Monthly Archives: June 2018

Bumblebees use perfume patterns to tell flowers apart

Guardian newspaper report ….

“Pollinators don’t just wing it when it comes to finding a sweet treat: the shape, colour, perfume and even electrical charge of flowers are all known to offer clues.

But now researchers say bumblebees also use another floral feature to guide them: how the concentration of a scent varies across the flower’s surface.”

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jun/13/bumblebees-use-perfume-patterns-to-tell-flowers-apart?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Lab+notes+2016&utm_term=278201&subid=25664344&CMP=ema-3242

https://research-information.bristol.ac.uk/en/publications/bumblebees-distinguish-floral-scent-patterns-and-can-transfer-these-to-corresponding-visual-patterns(943b7ba6-cae5-4662-96aa-705afc19cdc4).html

 

Control pests in Oil Seed Rape without chemicals.

Farmers need effective alternatives to neonicotinoids that do not harm bees or other beneficial insects. This report looks at evidence and farmer practice in using non-chemical methods of pest control in oilseed rape (OSR).

Our research found that combining a range ofalternative techniques in a genuine Integrated
Pest Management (IPM) approach should enable farmers to significantly improve control of OSR pests without neonicotinoids.

Click to access Farming%20Oilseed%20Rape%20without%20Neonicotinoids.pdf

 

Wildflowers cut pesticide use.

Stripes of wildflowers across farm fields could cut pesticide spraying.
The stripy fields have been planted across England as part of a trial to boost the natural predators of pests that attack cereal crops.  See the Guardian newspaper report: –

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/31/stripes-of-wildflowers-across-farm-fields-could-cut-pesticide-spraying