Pollen-collecting by stingless bees on cacao flowers !

Pollen-collecting by stingless bees on cacao flowers

 I came across this very interesting abstract from a study of cacao pollination by meliponine bee Liotrigona parvula Darchen in Africa,(which would be a stngless bee species at least related to those found in Central and South America!).I have been interested in just how many stingless bees might exist in the so called 'Old World' including Africa.I had already been aware that stingless bees exist in Australia and were a source of honey for the Aborigenes.Also someone from Japan had told me that there were stingless bees in South East Asia,particularly Thailand.What is  new and exciting to me and no doubt to most people interested in cacao is that stingless bees may contribute however slightly or not,to cacao pollination in Africa and I have just come across a similar claim being made by an investigator in Central America that another stingless bee species has been shown to pollinate cacao in Costa Rica and is competitive in that task with its midge or fly competitors,at least in situations where cacao is growing in direct sunlight !

Excuse the exclamation marks but this stingless bee-cacao pollination  is big news and,even for most cacao experts,new news.If true it would show that at least one stingless bee can do the pollination of cacao generally believed done only by tiny flies or midges ! While the African observer appears to be saying that the stingless bee Liotrigona parvula Darchenmay may very well be contributing to cacao pollination in cacao plantations,the Costa Rica observers appear to be saying the stingless bee taking pollen in diect sunlight in competition with midges may not be pollinating at all.Still stingless bees do pollinate other trees and crops and are valuable to a diverse ecology including in cacao agro-ecosystems and even if the stingless bee took pollen back to its nest it most likely is at least rarely or not,contributing to cacao pollination there as well..

http://journals.cambridge.org/actiion/displayAbstract;jsessionid=8D1F87A9AD1AFA5B7A1C53FF2DC8EB40.journals?fromPage=online&aid=5981784 

Research Paper Dynamics of cocoa pollination: tools and applications for surveying and monitoring cocoa pollinators
E.A. Frimponga1 c1, I. Gordona2, P.K. Kwaponga1 and B. Gemmill-Herrena3 a1 Department of Entomology and Wildlife, School of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana a2 icipe – African Insect Science for Food and Health, PO Box 30772-00100, Nairobi, Kenya a3 AGPS – FAO, Viale Terme di Caracalla, Rome, Italy
Abstract
Pollinators are important natural agents for fruit and seed formation in most tree crops and the use of appropriate sampling methods is fundamental in studying their population. A study to develop surveying and monitoring protocols for cocoa pollinators was undertaken in Ghana. Yellow, white and blue UV-bright painted pan traps (UVPPT), McPhail traps and motorized aspirators were used to sample pollinators of cocoa for 13 successive months, after 6 days assessment of the effectiveness of the traps and diurnal active period of the pollinators. The peak pollinating period of cocoa by ceratopogonid midges was between 07.00 and 12.00 h, as previously reported. All three methods were effective in sampling ceratopogonid midges with the UVPPT being the most efficient in terms of sampling effort. The number of ceratopogonid midges caught by the yellow-UVPPT was significantly higher than that by blue- and white-UVPPT. The diversity of midges caught could not be determined due to taxonomic difficulties, and thus all the three colours of UVPPT should be used until efficiency in terms of diversity is determined. It is reported here that the meliponine bee Liotrigona parvula Darchen visits cocoa flowers and thus their effectiveness in cocoa pollination should be investigated. ..................................................

 

.......................

 http://www.springerlink.com/content/t773gu0133132270/

Pollen-collecting by stingless bees on cacao flowers
 

A. M. Young 

Stingless bees (Trigona jaty) routinely visit the flowers ofTheobroma cacao (Sterculiaceae) in the Atlantic lowlands of Costa Rica. The bees collect pollen and behave as pollen thieves in flowers well exposed to direct sunlight in cacao plantations, and avoid flowers in heavy shade. Pollination rates are maximized, however, in heavy shade due to the high abundance of the small-bodied pollinating midges (Ceratopogonidae and Cecidomyiidae) found in such places. Pollen-thieving by stingless bees, therefore, may only impact on fruit set in cacao trees in direct sunlight, with only minimal to no impact in areas of cacao where natural pollinator activity is high.

Key words Trigona jaty - pollination - cacao - sunlight - shade

This research was funded by grants from The American Cocoa Research Institute of the United States of America. I thank T. Noeske for statistical assistance.



.........................................


google search 'stingless bees pollen honey production  collecting'
 https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=stingless+bees+pollen+honey+production++collecting&oq=stingless+bees+pollen+honey+production++collecting&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_nf=1&gs_l=serp.12...19373.26156.0.27839.18.18.0.0.0.0.204.2856.1j16j1.18.0.t4CU6h8lMx8

Below is from an NGO group's website involved with stingless bees and honey in the Amazon.I have read estimates from 25 species to 400 species of stingless bees in the world to their estimate of 800 species !
Here in Guatemala over a couple of decades I have only encountered 2 species whose honey is available regularly to be sold to the public.One is a honey called miel blanca or 'white honey' that could potentially be domesticated rather than just robbing iyts honey in the wild as is common.The other is a honey called talnet
or talnete that is produced by a species of bee living beneath the ground and whose honey both looks like a red wine and is in fact just about as liquid as red wine or water.
While the bee responsible for miel blanca probably nests in trees and could be domseticated or semi-domesticated,unfortunately I belive the bees respobnsible for talnet honey live below ground and cannot to my knowledge be dometicated.The nest is apparently destroyed each time the honey is found
and perhaps the only solution is to identify the plants used by these bees and make special effort to educate those making a living by harvesting this honey in the wild,to respect and protect their food sources and to
not over harvest.
I was fascinated to learn from the article below that the Amazon has a stingless bee that is the size of the apis bee that we commonly get our honey from and use to pollinate our agricultural crops around the world.Also I concur with the fact that stingless bees generally produce a honey with a higher water content than apis bee honey and as I've said,the tanet honey here is about as liquid as water or wine.


http://www.melipona.org/about.html

  





 Honey from stingless bees
About 800 species of stingless bees are found throughout tropical regions of the World, ranging from such ecologically diverse habitats as humid rainforest to dry savanna or cerrado. Their greatest diversity and abundance, however, is in the Amazonian rain forest. While they range in size from only a few mm to larger than the honey bee (Apis mellifera), they all live in colonies where they care for the brood (the new bees) laid by the colony mother, or queen. Some colonies contains thousands of individuals. Working females are constantly flying in and out of the colony to gather what is needed for sustaining the large family. Most importantly the foraging workers gather honey and pollen used as provision for the young bees (larvae) being reared. The bees will usually store a large amount of both honey and pollen during favorable times which they can use later. If properly managed, the honey can be harvested from the stingless bees without damaging or weakening the colony. The taste of stingless bee honey is experienced different by different people, but generally it is called very sweet and pleasant, almost acidic and with a boost of floral fragrances. The highly desired Tetragonisca honey is a little more acidic compared to honey from Melipona due to the plants visited by these bees...............

