Sustainability Issue #2 April 2010

This is printed from sustainability.formas.se, last updated 3/24/2010 10:02:35 PM

Navigation

Change language

Search

Main content

PrintPrint
Threat to the bee community

Apis mellifera. Recent knowledge of the bee community and its pathogens can be used to prevent disease and prevent damage and losses in beekeeping.  Photo: Barbara Locke

Threat to the bee community

The honey bee is exposed to microorganisms that can damage the individuals and wipe out entire bee colonies. With molecular methods, Eva Forsgren of SLU has investigated five bee parasites and their pathogenic capacity.

The European honey bee produces wax and honey. And its contribution as pollinator in the whole world is estimated to be worth several billions of dollars. The proper functioning of the bee colonies and the health of the bees are therefore of great importance for both food production and biodiversity. Melissococcus plutonius and Paenibacillus larvae are two bacterial species that cause European and American foulbrood in bee larvae. Bees can transmit the bacteria between colonies and bee hives, and a high bee density in the area promotes spread of the disease. Damage can be limited if beekeepers observe general hygiene and avoid the spread of disease through tools and honeycombs.

Deformed wing virus causes the bee to hatch with deformities. Eva Forsgren has also been able to demonstrate that a parasitoid mite that attacks tame bees in Asia also carries DWV. Intracellular parasites cause intestinal infections in adult bees. Data suggest that the new parasite Nosema ceranae is more damaging and is gradually driving out Nosema apis.

Responsible for this page: Birgitta Bruzelius

Journal links

Sustainability April 2010

Focus presentation

The right lamp plus enough daylight After heating which uses the most energy, lighting is the next largest energy user. Light has an important role for wakefulness and performance. Tremendous developme...

Focus articles

Lighting – under intensive development The field of lighting is the subject of intensive development, both in a technical and scientific sense. There is great potential for better and more effective light... Light emitting diodes with the spotlight on people Are light emitting diodes the lighting of the future? The Swedish Energy Authority is taking part in a project that is testing the usefulness of LED in lifts, stairw... Energy efficient and promote health Fluorescent bulbs are now being replaced by more efficient light sources such as halogen lamps, compact fluorescent lamps and light emitting diodes. Lighting must be... LED in outdoor lighting In Helsingborg and Luleå, existing lighting in winter is compared with LED lighting next winter. Within the near future, a large proportion of outdoor lighting i... LED – economical and flexible light source A completely new light source, the light emitting diode, will soon reduce the need for electricity in certain lighting installations by up to eighty per cent. It is ... Colour in the eyes of birds Birds can see more colours than humans. Researchers hope that more knowledge of avian vision will help reduce stress among chickens. And perhaps also prevent collisi... Far from the junglefowl - Whoever can solve the problem of feather pecking among chickens should get the birds' Nobel prize, says Ragnar Tauson, Professor of Avian Nutrition and Management ... UV light treats Danish sewage effluent Do people bathing in Hörsholm Municipality know how good conditions are for them? Every summer, the treatment plant switches on the UV light as an extra stage in eff... New light on toxins in the body Chemical compounds that are similar to natural signal substances disrupt essential biological systems. Researchers have now discovered that light forms a biological... Too much light is a problem for computers Since the arrival of the screen on most desks, our sight has been raised from the paper on the desk to looking straight ahead. In the surrounding field of vision the...

The Interview

Get out of the laboratory! Environmental considerations and quality in all that Vinnova is engaged in, more risk capital from the State for developing the research results, tax deductions for ...

More articles

Proud cities! The songs based on Fredman's epistles filled Uppsala Concert and Congress Hall on 9 February. Bellman had the task of illustrating the theme The City at this year's... MSEK 36 Research about the airways, joints and fodder of horses is receiving money from the Equine Research Foundation which has resolved to distribute ca MSEK 36 among 18 p... Climate-smart landfill sites A team of researchers has tested a new and improved method for tracing, collecting and re-using methane and also detecting other harmful refuse at new and old landfi... Young researchers serve up functional food Benefit from rye and bilberries. Benefit from rye and oat bran. News from the research programme Funcfood were presented at a seminar at Lund University. Mammoths and humans were contemporaneous An international research team has found residues of fossil DNA in sediments in Alaska. They show that the woolly mammoth died out ca 2500 years later than had been ... Threat to the bee community The honey bee is exposed to microorganisms that can damage the individuals and wipe out entire bee colonies. With molecular methods, Eva Forsgren of SLU has investig... Swedish people change their minds about predators The attitudes of Swedish people to predators have changed in the past five years. Researchers at SLU have compared replies to questionnaires in 2004 and 2009. The houses have had many colours Yellow with white corners. Linseed oil. Many people who want to paint their house in the old style or to restore their house to a state more like the original often ... Gigantic carbon flows if the tundra thaws The Arctic and primarily the Laptev Sea to the north of Siberia receives large quantities of water from Russian rivers, not least from the Lena. In terms of both cat... SLU conference on forest pests In Canada, the lodgepole pine is threatened, especially by the mountain pine beetle that has damaged 14 million hectares of forest. This was one of the many findings... Wind and wave power are creating reefs Foundations for wind and wave power plants in a marine environment can increase the number of fish and shellfish. Common blue mussels and barnacles are also favoured...

In brief

Supermaterials will shine in future Ultra-thin and low-power organic light emitting diodes, OLED, are found in mobile telephones, cameras and small TV sets. Today, OLED  are relatively expensive t... The whole pot for SLU Teams of researchers at Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences SLU took the whole pot when Formas allocated research grants in the Biomass area. All the SLU res... Commercial wave power In February 2010, the Swedish Energy Authority resolved to allocate MSEK 139 for a full scale wave power farm outside Smögen on the west coast. The technology is bas... Dangerous EHEC strain found among cows and pigs A pathogenic bacterium called Escherichia coli O157:H7 is found in one out of ten dairy herds in Sweden. In his doctoral project, veterinary surgeon Erik Eriksson of... BSEK 3.7 for environment and climate At the beginning of the year, a number of investments for environmental and climate measures were made in the Rural Development Programme. More than BSEK 3.7 are all... Disseminate marine results! Swedish marine research is of high quality and is highly relevant. However, research results often do not reach politicians and practitioners. When researchers colla... Save energy with smart windows Smart windows can be regulated between a dark and a light state, in order to minimise overheating in the summer and to maximise the admission of solar heat in ...

Results from research

The right tree How did the research turn out? What were the findings? Researchers themselves report briefly on the research they have undertaken with funding support from the Forma... Soil science How did the research turn out? What were the findings? Researchers themselves report briefly on the research they have undertaken with funding support from the Forma... Bad news for piglets How did the research turn out? What were the findings? Researchers themselves report briefly on the research they have undertaken with funding support from the Forma... Not only water How did the research turn out? What were the findings? Researchers themselves report briefly on the research they have undertaken with funding support from the Forma...
5
MOST READ
articles from this
and past issues
1.Office environment affects health, wellbeing and work 2.The role of microbes in nature 3.Sweden values happy pigs 4.Nanotech in our homes - great opportunities, unknown risks 5.New research initiative will rescue the ship Vasa

Further links

Footer