Industry News

Important flowering plants for city-dwelling honey bees

Mon, 11 May 2020 20:21:07 GMT

Trees, shrubs and woody vines are among the top food sources for honey bees in urban environments, according to an international team of researchers. By using honey bees housed in rooftop apiaries in Philadelphia, the researchers identified the plant species from which the honey bees collected most of their food, and tracked how these food resources changed from spring to fall. The findings may be useful to homeowners, beekeepers and urban land managers who wish to sustain honey bees and other bee and pollinator species.

Want to help fight citrus greening disease? Take the leaves off that orange before sharing it

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 13:37:54 GMT

Southern Californians are being urged this summer to help fight a disease that threatens to

wipe out the state’s iconic citrus by sharing fruit with friends, family and coworkers only after thoroughly washing it and removing the leaves.

Agricultural officials also ask those who live within a citrus greening disease quarantine zone in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside or San Bernardino counties not to take fruit outside those areas.

The warning from the state Citrus Pest & Disease Prevention Program comes as the summer travel season heats up and the number of fruit trees infected with Huanglongbing — or citrus greening disease — multiplies across Southern California.

So far, the disease has afflicted residential neighborhoods only and three counties: Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside.

But, as of June 2, the total number of diseased trees statewide had reached 602, up from 370 at the end of last year and 23 at the end of 2016, said Beth Grafton-Cardwell, a UC Riverside extension entomologist who conducts research in the Central Valley.

European Ash Epidemic From Just One or Two Spores

Tue, 24 Apr 2018 16:20:55 GMT

Europe’s ash dieback epidemic could have been caused by just one or two mushroom-like fruiting bodies of a fungal pathogen from Asia, according to research published today.

This leaves even the most resistant ash trees at threat from the introduction of just one more spore from East Asia, the report published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution warns.

Ash dieback threatens 95% of all European ash trees and has already killed or severely damaged a quarter in southern Sweden and destroyed more than 80% of young ash trees in Norway.

“It’s incredible that from such limited genetic diversity the ash dieback fungus has already devastated trees across Europe,” says lead author Mark McMullan from the Earlham Institute (EI) in Norwich.