Honey from stingless bees About 800 species of stingless bees are found throughout tropical regions of the World, ranging from such ecologically diverse habitats as humid rainforest to dry savanna or cerrado. Their greatest diversity and abundance, however, is in the Amazonian rain forest. While they range in size from only a few mm to larger than the honey bee (Apis mellifera), they all live in colonies where they care for the brood (the new bees) laid by the colony mother, or queen. Some colonies contains thousands of individuals. Working females are constantly flying in and out of the colony to gather what is needed for sustaining the large family. Most importantly the foraging workers gather honey and pollen used as provision for the young bees (larvae) being reared. The bees will usually store a large amount of both honey and pollen during favorable times which they can use later. If properly managed, the honey can be harvested from the stingless bees without damaging or weakening the colony. The taste of stingless bee honey is experienced different by different people, but generally it is called very sweet and pleasant, almost acidic and with a boost of floral fragrances. The highly desired Tetragonisca honey is a little more acidic compared to honey from Melipona due to the plants visited by these bees.   Traditional use of honey from stingless bees The use of stingless bee honey is known from all of the regions where these bees are found, with possibly most interest in the cultivation in Latin America and Australia (called sugar-bags there). The best documented use of honey from stingless bees comes from the Mayan civilization in the Yucatan peninsula where they use Melipona beechei. Here the bee is called "xunancab" and beekeeping of this species originated independent of hive beekeeping with honey bees in the Old World. "Xunancab" was in the Maya civilization only second in importance to corn (maize) in people's lives and rituals. The honey was used both as honey, but also fermented as "balche", their alcoholic drink. Today the tradition of keeping stingless bees has largely been abandoned in favor of imported honey bees (Apis mellifera) which yields more honey. In Peru stingless bee honey has been used in traditional medicine for centuries or more, but the actual beekeeping has been limited and most honey for the local market is collected by cutting down trees with entire bee colonies, which are then left to die. Traditionally honey from stingless bees are harvested by squeezing the honey pots with the bare hands and collecting the honey as it pour out of the nest, often contaminated with pollen and brood (bee larvae). This makes the honey particular susceptible to fermentation. The honey is widely used and often sold at local markets. Here the honey may serve both as a sweetener, but more often as part of folk medicine. Stingless bee honey are an important part of different treatments against throat infections (common cold, cough), but are also used in the treatment of fertility problems. While the honey possesses anti-bacterial properties dependent on the botanical origin of the honey, the combination of stingless bee honey with jungle herbs may alter or improve the properties of each remedy to be more specific in the treatment. A typical mixture to combat fever include stingless bee honey (1 part) mixed with sugar cane alcohol (5 parts) and left with the local plant "chuchu-huasi" (Maytenus krukovii) and pollen. How can I tell the difference between honey bee honey and stingless bee honey? Stingless bee honey is more liquid than the well known honey bee honey. Honey bee honey has a water content of about 20% while the stingless bees has a water content of between 20-42%, depending on the species and the area from where the honey is collected. The high water content in stingless bee honey makes it very prone to fermentation. The flavor is often described as a more flowery than honey bee honey, but it depends largely on the species. There has been relatively little scientific research into the medical properties attributed to honey from stingless bees, but due to the presumption that it is a remedy and the usually low amount of honey produced, the price is much higher than that of honey bee honey (Apis mellifera). How do we collect and store the honey? We use the modern rational bee hive design as developed by Noguiera-Neto in Brazil, a design that allows us to harvest honey under very hygienic conditions. We use a medical aspirator (AspiraMax MA-520) imported from Brazil to efficiently gather honey from individual honey pots. All of our honey gathering equipment and bottles are boiled for sanitation before each use. The honey is then gathered from the Melipona colony and bottled directly. To avoid fermentation of the honey, we pasteurize the honey by heating it up to 72° C for 15 seconds, as recommended by Noguiera-Neto. The honey should be kept dark and at room temperature, although if necessary to store the honey for an extended period of time, refrigeration may be used to prevent fermentation. For extraction of honey from Tetragonisca hives it is necessary to remove all of the honey pots from the hive and manually extract the honey. The wax produced by Tetragonisca for their honey pots is so delicate that the aspirator collapses the pots when used. Due to this our honey from Tetragonisca may contain tiny fragments of the honey pots. How to consume the honey you just purchased? We recommend to use our stingless bee honey against the common cold in a mix of two tablespoons of honey (10 ml) and half a tablespoon of fresh lime (2.5 ml). It is also recommended to add a little garlic if you are coughing. Stingless bee honey is also great in fruit salads; adding it to a bowl full of e.g. banana, pineapple, apple, mangos, grapes, the juice of two oranges, and finally three-four tablespoons (15-20 ml) of stingless bee honey. Fruit flavored yogurt can be added. Of course, the honey can also be used in place of honey bee honey or sugar to add a more exotic flavor, but keep in mind, that honey from stingless bees is a little more runny than what you usually experience with honey bee honey. Different varieties of stingless bee honey We keep a range of stingless bees for study. They all have their unique and characteristic honey. Generally we recommend the consumption of honey only from the genera Melipona and Tetragonisca, as well as a few others that we do not sell at the moment. The quantity of honey produced is low compared to honey bees. After a full year we expect to harvest 4-500 ml from a good hive of Melipona. We leave all of the pollen pots untouched for the bees to use and also leave some of the honey pots in the hive for the bee to survive on. The production in Tetragonisca hives is minor, and we extract less than 100 ml from their hives during a year. Where did your honey come from? Our colonies are kept in different parts around the city of Tarapoto, San Martin, Peru. Our bees will here visit tall trees in the secondary rainforest along the River Shilcayo or River Cumbaza. They will occasionally encounter a few monkeys or a lone toucan in the trees, while colorful poison-arrow frogs (Dendrobates) sing from the bank of the river. We are not certain how many different trees have been visited for your honey, but guarantee that the honey is completely authentic and not altered or modified by additives or artificial feeding during the honey production. This guarantees a rich and unique flavor to your honey. Supplemental sugar is provided to strengthen the colonies only when we are installing colonies into new hives following reproduction, and thus prevents us from loosing a very valuable genetic resource from our management program. Rainforest conservation and stingless bees The stingless bees depend on the rainforest to succeed. Unlike honey bees (Apis mellifera) they do not adapt to low diversity crop systems and will disappear if the rainforest disappear. Therefore the promotion of stingless bees is a very important tool to educate people living in the rainforests about the importance of their surrounding forest. Honey production by native stingless bees is also an ecologically very sound and cheap method to generate a sustainable livelihood in the Amazon rainforest. Production of stingless bee honey provides the farmer with an economic alternative to logging and encourage the conservation of trees as nectar and pollen sources. By developing stingless bee honey programs, we hope to raise the living standard for otherwise marginalized people and contribute to their awareness in conservation of the rain forest and all of its inhabitants. About us We are a legally registered Peruvian NGO ("Asociación Civil Melipona"). Since 2002 we have kept and studied stingless bees. Our mission is to promote the keeping of stingless bees throughout the Amazon region in an aim to teach people about conservation and the importance of eco-systems as an sustainable alternative, with the utilization of non-timber forest products like honey from stingless bees. We are still in a pilot-phase developing techniques for keeping stingless bees and pursuing other conservation goals. Our background range from professional entomologist with Ph.D., agronomists, and Peruvian farmers, all united by the curiosity and love for the nature and the native bees. Thank you for reading all of our about page! All of our credit card transactions are handled by Paypal on their separate secure site. This provides you with a safe and secure form of payment. We never receive any financial information from Paypal other than their payment from you. Your personal contact information is well protected by Melipona.org and we will not provide your information to any third parties. In accordance with FDA regulation, we do not make any therapeutic claims for any Dietary Supplements in accordance with the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act.

