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Vocabulary > Earth > Nature / wildlife > Insects

Cairns Birdwing,

the largest butterfly in Australia.

Taken in the Melbourne Zoo

November 2006

Wikipedia
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Cairns_birdwing_-_melbourne_zoo.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly

insect
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/insects

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/30/harlequin-ladybird-uk-invasion

bug
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/30/harlequin-ladybird-uk-invasion

bee
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/24/bees-route-finding-problems
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/
insecticide-an-ecological-disaster-that-will-affect-us-all-1019520.html?action=Popup&ino=5
http://www.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,1764697,00.html

beekeeper
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,1885714,00.html

honeybee / honey bees

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bees

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/17/asian-hornet-bee-killer-invasion
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/09/apiculture-hygienic-bees-francis-ratnieks

black honeybees
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/18/black-honeybees-rediscovered-in-britain

honeybee hive
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,2055067,00.html?gusrc=ticker-103704

bumblebee
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/22/chemicals-bees-decline-major-study
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/
insecticide-an-ecological-disaster-that-will-affect-us-all-1019520.html?action=Popup&ino=4

lepidoptera
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/may/02/duke-burgundy-rarest-british-butterflies

lepidopteran population

moth / caterpillar
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/26/moths-britain-varieties-martin-wainwright
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/14/insects-wildlife
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/jun/22/moths-great-moth-count
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/
insecticide-an-ecological-disaster-that-will-affect-us-all-1019520.html?action=Popup&ino=3
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/
insecticide-an-ecological-disaster-that-will-affect-us-all-1019520.html?action=Popup&ino=6

butterfly

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/butterflies

Butterfly Conservation

http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/text/2/about_us.html

large blue butterfly
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/28/large-blue-butterfly-cotswolds
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/06/large-blue-butterfly-conservation-endangered

butterfly house
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/29/butterfly-world-conservation-centre-heliconius-chestertonii

conservation project > 'Eden Project for butterflies'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/29/butterfly-world-conservation-centre-heliconius-chestertonii

heath fritillary butterflies
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/04/british-butterflies-decline

Duke of Burgundy butterfly
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/may/02/duke-burgundy-rarest-british-butterflies

exotic butterflies
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5321224.ece

moth
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2009/jun/08/moths

dragonflies
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/oct/06/
british-wildlife-photography-awards-2010#/?picture=367388585&index=4

ladybird
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/30/harlequin-ladybird-uk-invasion
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/jun/11/make-your-nature-count-live

blue leaf beetle
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/oct/06/
british-wildlife-photography-awards-2010#/?picture=367388653&index=5

firefly USA
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/science/30firefly.html

pollinator
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/12/bee-road-pollinators

tick USA
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/more-ticks-more-misery/

grasshopper USA
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/us/10grasshopper.html

A female house spider

Photograph: Stefan Sollfors/Science Factio

Spider numbers may be on the rise G 25.9.2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/sep/25/insects?picture=353443708
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/25/spider-population-explosion

spider
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2011/oct/04/spider-season-green-shoots-photos
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/18/spiders-spark-surge-of-arachnophobia
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/oct/22/raft-fen-spiders
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/sep/25/insects
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/25/spider-population-explosion

house spider
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/31/spider-season-home-arachnid-invasion

arachnophobia
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/18/spiders-spark-surge-of-arachnophobia

entomologist
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/aug/19/insects-food-crisis

entomophagy (insect eating)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/aug/19/insects-food-crisis

Bees Vanish, and Scientists Race for Reasons

April 24, 2007
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
The New York Times

BELTSVILLE, Md., April 23 — What is happening to the bees?

More than a quarter of the country’s 2.4 million bee colonies have been lost — tens of billions of bees, according to an estimate from the Apiary Inspectors of America, a national group that tracks beekeeping. So far, no one can say what is causing the bees to become disoriented and fail to return to their hives.

