Effect of Ozone on Bees' Ability to Find Food

There are all sorts of ways to pollinate crops....and only certain crops need pollinating....plus there are over 20,000 species of bees...If we could wipe out an insect species, we would have wiped out mosquitoes years ago....

http://www.hortmag.com/plants/fruits-veggies/vegetable-crops-that-do-not-need-pollinators

..."Insect pollinators include bees, (honey bees, solitary species, bumblebees); pollen wasps (Masarinae); ants; a variety of flies including bee flies and hoverflies; lepidopterans, both butterflies and moths; and flower beetles. Vertebrates, mainly bats and birds, but also some non-bat mammals (monkeys, lemurs, possums, rodents) and some reptiles (lizards and snakes) pollinate certain plants. Among the pollinating birds are hummingbirds, honeyeaters and sunbirdswith long beaks; they pollinate a number of deep-throated flowers.",,,

...plus they can be pollinated by hand or machine....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollinator

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee

I didn't realize there are that many different kinds of pollinators; makes me feel somewhat better. It's also possible that bees will adapt to current atmospheric conditions

I learned how exquisitely sensitive other animals' sense of smell is when I did the research for the blog post on the relationship of scent to productivity. I sort of knew that already but the research really brought it home.

There are certain crops that rely on specific pollinators. I recall a summer a while ago where bees had not wintered well. It resulted in poorly pollinated pumpkins that were misshapen.

I wont join anything just to read a story

Except CR4 of course.

I just come here to see what will happen next.

It's sort of like busy intersection where Egos cross paths and the stoplights are controlled by monkeys with ADHD.

You know there's going to be collisions and bloodshed, sometimes it just two bicycles bumping into each other and other times it's freight trains going head to head on one track) but you never know exactly when or how big!

Most stories in the news are available on multiple sites...

..."The team reported in the current issue of Atmospheric Environment that, as air pollution increases, hydrocarbons' lifetime and travel distance decreases. For example, at 60 parts per billion ozone levels, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers a 'moderate' level, the researchers found that enough chemical changes took place to thoroughly confuse bees and hinder their ability to identify the plumes of floral scents they needed to locate food."....

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160706131924.htm

Thanks for the "readable" link.

As a beekeeper, I have found it interesting to read that article, but it opens more questions for me than it solves.

There has been a recent surge in backyard beekeeping in Australia and ironically many of those are entusiasts in the major cities.

I have no comparison of the ozone and other polutant levels in those cities to the benchmark levels indicated in the reported study, but there seem to be significant success by those people.

The US FDA places an upper limit of 50 parts per billion (Ozone) for devices that generate Ozone into occupied space. It is noted that even at this level there are serious health conesquences for many.

The bee study reported looks at concentrations of 60 parts per billion, so I wonder why they have chosen a level that is above what would be harmful to humans anyway.

The other part of the report talks about duration of the odour plumes being reduced to under 10 hours. This would mean that by 4pm, the odour from a flower that opened at 6am (midsummer, early morning) would be dissipated. With a breeze of 5 km/hr, the odour plume would already be 50km away from the maximum forraging range of the bees anyhow. (Bees don't travel more that 5km or 3 mile from the hive as the return trip is too far.)

I'm still new at beekeeping, but there are only two problems that I have.

1. What to do with all the extra swarms that I catch each year. (Gave away three swarms that I caught last spring.)
2. What to do with all the excess honey that I have. (Since October last year have harvested 495kg from 2 caryover hives and three captured swarms that I boxed.

I still have over 100kg in the pantry and the mulberry tree leaf buds are just opening, so spring flowering is only a few weeks away, and now I have five caryover hives!!!!!!!!

"What to do with all the excess honey that I have."

This guy's experience might help you decide.

http://www.cbc.ca/dragonsden/pitches/wendell-estate-honey

Well I've often wished for an original supply of some product to sell....the obvious answer is to sell the honey either as an original product or to another honey company....

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=australian%20honey%20sales

http://westmtnapiary.com/hive_products.html

Here's a guy that made it work....

http://www.burtsbees.com/

Yes, I have managed to sell most of this year's product and there are avenues available for excess.

Locally there are a multitude of backyard beekeepers due toa busines opportunity taken up by the local "sheltered workshop" where intellectually challenged people find employment in various productive activities.

http://www.valley-industries.com.au/ (Valley Industries) have taken to providing a service to Australian beekeepers of asembling, painting and delivering the woodwork components that they all use.

