söndag 24 mars 2013

Öppet hus i Säffle




Den 27 april går årets Öppet Hus på LP:s Biodling AB av stapeln. Vi har ett spännande program med både föredragshållare och utställare som alla verkar för att utveckla biodlingen i Sverige.

Vad sägs om följande föredragshållare:
Thomas Dahl - Biodlingsföretagarnas ordförande
Marita Delvert - Sveriges Biodlares Riksförbunds ordförande
Bo-Göran Nilsson - Initiativtagare till YH-utbildningen i biodling och huvudansvarig för kurserna i biodling
Peder Lilja - Utvecklingskonsulent på SBR

Vi har ett lika intressant utbud på utställarsidan: Både Biodlingsföretagarna och Sveriges Biodlares Riksförbund kommer att finnas på plats hela dagen för att träffa er biodlare och samma sak med YH-utbildningen. Vidare kan ni prata kartonger och annat pappersemballage med en representant från fd SCA numera DC Smith, glasemballage med en av våra glasleverantörer, diskutera cellplast med Por Pac, etiketter med Label Supply och handla Cum Natura-produkter från Skogshonung. Swienty är på plats samt en av våra norska återförsäljare, Finnskogshonning, och fler utställare tillkommer.

Det kommer även finnas en utförsäljningsbod där ni kan fynda, och i vanlig ordning kommer vi att visa alla våra verksamhetsgrenar i drift.

Uppdaterat program finns på www.lpsbiodling.se

Anmäl ert deltagande och ev order för avhämtning senast den 22/4 och ladda för en heldag med glada kollegor. Lunch och kaffe serveras som vanligt.

Välkomna!!

Ytterligare info hittar du här




torsdag 14 mars 2013

Seminarium Alnarp



Seminariet behandlar behov av pollinatörer och olika pollensorter som ingår i binas kostcirkel.
Ytterligare info och anmälan till seminariet som är kostnadsfritt hittar du här

tisdag 12 mars 2013

Robotbin

Engelsk läsövning igen!

Ur tidskriften Earth Techling hittade jag följande artikel.

Robotic Bees: A Backup Plan For Colony Collapse Disorder?

A mysterious disease is sweeping through U.S. communities, killing millions of valuable workers, but you haven’t heard about it on the nightly news. That’s because the communities are beehives and the valuable workers are bees. While not as shocking as a human plague, this epidemic, called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is no less of a threat to our existence.
There’s a very real possibility that CCD will decimate our bee populations before a solution can be found. Without bees, our ability to produce food in necessary quantities will disappear. In 2009 three researchers, along with colleagues at Harvard University and Northeastern University, began to devise a backup plan: robotic bees.
Harvard, Robobees
Image via Harvard University

The Robobee Project (more officially titled “the Micro Air Vehicles Project”) is an adventure in the uncharted world of very, very small robotics. “Their size presents a huge assortment of physical and computational challenges,” reports Scientific American. “At such small dimensions, off-the-shelf parts such as motors and bearings will prove too inefficient, so the bees must employ specially designed artificial muscles to power and control flight.”
The official purpose of the project isn’t to stop CCD, but the researchers acknowledge that it could be a happy by-product if the program is successful. They hope Robobee will help them understand how to artificially mimic the collective behavior and “intelligence” of a bee colony, and to foster novel methods for designing and building an electronic surrogate nervous system able to deftly sense and adapt to changing environments.
A real honeybee’s greatest asset is the hive mentality: a sense of purpose and responsibility within a larger community system. The worker bees understand the importance of the Queen’s survival, and spend their lives seeking food that will allow her to continue the species. The fact that they pollinate our entire food system while doing so is unbeknownst to them. Will scientists ever be able to infuse a robot with the same instincts and determination? We’ll have to wait and see.

Mer om Robobee Project hittar du här

 

 


fredag 8 mars 2013

Bin och koffein

Engelsk läsövning från tidningen Discover Magazine (här finns även ytterligare info om bin.

Skrivet av Christie Wilcox
 
Caffeine has been a part of human cultural heritage for more than five thousand years. From ancient teas and coffees to todays energy drink craze, you could say that as a species, we’re hooked. But we’re not the only ones — a new study published in Science today has found that pollinators get a daily buzz off caffeine, too, and it keeps them coming back for more.