As with any great mystery, a number of theories have been posed, and many seem to researchers to be more science fiction than science. People have blamed genetically modified crops, cellular phone towers and high-voltage transmission lines for the disappearances. Or was it a secret plot by Russia or Osama bin Laden to bring down American agriculture? Or, as some blogs have asserted, the rapture of the bees, in which God recalled them to heaven? Researchers have heard it all.

The volume of theories “is totally mind-boggling,” said Diana Cox-Foster, an entomologist at Pennsylvania State University. With Jeffrey S. Pettis, an entomologist from the United States Department of Agriculture, Dr. Cox-Foster is leading a team of researchers who are trying to find answers to explain “colony collapse disorder,” the name given for the disappearing bee syndrome.

“Clearly there is an urgency to solve this,” Dr. Cox-Foster said. “We are trying to move as quickly as we can.”

Dr. Cox-Foster and fellow scientists who are here at a two-day meeting to discuss early findings and future plans with government officials have been focusing on the most likely suspects: a virus, a fungus or a pesticide.

About 60 researchers from North America sifted the possibilities at the meeting today. Some expressed concern about the speed at which adult bees are disappearing from their hives; some colonies have collapsed in as little as two days. Others noted that countries in Europe, as well as Guatemala and parts of Brazil, are also struggling for answers.

“There are losses around the world that may or not be linked,” Dr. Pettis said.

The investigation is now entering a critical phase. The researchers have collected samples in several states and have begun doing bee autopsies and genetic analysis.

So far, known enemies of the bee world, like the varroa mite, on their own at least, do not appear to be responsible for the unusually high losses.

Genetic testing at Columbia University has revealed the presence of multiple micro-organisms in bees from hives or colonies that are in decline, suggesting that something is weakening their immune system. The researchers have found some fungi in the affected bees that are found in humans whose immune systems have been suppressed by the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or cancer.

“That is extremely unusual,” Dr. Cox-Foster said.

Meanwhile, samples were sent to an Agriculture Department laboratory in North Carolina this month to screen for 117 chemicals. Particular suspicion falls on a pesticide that France banned out of concern that it may have been decimating bee colonies. Concern has also mounted among public officials.

“There are so many of our crops that require pollinators,” said Representative Dennis Cardoza, a California Democrat whose district includes that state’s central agricultural valley, and who presided last month at a Congressional hearing on the bee issue. “We need an urgent call to arms to try to ascertain what is really going on here with the bees, and bring as much science as we possibly can to bear on the problem.”

So far, colony collapse disorder has been found in 27 states, according to Bee Alert Technology Inc., a company monitoring the problem. A recent survey of 13 states by the Apiary Inspectors of America showed that 26 percent of beekeepers had lost half of their bee colonies between September and March.

Honeybees are arguably the insects that are most important to the human food chain. They are the principal pollinators of hundreds of fruits, vegetables, flowers and nuts. The number of bee colonies has been declining since the 1940s, even as the crops that rely on them, such as California almonds, have grown. In October, at about the time that beekeepers were experiencing huge bee losses, a study by the National Academy of Sciences questioned whether American agriculture was relying too heavily on one type of pollinator, the honeybee.

Bee colonies have been under stress in recent years as more beekeepers have resorted to crisscrossing the country with 18-wheel trucks full of bees in search of pollination work. These bees may suffer from a diet that includes artificial supplements, concoctions akin to energy drinks and power bars. In several states, suburban sprawl has limited the bees’ natural forage areas.

So far, the researchers have discounted the possibility that poor diet alone could be responsible for the widespread losses. They have also set aside for now the possibility that the cause could be bees feeding from a commonly used genetically modified crop, Bt corn, because the symptoms typically associated with toxins, such as blood poisoning, are not showing up in the affected bees. But researchers emphasized today that feeding supplements produced from genetically modified crops, such as high-fructose corn syrup, need to be studied.

The scientists say that definitive answers for the colony collapses could be months away. But recent advances in biology and genetic sequencing are speeding the search.

