Auteur: Henk Tennekes

Quebec master’s student shows that apiaries installed less than three kilometers (1.86 miles) from insecticide-treated fields had three times higher rate of mortality

Seeding is over for this year on Canadian corn and soy farms. But a student’s research suggests the consequences on bees could last a long time. He has collected data that showed apiaries installed less than three kilometers (1.86 miles) from insecticide-treated fields had rate of mortality three times higher. The Quebec master’s student, Olivier Samson-Robert, had attempted to put a figure on the noted decline in bee populations and detemine how much of it was linked to a certain type of insecticide.The Laval University student released the first part of his study about bees’ mortality around fields treated with neonicotinoid insecticides, one of the most widely used insecticides in the world.“The neonicotinoid insecticide causes a higher mortality rate,” Samson-Robert says.

De weidevogels verdwijnen uit Zuid-Holland – de kuikens kunnen nauwelijks nog voedsel vinden

Het gaat niet goed met de natuur in het Zuid-Hollandse boerenland. Vooral de weidevogels hebben het zwaar. In de afgelopen tien jaar is meer dan de helft van de weidevogels verdwenen. In de provincie Zuid-Holland gaat de achteruitgang harder dan elders in Nederland. Als we nu niets doen, zijn er over tien jaar geen weidevogels meer te bewonderen. De Natuur- en Milieufederatie Zuid-Holland roept de provincie dringend op om tot een nieuwe aanpak van het weidevogelbeheer te komen om de Zuid-Hollandse weidevogelpopulatie te behouden en te herstellen.

South Dakota will have no sage grouse hunting season this year

The Game, Fish and Parks Commission has decided that no season will be held this fall because the bird’s population has fallen in recent years in South Dakota and other states. In South Dakota, sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) are found mainly in Butte and Harding counties. South Dakota has had only a limited sage grouse season in prior years. Last year, 35 licensed hunters killed only nine birds. Wildlife biologists recommended that no season be held this year because of a continuing decline in the number of male sage grouse seen in spring breeding grounds. State wildlife officials have been working with federal agencies and other states in an effort to prevent the bird from being listed as an endangered species.

Britain’s bats need all the help they get – they are unable to find enough food to allow them to breed successfully

Because of an unusually cold spring and an insect shortage this summer, conservationists are concerned bat numbers could continue to suffer this year. Based on the latest figures from Britain’s National Bat Monitoring Programme (NBMP), the annual bat breeding season got off to a slow start due to unseasonable weather earlier this year. Dr. Kate Barlow, Head of Monitoring at the Bat Conservation Trust, said, “After 2 years of long, wet, winters and a particularly late and cold start to summer this year, the outlook isn’t too promising for our bats. The most recent results from the National Bat Monitoring Programme showed that there were fewer bats were counted in 2012 than in 2011 for most species monitored.” Dr. Barlow added that 2013 saw the coldest March in 50 years and summer got off to such a late start many of the species are struggling. “This year Britain’s bats need all the help they get,” she said. Several species of bats in Britain are listed as European Priority, highlighted as the most at risk species in Europe with numbers sharply declining over the past 100 years. This decline has been attributed to several factors, which include climate shifts, changes in farming and land use, pesticides and in some cases persecution. Further adding to the bat recovery struggle is the fact that winged insect numbers are also down. So on top of a cold spring and delayed summer, several species may face shortages in food supply, especially those that rely on moths, according to a National Trust report released last month.

Beekeeping organizations have appealed approval of the new pesticide Sulfoxaflor

The challenge was filed with the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by the National Pollinator Defense Fund, American Honey Producers Association, National Honey Bee Advisory Board, the American Beekeeping Federation, and three individual beekeepers. In a prepared statement, Seattle-based Earthjustice attorney Janette Brimmer said the EPA has “failed” hard-pressed beekeepers. “The effects will be devastating to our nation’s food supply and also to the beekeeping industry, which is struggling because of toxic pesticides,” she said. “This lawsuit against the EPA is attempt by the beekeepers to save their suffering industry.” In a news release, the groups note that Sulfoxaflor is sub-class of “neonicotinoid” pesticides, which some scientists believe is a potential factor in colony collapse disorder, the mysterious ailment that has wiped out hives globally. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in May approved Sulfoxaflor for use on multiple food and fiber crops and other plants. Crops on which the pesticide may be used include barley, wheat, strawberries, cotton, canola, nuts, beans and grass grown for seed.

