MR448: Bees and Their Habitats in Four New England States

Bees are crucial to pollination in unmanaged ecosystems and some crops, and their roles are increasingly understood in four states in the Northeastern U.S., abbreviated “NNE” in this paper: Maine (ME), Massachusetts (MA), New Hampshire (NH), and Vermont (VT). The four states have in common many native bee and plant species, forest types, and natural communities. They share drought events and risk of wildfire (Irland 2013). They are exposed to many of the same major storms (e.g., hurricanes, Foster 1988), pollution events (Hand et al. 2014), and effects ascribed to climate change (Hayhoe et al. 2008). Beekeeping enterprises (the western honey bee, Apis mellifera, an introduced species) of various sizes exist in each of the states. By including the four states in this review, we hope to better understand wild bee distributions, inspire the expansion of floral resources to support bee populations in a strategic manner, reduce use of pesticides, create pollinator corridors, and protect subtle habitat features such as ground nest sites for solitary bees and patches of native vegetation that are free of invasive plants. Our objective in this review is to synthesize from a conservation standpoint the state of knowledge regarding bees in NNE, including their diversity, and biology especially as it relates to climate change. We review foraging and nutrition, nest ecology, parasites and parasitoids, native vs. managed bees, and interactions with plants. We then turn our focus to bee habitats, and identify 15 habitat types we find useful for recognizing essential bee resources. We discuss habitat aspects including forest succession, invasive plants, land use alterations, and agriculture including impacts of pesticides, and cover economic aspects of crop-related pollination reservoirs in NNE that demonstrate cost-effectiveness at various scales. We present habitat improvement strategies including passive and active approaches, based on the literature and our experiences in NNE, and we suggest plants for pollinator plantings. Wherever pertinent throughout the text, we highlight threats to bees in our region such as pests and pathogens, pesticides, and habitat loss. Finally, we identify gaps in knowledge that could help in prioritizing directions for future research. We hope this review will be useful to anyone seeking to protect bees and their habitats.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_miscreports/1029/thumbnail.jp

Hopefulness predicts resilience after hereditary colorectal cancer genetic testing: a prospective outcome trajectories study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background -</p> <p>Genetic testing for hereditary colorectal cancer (HCRC) had significant psychological consequences for test recipients. This prospective longitudinal study investigated the factors that predict psychological resilience in adults undergoing genetic testing for HCRC.</p> <p>Methods -</p> <p>A longitudinal study was carried out from April 2003 to August 2006 on Hong Kong Chinese HCRC family members who were recruited and offered genetic testing by the Hereditary Gastrointestinal Cancer Registry to determine psychological outcomes after genetic testing. Self-completed questionnaires were administered immediately before (pre-disclosure baseline) and 2 weeks, 4 months and 1 year after result disclosure. Using validated psychological inventories, the cognitive style of hope was measured at baseline, and the psychological distress of depression and anxiety was measured at all time points.</p> <p>Results -</p> <p>Of the 76 participating subjects, 71 individuals (43 men and 28 women; mean age 38.9 ± 9.2 years) from nine FAP and 24 HNPCC families completed the study, including 39 mutated gene carriers. Four patterns of outcome trajectories were created using established norms for the specified outcome measures of depression and anxiety. These included chronic dysfunction (13% and 8.7%), recovery (0% and 4.3%), delayed dysfunction (13% and 15.9%) and resilience (76.8% and 66.7%). Two logistic regression analyses were conducted using hope at baseline to predict resilience, with depression and anxiety employed as outcome indicators. Because of the small number of participants, the chronic dysfunction and delayed dysfunction groups were combined into a non-resilient group for comparison with the resilient group in all subsequent analysis. Because of low frequencies, participants exhibiting a recovery trajectory (n = 3 for anxiety and n = 0 for depression) were excluded from further analysis. Both regression equations were significant. Baseline hope was a significant predictor of a resilience outcome trajectory for depression (<it>B </it>= -0.24, <it>p </it>< 0.01 for depression); and anxiety (<it>B </it>= -0.11, <it>p </it>= 0.05 for anxiety).</p> <p>Conclusions -</p> <p>The current findings suggest that hopefulness may predict resilience after HCRC genetic testing in Hong Kong Chinese. Interventions to increase the level of hope may be beneficial to the psychological adjustment of CRC genetic testing recipients.</p

Onset of effect and impact on health-related quality of life, exacerbation rate, lung function, and nasal polyposis symptoms for patients with severe eosinophilic asthma treated with benralizumab (ANDHI): a randomised, controlled, phase 3b trial

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