Key points:
- A New Zealand researcher says varroa mite caused feral bees to die-off within two seasons
- An infestation of 9,000 varroa mites has been detected in a Central Coast feral bee swarm
- Swarms are being caught to help amateur beekeepers restock
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Varroa mite has forced the euthanasia of hundreds of millions of European honeybees by authorities since it was detected at the Port of Newcastle in June last year.
While a transition from eradication of the deadly parasitic mite to management will enable beekeepers to treat infested hives, feral bees in Australia are expected to vanish, possibly within three years.
“As soon as that varroa mite comes through, you end up in a situation where, without some sort of treatment, those hives aren’t going to survive any kind of adverse events,” he said.
Authorities in New South Wales have detected an infestation of 9,000 varroa mites on a feral bee swarm on the Central Coast.
Deputy incident controller Shannon Mulholland said mites had been detected predominantly in wild colonies within the Hunter and Central Coast, where there were a large number of infested properties.
Dr Mulholland recommended against beekeepers catching swarms in the varroa mite management zones.
The original article contains 626 words, the summary contains 149 words. Saved 76%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Is it just European honeybees? Let them die, they displace native pollinators, which are generally more efficient on native flora.
There’s an awful lot of introduced flora that will be impacted by a loss off european bees
In cities and around farms, there’ll be managed hives around still
Good
I wonder, though, will the native pollinator populations rebound fast enough to be able to pick up the slack for native flora?