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(UK) Bees under threat from 'Trojan hives'
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article/3421/bees_under_threat_from_trojan_hives[font face=Serif][font size=5]Bees under threat from 'Trojan hives'[/font]
Published Thursday 18th July 13
[font size=3]Stricter controls over bumblebee imports to the UK are urgently required to prevent diseases spreading to native bumblebees and honeybees, scientists have warned.
…
While wild species of bees and other insects pollinate many crops, commercially-reared and imported bumblebees are essential for the pollination of greenhouse crops such as tomatoes. They are also used to enhance pollination of other food crops such as strawberries, and are now marketed for use in people’s gardens.
The trade is large and widespread: 40-50,000 commercially-produced bumblebee colonies—each containing up to 100 worker bees—are imported annually to the UK, and more than one million colonies are sold each year worldwide.
…
The team bought 48 colonies of buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) from three European producers. Some colonies were a subspecies native to the UK and others were non-native. All were meant to be disease-free, but when they were tested using DNA technology, 77% of the colonies were found to be carrying parasites. Parasites were also found in the pollen food supplied with the bees.
…[/font][/font]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12134 (Doesn’t work yet.)
Published Thursday 18th July 13
[font size=3]Stricter controls over bumblebee imports to the UK are urgently required to prevent diseases spreading to native bumblebees and honeybees, scientists have warned.
…
While wild species of bees and other insects pollinate many crops, commercially-reared and imported bumblebees are essential for the pollination of greenhouse crops such as tomatoes. They are also used to enhance pollination of other food crops such as strawberries, and are now marketed for use in people’s gardens.
The trade is large and widespread: 40-50,000 commercially-produced bumblebee colonies—each containing up to 100 worker bees—are imported annually to the UK, and more than one million colonies are sold each year worldwide.
…
The team bought 48 colonies of buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) from three European producers. Some colonies were a subspecies native to the UK and others were non-native. All were meant to be disease-free, but when they were tested using DNA technology, 77% of the colonies were found to be carrying parasites. Parasites were also found in the pollen food supplied with the bees.
…[/font][/font]
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.12134/abstract
