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How do we study bee and why are they vanish ? How are scientist working to preserve them?Marla Spivak — a MacArthur Fellow and Distinguished McKnight Professor and reference bug-hunter in the Department of Entomology at theUniversity of Minnesota — answers these interrogative and more . Check out the interview below as Spivak explains the importance of bees and how her research is helping scientists acquire more about them . Also , get to know more about Spivak in thisScienceLivesand con step - by - pace command on how to wear a " bee face fungus " in thisResearch in Action .
Katie Klett trying on a bee beard.
Why are honeybee important for farming , the economy and the health of ecosystems?More than one - third of the world ’s fruit , vegetable and flowering plants are dependent on pollination by bees . All tell , the pollenation services provided by honeybees in North America are presently valued at about $ 20 billion annually — not even counting the value of dearest and beeswax that is produced by honeybees .
Bees live on every continent , except Antarctica , and in all habitat that harbour louse - pollinated flowering plants . The pollination service of process provide by bees promote the wellness of the habitats in which they live .
When did bee begin to fascinate you ?
Katie Klett trying on a bee beard.
My fascination with bee began one dark in college when I encounter to pick up a book on bees that was so gripping that I ended up pulling an all - nighter just to finish it . Later in college , I sour for several commercial apiarist to read more about bee .
Then , after college , I do work on a study in Venezuela on Africanized honeybees ( AHB ) , commonly know as " orca bee . " Interestingly , there is a groovy deal of behavioral variation among AHB colonies , and AHBs seem to be more resistant to parasites than honeybee in the U.S. , which originated in Europe . I am fascinated by the potential opportunities to breed AHBs and select for their estimable behavioral quality and disease underground .
How and why are bees presently disappearing?During the wintertime of 2006 , honeybee hive across the U.S. weresuddenly and inexplicably abandonedby their worker bees , which only wing off to die . The result : keeper of honeybees reported release of 30 to 90 percentage .
Marla Spivak inspecting honeybee colonies at the University of Minnesota.
Subsequent investigating suggest that this phenomenon , which is now acknowledge as Colony Collapse Disorder ( CCD ) , may have already been occurring for at least three years before the first CCD cases were reported in 2006 . Adding insult to injury , the attack of CCD , which continues today , pursue more than 50 years of less dramatic , but still substantial , day - to - day losses to beekeeping operation from the combine result of parasites , disease , misfortunate nutrition , pesticide poisoning and habitat deprivation .
But Apis mellifera are not the only bee that are currently experiencing losses . Populations of some types of bee that are native to the U.S. , include bumblebees and leafcutter bees , are also currently declining .
What do CCD ?
Marla Spivak puts a good buzz on. “When we dumped bees on a tray, they crawled up my face,” said Maria Spivak.
Many scientists surmise that CCD is the result of tension that is imposed on bees by one or a combining of factors . Such stress may compromise the immune systems of bees , and thereby increase the exposure of their settlement to diseases . Immune - suppressing stresses may include poor nutrition due to shortages of flower that provide nectar and pollen to bee , poison from pesticides , parasitic tinge and newfangled and emerging diseasesthat infect bee .
Another potential contributing constituent to CCD may be the widespread use of monoculture , an agricultural exercise that involves devoting enceinte areas of tilled land to a individual mintage , such as a type of yield , vegetable or nut ( usually almonds ) that must be pollenate by bees .
Here ’s the trouble : In many case , for ease up sufficient harvest production , terra firma that is farmed by monoculture needs more bee pollination than can be provided by resident bee population . To compensate for this pollination shortage , massive numbers of honeybee colonies are continually transported across the U.S. to monocultured farms . But unluckily , such shipping may increase the vulnerability of bee to disease .
Marla Spivak getting ready to engage University of Minnesota bee colonies.
How are you and your enquiry team working to avail make unnecessary honeybees?My enquiry squad and I study bee wellness . I wish to say that our ultimate , long - term practical goal is to " get bee back on their own six feet " by push their natural defenses .
In other words , we are developing method to improve the survival rate of bee , control diseases in bee hives , and assure healthy , strong colony for dearest production and pollenation , so that apiculturist can boil down their trust on chemic treatments to keep colony live . A diminution of antibiotic and pesticide use cut operating costs for apiculturist , meliorate the environment , and promotes the purity of honey , wax and other marketable bee products .
In addition to bring out important hardheaded covering for beekeepers , our bee studies have gain ground our profound apprehension of bee biota .
What are some of your approach to improving bee survival ?
With funding from the National Science Foundation ( NSF ) , my research team and I have studied the ability of honeybee to detect and remove immature bees ( larva and pupa ) from the nest that are pathological but not yet infectious . This power — have intercourse as hygienic behavior — decreases disease infection and increase the full colony ’s electrical resistance to certain character of virulent disease - causing organisms .
In 1993 , we began breeding a line of Apis mellifera for hygienic doings . Our extensive examination of our hygienic bees showed that their hygienic behavior provide some protection against the highly virulent parasitic mite , Varroa destructor . Our hygienic short letter of bees is now sold throughout the U.S. In addition , we are presently helping bee keepers select for hygienic demeanor and other resistance trait from among their own lines of bees .
Also with NSF funding , my team and I are currently research resins known as propolis . Propolis is collected from plants by honeybees , and then used by bee to seal cracks in their nests . Propolis has long been known for its divers microbial properties and as a human music . However , my team and I are among the first investigator to meditate the anti - microbial benefits of propolis for bees .
So far , our cogitation have shown that propolis does influence bee immunity . Now we are investigating whether these immunological changes promote settlement wellness . Also , we are working to identify which chemical element of propolis fight disease - make microbes in bees . We hope that our research will eventually top to the recognition of chemical components in propolis that would fight disease - causing microbes in world .
You are a 2010 MacArthur Foundation Fellow . Will your MacArthur Fellowship enable you to convey any particular case of research that you would have otherwise been unable to conduct?The MacArthur Fellowship will enable me to stress some riskier and more creative experiment that might not be fund by federal or other concede delegacy . It will also allow me to launch some innovative prolongation programs to help bees and beekeepers .
You have reach so much and are making such of import contributions to scientific discipline . Are there any secrets to your achiever that might be particularly helpful for aspiring scientist to know?I was golden enough to get hold a passion early in life , which still drives me to learn more . I am very draw to bee and beekeeping , and need to make trusted my research is helpful to both . Personal success was never really on my radar , but in retrospect , extreme doggedness and follow my intuition have been central ingredients in all my endeavors .
