here is an interesting article about propolis from BeeCraft (with thanks to Claire Waring):