Over my winter break, I tried to recap this crazy year that 2020 has been. The pandemic was the dominant influence for everybody. I had some diffuse thoughts in my head, about parallels in different fields of research. Watching this brilliant video by Medlife Crisis, everything kind of fell into place. Dr Rohin Francis is […]
Our land use is a reason for concern: with increasing human population on earth, we’re claiming more and more of it. We use it to build houses, streets – and to produce our food on it. With all those humans needing food, crop production has focussed on maximizing yields. This has caused undeniable problems. In […]
Bee hotels are very popular at the moment. Everybody sells them, often with the popular “save the bees!” attached to it. But are they really worth the hype? I’m not that convinced, as you may already imagine. Let’s start with the positive: insect hotels are a nice way for people, especially children, to learn about […]
One could think pollinator conservation is a very important issue and taken seriously all over the world. At the latest since the pollinator assessment from IPBES was published, the discussion about pollinator decline is going beyond science and conservationists. Very often I get asked about bees. Many want to start beekeeping. I then explain why […]
“Pollination services”, “without bees our dinner tables will look differently”, “bees are important for a healthy and tasty diet” – phrases like this sooner or later come up in every campaign that wants to “save the bees”. I’ve used them myself. And probably will continue to do so, because it evokes a personal interest. However, […]
Honey bee health management – that sounds like something very abstract and technical. Like something that interests beekeepers who want productive colonies. Something economic, but nothing that connects to bee diversity. Or bee health as I defined it some weeks ago. There seems to be a barrier between those managing bees – mostly Western honey […]
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