  http://www.melipona.org/about.html

google bees cacao ecosystems https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&prmdo=1&sclient=psy-ab&q=sugar+cane+bees+cacao&oq=sugar+cane+bees+cacao&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=serp.3...130l693l1l1072l2l2l0l0l0l0l117l232l0j2l2l0.frgbld.&pbx=1&biw=1271&bih=877&cad=cbv&sei=VKeLT-35CMOCtgey__EQ#hl=en&gl=us&prmdo=1&sclient=psy-ab&q=+bees+cacao+ecosystems&oq=+bees+cacao+ecosystems&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=serp.3...8099l12322l0l12775l11l11l0l0l0l0l334l2118l0j8j1j2l11l0.frgbld.&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=bb242dc4ab43ba95&biw=1271&bih=877 Also before that link I will post this very interesting paragraph I came across from a study of cacao pollination by meliponine bee Liotrigona parvula Darchen,which would be a stngless bee!,in Africa.I have been interested in just how many stingless bees might exist in the so called Old World including Africa.This is new and exciting to me and if true it would show that at least one stingless bee can do the pollination of cacao generally believed done only by tiny flies or midges ! http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=8D1F87A9AD1AFA5B7A1C53FF2DC8EB40.journals?fromPage=online&aid=5981784 Research Paper Dynamics of cocoa pollination: tools and applications for surveying and monitoring cocoa pollinators E.A. Frimponga1 c1, I. Gordona2, P.K. Kwaponga1 and B. Gemmill-Herrena3 a1 Department of Entomology and Wildlife, School of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana a2 icipe – African Insect Science for Food and Health, PO Box 30772-00100, Nairobi, Kenya a3 AGPS – FAO, Viale Terme di Caracalla, Rome, Italy Abstract Pollinators are important natural agents for fruit and seed formation in most tree crops and the use of appropriate sampling methods is fundamental in studying their population. A study to develop surveying and monitoring protocols for cocoa pollinators was undertaken in Ghana. Yellow, white and blue UV-bright painted pan traps (UVPPT), McPhail traps and motorized aspirators were used to sample pollinators of cocoa for 13 successive months, after 6 days assessment of the effectiveness of the traps and diurnal active period of the pollinators. The peak pollinating period of cocoa by ceratopogonid midges was between 07.00 and 12.00 h, as previously reported. All three methods were effective in sampling ceratopogonid midges with the UVPPT being the most efficient in terms of sampling effort. The number of ceratopogonid midges caught by the yellow-UVPPT was significantly higher than that by blue- and white-UVPPT. The diversity of midges caught could not be determined due to taxonomic difficulties, and thus all the three colours of UVPPT should be used until efficiency in terms of diversity is determined. It is reported here that the meliponine bee Liotrigona parvula Darchen visits cocoa flowers and thus their effectiveness in cocoa pollination should be investigated. .................................................. http://www.planbee.org.uk/portal/article.php?id=1819 ................................................... Liotrigona parvula Darchen stingless bee https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&prmdo=1&sclient=psy-ab&q=sugar+cane+bees+cacao&oq=sugar+cane+bees+cacao&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=serp.3...130l693l1l1072l2l2l0l0l0l0l117l232l0j2l2l0.frgbld.&pbx=1&biw=1271&bih=877&cad=cbv&sei=VKeLT-35CMOCtgey__EQ#hl=en&gl=us&prmdo=1&sclient=psy-ab&q=+bees+cacao+ecosystems&oq=+bees+cacao+ecosystems&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=serp.3...8099l12322l0l12775l11l11l0l0l0l0l334l2118l0j8j1j2l11l0.frgbld.&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=bb242dc4ab43ba95&biw=1271&bih=877 Pollen-collecting by stingless bees on cacao flowers Pollen-collecting by stingless bees on cacao flowers by A. M. Young Stingless bees (Trigona jaty) routinely visit the flowers ofTheobroma cacao (Sterculiaceae) in the Atlantic lowlands of Costa Rica. The bees collect pollen and behave as pollen thieves in flowers well exposed to direct sunlight in cacao plantations, and avoid flowers in heavy shade. Pollination rates are maximized, however, in heavy shade due to the high abundance of the small-bodied pollinating midges (Ceratopogonidae and Cecidomyiidae) found in such places. Pollen-thieving by stingless bees, therefore, may only impact on fruit set in cacao trees in direct sunlight, with only minimal to no impact in areas of cacao where natural pollinator activity is high. Key words Trigona jaty - pollination - cacao - sunlight - shade This research was funded by grants from The American Cocoa Research Institute of the United States of America. I thank T. Noeske for statistical assistance. Fulltext Preview Image of the first page of the fulltext document Journal of Chemical Ecology Volume 20, Number 10, 2687-2703, DOI: 10.1007/BF02036201 Comparative analysis of steam distilled floral oils of cacao cultivars (Theobroma cacao L., Sterculiaceae) and attraction of flying insects: Implications for aTheobroma pollination syndrome Allen M. Young and David W. Severson Download PDF (1.4 MB) Permissions & Reprints Related Issue Journal View Related Documents http://www.springerlink.com/content/t773gu0133132270/ Scroll upScroll down References (38) Cited By (4) Export Citation About Abstract Steam-distilled floral fragrance oils from nine distinctive cultivars ofTheobroma cacao L. (Sterculiaceae) in Costa Rica were examined with GC-MS to determine whether or not major differences existed among these cultivars for volatile constituents comprising 50% or more of the samples. The cultivars selected for floral oil analyses were chosen to represent diverse cultivars having supposedly different genetic backgrounds and histories of artificial selection for agronomic purposes. Cluster analysis revealed two major groupings of cultivars: those with higher molecular weight dominant compounds, and those having lower molecular weight compounds. Additionally, one cultivar, Rim-100, selected from criollo or ancestral-type cacao in Mexico and resembling criollo in the appearance of flowers and fruits, formed an extreme group having the highest molecular weight profile for major volatile compounds. Based upon these analyses, bioassays using McPhail traps were performed in an abandoned cacao plantation in northeastern Costa Rica during rainy and dry seasons to determine the relative attraction of these oils to flying insects. Bioassays revealed that the Rim-100 cultivar attracted by far the greatest numbers of cacao-associated midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae and Cecidomyiidae), as well as stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponinae), suggesting that a floral fragrance having high-molecular-weight volatiles is more potent as an attractant to flying insects than floral oils having lower-molecular-weight compounds. It is suggested that Rim-100 more closely resembles an ancestral or wild-type cacao than the other cultivars examined, and therefore it is more effective in attracting opportunistic dipteran floral visitors and pollinators than other cultivars in plantation settings. Several of the major volatile compounds found in the floral oils ofT. cacao and other species ofTheobroma occur in mandibular and other exocrine glands in various bees, including stingless bees and halictids, known visitors ofTheobroma flowers. These compounds are particularly present in noncultivated species ofTheobroma and have much more noticeable fragrances than the seemingly scentless flowers of cultivatedT. cacao selected for agriculture. It is hypothesized that the floral attraction system of ancestral or wild (noncultivated)T. cacao and other species ofTheobroma may have evolved to attract certain bees as their principal pollinators in natural habitats in the Neotropics, with a floral reward hypothesized as being sociochemicals needed by bees for mating, foraging, territorial defense, etc. Because of the many generations of extensive selection by cloning for desired cultivars,T. cacao might have lost much of its original floral attraction system for bees, instead being pollinated opportunistically by dipterans in plantation habitats. This may help to explain why natural pollination in cultivatedT. cacao is generally very poor relative to observed levels of fruit-set in wild or noncultivated species ofTheobroma. Key words Floral oils - cacao - Theobroma cacao - Sterculiaceae - attraction - Diptera - Ceratopogonidae - Cecidomyiidae - Hymenoptera - Apidae - pollination - 1-pentadecene - n-pentadecene ....................................