This means that locally, we have a wonderful supply of the necessary materials and workshops for beekeeping. So everybody locally has access to "farm fresh" honey. Most local markets (each weekend) have at least two honey stalls and there are multiple roadside "honesty boxes" with honey on sale.

We do have one local professional (he is 2% of the Australian bulk supply) who will buy our excess at wholesale price. He is a really good person and supports the locals with advice and even professional visits. He regards us as his "environmental watch-dogs", so if he observes problems in our locality he can support the necessary corrective action to protect his business.

The link you have provided to "Burts" is one of many that I've visited and been impresed with . Burt has a down to earth aproach that is wonderful and encouraging.

How many different nectar sources do you folks have Down Under? Are there any sources that produce especially prized honey? I grew up in east Tennessee, where sourwood honey was the big deal (and it's still my favorite but I haven't tasted a whole lot of different honeys).

Mr. Best in Show asked me this weekend if we should keep bees. I've toyed with the idea. Maybe when we're both definitively retired.

I must admit that I've become an adict!!!

My first ever handling of bees was 7 years ago when I picked up my first hive.

As far as honey sources, we seem to have "heaps". Many of our local trees produce serious amounts of nectar. There are also the flowering plants introduced from the northern hemisphere, so citrus and other flowers are also available.

I don't relocate my bees to chase the nectar flows but the following is a typical year starting from our spring.

August: Remove already full frames from hive and extract them. Do some housekeeping inthe brood box (some new sheets of wax and stock rotation for long term production.) Around 12 kg of really thick DARK honey from winter stores. Tends to have a very caramel flavour.

September: Bee numbers growing rapidly andsome honey being made. Often really clear honey. (I believe in USA this would be called "white" honey.) Comes from early eucalypt and clover grasses inthe fields. Very sweet, often quite runny/thin consistency. Maybe one rob of 12kg in the month.

October: Bee population stabilises at aroud 50,000 per hive (unless they swarm) and production really starts. One rob of around 20kg later in the month. Still very clear and acidic honey but a little thicker.

November: One full rob of aroud 20kg. Still clear honey but thicker again.

December/January/February: Unless REALLY hot, rob 20kg each 3 weeks. If trees close by are flowering, could need to harvest each fortnight.

March: Slowing down due to reduced daylight time, but still good production, honey starting to get darker fromlater flowering trees and nectar from local grasses. My nephey describes this as "Prairie honey" they tasted while in USA.

April: Pack the hives down for winter by removing (and extracting) around half of the production frames. This honey has real caramel flavour and is a dark honey that is very thick.

Flavours here depend on the flower source. Most are classified by the tree source they come from. There are some coastal heaths and inTasmania (loooong way south of here there is some particular "leatherwood" that is really special.

My suggestion is to no longer toy with the idea. It's not expensive, you can leave them for a week while you go on holidays.

Well I believe the study started at 10ppm and tested the reactions going up 10ppm at a time till it got to 60ppm...

..."By world standards, Australia has very clean air. Strategies to manage air pollution in Australia have contributed to reducing the levels of pollutants in our air. However, levels of some pollutants, including ground-level ozone and particulate matter, can still exceed current air quality standards(set at 10ppm for 1 hr or 8ppm over 4 hrs). In addition, population growth, urbanisation and increasing demands for transportation and energy consumption are ongoing challenges which impact our air quality. Governments, businesses and the community will need to be active to ensure a clean air future."...

https://www.environment.gov.au/protection/air-quality

Beijing is currently at about 80ppm....

ppm = ppb

Ground ozone levels here in the US have been on the decline over the last 40 years...

https://www3.epa.gov/airtrends/ozone.html

We seem to be currently averaging around 70 ppb of ground level ozone from the 218 sites monitored by the EPA which are located in various locations throughout the US...So it would seem this may be having a rather deleterious effect on plume travel distance and at least a piece of the puzzle possibly contributing to hive robustness..or lack thereof...Nice Find...

https://www3.epa.gov/region1/airquality/avg8hr.html

https://www.airnow.gov/

http://aqsdr1.epa.gov/aqsweb/aqstmp/airdata/download_files.html

codes key.....↓

https://aqs.epa.gov/aqsweb/codes/data/StateCountyCodes.html

San Bernardino Ca is at 100 ppb ground level ozone today....

https://www.airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=resources.aqi_conc_calc