Using bees for pest control

This task is about using information in a written text to evaluate a new idea.

Bumblebees put to work carrying pesticides to flowers

On a warm sunny day it’s not unusual to see bumblebees and other insects buzzing from flower to flower collecting nectar. At the same time they perform the very important function of pollination so that plants can produce seeds.

Researchers from a pesticide company in Canada want to give bumblebees another job – they want to use bumblebees to carry pesticides to plants to protect crops from damage caused by fungi, insects, and bacteria.

Each year, farmers spend billions of dollars spraying their crops with pesticides. One problem is that when a crop is sprayed, 99% of the pesticide ends up in the wrong place: in the soil, on the wrong plants, or on the wrong part of the plant. The chemicals used also kill helpful insects like bumblebees.

The researchers' idea is to place a tray containing a new organic pesticide powder inside the bumblebee hive. The powder sticks to the bumblebees’ legs as they walk through it to leave the hive. When the bumblebees land on a plant's flower, they leave a dusting of the pesticide behind.

The new pesticide contains a fungus, Clonostachys rosea, which infects a plant without damaging it. This fungus attacks any insects, bacteria, or other types of fungi that would normally cause damage to the plant.

Currently this method is only used in glasshouses using domesticated bumblebees - not wild bees.

Question 2Change answer

a) If this was all of information you were given about this new idea in pest control, what could be some arguments for and against using bumblebees to carry pesticides? List them in the spaces below.

Should we use bumblebees to carry pesticides to plants?

a) If this was all of information you were given about this new idea in pest control, what could be some arguments for and against using bumblebees to carry pesticides? List them in the spaces below.

Should we use bumblebees to carry pesticides to plants?

Arguments for	Arguments against

Here is the rest of the article:

Bees put to work carrying pesticides to flowers (continued)

The pesticide company want to commercialise the method; they want to sell both the bumblebees they breed and the pesticides to farmers. They plan to mix a range of organic and chemical pesticides together to target a variety of plant diseases or a variety of crops in one powder.

Many scientists are very concerned about unintended side effects of using bumblebees to deliver pesticides to plants. They say that, while the US Environment Protection Agency has approved the method, testing was carried out on honeybees and only over a short period of time. The effect of long term exposure to the pesticide is unknown and the pesticides may be toxic to other bee species and insect pollinators that visit treated plants.

Farmers who have used this method report massive improvements in crop health and fruit production, and they say they use a fraction of the amount of pesticide, resulting in much larger profits. Farmers think it’s much better for the environment.

Scientists are worried about what might happen if commercially bred bumblebees are released into the environment. Domesticated bees carry pathogens. These could be transmitted to wild bees causing diseases and unpredicted effects on their populations.

Another possible problem is that bumblebees will visit many sorts of flowers in their search for nectar and therefore non-targeted plants may be affected.

The pesticide company says they are “very cautious” about the insects’ well-being.

Adapted from New Scientist, No. 3045, page 13, 30/10/2015

Question

d) i) Has your opinion changed after reading the second part of the article?

- yes
- no
- somewhat

Answers/responses:

