Bees

By carrying pollen from plant to plant in their quest for nectar, bees help to facilitate plant reproduction, giving bees an essential role in the sustainability of our agriculture.  Bee populations have been threatened over the last decade by a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder, where the bees leave their hives and never return.  This year, however, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) released positive … Continue reading Bees

The dwindling population of bees and aluminum levels

Amid the startling find that the bee population is dropping, there are speculations into what is causing this sudden trend. Recently, work by scientists (original article here) have looked beyond pesticides and measured the content of aluminum, a pollutant, in bumblebee pupae (insect stage before it becomes an adult) and found increased amounts. This, they speculate, may be causing cognitive disruption, like Alzheimer’s disease in … Continue reading The dwindling population of bees and aluminum levels