Computers can decipher information from DNA and match pieces of genetic code with particular organisms. Luckily, a project to sequence some 11,000 genes of the honeybee was completed late last year at Baylor University, giving scientists a huge head start on identifying any unknown pathogens in the bee tissue.

“Otherwise, we would be looking for the needle in the haystack,” Dr. Cox-Foster said.

Large bee losses are not unheard of. They have been reported at several points in the past century. But researchers think they are dealing with something new — or at least with something previously unidentified.

“There could be a number of factors that are weakening the bees or speeding up things that shorten their lives,” said Dr. W. Steve Sheppard, a professor of entomology at Washington State University. “The answer may already be with us.”

Scientists first learned of the bee disappearances in November, when David Hackenberg, a Pennsylvania beekeeper, told Dr. Cox-Foster that more than 50 percent of his bee colonies had collapsed in Florida, where he had taken them for the winter.

Dr. Cox-Foster, a 20-year veteran of studying bees, soon teamed with Dennis vanEngelsdorp, the Pennsylvania apiary inspector, to look into the losses.

In December, she approached W. Ian Lipkin, director of the Greene Infectious Disease Laboratory at Columbia University, about doing genetic sequencing of tissue from bees in the colonies that experienced losses. The laboratory uses a recently developed technique for reading and amplifying short sequences of DNA that has revolutionized the science. Dr. Lipkin, who typically works on human diseases, agreed to do the analysis, despite not knowing who would ultimately pay for it. His laboratory is known for its work in finding the West Nile disease in the United States.

Dr. Cox-Foster ultimately sent samples of bee tissue to researchers at Columbia, to the Agriculture Department laboratory in Maryland, and to Gene Robinson, an entomologist at the University of Illinois. Fortuitously, she had frozen bee samples from healthy colonies dating to 2004 to use for comparison.

After receiving the first bee samples from Dr. Cox-Foster on March 6, Dr. Lipkin’s team amplified the genetic material and started sequencing to separate virus, fungus and parasite DNA from bee DNA.

“This is like C.S.I. for agriculture,” Dr. Lipkin said. “It is painstaking, gumshoe detective work.”

Dr. Lipkin sent his first set of results to Dr. Cox-Foster, showing that several unknown micro-organisms were present in the bees from collapsing colonies. Meanwhile, Mr. vanEngelsdorp and researchers at the Agriculture Department lab here began an autopsy of bees from collapsing colonies in California, Florida, Georgia and Pennsylvania to search for any known bee pathogens.

At the University of Illinois, using knowledge gained from the sequencing of the bee genome, Dr. Robinson’s team will try to find which genes in the collapsing colonies are particularly active, perhaps indicating stress from exposure to a toxin or pathogen.

The national research team also quietly began a parallel study in January, financed in part by the National Honey Board, to further determine if something pathogenic could be causing colonies to collapse.

Mr. Hackenberg, the beekeeper, agreed to take his empty bee boxes and other equipment to Food Technology Service, a company in Mulberry, Fla., that uses gamma rays to kill bacteria on medical equipment and some fruits. In early results, the irradiated bee boxes seem to have shown a return to health for colonies repopulated with Australian bees.

“This supports the idea that there is a pathogen there,” Dr. Cox-Foster said. “It would be hard to explain the irradiation getting rid of a chemical.”

Still, some environmental substances remain suspicious.

Chris Mullin, a Pennsylvania State University professor and insect toxicologist, recently sent a set of samples to a federal laboratory in Raleigh, N.C., that will screen for 117 chemicals. Of greatest interest are the “systemic” chemicals that are able to pass through a plant’s circulatory system and move to the new leaves or the flowers, where they would come in contact with bees.

One such group of compounds is called neonicotinoids, commonly used pesticides that are used to treat corn and other seeds against pests. One of the neonicotinoids, imidacloprid, is commonly used in Europe and the United States to treat seeds, to protect residential foundations against termites and to help keep golf courses and home lawns green.

