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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · 16h

A triage review of costs and causes of recent honey bee losses, usual suspects of parasites, pesticides, hunger, but surprisingly widespread 😔.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Insights from U.S. beekeeper triage surveys following unusually high honey bee colony losses 2024–2025

In January of 2025, U.S. commercial beekeepers reported unusually high honey bee colony losses as they prepared colonies for almond pollination. Two i…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Jul 31

A week ago we were told via YouTube that USDA-BARC and our Bee Lab will be closed. BARC has had a productive 90 years but is aging and I trust there is a longterm vision behind this decision. The largest loss will be the people, who are 100% devoted to bees, beekeepers, science, and this country.

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Jul 26

Fun to host the American Veterinary Medicine Association for a Honey bee workshop in the historic USDA Log Lodge , poignant as a couple days later we received notice our USDA Center will now vacate…🤷🏻🐝.

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Jul 13

Great work on bee senses from Penn State 🐝

Margarita Lopez-Uribe @mmlopezu.bsky.social · Jul 11

🧬 Shift between specialized & generalized diets in #bees is associated with evolutionary changes in their sensory genes. Generalists lose odorant receptors (ORs) and gain gustatory receptors (GRs), while specialists diversify existing genes 🌸🐝 #genomics #pollinators
academic.oup.com/g3journal/ad...

Shifts in bee diet breadths are associated with gene gains and losses and positive selection across olfactory receptors

Abstract. Bees are palynivorous insects that vary widely in the number of plant families from which they collect pollen. Their evolutionary history has bee

academic.oup.com

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Jul 4

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkFx...

The Declaration of Independence | Journey to American Democracy

YouTube video by Heather Cox Richardson

www.youtube.com

Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Jun 29

Would-be family provider

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Jun 3

And honey bees and beekeepers are having a rough year too, no doubt there are multiple causes but the battle against disease is a big one. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Viruses and vectors tied to honey bee colony losses

Commercial beekeepers in the US reported severe colony losses early in 2025, as colonies were being staged for their critical role in the almond pollination season in California. Average reported loss...

www.biorxiv.org

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Jun 3

Wow, continued insect decline even in the prettiest places. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘Half the tree of life’: ecologists’ horror as nature reserves are emptied of insects

A new point in history has been reached, entomologists say, as climate-led species’ collapse moves up the food chain even in supposedly protected regions free of pesticides

www.theguardian.com

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Mar 12

Welcome, Nancy!

Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Mar 5

Hi, they were there the end of January and start of Feb, hoping to get Andrew/left back in board to finish the work

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Mar 2

NIH traffic reports provided by friendly NGOs

Jason Williams @jasonwilliamsny.bsky.social · Mar 2

HT to Sean Davis for creating a status page for NIH websites: stats.uptimerobot.com/Zrqh8AhvKn - simultaneous worth sharing and sad.

Government Biomedical data

stats.uptimerobot.com

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Feb 24

Welcome back! 🤷🏻

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Feb 19

I am frugal myself and rarely critique my federal employer (maybe for shutdowns, as I love my job), but I cracked seeing the young faces of fired #NPS rangers and #USDA employees. Thought of my teacher mom, who joined midlife as a proud @NPS educator. Public service is a calling, not a safety net.

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Feb 14

Thanks Katherine, great fun and exciting to see what you do with 99+ more beenomes 🐝

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Feb 14

so we'll see what happens. I'm filing for the merit board on Monday and ### should too. Also, there's a class action lawsuit gearing up and ##### can find out more about that on the Fed subreddit. I can also send links when I have them.”

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Feb 14

Totally heartbreaking and I know you were the best of an incredible candidate pool. Everywhere is different but maybe some aids below from a friend in same straights. Take care. “Our area sent a weirdly short appeal window for area cases. ### (RL) and I threw everything possible at them,

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Jan 29

We have two scientists on the road collecting time-sensitive samples of bees and wax to help beekeepers resolve how they lost >$10M in honey bees this month

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Jan 25

B > rc

Rob Waterhouse @rmwaterhouse.bsky.social · Jan 25

Eusociality evolves more readily in haplodiploid #insects because of an inflated #genetic relatedness between sisters - the transition rate from solitary to eusocial life was 15-100 times higher in haplodiploid than diploid lineages www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Eusociality evolved at a much higher rate in haplodiploid insects

As a corollary to inclusive fitness theory, W.D. Hamilton’s famous haplodiploid hypothesis proposed that eusociality evolves more readily in haplodiploids because of an inflated genetic relatedness be...

www.biorxiv.org

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Jan 16

Amazing how far the holistic study of bee health has come in a decade or so, sub-lethal but sub-optimal.

British Beekeepers Association @bbka.org.uk · Jan 16

A new study shows the impacts of pesticides are far from uniform, affecting the brain, legs, and kidney-like tissues that undermines essential functions.

www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2...

Pesticide impacts on bees more complex than expected

www.qmul.ac.uk

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Jan 15

This group is doing a lot to develop and use genome data to improve biodiversity and involve local peoples

Earth BioGenome Project 🌍 @ebpgenome.bsky.social · Jan 15

Sequencing genomes unlocks the potential to analyze genetic diversity within that ecosystem, allowing scientists to identify vulnerable species and design targeted #conservation strategies.

Sign up for our newsletter on earthbiogenome.org to learn more in our upcoming issue.

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Dec 19

A poignant visit to Chile’s Human Rights museum, highlighting the 15-year murderous blight on democracy by Pinochet and his many allies, even refusing the results of the 1988 plebiscite until the people said ‘nope’, we won.

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Reposted by Jay Evans

organicgay.bsky.social @organicgay.bsky.social · Dec 12

Since we cut away neighboring trees our Jackfruit has started producing many more fruits.

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Nov 26

Yes though fortunately there is not much real time movement of varroa between the two, but that’s definitely what we r keen on

Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Nov 25

Proud member of @ebpgenome.bsky.social !

Katherine Parys @liquidanbar.bsky.social · Nov 24

Spent some time the other day updating the #beenome100 website! If you’re interested in #beegenomes or #insectgenomes in general, check it out 🐝

beenome100.org

Beenome100

beenome100.org

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Jay Evans @jaydevans.bsky.social · Nov 24

Yeah I m thinking of both directions, mellifera seem to suffer in Thailand and opens avenues for world disease movement, and cerana is picking up viruses.. bit more work to make profitable

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