Pollen-collecting by stingless bees on cacao flowers by

A. M. Young 

Stingless bees (Trigona jaty) routinely visit the flowers ofTheobroma cacao (Sterculiaceae) in the Atlantic lowlands of Costa Rica. The bees collect pollen and behave as pollen thieves in flowers well exposed to direct sunlight in cacao plantations, and avoid flowers in heavy shade. Pollination rates are maximized, however, in heavy shade due to the high abundance of the small-bodied pollinating midges (Ceratopogonidae and Cecidomyiidae) found in such places. Pollen-thieving by stingless bees, therefore, may only impact on fruit set in cacao trees in direct sunlight, with only minimal to no impact in areas of cacao where natural pollinator activity is high.

Key words Trigona jaty - pollination - cacao - sunlight - shade

This research was funded by grants from The American Cocoa Research Institute of the United States of America. I thank T. Noeske for statistical assistance.

 

Fulltext Preview

Journal of Chemical Ecology

Volume 20, Number 10, 2687-2703, DOI: 10.1007/BF02036201

Comparative analysis of steam distilled floral oils of cacao cultivars (Theobroma cacao L., Sterculiaceae) and attraction of flying insects: Implications for aTheobroma pollination syndrome

Allen M. Young and David W. Severson

• Download PDF (1.4 MB)
• Permissions & Reprints

• Related
• Issue
• Journal

View Related Documents

http://www.springerlink.com/content/t773gu0133132270/

Scroll upScroll down

• References (38)
• Cited By (4)
• Export Citation
• About

Abstract

Steam-distilled floral fragrance oils from nine distinctive cultivars ofTheobroma cacao L. (Sterculiaceae) in Costa Rica were examined with GC-MS to determine whether or not major differences existed among these cultivars for volatile constituents comprising 50% or more of the samples. The cultivars selected for floral oil analyses were chosen to represent diverse cultivars having supposedly different genetic backgrounds and histories of artificial selection for agronomic purposes. Cluster analysis revealed two major groupings of cultivars: those with higher molecular weight dominant compounds, and those having lower molecular weight compounds. Additionally, one cultivar, Rim-100, selected from criollo or ancestral-type cacao in Mexico and resembling criollo in the appearance of flowers and fruits, formed an extreme group having the highest molecular weight profile for major volatile compounds. Based upon these analyses, bioassays using McPhail traps were performed in an abandoned cacao plantation in northeastern Costa Rica during rainy and dry seasons to determine the relative attraction of these oils to flying insects. Bioassays revealed that the Rim-100 cultivar attracted by far the greatest numbers of cacao-associated midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae and Cecidomyiidae), as well as stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponinae), suggesting that a floral fragrance having high-molecular-weight volatiles is more potent as an attractant to flying insects than floral oils having lower-molecular-weight compounds. It is suggested that Rim-100 more closely resembles an ancestral or wild-type cacao than the other cultivars examined, and therefore it is more effective in attracting opportunistic dipteran floral visitors and pollinators than other cultivars in plantation settings. Several of the major volatile compounds found in the floral oils of T. cacao and other species of Theobroma occur in mandibular and other exocrine glands in various bees, including stingless bees and halictids, known visitors of Theobroma flowers. These compounds are particularly present in noncultivated species ofTheobroma and have much more noticeable fragrances than the seemingly scentless flowers of cultivated T. cacao selected for agriculture. It is hypothesized that the floral attraction system of ancestral or wild (noncultivated)T. cacao and other species ofTheobroma may have evolved to attract certain bees as their principal pollinators in natural habitats in the Neotropics, with a floral reward hypothesized as being sociochemicals needed by bees for mating, foraging, territorial defense, etc. Because of the many generations of extensive selection by cloning for desired cultivars,T. cacao might have lost much of its original floral attraction system for bees, instead being pollinated opportunistically by dipterans in plantation habitats. This may help to explain why natural pollination in cultivatedT. cacao is generally very poor relative to observed levels of fruit-set in wild or noncultivated species ofTheobroma.

Key words Floral oils - cacao - Theobroma cacao - Sterculiaceae - attraction - Diptera - Ceratopogonidae - Cecidomyiidae - Hymenoptera - Apidae - pollination - 1-pentadecene - n-pentadecene

cacao and honey versus sugar and chocolate

I found this interesting blog that I decided to mirror along with link on my blog.No,bees don't pollinate or fertilize cacao,little flies called midges do.However the agro/ecological diversity of a diverse cacao garden
can and does provide a home for bees,including pre Colombian stingless bees,that sugar cane monoculture kills.
..................................................

  http://lynnadventuringabroad.blogspot.com/2010/01/sugarcane-bees-and-agrarian-reform.html

Friday, January 22, 2010

Sugarcane, Bees, and Agrarian Reform

What do sugarcane,bees,and agrarian reform have in common you ask? Well that is what I set out to discover on my recent week in the field. For my research on the impacts of sugarcane ethanol production on rural livelihoods in Northeast Brazil, I have decided to conduct a case study of one municipality in the sugarcane-producing Northern Forest Region of Pernambuco. In this rural municipality, Tracunhaém, the majority of the land is dedicated to producing sugarcane on large-scale plantations; the sugarcane is turned into sugar and ethanol in factories located on the plantations themselves. Such large-scale sugarcane production has persisted in the region since the sixteenth century, when colonial Brazil became an important producer and exporter of sugar for Europe. For over three hundred years the production was driven by brutal slave labor, and while in the century and a half since abolition the system of labor on the plantations has changed significantly, slavery and quasi-slavery still exists, and even where it doesn't, the sugarcane-producing regions are some of the most impoverished in this highly unequal country.

