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by Heather Callaghan
November 04, 2013
from
NaturalBlaze Website
Image: Carpenter bee
Credit: Sandra Rehan
A first-grade field trip to one of
the top-ten U.S. zoos led us to a prehistoric bee display. It
was much bigger than my little fist. It was like a radish on top
of turnip but dark brown with faded yellow stripes and fuzzy
tarantula legs. It was so horrifying to think of encountering a
giant killer bee with a 4-inch stinger during the time that
dinosaurs roamed. What a first-grader wouldn't realize is that
the display would have been a model, as there is a poor fossil
record for bees, making it difficult to pin down the wipe-out of
their ancestors.
What happened to those guys?
A fascinating new discovery about bees in prehistoric times
actually sheds a lot of light on our current situation with
massive bee die-off and colony collapse disorder. A vast
majority of people are still under the impression that it will
simply resolve itself; but really, we might be on the brink of
an endangered era with already visible impact. Even an
endangered classification for bees today would mean major
ecological devastation.
A recent milestone: scientists for the first time have
documented the mass bee extinction dated to have occurred 65
million years ago. It coincides with the huge event that wiped
out the land-roaming dinosaurs and much of the flowering plant
life.
This is still often called the K-T boundary - the end of the
Cretaceous era and beginning of the Paleogene eras where a
massive event like a meteorite or a series of events impacted
the environment so immensely that plant-life died off, taking
with it most of the non-avian dinosaurs.
 Until
now, due to the lack of fossil records, not much has been said
about the bees of this period. Current amber-encased bees date
to 45 million years ago. A study, however, led by
Sandra Rehan, assistant professor of biological sciences at
University of New Hampshire used a technique called molecular
phylogenetics ("tribe origin") to analyze DNA sequences of four
tribes of 230 carpenter bee species from six continents. This
gives researchers insight into consistent patterns of
evolutionary relationships like animals and plants.
In this study "First Evidence for a Massive Extinction Event
Affecting Bees Close to the K-T Boundary," published recently in
PLOSOne Journal, they combined the sequencing with existing
fossil records so that they could also introduce time into the
equation. This helps to discover data like how old the bees are,
how they are related, and what happened when a particular family
nearly vanished completely.
BBC News reported:
...the researchers were able to
use an extinct group of Xylocopinae [carpenter bees] as a
calibration point for timing the dispersal of these bees.
They were also able to study
flower fossils that had evolved traits that allowed them to
be pollinated by bee relatives of the Xylocopinae.
Sandra Rehan
said:
The data told us something major
was happening in four different groups of bees at the same
time. And it happened to be the same time the dinosaurs went
extinct.
If you could tell their whole
story, maybe people would care more about protecting them.
Understanding extinctions and
the effects of declines in the past can help us understand
the pollinator decline and the global crisis in pollinators
today.
Study co-leader, Mike Schwarz,
pointed to a lot of diversification among the bee family
followed by stalled diversification followed by sudden increase
in the four bee tribes, indicating an extinction event that
could have completely wiped out other competitive bee species
allowing remaining species to eventually rise again.
He delved into the important findings of the symbiotic
relationship a particular type of flower and carpenter bee
ancestors shared. Eucidot flowers originated around the same
time.
There was a lot of climate
change just before the K-T boundary that also resulted in a
global loss of flowering plant species. Both would have
affected pollinator numbers.
And for plants that have a close
relationship with the insects, losing their pollinators
would have magnified their own loss. It was a real double
whammy.
 He
emphasized climate changes, whereas Rehan focuses on bee
behavior, relationships and diversity. Admittedly, we have an
attempt at modern-day, man-made climate change --
atmospheric geoengineering. It has been suggested that the
thick haze veiling the sun could have impacts on agriculture,
not to mention the metallic residue fallout. Interestingly, part
of the theory of the K-T boundary event(s) surrounds the idea
that meteorite dust covered the sun and led to mass plant
die-off.
My thoughts mirror the ones in Sandra's
press release, "Indeed, the findings of this study have
important implications for today's concern about the loss in
diversity of bees, a pivotal species for agriculture and
biodiversity."
Monoculture (versus polycuture and biodiversity) is increasing
due to corporate biotech monopolies and large-scale farming
practices. Genetic engineering starting in the mid '90s and
various types introduced in the early 2000s allowed for extra
mass pesticide spraying. While a lot of it worked for farmers in
2003, now survivor pests like corn rootworm are
running rampant on their crops while "helper bugs" like bees
and butterflies continue to die out. Those are just a couple
factors implicated in the vanishing of the bees, scarily
noticeable starting in 2006. Yet,
polyculture and biodiversity are just one of the many
methods to increase yields, nix pesticide use, and keep the
biodiversity that will help bring back pollinator species.
What if these modern-day practices combine to form a less
intense event, not so suddenly traumatic, that impacts the
environment to the point of actually losing pollinator species
in the near future? Will prehistoric answers help create action
for today?
