Ash trees

[JavaScriptDonkey]

Look on the bright side - what we are seeing is evolution in action. Evolution is all about death and change. Conditions for Ash trees have changed, many will die but some will survive and prosper.

[RenewableCandy]

Well yes, as long as some twazzick doesn't decree that every tree within a certain radius of blah has to be destroyed. It'd actually be better doing nothing at all.

[biffvernon]

Any one plated the new game Fraxinus? https://apps.facebook.com/fraxinusgame

Winner gets their name on the paper on about the resistant gene.

[MrG]

Research? If only we had governments that took science seriously.

It's happening. I went for a job on the project.. well at the lab that are running the project (didn't get it, doing something else now). Rna-Seq, host / pathogen interaction study.

http://www.genomeweb.com/sequencing/uk- ... ing-effort

Or as you say.. wait till the resistant trees make themselves apparent.. resistant trees + snp chip = shortcut to resistant breeding stock.. it's the cheaper way!

[biffvernon]

Meanwhile we continue to import disease laden bumblebees to pollinate tomatoes.

[Little John]

Meanwhile we continue to import disease laden bumblebees to pollinate tomatoes.

What I'd be interested to know is what is the pathogen resistance is like in the imported bees. If it is low, then they will be declining as fast as they are brought in. If it is high, then one might assume that feral populations of these imported bumble bees will be proliferating at the same time as indigenous populations of bumble bees are declining. However, as far as I have read, all bumble bees are declining in both this country and abroad. So, I'm not entirely clear about whether or not these imported bees are increasing, decreasing, or having no effect on the decline of bumble bees as a whole in this country.

[biffvernon]

What I'd be interested to know is what is the pathogen resistance is like in the imported bees. If it is low, then they will be declining as fast as they are brought in. If it is high, then one might assume that feral populations of these imported bumble bees will be proliferating at the same time as indigenous populations of bumble bees are declining. However, as far as I have read, all bumble bees are declining in both this country and abroad. So, I'm not entirely clear about whether or not these imported bees are increasing, decreasing, or having no effect on the decline of bumble bees as a whole in this country.

We just don't know the answer to those question. So little research has been done on the diseases of bumble bees.

It's certainly not true to say that all bumblebees are declining. For example the Tree Bumblebee has been spreading its range steadily northwards recently and it=s doing very well. Only one of our two dozen species, the Buff Tailed, is imported commercially.

[clv101]

Anecdotally - amongst the country's bee keepers, bumble bees are booming this year.

[Little John]

Anecdotally - amongst the country's bee keepers, bumble bees are booming this year.

You're telling me they are!

I've seen bleeding loads of them this summer, along with approximately seventy Red-Admiral butterflies (I counted them) on a single (large) Budlia at the end of my drive last week. There were also a large number of Cabbage whites, though I didn't count them

[biffvernon]

Not many Red Admirals here but loads of Peacocks. Interestingly, we have a lot of Speckled Woods for the first time. They are steadily recovering and extending their range after a big decline a hundred years ago, but on our land it may be that they've recognised that our trees have grown