Brazil, a nation with the world's tenth largest GDP, one of the world's highest levels of concentration of land and wealth, and therefore one of the most highly unequal societies. Here, I can dine on excellent sushi in an air-conditioned restaurant with my friends who own nice cars and live in luxurious condos, and the next day help another friend tend to her two goats (i.e. her bank account on hoof) after a lunch of homegrown cassava and beans in her 12" x 12" adobe hut. And this is precisely how I live here, between the two worlds that coexist in this corner of Brazil.

However, the focus of my research is not inequality or the contrasts between the up-and-coming urban middle class and the rural poor, although it is of course highly related to my research, as it is related to virtually all phenomena in Brazil. The ethanol that fueled my friend's car to take me out to sushi could easily have been produced by the sugar-ethanol factory whose plantation butts up against my friend with the goats' family farm. Just last week I saw the damage done to nearly a third of their small farm when the fire set to the sugarcane plantation got out of control and went onto my friend's land, burning a number of fruit trees and a large pineapple crop. As a rural peasant who fought against that sugarcane baron for six years for her right to own land to farm, she knows very well just how powerful he is and that filing any sort of complaint about the damage will get her at best nowhere, and at worst hurt or in trouble. That's Brazil, folks. And this is the "green" fuel that is lauded the world over.

My friend Ena and her mother on their farm (the part where fruit trees are still standing, untouched by the fire)

 

Ena with her bank account

So back to the story of sugarcane, bees, and agrarian reform, and my week doing fieldwork in the rural municipality of Tracunhaém. I chose this municipality as my case study in part because I had already begun to develop relationships with people there, and also because I think that as one slice of pie out of the whole sugarcane-producing Forest Region, Tracunhaém seems to encompass many of the typical ways of life and relationships that exist there. In other words, I hope that by studying this municipality I can to some extent speak to the conditions throughout the region, thereby providing a useful portrait of how rural livelihoods in the sugarcane-producing region are affected by sugar-ethanol production, and how an increased demand for ethanol in Brazil and internationally might affect their lives and those of future generations, as well as people who are currently landless and seeking to realize their right to own and farm land via agrarian reform. Where do the bees come in? Keep reading. You may even get to see yours truly in a bee keeper's suit.

For my week in the field I headed to an agrarian reform settlement where I had stayed on previous shorter trips. An agrarian reform settlement is a rural community of previously landless people who occupied land that was privately owned by a large landowner (in this region that means sugarcane plantation owners), and after years of struggle, camping out in tent cities, facing violent evictions and intimidation, the land was eventually expropriated and divided up amongst the settlers so that each would have around 23 acres of land upon which to farm, have a home, and make a living off the land. The land is only expropriated if it meets the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform's (INCRA) qualifications for being considered "unproductive" and/or not meeting social and environmental regulations of land use. Of course meeting those qualifications does not mean that it is automatically expropriated. It takes years of the landless occupiers and the NGOs and social movements that support them lobbying INCRA. It usually takes 5-8 years for the land to be expropriated to the landless, thereby realizing their right to land and ensuring that Brazilian land is productive and fulfilling its social function.

The community I stayed in, we'll call it NC, is one of these settlements. Its residents are mostly people who previously lived on the impoverished outskirts of small poor cities throughout the region, renting small homes, selling their labor on the sugarcane plantations, and barely scraping by. Most of them had lived on sugarcane plantations during the period when the plantation owners housed their workers on-site, or they lived on small farms near the plantations. But with the value of sugarcane increasing, and plantation owners only wanting to intensify and increase their production, most small farms in the area have been bought out and plantation owners have evicted their residents/workers. This has of course caused cities throughout the region to swell with people from the countryside. This phenomenon occurs throughout Brazil, which explains the millions of people in favelas and the millions that have joined the landless movement in search of a dignified life in the countryside, where they can make a living as a small farmer.

I had already made numerous contacts in NC through the Brazilian NGO that I am collaborating with. I was welcomed there by my new friends, who have also become invaluable informants, contributing their wealth of knowledge about life in rural Pernambuco, both on and off the sugarcane plantations. During my week in NC I stayed in families' homes, ate with them, chatted with them, went to their farms with them, watched novelas with them, and asked lots and lots of questions about their lives. I conducted informal interviews with nine community members, filmed, and took hundreds of pictures. I also went to a nearby community, BO, which is not an agrarian reform settlement. BO is another alternative for those people who left the land in past decades but didn't want to live on the outskirts of cities. BO is a small rural town where a plot for a tiny house can be bought cheaply. Located in the middle of a sea of sugarcane plantations, in BO around 90% of men work either cutting cane or performing some other service on the plantations. No one in BO owns enough land to even plant a garden in. They go to the city on the weekends to buy all of their food. When the sugarcane harvest ends (it only lasts 6 months, meaning most families only have steady income 6 months of the year), BO residents enter the hungry season. The government provides assistance with buying basic food stuffs and cooking gas. Only those households with a family member who has employment outside of the sugarcane plantation escapes the hardship of those 6 months. I conducted interviews with 8 community members in BO to learn more about their lives, which are in many ways drastically different from those on the agrarian reform settlements. One thing I learned is that the conversion of the old sugarcane plantations that had become unproductive into agrarian reform settlements has actually helped the residents of BO. While sitting fallow, those plantations provided no employment and produced no food for local communities like BO. Now that that the agrarian reform settlers have converted the plantations into small diverse farms, many BO residents work for part of the year on the farms in exchange for money and/or food that they help to plant and harvest.

One of my informants from NC, Espedito, is an enthusiastic farmer and artisinal beekeeper and honey producer. While many of my new friends here are extremely passionate about their work and lives as small farmers (not to mention as revolutionaries, which is what they truly are and what many of them consider themselves to be after occupying and fighting for land for 6 years), Espedito's passion is above and beyond most others. He is currently conducting numerous "experiments" on his farm, seeking ways to make it more productive, while maintaining its diversity and adhering to the "agroecological" methods of farming promoted by the landless movement. Yes, as it turns out, the landless movement is pro environmental conservation and sustainable agriculture as well. Its opposition to large-scale agricultural is not only framed in terms of social justice; it is also about living sustainably off the land, living well, and reducing dependency on agribusiness. What's all this about the rural poor being one of the main drivers of environmental destruction? Come visit my friends in Pernambuco and they'll show how their takeover of the land from sugarcane barons has led to diverse, carbon-rich farms combining standard small-scale agriculture with agro-forestry, reforestation of the almost totally devastated Atlantic Forest on parts of their settlement, and preservation of ground and surface water sources. They take pride in being the only farmers at their local market to sell organic fruits and vegetables.

 

Espedito, working hard

On Espedito's farm, numerous acres are dedicated to an agro-forestry experiment, where he is letting native vegetation grow in amongst his fruit trees (papaya, banana, passionfruit, guava, jackfruit, and many more), and has planted several native species throughout. He also has an organic vegetable garden and medicinal plants garden for his family's use, all fertilized with his experimental home-made organic fertilizer, the secrets of which cannot be revealed here. ;) His latest experiment is his fish ponds, where he is attempting to raise tilapia and one native Brazilian species. He took an interest in raising fish in part because it has less of an impact on the land than raising livestock. Under the hot sun Espedito excitedly gave me a tour of the farm, and sent me off with a bag full of fresh fruit and an invitation to harvest honey with him the next day.

