Hives Made of Mushrooms Could Save Bee Colonies from Collapse
A mushroom farmer and a scientist have created a beehive containing fungi that might just be the key to saving the imperiled honey bee.
Farmer Paul Stamets started thinking there might be a possible relationship between his crop of mushrooms and bee health after he watched the insects in his garden eating the root-like filaments called mycelium.
With bee populations collapsing since the 1980s and threatening world food supplies, scientists are groping for answers. At least 61 culprits–from viruses to pesticides–are to blame, but one of the biggest threats is a mite that exploded on the scene in 1987.
The lifespan of the varroa destructor mite is so short-lived, it has been able to evolve and develop resistance to pesticides that have been previously able to control it.
Stamets launched a research project — backed by the National Institutes of Health and the Defense Department — that eventually allowed him to show that compounds in certain mushrooms can boost a bee’s immune system.
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/beehives-made-of-mushrooms-could-save-colonies-from-collapse/
With bee populations collapsing since the 1980s and threatening world food supplies, scientists are groping for answers. At least 61 culprits–from viruses to pesticides–are to blame, but one of the biggest threats is a mite that exploded on the scene in 1987.
The lifespan of the varroa destructor mite is so short-lived, it has been able to evolve and develop resistance to pesticides that have been previously able to control it.
Stamets launched a research project — backed by the National Institutes of Health and the Defense Department — that eventually allowed him to show that compounds in certain mushrooms can boost a bee’s immune system.
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/beehives-made-of-mushrooms-could-save-colonies-from-collapse/