Bee populations collapsing worldwide

"Four previously abundant species of bumblebee are close to disappearing in the United States" 

~ Reuters news story about the research article "Patterns of widespread decline in North American bumble bees"











Colony Collapse Disorder + Bee pathology

• Asian apiculture: proceedings of the First International Conference on the Asian Honey Bees and Bee Mites (1993)
• Disappearing disease: a comparison of seven different stocks of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) (1984)
• Fruitless fall: the collapse of the honey bee and the coming agricultural crisis (2008)
• Hearing to review the status of pollinator health including colony collapse disorder: hearing before the Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture of the Committee on Agriculture, House of Representatives (2009)
• Honey bees: colony collapse disorder and pollinator role in ecosystems (2009)
• Morphology, evolution, and host associations of bee-associated mites of the family Chaetodactylidae (Acari:Astigmata): with a monographic revision of North American taxa (2008) 
• Nosema disease: its control in honey bee colonies (1978)
• "Pesticides and Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder" in The IPM Practitioner (September/October 2008)
• "Pesticides indicted in bee deaths" in The best American science writing (2010)
• Review colony collapse disorder in honey bee colonies across the United States: hearing before the Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture of the Committee on Agriculture, House of Representatives (2007)
• USDA: CCD Action Plan (2007)
• USDA: CCD Questions and Answers (2008)
• A World without bees (2009)

Bees + Beekeeping

• La Africanización de colonias manejadas de Apis mellifera L. en el Perú (2009)
• Asian honey bees: biology, conservation, and human interactions (2006)
• Bee (2006)
• Bee pollination in agricultural ecosystems (2008)
• Bees in America: how the honey bee shaped a nation (2006)
• The Bees of the world (2007)
• Bees, wasps, and ants: the indispensable role of Hymenoptera in gardens (2010)
• Bumblebees: behaviour, ecology, and conservation (2010)
• The Buzz about bees: biology of a superorganism (2008)
• Honeybee democracy (2010)
• The incomparable honeybee & the economics of pollination (2009)
• Natural beekeeping: organic approaches to modern apiculture (2007)
• Plan bee: everything you ever wanted to know about the hardest-working creatures on the planet (2009)
• The Quest for the perfect hive: a history of innovation in bee culture (2010)
• A Short history of the honey bee: humans, flowers, and bees in the eternal chase for honey (2009)

Also of interest...

• Animal architects: building and the evolution of intelligence (2007)
• Bee-inspired protocol engineering: from nature to networks (2009)
• Cognitive ecology II (2009)
• Debugging the link between social theory and social insects (2008)
• Ecology of social evolution (2008)
• Food exploitation by social insects: ecological, behavioral, and theoretical approaches (2009)
• Genome mapping and genomics in arthropods (2008)
• Insect hydrocarbons: biology, biochemistry, and chemical ecology (2010)
• Organization of insect societies: from genome to sociocomplexity (2009)
• The Philosophy of animal minds (2009)
• The Smartest animals on the planet (2009)
• The Superorganism: the beauty, elegance, and strangeness of insect societies (2009)

Golf courses go greener

Turfgrass managers have taken up the mantle of sustainability.  Over the past decade, a number of golf courses around the country have even started to "go organic"!

Some of the alternatives to synthetic pesticides proposed by one golf course site include:

1. Beneficial insects
2. Beneficial nematodes
3. Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis)
4. Compost
5. Corn gluten
6. Fish emulsion
7. Garlic oil/juice
8. Horticultural oils (vegetable-based instead of petrochemical based)
9. Kelp/seaweed extracts
10. Lemon & vinegar formulations
11. Lime
12. Beneficial microbes and microbial derivatives
13. Milky spore
14. Neem
15. 100% "organic" fertilizers
16. Pheromone lures
17. Pyrethrin/pyrethrum
18. Rock dust minerals
19. Biopesticides
20. Products on the national list of approved substances established under the Organic Foods Product Act of 1990
21. Products approved as organic by duly accredited certifying organizations such as the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) and the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI)

And some of the proposed prohibited substances include:

