Wildlife

Monarch Butterflies Rebound

Monarch butterflies have made a big comeback in their wintering grounds in Mexico, after suffering serious declines, experts said Friday.

The area covered by the orange-and-black insects in the mountains west of Mexico City this season was more than three and a half times greater than last winter. The butterflies clump so densely in the pine and fir forests they are counted by the area they cover rather than by individual insects.

The number of monarchs making the 3,400-mile (5,500-kilometre) migration from the United States and Canada declined steadily in recent years before recovering in 2014. This winter was even better.

This December, the butterflies covered 10 acres (about 4 hectares), compared to 2.8 acres (1.13 hectares) in 2014 and a record low of 1.66 acres (0.67 hectares) in 2013.

While that's positive, the monarchs still face problems: The butterflies covered as much as 44 acres (18 hectares) 20 years ago.

The United States is working to reintroduce milkweed, a plant key to the butterflies' migration, on about 1,160 square miles (3 million hectares) within five years, both by planting and by designating pesticide-free areas. Milkweed is the plant the butterflies feed and lay their eggs on, but it has been attacked by herbicide use and loss of open land in the United States.

In Mexico, meanwhile, illegal logging has remained a problem. It more than tripled in the monarch butterflies' wintering grounds in 2014, reversing several years of steady improvements. Illegal logging had fallen to almost zero in 2012.

Authorities said the reserve's buffer area lost more than 22 acres (9 hectares) in 2015 due to illegal logging in one area, but said the tree cutting was detected and several arrests were made.

The forest canopy acts as a blanket against the cold for butterflies forming huge clumps on branches during their winter stay in Mexico.

Bees are vanishing: U.N. report

Many species of wild bees, butterflies and other insects that pollinate plants are shrinking toward extinction, and the world needs to do something about it before our food supply suffers, a new United Nations scientific mega-report warns.

The 20,000 or so species of pollinators are key to growing fruits, vegetables and cash crops. Yet two out of five species of invertebrate pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, are on the path toward extinction, said the first-of-its-kind report. Pollinators with backbones, such as hummingbirds and bats, are only slightly better off, with 1 in 6 species facing extinction.

“We are in a period of decline and there are going to be increasing consequences,” said report lead author Simon Potts, director of the Centre for Agri-Environmental Research at the University of Reading in England.

The trouble is the report can’t point to a single villain. Among the culprits — the way farming has changed so there’s not enough diversity and wild flowers for pollinators to use as food; pesticide use, habitat loss to cities; disease, parasites and pathogens; and global warming.

The report is the result of more than two years of work by scientists across the globe who got together under several different U.N. agencies to come up with an assessment of Earth’s biodiversity, starting with the pollinators.

“The variety and multiplicity of threats to pollinators and pollination generate risks to people and livelihoods,” the report stated.

“These risks are largely driven by changes in land cover and agricultural management systems, including pesticide use.”

Wildlife

Florida's Light Pollution Rules Helping Turtles to Nest

Efforts by some Florida seaside communities to reduce light pollution in turtle nesting areas have overwhelmingly resulted in more turtle-friendly conditions during the past 20 years.

Inspired by a science fair project by high school students, researchers from the University of Central Florida gathered data on artificial light at night between 1992 and 2012 from the Defence Meteorological Satellite Program.

They compared it to the extensive data on nesting sea turtles collected by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The study found that even with a 40 percent increase in Florida’s human population during that period, two-thirds of beaches in communities with light pollution regulations had darker and more turtle-friendly beaches.

Light pollution is known to reduce the number of nesting sites and to confuse hatchlings during their scramble from the nest to the water.

Spread of bee disease 'largely manmade'

The global trade in bees is driving a pandemic that threatens hives and wild bees, UK scientists say.

A deadly bee disease, Deformed Wing Virus (DWV), has spread worldwide through imports of infected honeybees, according to genetic evidence.

Lead researcher Dr Lena Bayer-Wilfert of the University of Exeter said European bees are at the heart of the global spread of what she calls a "double blow" for colonies.

"This is clearly linked to the human movement of honeybee colonies around the globe,"

Deformed Wing Virus (DWV) was a major threat to honeybee populations across the world with the epidemic "driven by the trade and movement of honeybee colonies".

In the research, scientists at the University of Exeter, Sheffield and Salford tracked the emergence of DWV by analysing genetic samples from honeybees and Varroa mites in 32 locations of 17 countries.

