August 29, 2005

Bee Happy

New Scientist has some good news about large power transmission lines.
Power lines may provide a haven for bees
Overhead power lines may be reviled by most people but for the humble bee they may be a saviour. The millions of acres of land-strips beneath power lines represent an untapped conservation resource for bees and other threatened creatures, new research suggests.

Normally regarded as blots on the landscape and accused by many of producing cancer-inducing low frequency electromagnetic fields, high voltage power lines are not typical candidates for conservation sites, says Kimberly Russell an invertebrate zoologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

But she says changes in management practice of this land appear to be offering a much needed home for bees, which have been in decline in many countries for decades.

In the US, the land covered by power lines makes up more than 5 million acres. That is more land than almost every national park in the US individually, including Yellowstone, says Russell.

Safe and selective
In the past, these areas were periodically mown and sprayed with non-selective herbicides to prevent vegetation from encroaching upon or damaging equipment. But some companies have now switched to simply removing tall vegetation and using safer, more selective herbicides.

To see what impact this alternate management practice had on native bee populations Russell and colleagues compared bees collected from unmown power line sites with those of nearby grassy fields.

"The statistics showed that the bees collected in the power line scrubs were more diverse than those in the grassy fields," says Russell, who carried out the work with colleagues at Utah State University and Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, in Maryland.

The power line scrubs tended to have rarer species and more bee-parasite species, which is normally an indication of a healthy bee community, she says.
The five million acre number is surprising. Wonderful story -- perfect example of unintended consequences... Posted by DaveH at August 29, 2005 5:26 PM