In the late 1990s, French beekeepers reported large losses of their bees and complained about the use of imidacloprid, sold under the brand name Gaucho. The chemical, while not killing the bees outright, was causing them to be disoriented and stay away from their hives, leading them to die of exposure to the cold, French researchers later found. The beekeepers labeled the syndrome “mad bee disease.”

The French government banned the pesticide in 1999 for use on sunflowers, and later for corn, despite protests by the German chemical giant Bayer, which has said its internal research showed the pesticide was not toxic to bees. Subsequent studies by independent French researchers have disagreed with Bayer. Alison Chalmers, an eco-toxicologist for Bayer CropScience, said at the meeting today that bee colonies had not recovered in France as beekeepers had expected. “These chemicals are not being used anymore,” she said of imidacloprid, “so they certainly were not the only cause.”

Among the pesticides being tested in the American bee investigation, the neonicotinoids group “is the number-one suspect,” Dr. Mullin said. He hoped results of the toxicology screening will be ready within a month.

Bees Vanish, and Scientists Race for Reasons, NYT, 24.4.2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/science/24bees.html

Milwaukee Woman Rescues Butterflies

August 29, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:13 a.m. ET
The New York Times

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Barb Agnew ruffled the thin netting hanging in her flower shop, causing a monarch butterfly to descend far enough for her to gently clasp it. She then released it outside where it flitted about a hanging plant before disappearing in the gray sky, leaving her beaming like a proud mother.

About two weeks earlier, the butterfly was either a pinhead-sized egg or a caterpillar that Agnew rescued from the nearby Milwaukee County Grounds.

Bulldozers are clearing the grounds to create a flood basin for excess rain water. The machinery removes assorted vegetation, including the milkweed plants, on which monarchs lay eggs and upon which their caterpillars feed.

As work progresses, Agnew races to collect as many of the movement-challenged insects as she can. She brings them to Wildflower Floral, the flower shop she co-owns in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa.

''I'd be doing this anyway just because these creatures are so beautiful,'' said Agnew, 44. ''But with the destruction, there's a greater sense of urgency. I couldn't bear to see them be killed.''

Agnew estimates that she'll rescue about 1,000 monarchs this year. She has collected butterflies for about 20 years.

Agnew walks the county grounds almost every night. She spots the tiny monarch eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves, and brings them to an enclosure in the back of her store.

The eggs hatch into caterpillars, which gorge on milkweed leaves for about two weeks before forming a chrysalis, the cocoon-like structure in which their metamorphosis occurs.

Agnew generally transfers the chrysalises to the front of the store, using a glue gun to affix them to a gnarled tree. Nearly 100 of them hang like jade ornaments, each with a raised strip of tiny golden beads near the top.

''Over the years I've watched butterflies emerge countless times, and each time I never cease to be amazed,'' she said.

Judi Fancher, a floral designer at Wildflower, said Agnew's enthusiasm is infectious.

''Kids will come in and she'll have them hold (freshly emerged butterflies) to give them a moment of making it real,'' she said. ''They leave with such an appreciation for them.''

Agnew said she hopes that exposing more people to the wonder of nature will generate more opposition to the removal of habitats.

Jeffrey Glassberg, the president of the North American Butterfly Association based in Morristown, N.J., said Agnew's attempts to save butterflies are well-intentioned but ultimately futile.

''She may be saving these, but that won't have any effect on population next year,'' he said. ''It'd be better to get people to plant milkweed and give monarchs a place to feed.''

Agnew said she won't stop. She said she hopes to teach others about nature's beauty.

''We need wondrous things in life to be happy. It can't always be about work and money,'' she said. ''We need mystery, we need wonder. There's got to be more.''

------

On the Net:

North American Butterfly Association: http://www.naba.org

Milwaukee Woman Rescues Butterflies, NYT, 29.8.2006,
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Butterfly-Lady.html

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