It was originally thought that plants produced caffeine as a pesticide, which is, in part, true. Caffeine in leaves and seeds can paralyze and kill some insects that feed on plant parts, preventing damage. Some plants, like Coffea arabica or Mountain Coffee, also release caffeine into the soil around them that inhibits the growth of other seeds, thus giving their seedlings a competitive advantage. For the past few decades, these were thought to be the uses of caffeine to plants: keep insects away, enhance seedling survival. Yet, scientists have found low levels of caffeine in plant nectars, which seems a puzzling place for an insecticide. Caffeine has a bitter taste, so not only is it dangerous to produce in nectar because it might harm the pollinators the plant relies on, it could simply deter them. After all, bees are adept at detecting and avoiding toxins. Yet the team, led by Dr Geraldine Wright from Newcastle University, found that citrus and coffee plants produced low levels of caffeine in their nectar — almost as much caffeine as a cup of instant coffee. What benefits, they wondered, could this caffeine be providing?

In humans, caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant, making us feel more alert and awake. Some early studies suggested that it also improves short and long term memory, but findings have been inconsistent. Most importantly, though, low doses of caffeine activate the reward system in our brains, contributing to its addictive nature. So, the team wondered if the same was true for bees.
They trained bees to associate a floral scent with tasty sugar solutions dosed with different amounts of caffeine. Even low doses of caffeine had a profound effect on the bees’ long tem memory: when given nectar-levels of caffeine, three times as many bees remembered the conditioned scent a day later and responded to it as if expecting their sugary reward, and twice as many still remembered three days later.

But to really understand why, the scientists examined honeybee brains. They found that doses of caffeine primed neurons in the bees’ brains associated with learning and memory formation, making it easier for them to fire. The overall result is that the bees are able to pair scent with location faster and more easily. The caffeine boosts their memory-making ability.

The scientists believe that the low levels of caffeine found in citrus and coffee nectars have an important ecological role, providing pollinators with a jolt that helps them remember where a plant is and return more often. “Remembering floral traits is difficult for bees to perform at a fast pace as they fly from flower to flower” explains Dr. Wright. But, the scientist found, caffeine-spiked nectars enhance the bees’ memory. “Our experiments suggest that by affecting a pollinator’s memory, plants reap the reproductive benefits arising from enhanced pollinator fidelity,” conclude the authors. The enhanced memory is a win for the bees, too. “Caffeine in nectar is likely to improve the bee’s foraging prowess” says Dr. Wright.

Today, honeybees are in decline worldwide, losses which are being felt strongly by the agricultural industry. This study gives us a better understanding of how bees find and choose plants to pollinate, which may prove vital information for farmers. Planting species like coffee and citrus amongst crops might improve pollination, or, genetic modification might be able to help make crops that bees prefer. The more we know about bee foraging, the better a chance we have at keeping them around and healthy, both for their sake and ours.

Studies like this one not only teach us more about bee brains — they also shed light on our own. While human brains are significantly more complex than those of pollinating insects, there are many similarities. As co-author Dr. Julie Mustard explains, “Although human and honeybee brains obviously have lots of differences, when you look at the level of cells, proteins and genes, human and bee brains function very similarly. Thus, we can use the honeybee to investigate how caffeine affects our own brains and behaviors.” “What we see in bees could explain why people prefer to drink coffee when studying,” added Dr. Wright.
Citation:Wright G.A. et al. (2013). Caffeine in Floral Nectar Enhances a Pollinator’s Memory of Reward, Science

tisdag 5 mars 2013

Inbjudan seminarier






Rationell biodling

Tid: Lördag 6 april 2013 kl 09.30-16.00
Plats: Matsalen Ingelstadgymnasiet, Ingelstad, Växjö

Först ut i vår föreläsningsserie är Sonja Olsson. Sonja är biodlare sedan 25 år
och driver tillsammans med sin man Tore företaget D&D Tjörn HB, som
omfattar omkring 100 samhällen. Sonja är en mycket uppskattad föreläsare.
Föreläsningen sker även på Kolbodagården, Ljungbyholm den 7 april om
denna dag passar bättre.

Varmt välkommen!

•- Rationell biodling: hur kan man växa från 20 till 100 samhällen?
•- Vad är din målsättning och inriktning?
•- Vilka möjligheter finns?
•- Hur arbetar man i biodlingen med rationell hantering av bisamhällen,
    honung och vaxhantering.

Kostnad: 200 kr inkl. 25 % moms, inkl. lunch och fika betalas kontant på plats.

Anmälan är bindande då mat är bokad. Meddela ev. specialkost vid anmälan.

Anmälan: E-post info.h@hushallningssallskapet.se eller ring 0480-15670.
Vi behöver ditt namn, adress, telenr, personnr samt e-post, senast den 28 mars.

Kontakt: För frågor kontakta marie.sjodin@hushallningssallskapet.se  0734-347560 eller
biodlare Åke Sandqvist  0735-233120, Jonny Ulvtorp 0735-233130 samt Karin Persson 0730-6519