http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14309007

Science & Environment

2 August 2011 Last updated at 04:05 GMT

Cities could be the key to saving pollinating insects

By Rebecca Morelle Science reporter, BBC News

“Some people do think we’re a little odd,” says Professor Jane Memmott, as she rummages around in someone’s front garden, hunting for plants and insects.

“But once we explain what we’re doing – and we do ask for permission to do this – people are generally very interested.”

Professor Memmott and her team, from the University of Bristol, are in a typical residential street just outside of the centre of Bristol.

They are gathering data for a Britain-wide survey, which will provide a snapshot of the number of insect pollinators – bees, butterflies, beetles and flies – that can be found in an urban area like this.

To do this, they are sweeping along a transect – a 1km-long straight line – across the city, and stopping every 10m to count and identify the number of flowers and pollinators they find.

It does not matter if it is a car park, roundabout or a residential street like the one they are looking at today – every patch that falls along this line is being scrutinised.

This mammoth task is being repeated in 12 cities all over Britain – from Dundee in the north to Southampton in the south.

Then in addition to these urban centres, the team is carrying out exactly the same survey in 12 farmland habitats and 12 nature reserves, also spread out across the length and breadth of Britain.

Dr Katherine Baldock, from the University of Bristol, who is managing the project, says: “The project is probably the largest field study ever of pollinators and their habitats in the UK.

“It’s a huge logistical challenge.”

It will show for the first time how these different habitats compare.

Professor Memmott explains: “We are asking: where are pollinators in the UK? Are they in urban habitats, are they in farmlands or are they in nature reserves?

“To find this out, you need to really sample all of those habitats in the same way, which together make up about 98% of the surface area of the UK.”

Concrete jungle

While the urban sprawl has been linked to declines in wildlife, the researchers suspect that cities may offer an unlikely haven for these essential insects.

“Cities can be good because they contain a huge diversity of sites: you’ve got gardens, you’ve got meadows, you’ve got nature reserves,” says Professor Memmott.

“All of these habitats are jimmied together, and they can add up to a really special resource for pollinators.”

Gardeners help too, she says. The residential street in Bristol that is being surveyed reveals an eclectic array of plants – from carefully planted lavender to pockets of weeds like toad-flax – and plenty of insects buzzing about and pollinating them.

In contrast, farmland habitats can offer a feast and famine situation for insects: when a crop such as oil seed rape is in flower, pollinators will flock, but once the bloom is over, there is little there for them.

And in nature reserves, the researchers think that plant choice may be limited too.

A front garden can offer an array of floral delights for pollinators

Professor Memmott explains: “There’s a greater diversity and abundance of flowers in cities than there probably is in nature reserves and the countryside.

“The flowering season is longer, because gardeners love things that flower really early and flower really late, so there’s forage over a longer period of time. And my gut feeling is that this is probably more of a reliable source of food.”

Eighty percent of British plant species depend on insect pollination – and many of these are key food crops.

But there has been a dramatic decline in pollinator numbers in recent years, which has been linked to environmental changes, pests and disease.

One species that has been particularly badly hit is the bee.

Tim Lovett, from the British Beekeepers Association, says: “We have concerns about the decline in insect pollinators.

“And if you track it, over the last 30 or 40 years, the number of bee keepers has declined, the number of hives has declined – and there must be a tipping point when you don’t have enough pollinators to carry out the job that they do.”

But, he adds, bees can – and do – thrive in the city, as a recent increase in urban bee keepers has shown.

The scientists carrying out the survey say that finding out where pollinating insects are doing well could help to boost their numbers.

And if it is the city, then the team says there is much that can be done to make our concrete jungles even more attractive to these vital insects.

“We want to make a really big difference to the lives of pollinators: to up their diversity and abundance in cities,” explains Professor Memmott.

“If we know what is limiting them, we stand a chance of fixing that – we can add more food, and more resources to cities to make a difference.

“If everyone did their bit, it could make quite a difference to what people find in cities.”

The University of Bristol study, which is taking place over the next three years, is part of the £10m Insect Pollinators Initiative, which is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Natural Environment Research Council, Defra, The Wellcome Trust and the Scottish Government.

