ECTD_159

TITLE: Effects of a volcanic eruption.

SOURCE: Bee World 61 (4) 153 – 154

DATE: 1980

152

54. NILSSON, C. (1975) [Damage to Brassica pod midge to winter and summer oil seed crops in Central Sweden.] Statens Vaxtskyddsanstalt Meddelanden 16 (162) : 61-71 In Swedish

55. OLLSON, G. ; PERSSON, B. (1958) Inkorsningsgrad och sjalvstorilitet raps. Sver. Utsddesfor. Tidsk. 68 : 74-78

56. PALMER, S. (1959) A nectar source par excellence. Glean. Bee Cult. 87 : 460-461 57. PAWLIKOWSKI, T . (1978) [Food relationships of Apoidea occurring on winter rape

crops and other plants in the neighbourhood of Torun (Poland).] Polskie Pismo ent. 48 : 267-277 In Polish

58. PETKOV, V. (1963) Nectar and honey productivity of winter rape. Izv. Inst. Ovosh-charstvo 5 : 181-188 In Bulgarian

59. PICKARCZYK, K. (1976) [Characteristics of the development, appearance and injurious-ness of the main pests of industrial plants in Poland in 1974.] Biul. Inst. Ochr. Rosl. 60 : 213-261 In Polish

60. PRITSCH, G. (1965) Untersuchungen iiber die Steigerung der Olfruchtertrage durch Honigbienen. Ved. Prdce Vyzk. Ust. Vcelar. czasv. 4 : 157-163

61. PUTNAM, L. G. (1975) Insect pests of Brassica seed crops and of flax: Economics and control, pp. 455-474 from Oil seed and pulse crops in Western Canada

62. RADCHENKO, T . G. (1964) [The influence of pollination on the crop and the quality of seed of winter rape.]- Bdzhil'nitstvo 1 : 68-74 In Ukrainian

63. RAHMAN, K. A. (1940) Insect pollinators of toria (Brassica napus Linn, var.' dichotoma Prain) and sarson (Brassica campestris Linn. var. sarson Prain) at Lyallpur. Indian J. agric. Sci. 10 : 422-447

64. RAI , B. K. (1976) Pests of oilseed crops in India and their control. Neiv Delhi: Indian Council of Agricultural Research

65. RIVES, M. (1957) .Etudes sur la selection du colza d'hiver. Annls Inst. natn. Rcch. agron., Paris. Ser B. (Annls. Amel.) 7 : 61-107

66. RODER, K.; DAEHELER, C . J LEDGE, G. (1975) Uberwachung von Schadinsekten in der

industrimassigen Rapsproduction. NachrBl.JPflSchutzdienst DDR 29 : 191-194 67. SARINGER, G. (1978) Problems with Ceuthorrhynchus quadridens Panz. (Col. Curculion-

idae) in Hungary. Proc. V int. Rapeseed Conf. Malmo : 315-317 68. SHARMA, P. L. (1958) Sugar concentration of nectar of some Punjab honey plants.

Indian Bee J. 20 : 86-91 69. SINGH, S. (1954) Insect pollinators and the breeding of fruit varieties. Indian J. Hon.

11: 6-9 70. STEVENSON, J. H. (1955) Onderzoek naar de Wijze waarop de Koolzaad galmug

(Dasyneura brassicae Winn.) haar Eieren legt op Koolzaad (Brassica napus L.) Tijdschr. PIZiekt. 61 : 81-87

71. (1978) The acute toxicity of unformulated pesticides to worker honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) PI. Pafi. 27 : 38-40

72. STEVENSON, J. H . j S M A R T ^ L . E. (1979) Oil seed rape and honeybee poisoning—1978, 1979. Proc.X By. Insecticide Fungicide Conf.: 117-120

73. T W I N N , D . C.J L A C Y / J . C. (1979) Honeybee tolerance to phosalone applied to winter oil seed rapgf Proc. X Br. Insecticide Fungicide Conf. : 121-128

74. VESELY, V. (1962) Vyjadreni ekonomicke iicinnosti opylovaci cinnosti vcel no fepce ozime (Brassica napus L. var. oleifera Metz). Sb. esl. Akad. zemed. Ved. Ekon. 35 : 659-678