They found that the epidemic largely spread from Europe to North America and countries such as New Zealand, with the European honeybee as the main transmitter.

"It supports the idea that DWV is the main cause for the colony losses associated with Varroa and that this comes from European bees," he said.

Scientists believe the combination is particularly deadly because the parasite feeds on bee larvae, while also injecting the deadly virus into the body of grown bees.

The double threat is thought to have wiped out millions of honeybee colonies over recent decades.

Bee infected with the virus

Wildlife

Wild bee populations dwindle in main U.S. crop regions

Wild bees, crucial pollinators for many crops, are on the decline in some of the main agricultural regions of the United States, according to scientists who produced the first national map of bee populations and identified numerous trouble spots.

The researchers on Monday cited 139 counties as especially worrisome, with wild bee numbers decreasing while farmland for crops dependent on such pollinators is increasing.

The counties included agricultural regions of California such as the Central Valley, the Pacific Northwest, the upper Midwest and Great Plains, west Texas and the southern Mississippi River valley.

The counties grew crops such as almonds, pumpkins, squashes, blueberries, watermelons, peaches and apples that are highly dependent on pollinators, or had large amounts of less-pollinator-dependent crops including soybeans, canola and cotton.

Some crops such as corn and wheat do not need pollinators.

Pesticides and diseases were cited as other factors behind the declines among the roughly 4,000 U.S. species of wild bees.

Their decline may prompt greater dependence on commercial honeybee colonies for pollinating crops, but honeybee numbers also are falling.

Lions Gain New Endangered Species Protections

Two lion subspecies will now be protected by the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced Dec. 21.

Panthera leo melanochaita, a lion subspecies living in eastern and southern Africa, will be listed as threatened, while Panthera leo leo, a subspecies found in western and central Africa and in India, will receive endangered status, FWS officials said. New genetic data prompted the agency to recognize western and central African lions as subspecies P. leo leo, and spurred their"endangered" classification.

Under the ESA, species are listed as "endangered," which describes "any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range," and "threatened," identifying "any species which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future." A 2013 list published by the FWS identified 2,054 species worldwide as endangered or threatened, of which 1,436 are native to the United States.

In a statement, the FWS cited decades of alarming and continuous decline in African lion populations as one of the chief reasons for the status change. Factors identified as the biggest threats to lions included habitat loss due to agriculture, killings to prevent or retaliate against lions' preying on livestock, and inadequate management of protected areas.

In July 2015, the death of the African lion "Cecil" at the hands of an American hunter sparked waves of outrage across social media channels, along with calls for stronger conservation measures to protect African lions. During today's news briefing, Ashe said that, while hunting is not responsible for the recent sharp decline of African lion populations, steps must be taken to ensure that revenue from hunting provides economic support for lion management and conservation efforts.

Wildlife

Micro-sensors on honey bees to help solve mass deaths

Australian scientists revealed on Tuesday they are using micro-sensors attached to honey bees as part of a global push to understand the key factors driving a worldwide population decline of the pollinators.

There has been a sharp plunge in the population of honey bees, which pollinate about 70 per cent of global crops, or one-third of food that humans eat including fruits and vegetables, raising fears over food security.

Researchers have said the falling hive numbers were caused by threats such as the sudden death of millions of adult insects in beehives — known as “colony collapse disorder” — a bloodsucking mite called Varroa, pesticides and climate change.

The sensors, 2.5 millimetres (0.1 inches) in width and breadth and weighing 5.4 milligrams (0.0002 ounces) — lighter than pollen that bees collect — are glued to the back of European honey bees. Sophisticated data collection receptors are also built into hives.

About 10,000 bees and their hives in the southern island state of Tasmania have been tagged, with others set to be monitored in the cities of Sydney and Canberra.

Around the same number of bees in Brazil were also being monitored by researchers, with interest expressed from scientists in Europe and North America, Fitt said.

Australia’s bee populations have not been devastated as the island continent has yet to be affected by the Varroa mite.

In countries such as the US, beekeepers lost 42 per cent of colonies over the 12 months to May this year — the second-worst year on record for US bee mortality, with the worst season reported in 2012-13, the US Department of Agriculture have estimated.

Disease

American Foulbrood Disease in Perthshire

An outbreak of American foulbrood disease has been detected at an apiary near Alyth in Perthshire.

The infected hives have been destroyed, as there is no permitted treatment for the disease in the UK. Beekeepers have been urged to be vigilant for signs of the disease.