1. All synthetic chemical pesticides
2. Arsenic
3. Biosolids derived from sewage sludge or industrial waste (i.e. Milorganite)
4. Genetically modified products, ingredients, or seeds (endophytically enhanced seed and improved grass seed cultivars produced through conventional breeding programs are not GM and therefore are permitted.)
5. Piperonyl butoxide and other synthetic ingredients
6. Pyrethroids
7. Tobacco
8. Pesticides dispensed by automatic misting systems

For further reading:

* Sustainable golf courses: a guide to environmental stewardship

* Ecological golf course management

* "Pesticide Exposure from Residential and Recreational Turf" and "Lawn and Turf: Management and Environmental Issues of Turfgrass Pesticides" in Hayes’ handbook of pesticide toxicology

* Alternative turfgrasses for more environmentally sustainable golf course management: velvet bentgrass putting greens and fine fescue/colonial bentgrass fairways

* Turfgrass chemicals and pesticides: a practitioner’s guide

* Turf problem solver: case studies and solutions for environmental, cultural, and pest problems

* Proceedings of the IInd International Conference on Turfgrass Science and Management for Sports Fields: Beijing, China June 24-29, 2007

* Golf course irrigation: environmental design and management practices

* Water quality and quantity issues for turfgrasses in urban landscapes
 
* Managing wetlands on golf courses

* USGA Turfgrass and Environmental Research Online (TERO)

Bedbugs: infestations on the rise

You may have heard that blood-sucking bedbugs are spreading throughout the country and world, years after they were thought to have been largely eradicated in the United States.

Bedbugs are insects in the Cimicidae family.
Unfortunately, the 'common bedbug' Cimex lectularius now shows resistance to multiple types of pesticides.  Luckily, however, they have not been found to act as human disease vectors.

Online:

* Bed Bugs in Wisconsin [2008 UW Extension publication]

* Insect resistance management: biology, economics, and prediction

* Encyclopedia of insects

* How to control bed bugs [1976 USDA publication]

* Results of experiments with miscellaneous substances against bedbugs, cockroaches, clothes moths, and carpet beetles [1918 USDA publication]

* Bedbug [1916 USDA publication]

* Treatise on the Cimex lectularius; or, bed bug [1793]

Journals:

 

* Journal of Economic Entomology

* Journal of Medical Entomology

* Medical and Veterinary Entomology

In the libraries:

* Global pesticide resistance in arthropods

* Dark banquet: blood and the curious lives of blood-feeding creatures

* Battling resistance to antibiotics and pesticides: an economic approach

* Colour atlas of medical entomology

* Evolution explosion: how humans cause rapid evolutionary change

* Medical insects and arachnids

* Biochemical sites of insecticide action and resistance

* Plague of the Philistines, and other medical-historical essays

* Insecticide resistance: from mechanisms to management

* Monograph of Cimicidae (Hemiptera, Heteroptera)

* Morphology and functional anatomy of the male and female reproductive systems of Cimex lectularius Linn.


* Get rid of bedbugs for a clean house [1967 USDA publication]

* Bed bugs: how to control them [1953 USDA publication]

* Bedbug: its habits and life history and methods of control [1944 US Public Health Office publication]

[Image: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic. louento.pix - http://www.flickr.com/photos/lou_bugs_pix/324776034/ ]

Updated: Crop Protection Compendium

UW-Madison Libraries subscribe to the Crop Protection Compendium database from CABI, which is now available on their new interface in beta.

This online multi-media resource can be searched by keyword, or browsed by animals (arachnids, molluscs, nematodes, birds, mammals), bacteria, fungi, oomycetes, plants, protozoa, unknown aetiology, and viruses.  It includes:

* 2,800+ detailed data sheets on crops, crop pests, diseases, weeds, invasive plants, natural enemies, pesticides and biopesticides

* Information on an additional 27,000 species, including distribution maps

* 8,000+ pictures to allow for easy identification and teaching

* 200,000 article records from the CAB Abstracts database (updated weekly), including 6,500 full-text journal and conference articles

* 9,000+ term interactive glossary

Plant Management Network: journals and more

UW-Madison is a partner of the Plant Management Network, managed by the American Phytopathological Society, American Society of Agronomy, and Crop Science Society of America.  Students, staff and faculty have full access to the site, including:

• Plant Health Progress - peer-reviewed journal focusing on plant protection; covers plant disease, entomology, and nematology of crops and ornamentals.

