{"id":13430,"date":"2020-05-20T07:34:30","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T11:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?p=13430"},"modified":"2024-09-17T15:10:32","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T19:10:32","slug":"world-bee-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/world-bee-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Plan Bee: Cut Insecticides, Preserve Habitat"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Niko
The Kalamazoo Valley Museum was abuzz with bee exhibits last June during Art Hop. Niko Nickson ’21 was a Kalamazoo College representative presenting displays on native bees. Nickson now is a student behind the Southwest Michigan Bee Watch, still actively recruiting citizen scientists on World Bee Day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There\u2019s been a buzz in the national news as Asian hornets, also called murder hornets, have appeared for the first time in the northwestern U.S. The two-inch-long invasive insects have frightening stinging power and are significant predators of honeybees.<\/p>\n

As the world marks World Bee Day on May 20, Kalamazoo College Biology Professor Ann Fraser said she doesn\u2019t expect Asian hornets to arrive in Michigan any time soon but they could be a threat to local honeybees if they arrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to see some of these Asian hornets when we were in India in December,\u201d Fraser said. \u201cSome people were fighting them off with sticks or even cricket bats. But can they survive in this climate with Michigan\u2019s winter? I\u2019m not sure of their range in terms of temperature tolerance. And are they going to decimate the honeybee population? Probably not, but they\u2019ll certainly take out some hives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, climate change, habitat loss and pesticides are already threatening bees worldwide and have been for years. That makes World Bee Day\u2014which marks the 1734 birthday of Slovenia-born Anton Jan\u0161a, a pioneer in modern-day beekeeping\u2014essential for preservation. The international affair, established in 2018 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, recognizes the world\u2019s 20,000 species of bees, including about 465 in Michigan. A number of these are in decline, including some of our bumblebees. Fraser said habitat loss and pesticides are of particular concern as food sources are disappearing for bees, and neonicotinoids, which are pesticides chemically similar to nicotine, are deadly for them.<\/p>\n

\"World
World Bee Day recognizes the world\u2019s 20,000 species of bees, including about 465 in Michigan. Bumblebees like this one can be found at the Lillian Anderson Arboretum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To work against the declines caused by these threats, swarms of World Bee Day events<\/a> will be conducted virtually this year, and Fraser recommends acting locally. For example:<\/p>\n