That's me, suited up and ready to harvest some honey.

Of course I took him up on the honey offer! The next day Ena, Espedito, Espedito's nephew Charles, and I all got suited up and headed out to  harvest honey at his 15 bee boxes spread across the 23 acre farm. When I had initially accepted the offer I hadn't really been thinking about what it would feel like to be covered with bees. We've all seen video footage of those guys in bee suits covered in hundreds of bees, and most of us (however not scared of bees we may claim to be) have probably thought that we would never be caught dead doing that, right? Yes, I was one of those who never liked the idea of being covered in bees, protective suit or not. Once I got into the astronaut-like suit in the middle of the afternoon, however, I found myself suddenly more concerned with the heat than the bees. Maybe it was the adrenaline that kept me from collapsing from heat stroke. Or the fact that I felt like above all I needed to keep up with this crew of hard-core farmers that I had gotten myself into this adventure with. In order to be able to film and photograph part of the experience, Charles gave me a pair of yellow rubber dish-washing gloves (as opposed to the thick canvas gloves usually worn), saying that he could not guarantee their integrity. Nice. So of all the times that my heart really got beating, it was mostly when dozens of bees started to land on my hands, and at one point one tried to sting the fuzzy velcro of my video camera strap (they're always looking for hair or skin to try to sting, I guess this felt more like part of my body than the rubber gloves). Throughout the long afternoon of honey harvesting, I found myself mostly either holding a camera, with both my hands and the camera covered in bees; carrying boxes of fresh honeycomb, with hundreds of bees following me and trying to eat the honey as I took it away; or at other times in charge of smoking out the bees (see picture at top of post- Ena on left is holding the smoke-maker), and covering others in smoke to try to get the bees away from them. One time I had to do an emergency squirt of smoke into the hole in Charles' pants, which the bees had found and mercilessly attacked. It ended up being more fun than scary, once I got used to the bees. Turns out I love bees! And I love harvesting honey!

Once we got back to the house and unsuited, far away from the bees that had followed us and were still trying to eat their honey, I had the opportunity to chat with Espedito about his new career as a beekeeper. He told me that his beekeeping and honey-making is merely "artisinal" and that he plans to keep it that way. He has a niche market; people even pulled up to his house while I was there asking to buy a liter of his honey (for those who know about it this stuff is in high demand). He enjoys raising the bees and selling their honey, and it provides a welcome boost to the rest of his farm income. However, he's not trying to get rich off the honey, that's for sure. He hopes that his entire farm will eventually become more productive, and thereby more lucrative, but he very much considers himself a small-scale agroecological farmer, and for this reason will not compromise his values to make a profit off the farm. For example, he plans to make his agroforestry system more productive, and to be able to market his organic fruits at a higher price, rather than clearing the native forest and planting a monoculture of bananas. And, to be blunt, he has no illusions of getting rich. I am not trying to romanticize the lives of these people, but am merely being honest when I say that almost all of the agrarian reform farmers that I have met have told me that they are content with the simple life and relatively low income of a small-farmer. It is worlds better than the life of the landless urban poor that they held before, and they aspire mainly to enjoy being able to grow their own food and live off the land. They have a passion for this life. They hope their children will get an education and get good jobs, but they also hope that the farm will stay in the family, and that at least some of their children will be able to know the joy of living off the land.

Small-scale beekeeping and agroforestry are two ways in which the farmers on the agrarian reform settlements are opposing the dominant model of large-scale agriculture. By owning land, and partaking in these sorts of agricultural activities, residents of NC and similar communities have, from what I can tell, managed to make a living that is often more lucrative and, perhaps most importantly, more rewarding than the living made from cutting sugarcane for six months of the year, and spending the other six months unemployed. Sugarcane plantations are the predominant source of employment for this region, and as long as they continue to expand and limit the expansion of the agrarian reform, it is difficult to imagine the human development index (or any other indicator of human well-being) of the Forest Region improving. And forget about reforestation or reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Sugar and ethanol both may just be products that the world's population needs (?), but how can we find ways to produce them while ensuring more sustainable rural livelihoods, more rural happiness, and less environmental degradation?

Delicious fresh honey from Espedito's farm

Link to my Picasa album with more photos from my week of fieldwork in Tracunhaém:  http://picasaweb.google.com/lynn.m.schneider/FieldworkTracunhaem#

3 comments:

Dianne said...

Hi Lynn Thanks for sharing your experiences. Your stories about the landless workers and what they have achieved is good news against the devastation that the sugarcane plantations have caused. I absolutely agree with you that we need to find a way of producing fuel that doesn't have a negative impact on rural livelihoods and the environment. I'll continue to follow your blog and look forward to reading more about your research. And good luck with your study of Portuguese!!!

January 24, 2010 5:49 PM

Anonymous said...

Thank you! Keep up the good work! Now i find a good superhero costumes for my friend in http://www.sanseed.com/catsuits-zentai/superhero-costumes.html, However i don't know it's fit her or not, any one help me?

January 9, 2011 6:19 PM  ................................... Another interesting paradoxical angle on the honey vs sugar cane debate as it applies to temperate or northern climate bee keepers   http://www.gardenfork.tv/honeybee-sugar-syrup-why-use-only-cane-sugar

Honeybee sugar syrup: why use only cane sugar?

Posted by Eric Gunnar Rochow on October 20, 2010 in Beekeeping · 6 Comments

I’ve heard from more than one person, be them beekeepers or just people who think they know something about honeybees and beekeeping, that you should only use cane sugar to feed your bees sugar syrup in the spring or fall.

sugar and cane sugar

I haven’t read this in any of my beginning beekeeping books, nor was it mentioned in my beekeeping class. White table sugar, which is what we use to feed our honeybees in the fall and spring, is made primarily from sugarcane or sugar beets I looked at sugar packages at the grocery stores in my town, I noticed one brand did say cane sugar on the package. So, why do some say feed your bees only cane sugar? It may be that sugarcane has not been genetically modified (yet). But there are GMO sugar beets:

“Genetically modified (GMO) sugar beets are already planted on more than one million acres of farmland, spanning 10 different states from Michigan to Oregon. In fact, the Roundup-resistant gene is present in 95-percent of U.S.-grown sugar beet plants.” Treehugger Federal Judge Bans Genetically Modified Sugar Beets

So it seems prudent not to feed your bees GMO sugar if you can. Yet GMO sugarcane is on the horizon:

Commercial utilisation of GM sugar cane is possible in the near future in the USA and Brazil. GMO-Compass

Now my head starts spinning. All we want to do is feed our bees some sugar to get them thru the winter and early spring, and we have to contend with global GMO issues. What do we do? Let us know your thoughts below:

Tags: beekeeping, bees, canesugar, gmosugar, honeybees, sugarbeets, sugarsyrup

Previous Post Henry and Charlie in Brooklyn photo Next Post Tools fall off truck, into dirt. This is GardenFork!

