{"id":26829,"date":"2018-09-26T13:56:55","date_gmt":"2018-09-26T17:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/?p=26829"},"modified":"2022-03-16T10:18:18","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T14:18:18","slug":"weed-killers-killing-bee-populations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/weed-killers-killing-bee-populations\/","title":{"rendered":"Weed Killers Are Killing Bee Populations"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world wouldn\u2019t be the same without bees, and not only because there wouldn\u2019t be any honey to put in our tea. Bees are primarily responsible for pollinating one-third<\/a> of the food humans consume each day.<\/p>\n

Food supplies, industries and national economies are all dependent on the survival of our six-legged friends.<\/p>\n

However, new research<\/a> from the University of Texas at Austin shows that we are killing bees by using popular weed killers.<\/p>\n

When bees are exposed to glyphosate, the active ingredient in weed killers like Roundup, they lose good gut bacteria needed to fight off harmful bacteria that can cause infection and death.<\/p>\n

The researchers expect that exposure to glyphosate could be contributing to the decline of bee species around the world, including the honeymakers.<\/p>\n

Glyphosate has long been believed to only interfere with an enzyme found in plants and microorganisms, so people have felt safe using it in their yards even if they have pets or children.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need better guidelines for glyphosate use, especially regarding bee exposure, because right now the guidelines assume bees are not harmed by the herbicide,\u201d Erick Motta<\/a>, a graduate student at UT Austin and co-leader of the research, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur study shows that\u2019s not true,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

The study<\/b><\/h2>\n

During the study, the researchers exposed honey bees to a similar amount of glyphosate that is expected to be in yards, crop fields and roadsides.<\/p>\n

After three days of exposure, the researchers found significant reductions of healthy gut microbiota. Four of the eight bacterias typically found in the guts of healthy bees were significantly reduced.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudies in humans, bees and other animals have shown that the gut microbiome is a stable community that resists infection by opportunistic invaders,\u201d Nancy Moran<\/a>, a professor of integrative biology at UT Austin and co-leader of the research, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if you disrupt the normal, stable community, you are more susceptible to this invasion of pathogens,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

What can be done?<\/b><\/h2>\n

For years now, U.S. beekeepers have been noticing a decline in their bee populations<\/a>. This phenomenon has become known as colony collapse disorder.<\/p>\n

Farmers and others have blamed habitat loss, bacterial infections and exposure to pesticides or antibiotics for their lack of pollinators. This new study adds herbicides to that list.<\/p>\n

The researchers urge farmers, homeowners and landscapers to avoid using glyphosate-based herbicides on flowering plants that bees will likely want to pollinate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the only thing causing all these bee deaths, but it is definitely something people should worry about because glyphosate is used everywhere,\u201d Motta said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world wouldn\u2019t be the same without bees, and not only because there wouldn\u2019t be any honey to put in our tea. Bees are primarily responsible for pollinating one-third of the food humans consume each day. Food supplies, industries and national economies are all dependent on the survival of our six-legged friends. However, new research […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":26838,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[636,233,230,462,251,463,464,465,466,457,458,467,461,229],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biodiversity","category-sustainable","category-news","category-the-university-of-texas-at-arlington","category-the-university-of-texas-at-austin","category-the-university-of-texas-at-dallas","category-the-university-of-texas-at-el-paso","category-the-university-of-texas-at-san-antonio","category-the-university-of-texas-at-tyler","category-the-university-of-texas-health-science-center-at-houston","category-the-university-of-texas-health-science-center-at-san-antonio","category-the-university-of-texas-of-the-permian-basin","category-the-university-of-texas-rio-grande-valley","category-lead-stories"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/bee.jpg",830,533,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/bee-224x144.jpg",224,144,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/bee-300x193.jpg",300,193,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/bee.jpg",830,533,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/bee.jpg",830,533,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/bee.jpg",830,533,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/bee.jpg",830,533,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Jackson Schroeder","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/author\/jackson-schroeder\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The world wouldn\u2019t be the same without bees, and not only because there wouldn\u2019t be any honey to put in our tea. Bees are primarily responsible for pollinating one-third of the food humans consume each day. Food supplies, industries and national economies are all dependent on the survival of our six-legged friends. However, new research…","featured_media_src_url":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/bee.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}