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bees entering hive

Colonization and human migration led to honeybees being introduced to North America, Australia and New Zealand over two centuries.  The accompanying migrants brought with them beekeeping skills. Initially beekeeping was a small venture, undertaken by hobby beekeepers  and small scale.   Four inventions: the moveable-frame hive, the smoker, the comb foundation maker and the honey extractor led to beekeeping becoming commercially viable in the 19th century. These inventions still support commercial apiculture.

A strange anomaly has led to beekeeping being forbidden in NY City -  and this prohibition is about to be overturned. This ban has not stopped many New Yorkers from hobby beekeeping, on rooftops and in yards and community gardens. Aside from the benefits of urban pollination, some beekeepers are also able to earn some income from their honey. No one knows the exact number of city beekeepers, who hold workshops and have their own association. The return of bees formally to the city should be welcomed.  Recent research has shown that diversity of locations is essential for maintaining healthy bee populations, and that overall bees flourish in an urban environment.

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN FINDING OUT MORE ABOUT BEEKEEPING?

What has made it hard to determine the cause of collapsing bee populations is that bees disperse during the day and die in many places, thus making it difficult to find big groups of dead bees to examine.

The solution is not yet evident , but at least some progress has been made into the cause.

Would you consider becoming a backyard beekeeper and help breed bees?

Find out how you can become a backyard beekeeper

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10942618

Paris fast becoming queen bee of the urban apiary world

By Hugh Schofield BBC News, Paris

A private honey store is now de rigueur for some top hotels and restaurants

Tourists are not the only ones swarming down the Champs-Elysees and through the Luxembourg gardens this summer. Thanks to a renewed interest in apiaries, Paris is fast becoming the urban bee-keeping capital of the world.

The city now boasts some 400 hives and the number is growing steadily. Some are on the balconies of family apartments, others in public parks or on the roofs of famous buildings.

Cultivation of a private honey store is now de rigueur for some of the top hotels and restaurants. The famous Tour d’Argent restaurant opposite Notre Dame Cathedral has just installed hives on its roof-top, as has The Westin hotel on the Rue de Rivoli.

Driving the trend is growing public awareness of the crisis in rural bee-keeping caused by the collapse in bee numbers. Oddly, city bees are not just immune to the health problems facing their country cousins – they are also far more productive.

Simonpierre Delorme: Paris has flowers all year round

According to Guillaume Charlot of the association L’Abeille de Grand Paris (The Bee of Greater Paris), a metropolitan hive produces 50kg (110lb) of honey in an average year, and up to 80kg in a bumper season. “A country bee-keeper is happy if he gets 30,” he said.

For the past 10 years the French capital has been officially a pesticide-free zone, which may partly explain its advantage. The warmth of the city environment also promotes early breeding.

But paradoxically, the main reason for the success of urban bees is the variety of flora in the city compared with what is now present in much of the countryside.

“City people like flowers. We have parks, we have balconies, we have roadside verges, we have gardens – and we are planting them all year round with lots of different species to ensure year-round colour,” said Simonpierre Delorme, who keeps bees by a railway-line in the 14th arrondissement.

“In the countryside, by contrast, these days there is often just one crop dominating an entire area. When that has finished blossoming, there is no more nectar for the local bees,” he said.

Worrying decline

By early August most rural pollination is long over, but in Paris many streets are lined with non-native Sophora trees which have just started to blossom – allowing bees to keep producing honey much later in the year.

“It is an unwelcome paradox that city bees do better than country bees. I wish it was not the case”

Olivier Darne Urban apiarist

Like other countries in Europe and the Americas, France has seen a worrying decline in bee numbers in recent years. Since 1995, 100,000 French hives have been lost and the amount of honey produced has fallen from 32,000 tonnes to 20,000. Bee mortality – at between 30% per hive – is three times what is considered normal.

Most experts believe a variety of factors lie behind the crisis, from the dreaded varroa mite to pesticides, diminishing biodiversity and maybe even mobile phones.

In Britain, the National Environment Research Council recently announced a £10m ($15.6m) research project into the decline, which could have severe effects on crop production.