There are no risks to public health or the safety of honey from the disease but the movement of bees and related equipment in and out of the affected apiary is under strict control by Scottish government bee inspectors.

American foulbrood is a notifiable disease capable of wiping out whole colonies and any outbreaks must be reported. Classic signs of the disease include sunken cappings on cells in hives, which when opened reveal dead larvae with a caramel-like consistency.

Disease

American Foulbrood Disease in Perthshire

An outbreak of American foulbrood disease has been detected at an apiary near Alyth in Perthshire.

The infected hives have been destroyed, as there is no permitted treatment for the disease in the UK. Beekeepers have been urged to be vigilant for signs of the disease.

There are no risks to public health or the safety of honey from the disease but the movement of bees and related equipment in and out of the affected apiary is under strict control by Scottish government bee inspectors.

American foulbrood is a notifiable disease capable of wiping out whole colonies and any outbreaks must be reported. Classic signs of the disease include sunken cappings on cells in hives, which when opened reveal dead larvae with a caramel-like consistency.

Wildlife

Pesticides Not Main Cause of Bee Disappearance: U.S.

Despite a push in Europe to restrict the use of three pesticides in an attempt to stop the disappearance of honeybees, a new U.S. report says there is no single factor contributing to the ongoing decline of the pollinating insects.

A report issued jointly by the Agriculture Department and the Environmental Protection Agency blames so-called “colony collapse disorder” on a wide range of factors.

They include viral and bacterial infection, habitat loss, industrial farming practices, pesticides and a lack of genetic diversity.

The single biggest cause, according to the report, is varroatosis, a disease carried by the parasitic mite, varroa destructor.

Colony collapse syndrome has ravaged bee colonies across both the United States and Europe since at least 2006.

In any given year, as many as one-third of all bees in the nation bees are lost to the mysterious ailment.

This month, EU policy makers voted to impose temporary restrictions on the agricultural use of three neonicotinoids, a pesticide related to the stimulant nicotine.

As a relatively new form of pest-agent, neonicotinoids are pointed to by many environmental groups as the chief culprit behind colony collapse disorder.

Regulators in the United States are not considering adopting similar restrictions any time soon.

According to the recent report, though pesticides are considered to be one threat to bee health, with as many as 100 different chemicals present in any given colony, it is impossible to narrow the culprit to one class of compound.

Monarch Swarms Wintering in New Zealand Trees

Nature lovers across New Zealand are reporting large numbers of overwintering monarch butterflies.

During the last southern summer, the butterflies failed to return to some areas after a tough and cold spell dampened their breeding grounds.

New Zealand monarchs don’t migrate long distances like their North American cousins.

Instead, they find their way to trees in well-sheltered areas where they rest during the winter months.

Breeding will start in the spring once the colourful creatures have rested up.

The Monarch Butterfly New Zealand Trust is asking residents to log any monarch sightings they may have on the group’s website, especially if the butterfly is tagged.

That allows the trust to generate a map showing the origin of the butterfly and the time it took to get to its destination.

Wildlife

Bee deaths: EU to ban neonicotinoid pesticides

There is great concern across Europe about the collapse of bee populations.

Wild species such as honey bees are said by researchers to be responsible for pollinating around one-third of the world's crop production.

There is heated debate about what has triggered the widespread decline in bee populations. Besides chemicals, many experts point to the parasitic varroa mite, viruses that attack bees and neglect of hives.

Neonicotinoid chemicals in pesticides are believed to harm bees and the European Commission says they should be restricted to crops not attractive to bees and other pollinators.

But many farmers and crop experts argue that there is insufficient data.

Fifteen countries voted in favour of a ban - not enough to form a qualified majority. According to EU rules the Commission will now impose a two-year restriction on neonicotinoids.

The UK did not support a ban - it argues that the science behind the proposal is inconclusive. It was among eight countries that voted against, while four abstained.

Wildlife

Pollution and bush fires choke honey production in the Rift Valley, Kenya.

The heavy presence of pesticides in the air and environmental degradation in bee keeping areas is affecting production. Some of the agrochemicals being used to spray large-scale farms and ranches are harmful and have affected production of honey by poisoning pollen which is the main food of the bees.

Sporadic fires in Mt Kenya forest worsened matters for bee keepers in Laikipia East as heavy smoke was swept into hives, killing millions of bees.

Disease

A new outbreak of American Foulbrood disease in bees has been found in Inverness, Scotland. All affected hives have been destroyed as there exists no treatment for the infections.