Recommended for you

March 31, 2010

What honeybee starvation looks like in a beehive

November 1, 2009

Beginning Beekeeping : Fall Feeding and Varroa Mite Treatment

March 9, 2010

Late Winter Feeding : Beginning Beekeeping Video

March 26, 2007

How to cook maple syrup GF TV Video

6 total comments on this postSubmit yours

1. Scott January 2, 2011

   Hi Eric, I have done heaps of work trying to find an answer on this one, speaking to a lot of people. Apparently its the fact that white sugar is super refefined and has absolutly no solids in it when in liquid form. Therefore my concusion is Powdered sugar, brown sugar, molasses and any other unrefined sugar is not good for bees becasue…wait for it… They can’t handle the solids. It pretty easy to avoid that problem here through Aussies keep it simple with sweeteners, Sugar white or brown. There’s no corn fructose, or beet sugar or any of that other stuff in the regular stores. Cheers

2. BobH January 18, 2011

   If you want to avoid GM for a political, ethical or moral reason then fine, and I agree. However it is the beet or the cane which is being genetically modified, not the sugar. As Scott suggests bees can only take candy, or syrup made from pure white sugar (sucrose), which is a single chemical not modified at all by the GM process. Much more important to look for the other chemicals added by the sugar processor, to reduce attack by ants when the sugar’s in store, as anti-caking agents, etc. The best solution is to leave your bees with enough honey that you don’t need to feed them.

3. Jewel January 26, 2011

   It’s actually most beneficial to the bees for their humans to reserve excess honey and feed that to them when they need some extra help in the pantry, but we use sugar, too, in a pinch. Check out a great LA blog on beekeeping – organic and as hands off as possible. Love your site, by the way. So glad I stumbled upon it as I green my own life. Keep up the great work! Backwards Beekeepers Blog http://beehuman.blogspot.com/

4. bob March 8, 2011

   People often ask this question when I’m teaching beekeeping courses. The reason to use pure white cane sugar is because of the impurities in other sugars. Remember, that if you’re heating the sugar and water to make a candy make certain not to burn or carmalize the sugars. This is dangerous to the bees also. If you take the advice of many beekeepers and use excess honey to feed back to your bees be certain not to use honey from an outside source. These can have AFB (American Foulbrood) spores and your colony can become infected. Use your own honey left in frames that you know are clear of AFB. You should be learning to recognize the signs of AFB. Lastly, as for High Fructose Corn Syrup is a judgement call. I’ve used it in the past but my supplier retired from keeping bees. I will say it’s easier to deal with than mixing your own. Just remember to get HFC produced for honeybees. Look at the beekeeping supply catalogs. Read up and learn. It’s a great hobby.

5. Aly April 3, 2011

   Bees are meant to eat honey. Not sugar and definitely not high fructose corn syrup. If you feed your bees white sugar you are also feeding Monsanto’s wallet and contaminating your bees and honey. Your honey will not be organic and not free of genetically modified ingredients. Say no to GMO’s!

6. Paul April 11, 2011

   I fed my bee’s brown sugar before the winter. oops. The sugar contains too much insoluble materials, causing the bee’s to defecate everywhere and in large amounts. amazing really. Yuck. I’m now feeding them white, organic cane sugar (very limited).

Organic Chocolate Sugar Candy Bar in Guatemala,Where ?

 In a google search for organic sugar in Guatemala I certainly didn't find any which is sort of what I expected.
Where companies that claim to get organic sugar such as Vitasoy SOY MILK and I presume SOME chocolate bar makers in the U.S. get it from is not very obvious.I do believe I heard about some in Bolivia but even then the environmental damage of clearing a diverse tropical ecosystems to cultivate even 'organic' sugar cane seems tragic.I guess that just as the last phase of Maya civilization before its ultimate collapse is called by archeologists,Late Classic Maya,so are we 'Late Classic Industrial 'civilization'.
We do have at least one store here that claims to sell 'organic' chocolate bars and truffles,etc., but it seems rather fraudulant to me in light of the fact that organic sugar is no where to be found and if sugar is AT LEAST 30% of the ingredients it seems a little silly to emphasize that the cacao is 'organic',doesn't it ? Yet another reason for our cacao-honey bars........
On the other hand it appears to me that the collapse of Late Classic Industrial 'Civilization' will be much more profound than past collapses probably due to over population combined with soil depletion and collapse...It is obvious that while the Maya of the tropical forset of Meso America collpsed and evidence exists that corresponds incresed Maya population with increased sedimentation of soil minerals,particulary phosphates,
the collapse was localized to the extent that the genetically diverse ecosystems they were inhabiting and exploiting still housed enough or most of the life forms their civilzation and population was exploiting.In other words jaguars survived.Howler and spider money survived.Precious trees unique and indigenous to what is now called the Guatemala Peten where Maya civilization flourished survived to reinhabit the pyramidfs and other human made structures that the corn and bean and perhaps manioc civilization of the Maya had built
on land that was formerly pristine.
I'm not so sure this is occuring today and in many cases unlike after the Maya collapse of over a thousand years ago,the present population of humans in the Peten is indeed leading to mammalian and plant extinctions that the Maya civilization before its collapse didn't occur.And this same situation can be seen at present around the world where in Asia the Orangutan is being driven to extinction as one example and in Africa our closet non-human ape relative in Africa, the Bonobo or pygmy  chimpanzee, and probably all chimpanzees are  expected to be extinct soon do to their  closet ape relative - us !

Images for orangutan

 - Report images

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

1. Orangutans May Be Closest Human Relatives, Not Chimps

   news.nationalgeographic.com/.../090623-humans-chimps-related.htm...

   23 Jun 2009 – Gene studies linking humans to modern African apes are flawed, says a new study that argues we have more physical traits in common with the ...

2. How humans are 97% the same as orangutans: New research ...

   www.dailymail.co.uk/.../How-humans-97-orangutans-New-research-s...

   27 Jan 2011 – Although it makes orangutans less closely related to us than chimps - who have 99 per cent of DNA in common - a small portion of orangutan ...

3. Hominidae : chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and humans

   www.primates.com/primate/hominidae.html

   Hominidae. chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, humans. Until recently, most classifications included only humans in this family; other apes were put in the family .

   
   

   100 orangutans estimated lost in Indonesian fires

   ‎
   

   Atlanta Journal Constitution - 28 Mar 2012

   AP JAKARTA, Indonesia — Fires raging in an Indonesian swamp forest may have killed a third of the rare Sumatran orangutans living there and all of them may ...

   Orangutans may be wiped out - warning‎ Herald Sun
   Orangutans in Indonesia's Aceh forest may die out in weeks‎ Economic Times
   all 214 news articles »

   
   

   Orangutans in danger

   ‎
   

   The Japan Times - 5 days ago

   The word "orangutan" comes from the Malay and Indonesian words meaning "person of the forest." Unfortunately, soon there may be no forest and no "person," ...

   
   

   Indonesia court refuses to stop forest development ...

   ‎
   

   Washington Post - 3 Apr 2012

   The Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program has said that orangutans could disappear from Tripa by the year's end if palm oil companies keep setting ...
   