75. WAGNER, M. (1954) Insucht und Heterosis bei Raps und Riibsen. Z. PflZucht. 33 : 237-266

t&L l**id (c \Qi): l$l - (^ 76. W A N I C , D . ; MOSTOWSKA, I. (1964) Cukrowce w nektarze i miodzie. Zesz. nauk.

wyzsz. Szk. roln. Olsztyn 17 : 543-551 77. WILLIAMS, I. H. (1976) The infestation of oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) by the pests

Meligethes aeneus Fab. and Ceuthorhynchus assimilis Payk. Univ. Lond.: Ph.D. Thesis ^

78. (1978a) The pollination'requirements of swede rape (Brassica napus L.) and of turnip rape (Brassica campestris L.). J. agric. Sci., Camb. 91 : 343-348

79. (19786) Pests and pollination of oil-seed rape crops in England. Ilford, UK; Central Association of Bee-keepers

80. WILLIAMS, I. H . J FREE, J. B. (1975) The pollination and set of the early flowers of runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus L.). J. hort. Sci. 50 : 405-413

81. (1978) The feeding and mating behaviour of pollen beetles (Meligethes aeneus Fab.), and seed weevils (Ceuthorhynchus assimilis Payk.) on soil-seed rape (Brassica napus L.). J. agric Sci., Camb. 9 1 : 453-459

82. (1979) Compensation of oil-seed rape (Brassica napus L.). plants after damage to their buds and pods. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 92: 53-59

83. ZANDER, E. (1951) Raps und Biene. Z. Bienenforsch. 1 : 135-140

Effects of a volcanic eruption M o u n t St. Helens , near the Pacific seaboard of the U S A , e rup ted on 18 M a y 1980. T h e loss of h u m a n life, and the large-scale effects of the erupt ion, immediate ly became world news, b u t here we give some f irs t-hand reports about t he effects on bees, f rom beekeepers in the area. T h e y are taken from The speedy bee 9(5) : 12-14 (1980)

M o u n t St. Helens is in the Cascade Range tha t runs parallel to the Pacific Coast , in Wash ing ton State. Immedia te ly to the east lies t he Yakima valley, an im­por tan t frui t -growing and beekeeping area. T h e ash mostly fell to the east of t h e volcano ; Yakima itself was covered with a layer about an inch (2 • 5 cm) thick, bu t in t h e U p p e r Columbia Basin farther east t he ash was 3-5 inches thick, a n d much, finer.

Repor t s about t he bees dur ing the erupt ion varied. M r . and Mrs . Longanecker , Secretary of the Washington State B K A , r e p o r t e d : T h e sky had the appearance of a heavy t h u n d e r s t o r m as the cloud of ash appeared. T h e bees ' came h o m e ' as if bad weather was in the offing. T h e sky got 'darker t han any night '—' l ike be ing in a cave ' . La te r in t h e day, after t he sky h a d l ightened, t he bees were i l l - tempered. Nea r Rich land (where the Yakima river joins t h e Columbia , and 240 k m from the volcano) M r . Ivan W h i d d e n heard a series of explosions while he was inspect ing an apiary of 216 colonies, bu t did no t t h e n k n o w their origin. T h e bees were t hen most unusual ly gentle. W h e n the cloud of ash came over the bees behaved as a t nightfall , and only later on in the day did they become 'nervous and mean ' .

154

There is no news on close-up effects of lava or mud; it was ash, falling from above over a wide area, that caused most of the trouble reported. Effects of the ash differed in different areas, depending on its characteristics. In general the coarse ash fell nearer the eruption and the fine ash (grains smaller than 1 ^m) farther away.

All ash is heavy, and it damaged crops through its sheer weight (200-450 tonnes per hectare) as well as by blanketing the plants off from the air. In some places rain helped to wash the ash off, but elsewhere it caked the resultant mud into something like cement. Everywhere, the dry ash could blow to new areas, and lying ash sealed the surface of the soil so that water could not penetrate normally. Many beekeepers in Washington State depend on alfalfa for a honey crop, and they may get a bonus if the alfalfa is left to flower instead of being harvested, because the adhering ash makes it unpalatable to livestock.