Image: Carpenter bee, Credit: Sandra Rehan
Heather Callaghan is a natural health blogger and food
freedom activist. - See more at: http://www.naturalblaze.com/2013/11/prehistoric-clues-might-offer-answers.html#sthash.IRjwR8jo.dpuf
A first-grade field
trip to one of the top-ten U.S. zoos led us to a prehistoric bee
display.
It was much bigger
than my little fist. It was like a radish on top of turnip but dark
brown with faded yellow stripes and fuzzy tarantula legs. It was so
horrifying to think of encountering a giant killer bee with a 4-inch
stinger during the time that dinosaurs roamed.
What a first-grader
wouldn't realize is that the display would have been a model, as
there is a poor fossil record for bees, making it difficult to pin
down the wipe-out of their ancestors.
What happened
to those guys?
A fascinating new discovery about bees in prehistoric times actually
sheds a lot of light on our current situation with massive bee
die-off and colony collapse disorder.
A vast majority of
people are still under the impression that it will simply resolve
itself; but really, we might be on the brink of an endangered era
with already visible impact. Even an endangered classification for
bees today would mean major ecological devastation.
A recent milestone: scientists for the first time have documented
the mass bee extinction dated to have occurred 65 million years ago.
It coincides with the huge event that wiped out the land-roaming
dinosaurs and much of the flowering plant life.
This is still often called
the K-T boundary - the end of the
Cretaceous era and beginning of the Paleogene eras where a massive
event like a meteorite or a series of events impacted the
environment so immensely that plant-life died off, taking with it
most of the non-avian dinosaurs.
Until now, due to the lack of fossil records, not much has been said
about the bees of this period. Current amber-encased bees date to 45
million years ago.
A study,
however, led by
Sandra Rehan,
assistant professor of biological sciences at University of New
Hampshire used a technique called
molecular phylogenetics ("tribe
origin") to analyze DNA sequences of four tribes of 230 carpenter
bee species from six continents.
This gives
researchers insight into consistent patterns of evolutionary
relationships like animals and plants.
In this study "First Evidence for a Massive Extinction Event
Affecting Bees Close to the K-T Boundary," published recently in
PLOSOne Journal,
they combined the sequencing with existing fossil records so that
they could also introduce time into the equation.
This helps to
discover data like how old the bees are, how they are related, and
what happened when a particular family nearly vanished completely.
BBC News reported:
...the
researchers were able to use an extinct group of Xylocopinae
[carpenter bees] as a calibration point for timing the dispersal
of these bees. They were also
able to study flower fossils that had evolved traits that
allowed them to be pollinated by bee relatives of the
Xylocopinae.
Sandra Rehan
said:
The data told us
something major was happening in four different groups of bees
at the same time. And it happened to be the same time the
dinosaurs went extinct.
If you could tell
their whole story, maybe people would care more about protecting
them.
Understanding
extinctions and the effects of declines in the past can help us
understand the pollinator decline and the global crisis in
pollinators today.
Study
co-leader, Mike Schwarz,
pointed to
a lot of diversification among the bee family followed by stalled
diversification followed by sudden increase in the four bee tribes,
indicating an extinction event that could have completely wiped out
other competitive bee species allowing remaining species to
eventually rise again.
He delved into the important findings of the symbiotic relationship
a particular type of flower and carpenter bee ancestors shared.
Eudicots flowers
originated around the same time.
There was a lot
of climate change just before the K-T boundary that also
resulted in a global loss of flowering plant species. Both would
have affected pollinator numbers.
And for plants
that have a close relationship with the insects, losing their
pollinators would have magnified their own loss. It was a real
double whammy.
He emphasized
climate changes, whereas Rehan focuses on bee behavior,
relationships and diversity.
Admittedly, we
have an attempt at modern-day, man-made climate change -
atmospheric geoengineering.
It has been suggested that the thick haze veiling the sun could have
impacts on agriculture, not to mention the metallic residue fallout.
Interestingly, part of the theory of the K-T boundary event(s)
surrounds the idea that meteorite dust covered the sun and led to
mass plant die-off.
My thoughts mirror the ones in Sandra's
press release,
"Indeed,
the findings of this study have important implications for
today's concern about the loss in diversity of bees, a pivotal
species for agriculture and biodiversity."
Monoculture
(versus polycuture and biodiversity) is increasing due to corporate
biotech monopolies and large-scale farming practices.
Genetic
engineering starting in the mid '90s and various types introduced in
the early 2000s allowed for extra mass pesticide spraying. While a
lot of it worked for farmers in 2003, now survivor pests like corn
rootworm are
running rampant on
their crops while "helper bugs" like bees and butterflies continue
to die out.
Those are just
a couple factors implicated in the vanishing of the bees, scarily
noticeable starting in 2006.
Yet,
polyculture and biodiversity
are just one of the many methods to increase yields, nix pesticide
use, and keep the biodiversity that will help bring back pollinator
species.
-
What if these
modern-day practices combine to form a less intense event,
not so suddenly traumatic, that impacts the environment to
the point of actually losing pollinator species in the near
future?
-
Will
prehistoric answers help create action for today?
|