Bayer AG è più minaccioso di Monsanto?

Uno dei maggiori esperti europei sugli effetti dei neonicotinoidi, tossicologo olandese Henk Tennekes sottolinea, a differenza sostenuto da Bayer e produttori di neonicotinoidi altre api che vivono vicino a campi irrorati, esposte ai neonicotinoidi durante tutta la stagione in crescita . Il veleno ricco così più. Tennekes spiega come le api sono esposte per tutta la stagione di raccolta questi composti e vari altri pesticidi. In primavera, livelli estremamente elevati di clothianidin e thiamethoxam trovato nei gas di scarico di attrezzi agricoli a semina di mais trattato. “Nella parte inferiore di ogni campo che abbiamo testato, abbiamo trovato neonicotinoidi, nei campi incolti.”

Pestizide und Bienen: EFSA legt neue Leitlinien vor

Die EFSA hat Leitlinien für die Bewertung potenzieller Risiken für Honigbienen, Hummeln und Solitärbienen durch den Einsatz von Pestiziden veröffentlicht. Im bisherigen EU-Risikobewertungsmodell für Honigbienen wurden die Risiken einer chronischen oder wiederholten Exposition gegenüber Pestiziden bzw. das potenzielle Risiko für Larven nicht vollständig berücksichtigt. Die neuen Leitlinien schließen diese Lücken und enthalten darüber hinaus auch Modelle für Hummeln und Solitärbienen. Außerdem wird eine neue Methode zur Bewertung der Annehmbarkeit des potenziellen Schadens vorgeschlagen, dem Bienen durch den Einsatz von Pflanzenschutzmitteln ausgesetzt sind. Die im Leitliniendokument der EFSA enthaltenen aktuellen Empfehlungen richten sich an alle, die an der Bewertung von Pestiziden beteiligt sind, einschließlich Industrie und Behörden.

Van de 10.000 vogelsoorten wereldwijd worden er maar liefst 1300 bedreigd en 197 staan er op het punt van uitsterven

Dat bleek zaterdag 22 juni tijdens de presentatie van de ‘State of the World’s Birds’ op het wereldcongres van BirdLife International in Ottawa Canada. De betekenis van deze schokkende cijfers reikt overigens verder dan vogels. Het rapport laat ook zien dat vogels indicatoren zijn voor de toestand van de natuur als geheel. De ‘State of the World’s Birds’ vormt voor BirdLife en de 121 nationale partners – waaronder Vogelbescherming – de wetenschappelijke basis voor de strategie. Het rapport maakt duidelijk dat een van de belangrijkste redenen van de achteruitgang van veel vogelsoorten en natuur de intensivering en uitbreiding van landbouw is. In Europa zijn vogels van het boerenland met ongeveer 50% achteruit gegaan, in Nederland maar liefst met 70%. Een prioriteit van de Europese BirdLife partners is dan ook het werk aan natuurvriendelijker landbouw.

Butterfly decline signals trouble in environment

Butterflies are the essence of cool in the insect world, a favorite muse for poets and songwriters, who hold them up as symbols of love, beauty, transformation and good fortune. But providing good fortune apparently goes only one way. As humans rip apart woods and meadows for housing developments and insecticide-soaked lawns, butterflies across the country are disappearing. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced that two brown, mothlike butterfly subspecies are probably extinct in South Florida, which some entomologists say is ground zero for the number of butterfly species on the verge of annihilation.

Abschied von Schildkröte und Co

Reptilien existieren seit mehr als 300 Millionen Jahren. Sie haben in dieser Zeit fast alle Lebensräume unseres Planeten erobert, vom Ozean über Seen und Flüsse bis hin zu Regenwäldern und Wüsten. Jetzt allerdings müssen sie immer häufiger um ihr Überleben kämpfen: Jedes fünfte Reptil auf der Erde ist inzwischen vom Aussterben bedroht, das zeigt eine erste umfassende Analyse ihres Bedrohungsstatus durch mehr als 200 Forscher im Auftrag der International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Am stärksten betroffen sind dabei Wasserschildkröten und andere im Ozean oder Süßwasser lebende Reptilienarten.