A century ago, there were more than 1,000 hives in Paris, but they almost totally disappeared in the decades after World War II. Among the first of the new generation was the hive installed 15 years ago on the roof of the Paris Opera, which today makes honey sold at the luxury goods shop Fauchon.

Where do urban bees swarm? In this case, on an art gallery window

Other colonies now live on the roof of the Grand Palais and on a skyscraper in La Defense business area. For ordinary home-owners, the rules are simple: hives must be registered with the veterinary authority and be more than 25 metres (82ft) from a school or hospital.

According to Mr Charlot, the most commonly-used breed of bee is docile by temperament and stings are rare.

“We did an analysis of the honey we made here in Paris and discovered that it contained more than 250 different pollens. In the countryside there can be as few as 15 or 20 pollens,” said Olivier Darne, who styles himself as an “artist and urban apiarist”.

As part of his “Honey Bank” project, Darne creates bee-related art installations and organises street-tastings from his many hives – all to raise awareness about the decline of rural biodiversity.

“It is an unwelcome paradox that city bees do better than country bees. I wish it was not the case. But if you exhaust your resources, you end up with nothing – and this is what the bees are telling us,” he said.

Do you want to find out more about the backyard beekeeping revolution?

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Beekeeping is a hobby practiced by millions of people around the world. It can be an inexpensive, healthy and satisfying personal experience. It can be undertaken as a part-time or even a full-time vocation. Beekeeping also benefits gardens by helping to pollinate crops, as the bees take the pollen from plant to plant. Many people find beekeeping relaxing and interesting, as bees are rather absorbing creatures to watch on the job. Not only would it be a task of interest, it reaps its benefits of honey and beeswax. Natural unfiltered honey has high levels of antioxidants which helps relieve our bodies of stressors and reduces the chances of certain cancers. Beeswax has a variety of uses including candles, skin creams and lip balms. Keeping bees involves having hives with layers that have frames of cones. This is where the bees have their young, put pollen and produce honey. They can be bought with bees already in them, or they might be purchased separately in packages. There are three types of bees; the queen, workers, and drones. Workers are female bees that feed larvae, gather and collect pollen and honey, make wax, clean the cells in the hive, and protect the hive. Drones are male bees that function only to mate with the queen. A beekeeper inspects the bee colony to make sure the queen is laying her eggs and carries no sign of disease. The colony needs preventative medication about every two weeks to attempt to save the hive from any disease that might rampage it. In summertime, the hive gets extra frames to hold honey production and so they have more room. When all frames in a layer (called a super) are full of honey, with about half of the frame cells coated with wax, its about time to extract the honey. When winter begins to approach the keeper had two options; to kill off the colony and buy more bees come spring, or, “winter” the bees. The colony is given sugar and water for food to make it through the winter months. They can be kept either indoors or outdoors. If the bees are kept outdoors, insulation and plastic needs to be placed around their hives. Some bees will likely die, but the colony itself will be maintained, even if the hives are covered in snow. A beekeeper requires other equipment such as a smoker for calming the bees and a veil to prevent the bees from walking over his or her face, which can be a little unnerving. A bee suit and gloves might be used, but are not necessarily required. It is said that working with the bees with bare hands gives one more feel for what they are doing. Also, bare hands leads to less jarring of the hive, keeping the bees calmer. Keeping bees does involve a sting now and then. For most people, the initial sting causes some pain, and then some discomfort for a short period of time. One simply needs to watch for signs of developing an allergy to stings which may include hives on the body and shortness of breath. There is also a very small percentage of the population that has a chance of going into analphylactic shock from the bee sting. Beekeeping is becoming more and more popular by hobbyists. Beekeeping can be a fun and fulfilling practice with the right knowledge and tools.

Beekeeping is a great way for someone who doesn’t have  loads of money and acres of land to take up a hobby that is both rewarding and that you can make some money from. The start up expense of the average hive can be from $300 to $400 per hive. To start I would only recommend the one.

You can locate your hive at the bottom of your garden or a  remote corner of your back yard, it is now becoming more common to see suburban homes with a bee hive at the back of their house.

