Urban Apiculture Dissertation

[beebopper]

Sorry it's off topic and this probably deserves a thread of its own .. if this is the best that Cambridge University Zoology department can come up with then I just wonder where they got the money for this research and the rubbish conclusion they came to ... and if Sarah Knapton, Science editor of the Telegraph has got any sort of qualifications apart from a CSE in media studies I will be astounded.

What rubbish .....

Shame on you Dr Gelmann - you should learn about Honeybees and Beekeepers before condemning them:

https://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/directory/jonas-geldmann

To be fair has an article published in a well respected peer reviewed journal.
Must say this idea has crossed my mind - cannot see what your credentials are to be so categoric. You also present no counter ideas/arguments.
Bash the experts when they don't say what you want.
Quote them when they do.

Its a reasonable hypothesis which warrants work done on it, especially the disease vectors notion.
Unfortunately cannot read the whole article as I don't have access to Science Journal (a top and well respected publication).

 

[coffindodger]

To be fair has an article published in a well respected peer reviewed journal.
Must say this idea has crossed my mind - cannot see what your credentials are to be so categoric. You also present no counter ideas/arguments.
Bash the experts when they don't say what you want.
Quote them when they do.

Its a reasonable hypothesis which warrants work done on it, especially the disease vectors notion.
Unfortunately cannot read the whole article as I don't have access to Science Journal (a top and well respected publication).

As always the press don't read before writing! The paper is quite comprehensive, but a good summary is to be read here:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180125140910.htm

Not quite the sound-bite the media likes and a good explanation of the reasons Am expansion can be a problem.

 

[thorn]

Hi there,

I am a third year student at Exeter University, and for my postgrad dissertation I am examining the rise of urban apiculture in London. How our relationship to honeybees has changed in recent years, and the public awareness of urban apiculture.

Would any London beekeepers be interested in having a phone interview about their experiences of keeping honeybees in London?

Thank you so much!

You may get a more positive response from Fortnum and Mason, where there are hives on the roof, than you’re getting here.

 

[user 6228]

As always the press don't read before writing! The paper is quite comprehensive, but a good summary is to be read here:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180125140910.htm

Not quite the sound-bite the media likes and a good explanation of the reasons Am expansion can be a problem.

I agree with the paper - adding honeybees on their own doesnt fix anything and does make things worse
but if you add honey bees and in the process make the habitat much better, then it does improve things.
If honey bees are the poster girls for fixing the environment then Go girls go. But if you think just keeping honey bees is all you have to do then what you end up with are the ecological deserts of U.S. Almond groves.

 

[Millet]

Unfotunately, we also have a lot less forage - for all pollinators - than we had 30 years ago....

I 100% Agree with you, intensive farming hedges ripped out to make fields bigger..Dairy farmers destroy every weed and flower known to man apart from grass.. farmland sold of for property development on a huge scale leaves very little land spare to go wild anymore.. and to add to that locally the council cut the grass on all the playing fields and green belts far too often.. 40yrs ago it was left for longer periods and all grass was almost white with clover all the hedgerows where full of weeds and you where lucky if you did not get stung when playing in that environment as a child.. we definitely have less forage for any pollen and nectar feeding insects these day's ..