The immediate effect of the ash on bees was not unlike a moderate pesticide kill, according to the Longaneckers. There was an immediate kill of foraging bees, from direct ash contect. The cause of death, whether from abrasiveness of the ash, dryness, or suffocation, is still under investigation. Colonies then began to suffer. Some were heavily dependent on foragers for immediate sustenance, and these began to die. Brood was dragged out of some hives, whether due to death from lack of food or from contamination by ash is open to conjecture.

Dr. C. A. Johanson, beekeeping specialist in the State, said that the field force was killed in colonies even at Pullman, where only half an inch of ash fell. His best estimate is that the bees suffocated in the dust. Some brood was killed too. With no major nectar flows on, it was not possible to predict whether the ash would show up in honey. Where there had been rain, dandelions soon started to come up through the ash.

The immediate rescue operation consisted in taking colonies to ash-free areas, and these existed to the north and east, and west of the Cascades. But one difficulty was the abrasive choking action of the ash on machinery, so that vehicles were put out of action.

The estimated immediate loss of bees in eastern Washington is 12 000 heavily damaged colonies out of 70 000 and the others damaged in varying degrees. Only time will tell what long-term effects are produced by the eruption.

EVA CRANE

Ts~^ 155

Bumble bee atlas After many delays at the printers, the Atlas of the bumblebees of the British Isles is now published. In A4 format, and with an attractive colour photograph on the cover, it presents the final maps of the Bumblebee Distribution Maps Scheme, which was organized by IBRA from 1970 to 1976 (see Bee World 57 : 79Mtf$76) and earlier reports). /

The map entries are distinguished according to whether they refer/to records from 1960 onwards, or to pre-1960 records only. Most of the former were obtained in the survey, and the interest that this created led to the active participation of 980 observers in Britain and Ireland. Together they provided records in 2700 out of the 3600 10-km grid squares involved, resulting in some 13 5^0 map entries.

While various species of bumble bees are now recorded i nmany areas for the first time, the maps provide no basis for any idea that bumb/e bees are becoming more widely distributed, or that their populations are increasing. On the contrary, there are many 10-km grid squares with pre-1960 records/for a number of species, that did not provide records for them in the survey, ak*hough other bumble bees were found in them. This is usually likely to indicate/a decline in the populations of the species concerned; such species are marked *vith two asterisks below; one asterisk indicates a possible decline. /

The maps show that today the only generally common species are Bombus hortorum*, B. lapidarius*, B. lucorum*, B. puscuorum, B. pratorum (which has increased its distribution in Ireland) and B.ferrestris*. Five other species are still fairly well represented in some of their ^appropriate localities: B. jonellus*, B. lapponicus*, B. magnus, B. muscorum* And B. m. smithianus, B. ruder•arius**. Others (notably B. distinguendus**, B./humilis**, B. ritderatus**, B. soroeensis**, B. subteranneus** and B. sylvarum**\4ive: now much more limited in their distribu­tion. No records have been obtained of B. cullumanus* *, and this species—like B. pomorum—is probably now extmct in Britain as well as in Ireland; there is one pre-1960 record in Kent. H o w l e r , on the positive side, in 1974 Dr. M. C D. Speight obtained the first exajnples of B. lapponicus in Ireland, as a direct result of BDMS. /

The parasitic Psithyrus species, sometimes known as cuckoo bees, are never as numerous as their respective host species of Bombus (included in brackets below). Five of the six known Psithyrus in Britain and Ireland were still found in both islands: P. barbutellus*/(B. hortorum), P. bohemicus* (B. lucorum), P. campestris (B. pascuorum), P. rppestris** (B. lapidarius), P. sylvestris* (B. pratorum), but P. vestalis* (B. terrfstris) was not recorded in Ireland.

The record card's give further information than that published in the maps, including date and locality, and sometimes altitude, habitat (often with the plant species on whigh the bee was recorded), and whether the specimen was a queen, male or worked. These cards are stored at IBRA, and would be made available to appropriate .enquirers able to analyse some of the data they contain.

The Atlas was compiled by International Bee Research Association and the BiologicaJ/Records Centre, Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Natural Environment Research Council, and can be purchased from IBRA, price £2 or US$4.60 post free.