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  • From: john harrell <johnharrell666 AT gmail.com>
  • To: "ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org" <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [ocba] Fwd: [NCSBA-Chapters] NCSU Apiculture Program update
  • Date: Tue, 17 May 2011 21:59:47 -0400

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "David R. Tarpy" <david_tarpy AT ncsu.edu>
Date: May 17, 2011 2:48 PM
Subject: [NCSBA-Chapters] NCSU Apiculture Program update
To: "County Listserv" <ncsba-chapters-list AT rtpnet.org>
Cc: "NCSBA Committee Executive" <ncsba-list AT rtpnet.org>

Hi everyone,

In case you haven't seen it, our website has had a complete makeover! All of the information, beekeeping notes, and other materials are still available as before, but you might need to check any links to make sure they still work. Moreover, in an effort to move into the 21st century, we're also now on FaceBook and Twitter, so log on so you can "like" us (on FaceBook), follow us (on Twitter), or both!

Also, there have been a couple of prominent news releases in the last couple of days that I'd like to bring to your attention. First, today the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack personally announced a new nationwide initiative, named the Bee Informed Partnership, that endeavors to decrease the number of managed honey bee colonies that die over the winter. The NC State Apiculture Program is one of the many partnering institutions on this effort, which is being spearheaded by Penn State. The project has been ongoing for several months now, but we've been under a media embargo until 1:00 today so we haven't been able to discuss it publicly. More information can be found on our website or in the press release at:

http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/agcomm/news-center/media-releases/bee-informed-to-inform-beekeepers/
http://live.psu.edu/story/53444

Second, this past weekend, Fox News published a story that once again linked cell phones with CCD. The paper that prompted the story, titled "Mobile phone-induced honeybee worker piping," was published in the leading bee journal Apidologie. As a member of the editorial board, I had some concerns about how the study might be misinterpreted. The paper makes some interesting observations about electromagnetic perception of bees and how it may affect certain behaviors. One behavior that is measured is worker piping, which is one of the (many) signals involved during swarming. The paper states in the discussion "Further confirmation of the current results and their implications regarding a direct correlation between erratic honeybee behavior and mobile phone-generated electromagnetic fields would substantiate one more explanation for the “disappearance” of bee colonies around the world." However, the paper in no way induced swarming, colony collapse, or even provides evidence of a direct link between the two. As such, please disregard this story as misinformation and overly speculative.

Thanks for everything, and let me know if you have any questions! Sincerely, David



******************************
David R. Tarpy
Associate Professor and Extension Apiculturist
Department of Entomology, Campus Box 7613
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC  27695-7613
TEL: (919) 515-1660
FAX: (919) 515-7746
CELL: (919) 218-4084
LAB: (919) 513-7702
WEB: http://entomology.ncsu.edu/apiculture
EMAIL: david_tarpy AT ncsu.edu

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  • [ocba] Fwd: [NCSBA-Chapters] NCSU Apiculture Program update, john harrell, 05/17/2011

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