   
   

   Hundreds of orangutans killed in north Indonesian forest fires ...

   ‎
   

   Daily Mail - 29 Mar 2012

   By Richard Shears Hundreds of orangutans are believed to have died in fires deliberately lit by palm oil companies. Conservationists say the rare Sumatran ...

   Orangutans in Indonesia's Aceh forest may die out in weeks‎ Reuters
   100 orangutans estimated lost in Indonesian fires‎ The Associated Press
   Fires threaten Sumatran orangutans‎ Aljazeera.com

Bonobo Chimps: Girls Rule! - YouTube
► 1:17► 1:17	www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlqsaxL-wCw7 Nov 2007 - 1 min - Uploaded by NationalGeographic In bonobo society, it's the females that rule the world. See New Bonobo Baby ...

  http://www.wrm.org.uy/bulletin/143/Guatemala.html

Guatemala: sugarcane’s bitter consequences

In our country, one of the crops that has caused the most negative impacts from its start to the present day is sugarcane. The sugarcane plantations are located in the Pacific Plains, a rich area with fertile soils of volcanic origin and abundant water from rainfall and the rivers born in the volcanic chain. These conditions were perfect for the development of this crop and the expansion of sugar mills. Today Guatemala is the fifth largest exporter of sugar in the world and second in production in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Presently, 14 sugar mills are in operation and in 2007 sugarcane plantations covered 216,000 hectares, approximately the same size as the Department of Guatemala (225,300 hectares) an appreciable area considering the size of our country (108,889 km2).

One of the most serious problems of monoculture sugarcane plantations is the total destruction of the ecosystems where they are located. In Guatemala this has led to the disappearance of vast areas of forest.

Added to the above is the exaggerated use of water which affects the human communities and causes direct and indirect negative impacts on terrestrial and coastal marine ecosystems. Burning sugarcane contaminates the environment, affects the health of neighbouring communities and releases CO2, one of the greenhouse gases. The burning of these plantations, year after year contributes to increasing global warming. During the harvest, the sugar mills change the course of rivers towards their plantations, leaving the communities without water; while at the same time also dumping their contaminated waste in them.

The canals and ditches, opened up for irrigation in the plantations, carry the water inland and cause flooding during the rainy season, placing many villages at risk. To this is added the contamination caused by the excessive use of agrochemicals, pesticides and chemical ripeners that are transported by the rivers towards coastal marine ecosystems such as mangroves.

One of the problems encountered by the sugar industry is the amount of land available to expand its plantations. According to statements made in 2007 by Armando Boesche, manager of the Guatemalan Sugar Growers Association (Asazgua - Asociación de Azucareros de Guatemala) “Now there is no land available because we have reached the limit.” This situation has become a threat to ecosystems and local inhabitants and is sensitive in a country where land disputes have led to wars, disappearances and death.

A clear example of the lack of land was the transfer in 2006 of the Guadalupe sugar mill to the Polochic River valley in Izabal near the wildlife refuge and Ramsar Site of Bocas del Polochic. This situation directly and indirectly threatens the wetlands and wildlife due to the changing of river courses and the use of agrochemicals that are transported to this body of water by rain and runoff, risking stepping up the growth of Hydrilla verticillata, an invasive plant that has been established in this location for several years now.

However, in the South the sugarcane plantations do not seem to have reached “the limit,” as they continue to expand, with the felling of the last trees and riparian forests that protected the river courses. They have had negative impacts on endangered species such as the Yellow-necked Parrot, in serious danger of extinction. The sugarcane frontier has reached the mangrove shores and localities such as Iztapa and Hawai, two areas that still conserve this endangered ecosystem. The plantations reach their borders, causing isolation and pressure.

No assessment has yet been made in Guatemala of the accumulative negative impacts of these monoculture plantations that affect both the neighbouring communities and local ecosystems. In the meanwhile, the people continue to sweeten drinks and food, oblivious of the bitter impacts of this monoculture on nature and on people.

By Carlos Salvatierra. SAVIA –Escuela de Pensamiento Ecologista-Guatemala savia.guate@gmail.com salvatierraleal@gmail.com www.saviaguate.org

Source: WRM's bulletin Nº 143, June 2009

 
World Rainforest Movement
Maldonado 1858 - 11200 Montevideo - Uruguay
tel:  598 2 413 2989 / fax: 598 2 410 098
 wrm@wrm.org.uy


........................................

  http://www.cep.unep.org/publications-and-resources/marine-and-coastal-issues-links/persistent-organic-pollutants-pops-and-pesticides

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and Pesticides

Contents

• Effects
• Global versus Caribbean Studies on POPs
  
• Laws, Regulations, and Policy Responses on Heavy Metals
  
• What is the Caribbean Environment Programme (CEP) doing?
  
• What can you do?
  
• Links
• References

POPs are a set of toxic chemicals that are persistent in the environment and able to last for several years before breaking down (UNEP/GPA 2006a). POPs circulate globally and chemicals released in one part of the world can be deposited at far distances from their original source through a repeated process of evaporation and deposition. This makes it very hard to trace the original source of the chemical (http://web.worldbank.org/). POPs are lipophilic, which means that they accumulate in the fatty tissue of living animals and human beings (http://www.unece.org/spot/s01.htm). In fatty tissue, the concentrations can become magnified by up to 70 000 times higher than the background levels (http://web.worldbank.org/). As you move up the food chain, concentrations of POPs tend to increase so that animals at the top of the food chain such as fish, predatory birds, mammals, and humans tend to have the greatest concentrations of these chemicals, and therefore are also at the highest risk from acute and chronic toxic effects.


 One of the newer persistent substances in the Wider Caribbean region is tributyl tin.  Antifouling paints used on vessel hulls is the primary source of tributyl tin (UNEP 2002). In boatyards in Trinidad and Tobago and in the US Virgin Islands, tributyl tin levels recorded are considered to be unsafe for invertebrate organisms (UNEP 2002). Panama, Cuba and Guatemala have also reported the use of organic tin compounds in agriculture (UNEP 2002).

For Central America and Mexico it was reported that: Central America is the largest user of pesticides per capita in Latin America and, as a result of the current economic model, its use will increase further (CATHALAC 1999); in Honduras, pesticides and organic waste, mainly from coffee productions, are the most common sources of water pollution; in Nicaragua pesticide pollution mainly from cotton crops have been found in aquifers; DDT has been found to be used in sugar cane production within the region;  In Chetumal Bay mass fish mortalities have been recorded due to contamination by agrochemicals and pesticides transported there by Río Hondo.

.............

The Use of biological specimens for the assessment of human ... - Google Books Result

books.google.com/books?isbn=9024721687...A. Berlin, Arthur Harold Wolff, Y. Hasegawa - 1979 - Medical - 368 pages
SPECIFIC WORKING PAPER ON PESTICIDES BR Ordonez Secretariat of Public ... Summary Pesticides, both chlorinated and phosphated organic compounds have ... are those of human maternal milk done in Guatemala, a survey of approximately ... rice, wheat, sorghum, sugar cane, fruits, and, to a lesser extent, on corn.