• Crop Management - peer-reviewed journal covering crop management practices, crop nutrients, and production agriculture; focuses on maximizing crop yield and value.

• Forage and Grazinglands - peer-reviewed journal covering animal nutrition and rangeland management.

• Applied Turfgrass Science - peer-reviewed journal covering the many aspects of turfgrass management.

• Plant Disease Management Reports - More than 5,000 searchable efficacy reports on various means of pest control, such as fungicides, nematicides, and biological controls. PDMR’s purpose is to help users determine the most effective chemicals and nonchemical pest management agents and to ensure maximum effectiveness/minimum use in terms of application. Reports cover various crops, ornamentals, turf and forage.

• Arthropod Management Tests - Efficacy reports of insecticides and other means of insect control. Helps users determine the most effective chemicals and brands in managing insects and also to ensure maximum effectiveness/minimum use in terms of application rates. Reports cover crops, ornamentals, turf and forage.

• Symposium/Meeting Proceedings - A collection of proceedings on topics related to agriculture and horticulture.

• Focus on Soybean - An online portal for growers, crop consultants, and researchers seeking information on producing healthy, high-yielding soybean crops. Features webcasts from noted extension agents on soybean crop production, protection, and management.

• Focus on Potato - An online portal for growers, crop consultants, and researchers seeking information on producing healthy, high-yielding potato crops. Features webcasts from noted extension agents on potato crop production, protection, and management.

• Focus on Ag Practitioners - A one-stop portal of agricultural resources for certified crop advisers, independent consultants, and other ag practitioners.

• PMN Image Collections - A collection of more than 4,000 plant disease and agricultural images for disease identification, class illustrations, and presentations.

Sustainable Energy & Development e-books

UW-Madison Libraries have added access to the "Sustainable Energy & Development" collection of e-books through our Knovel subscription. Titles of interest include:

• Biofuels Refining and Performance (2008)
  
• Biodiesel Handbook (2005)
• Biomass Assessment Handbook - Bioenergy for a Sustainable Environment (2007)
• Biomass for Renewable Energy, Fuels, and Chemicals (1998)
• Bioprocessing for Value-Added Products from Renewable Resources - New Technologies and Applications (2007)
• Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals - The Twenty-Eighth Symposium (2007)
• Dictionary of Energy (2006)
• Encyclopedia of Energy, Volumes 1 - 6 (2004)
• Energy Harvesting Materials (2005)
• Environmentally Conscious Alternative Energy Production (2007)
• Food System - A Guide (2009)
• Future Energy - Improved, Sustainable and Clean Options for Our Planet (2008)
• Handbook of Organic Food Processing and Production (2nd Edition) (2000)
• Monitoring and Predicting Agricultural Drought - A Global Study (2005)
• Pesticide Detox - Towards a More Sustainable Agriculture (2005)
• Pesticide Residues in Food and Drinking Water - Human Exposure and Risks (2004)
• Pesticide, Veterinary and other Residues in Food (2004)
• Renewable Bioenergy - Technologies, Risks, and Rewards (2003)
• Renewables-Based Technology - Sustainability Assessment (2007)
• Sustainability and Environmental Impact of Renewable Energy Sources (2003)
• Sustainability in Agriculture (2005)
• Tropical Soils - Properties and Management for Sustainable Agriculture (2003)
• Water Encyclopedia, Volumes 1-5 (2005)

IPM & pesticide trial data

The UW-Madison Libraries are a sponsoring partner of the Plant Management Network portal, which includes Plant Disease Management Reports and Arthropod Management Tests.

Plant Disease Management Reports - formerly "Fungicide & Nematicide Tests" and "Biological & Cultural Tests for Control of Plant Disease"

• Cereals and Forage Crops
• Citrus, Tropical, Vegetables, and Miscellaneous Crops
• Field Crops
• Nematicides (all crops)
• Ornamentals and Trees
• Pome Fruits
• Seed Treatments (all crops)
• Small Fruits
• Stone Fruits and Nuts
• Turfgrass

Arthropod Management Tests

• Host Index - plants/animals/structures on which arthropod management tested
• Arthropod Common Name Index
• Arthropod Scientific Name Index
• Materials Evaluated (Brand Name) Index
• Chemicals Evaluated Name Index
• Sections Index
• Author Index