Bee symposium broaches barcodes on bugs

by Rob Peters | May 15, 2008 at 02:14 pm

2563 views | 22 Recommendations | 55 comments

Bee experts are abuzz at York University this week, discussing a plan to put barcodes on bees for targeting crop pollination.

International bee experts have converged on Toronto to develop a plan to catalogue all species of the insect across the planet.

According to York biology professor Laurence Packer, who's leading the group's efforts, precisely 19,231 different kinds of bees have been identified. But he thinks there might be another 5,000 or more species out there waiting.

Sadly, he said, some will likely become extinct before researchers can catch them, stick a pin through their bellies and test their DNA.

The bee gang clustering at York is trying to launch a DNA bar-coding campaign to more easily track all the bees in the world. Once their DNA is mapped, the little critters would carry a unique identifier that scientists could access from anywhere in the world.

"The barcode in a grocery store tells you that you're getting Cadbury's milk chocolate rather than some other company's," Packer said. "The barcode on a specimen tells you that this is an important pollinator for blueberries, rather than an important pollinator for apples or canola."

The group is hoping to get funding of $700,000 to complete the task.

He said giving each species a name – and a barcode – would help those developing the technology to use wild bees for specific pollination tasks, especially since so many bees look alike.

"There are places on the planet where people aren't getting enough to eat as a result of insufficient pollination of the crops that they grow," Packer said. "In these places, the knowledge about what bees do is abysmal.

"There are places where farmers think bees that visit their crop are damaging it, rather than actually making the crop possible in the first place."

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Karen Hatter

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 15:25 on May 15th, 2008

Still no hard answers for what's causing colony collapse disorder, huh? Let's hope something's found out and a possible remedy discovered to halt it before it's too late.

infinite.magic

at 06:43 on May 16th, 2008

Very interesting article, thanks for doing the research and sharing. I didn't know any of that. I really hope they are able to accomplish what they want to help others that need the information.

L.Paiva

at 07:35 on May 16th, 2008

Walking for the Jardim Botânico of the city of Rio De Janeiro, I saw this bee aparently feeding in the espádice of Anthurium andraeanum and I could not resist and I registered this image.

L.Paiva has contributed a photo to this story.

isadoreberg

at 07:56 on May 16th, 2008

Several of these were seen on the peony buds and buzzing around the garden.

isadoreberg has contributed a photo to this story.

aka fotography

at 08:03 on May 16th, 2008

I was visiting my parents and saw this beautiful flower. Just before I took the shot, a bee landed dead center on the flower. It was perfect.

aka fotography has contributed a photo to this story.

Veronica Herrera

at 08:08 on May 16th, 2008

This is Bombus The Bee, one of the many super size sculptures found at the Eden Project in Cornwall, England.

Veronica Herrera has contributed a photo to this story.

dazed.beautiful

at 08:42 on May 16th, 2008

this bumblebee flew from flower to flower in a split second, looking for anything he could grab up & take back home.

dazed.beautiful has contributed a photo to this story.

Cyn

at 08:53 on May 16th, 2008

Cyn has contributed a photo to this story.

KAYYY 4

at 08:55 on May 16th, 2008

Its my picture :)

KAYYY 4 has contributed a photo to this story.

capturedbycarol

at 09:04 on May 16th, 2008

After several hours patiently trying for a near perfect shot, this bee took pity on me and sat still long enough to click!

capturedbycarol has contributed a photo to this story.

tr00pswuz

at 09:22 on May 16th, 2008

this photo was taken in vienna, austria

tr00pswuz has contributed a photo to this story.

snapshots_4a_shutterbug

at 11:57 on May 16th, 2008

snapshots_4a_shutterbug has contributed a photo to this story.

ThunderFlash

at 12:02 on May 16th, 2008

I took this photo whilst on a walk just oustide Aberdeen, Scotland. The bee was indeed very busy going from flower to flower in seconds, a lucky capture these days as they seem to be becoming quite rare around here.

ThunderFlash has contributed a photo to this story.

Vantain

at 12:03 on May 16th, 2008

Just was walking around and I wanted a picture of a bee and found one.

Vantain has contributed a photo to this story.

takisleontidis

at 12:10 on May 16th, 2008

During a sort trip in south Peloponnese, Greece I was taking photos of this wild carnation when this beautiful honey bee approached to the flower to collect nectar and pollen. I was lucky enough to capture the beautiful insect on air. As an agronomist I have learned to respect honey bees for their beautiful social life but also for their contribution to our life through the production of nutritional products like honey and for their too important role in the production of many fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately in my country, Greece, farmers don't respect the importance of these animals in their production process and as a result we have the loose of many bee's swarms every year because of field's spraying without warning to the beekeepers.

takisleontidis has contributed a photo to this story.

-taro

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 12:29 on May 16th, 2008

Rob Peters, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Donna Westerman Bowen

at 12:52 on May 16th, 2008

A bee gathering pollen in Alabama.

Donna Westerman Bowen has contributed a photo to this story.

Nouddegreef

at 13:07 on May 16th, 2008

Bee on a rhododendron. The Netherlands.

Nouddegreef has contributed a photo to this story.

aprilsaurus

at 13:21 on May 16th, 2008

This is an unusual bee to me (not the fuzzy kind). Its back in shiny with yellow markings.

aprilsaurus has contributed a photo to this story.

aka fotography

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 13:24 on May 16th, 2008

Rob Peters, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Super_Mom

at 13:43 on May 16th, 2008

We were at the zoo, and saw this bee trying to get the nectar... it seemed a bit frustrated having us staring at it :)

Super_Mom has contributed a photo to this story.

david_phil

at 14:29 on May 16th, 2008

Taken at Great Chalfield Manor, Wiltshire.

david_phil has contributed a photo to this story.

wolfette

at 14:36 on May 16th, 2008

this large bee - about a an inch and a half long - was found in the greenery at the side of the Union Canal in Edinburgh

wolfette has contributed a photo to this story.

macdane

at 14:44 on May 16th, 2008

Just ran into this guy as I roamed around the Lewis Landscape Arboretum at Michigan State University.

macdane has contributed a photo to this story.

yuval tzfira

at 14:47 on May 16th, 2008

yuval tzfira has contributed a photo to this story.

yuval tzfira

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 14:50 on May 16th, 2008

Rob Peters, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Ido Kron

at 15:23 on May 16th, 2008

This is a bee I found on an Erucaria hispanica flower, stuck in a very bizarre state - hung by the neck! In a closer look I found this spider, lurking in the shadows... so I found the cause of death. But the spider wasn't the only one who enjoyed the killing: A dozen of tiny flies also joined in.

Ido Kron has contributed a photo to this story.