Spider venom can become the savior of bees

According to research published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B on June 4, venom from one of the world's most poisonous spiders could become a biological insecticide to kill harmful insects, but no. affecting bees - one of the "experts" to pollinate crops.

>>>Lack of honey bees, crop yields in many countries are threatened

For a long time, scientists have conducted many studies to find out the reason why the number of bees, including wild bees and bees, decreased in Europe, the Americas and Asia, according to the "culprit". may be industrial pesticides.

In 2013, the European Union (EU) temporarily banned some pesticides after scientists said chemicals used to protect crops or beehives could enter the brain. honey bee set, affects the ability to memorize and positioning skills necessary to search for bee food.

Bees are experts in crop pollination.(Photo: wikipedia.org)

The team, led by the University of Newcastle (UK), has found a bee-friendly bio-pesticide , made from the Australian funnel spider's venom combined with the protein from the snowdrop tree.

When tested with repeated and repeated doses, which is higher than the bees suffered in fields of industrial pesticide spray, the above mentioned spider venom biocides only affect negligiblely. bee's existence as well as the ability of this pollinator to remember. Both adult bees and bee larvae are not affected.

However, co-author Angharad Gatehouse, co-author of the study, said that what scientists and farmers now need is a strategy to control synthetic pests, but biological pesticides. The above is only part of it.

Biological pesticides are thought to be virtually harmless to humans, although there is a high level of toxicity to some major insects.

Bees " cover " up to 80% of pollination activities for insect pollinated plants. Without bees, many crops will not produce fruit, or humans must pollinate by hand.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), pollinators contribute at least 70% of the main human food harvest. The economic value of pollination services is estimated at 153 billion euros (208 billion USD) in 2005.