Before you rush out and buy your first bee hive it is worth checking with the local authorities or Cooperative Extension office. They will to tell you if you live in an area that beekeeping is allowed. Remember to ask them for the contact information of your local areas beekeeping organization where you can become a registered beekeeper.

Select a site for your honey bee hive.

Now that you have selected your site you will need to buy the basic equipment. I would recommend searching on the internet to find your local beekeepers association or use eBay and if all that fails try the local yellow pages. If you are struggling to find a hive you could always build one, instructions can be found at http://www.30media30.com/beekeeping/  there is nothing more satisfying than building your own bee hive.

Now that your hive is in place and you are happy and confident that everything is in 100% it’s time to order your honey bees. The easiest and best way is to order Honey Bees is from an established Apiary. Honey Bees should be ordered early in the winter, the average beekeeper orders their bees in January and February. The order is then shipped in March and April but depending on your country this may vary, ask before you bye.

Bees can be either, sent by post / shipped or collected, although a lot of couriers do not like to transport bees. Again check with the Apiary for the best way to transport your bees to their new bee hive.

When your bees arrive they should have been packaged in a special carrying case that is designed just for bees. The package should be a wooden framed “house” that has a screen covering the outside. This packaging allows air to circulate to the traveling bees.

On unpacking your bees, do not be surprised if you see a few dead bees at the bottom of the package, this is normal. Bees do not like traveling and they find it hard, so unfortunately you will loose a few. You will find the rest of the bees clutching the sides of the container.

You should also notice that one bee in the container has been separated from the rest of the hive. This is your queen bee. The rest of the bees in the container will make up the rest of your bee hives hierarchy.  Good Apiaries will ship the queen with a couple of nurse bees and some times the top of the queen’s container will be covered with piece of sugar candy.

With the bees there should also be a container that is filled with a sugar solution. This sugar solution is food for the bees. As soon as you get the bees home offer them something to drink, do this by taking a spray bottle and covering the container with a very fine covering of water.

If you would like to know more about beekeeping and how to keep bees or looking to take this up as a hobby then visit

http://www.30media30.com/beekeeping/

No one really knows when the first time someone thought about collecting the honey from hives. We do know that the art of beekeeping has been around for a long time. Archaeologist have discovered cave drawings depicting collecting honey. These caves were found in Africa and Spain’s eastern regions. Archaeologist believe that the cave drawings were created in 7000BC. Most of these pictures show people scooping honey out of rocks and trees but a few of them depict images of humans standing, unstung, in the midst of a swarms of bees. Scientist believe that these early cave dwellers somehow learned that smoke had an interesting affect on bees. The earliest artificial bee hives were made out of pottery, clay vases and bowls, and straw baskets resembled the trees and rock crevices that the bees were drawn to in nature. Early beekeepers learned how to capture swarms of bees in these containers. Once trapped the bees proceeded to turn the containers into a bee hive. Evidence that many ancient civilizations, such as the Myans, raised bees and collected their honey. Aficionados of Roman history know that bees and honey played a role in the Roman culture. The Goddess Mellona, was the protector of the bees. The Greeks also had a great deal of respect for the honey bees. On Mt. Olympus, the home of Zeus, they sipped the nectar provided by the gods (experts believe that the nectar that the Greeks referred to was honey). Greek mythology claims that bees were responsible for building Apollo’s second temple. When he wrote his book, The History of Animals, Aristotle wrote about how bees were able to locate flowers. In the period of time between the 1500′s and 1851 was an evolutionary time for beekeeping. The first critical change in beekeeping happened late in the 1500′s. It was during this time that information was learned about the life cycle of the honey bee. Once beekeepers understood the way that bees lived they were better able to take care of the winged insects. Adaptations to artificial hives started taking place. As beekeepers, agricultural enthusiast, and scientists, yearned to learn more about the life cycle of bees, beekeepers look for ways to design a hive that would allow them to easily see inside the hive. An American, Lorenzo Langstroth, designed the first mobile bee hive. By the time the 1850′s got here the European honey bee was introduced to California. After California the honey bees were introduced to Oregon and Canada. It is believed that there are over 210,000 beekeepers currently in the United States. Collectively these beekeepers keep and maintain over three million active bee hives.