Questions	Student responses
a) Should we use bees to carry pesticides to plants?	Look for answers that consider positive and negative impacts from multiple viewpoints (bees, plants, farmers, pesticide company, etc), e.g., For: Crops will grow quicker due to less pests and unwanted bacteria and the life cycle of the bees will not be affected in the process. The fungus used in the pesticide infects the plants without damaging it in any way and ultimately being very beneficial. Farmers can spend less on pesticides. Against: Although the pesticide is said to be organic, could it possibly be harmful for the bees? The bees might land on types of plants and flowers that aren't supposed to get the pesticides. Other insects might be affected by the pesticide. or Students who have given arguments based on 1 point of view (the bees or the farmer) or only give arguments either for or against have given a partial response, e.g., For: It is easier [for the farmer], they would use less pesticide and it would save them lots of money. Against: The bees might die. Bees won’t like it.
b) i) What is your personal opinion about using bees to deliver pesticides? ii) Explain why you think that.	Look for answers where the student gives their opinion (positive or negative) and this is backed up by reference to statements or claims made in the article or their wider view, e.g., I believe that it should not go ahead. The pesticide attacks insects, bacteria and fungi that live off plants. Other useful insects, bacteria and fungi could be killed too. The pesticide would also be taken into the hive where it might contaminate bee eggs. I think it is a good idea, as long as it is not endangering their [the bees] lives. It is also a good alternative to the pesticides that farmers are currently using because the pesticide is delivered to the plant flower and not spread over a large area. Based on what I read, this pesticide is organic and will infect a plant without damaging it. It attacks any insects, bacteria, or other types of fungi that would usually destroy a plant. However we would need to be sure that the bees and other insects are not adversely affected by the pesticide. or In a less well developed argument, the student gives their opinion, but it is backed up by weak or few arguments, e.g., I think that it is a good idea because farmers will have less work to do and the bees land on the flowers anyway so they just have to do what they normally do. Bees shouldn't carry pesticides because when they do 99% of the time it ends up in the wrong place and farmers end up paying billions of dollars. [the student has misinterpreted the text and the argument is incorrectly applied]
c) Add new ideas to your list of arguments for and against using bees to carry pesticides to plant flowers.	Look for the addition of further arguments that involve consideration of positive and negative impacts from multiple viewpoints (bees, plants, farmers, pesticide company, etc), e.g., For: The farmers say their crops have improved by quite a lot. Eventually a range of different pesticides will be able to be included in the powder. Against: Farmers are only doing it because it saves them money but we don’t even know if it is going to kill the bees so if it went ahead with it the population of bees in the future might drop so much that plants won’t get pollinated properly. Other plants that are not targeted can be affected. It hasn't been tested on all pollinating insects.
d) i) Has your opinion changed? ii) Explain why you think that.	An opinion is given with correctly applied supporting reasoning, e.g., Yes, because the second part of the article raised some potential negative effects, like scientists haven't yet tested the toxicity of the pesticide on bumble bees and other insects.
e) What have you learned about how we form opinions about environmental issues from doing this exercise?	Look for reflection on how people form opinions, and/or that there can be multiple perspectives on issues, and/or the importance of obtaining a complete picture by reading widely around an issue. Examples of student responses: We need to read the whole article, not just the first few paragraphs because conflicting arguments and evidence can be found later in the text. We need to be careful about the source of the information. We need to be careful to distinguish between evidence and hearsay when formulating our opinions, or There are 2 sides to every story and we need to be aware of conflicting arguments when making our own decisions.

Teaching and learning:

This resource provides opportunities to:

encourage students to think deeply about an issue after reading a text.
explore people's different opinions about environmental issues, depending on what they value, and how well they understand the science involved.

In the Next Steps section there are ideas on how to develop student's appreciation that any action has a range of consequences, including a possibility of unintended environmental consequences.

Diagnostic and formative information:

Question	Student responses
a) Should we use bees to carry pesticides to plants? b) i) What is your personal opinion about using bees to deliver pesticides? ii) Explain why you think that. c) Add new ideas to your list of arguments for and against using bees to carry pesticides to plant flowers.	Many students in the trial were easily swayed by the pro-biased messages for using bees for pest control in the first part of the text and found it easy to justify their position. About two-thirds of students thought the idea was a good idea after reading the first piece of text. Students found it more difficult to to find/think of arguments against using bees for pest control. Thinking about environmental issues at a 'systems' level is an important skill to develop in science. Any enviromental system is highly complicated. So when considering an issue students have to understand the impacts of a "new idea" on many different parts of the system.
d) i) Has your opinion changed? ii) Explain why you think that.	After reading the second part of the text, which gave a less rosy view, two-thirds of students had reconsidered their opinion, changing their stance to being against the idea. Very few students demonstrated independent thinking on likely consequences for participants in the system. These students gave opinions about what content they had learnt, rather than how they learnt.
e) What have you learned about how we form opinions about environmental issues from doing this exercise?	About half of students showed meta-cognitive thinking, and gave responses that were based on how we form opinions about environmental issues. Others concentrated on the knowledge they had learned by reading the article.

Based on 115 year 10 students completing the activity

Next steps:

Science Capability: Engaging in Science

The ability to think about issues at a systems level is an important aspect of the science capability - 'Engage in Science'. The high level of uncertainty and the complexity of decision-making around issues makes more sense when you can think at a systems level and see that things are not necessarily self evidently "good" or "bad", and that different aspects of an intervention will interact with each other in complex ways, with consequences that can't be predicted in advance. Practice in considering arguments from many points of view and in distinguishing science fact from unsubstantiated claim is a useful start.

Encourage students to think deeply about an issue and focus on scientific evidence.

Ask students if they have any further questions they would like answered before making up their minds on the issue. What investigations do you think are necessary to make an informed decision about whether this method of pest control should be developed and used on crops, both inside a glasshouse and in the wild?

Ask students to debate provocative questions such as: how is, or how should, the science research for initiatives like this be funded?

Help your students develop argumentation skills.

Being able to provide both arguments and counterarguments is an important developmental step that will set students up well for future science learning. A lot of students struggle with this so the more practice they can get the better.

Set up group discussions:

Inside a glasshouse or out in the wild – what difference would this make?
What happens to the plants before the pollinating insects visit the flower? No flower, no pesticide.
What about the long term susceptibility of the target disease organisms to the pesticide? Will this method of delivery cause immunity?

You could help your students gain an appreciation of multiple perspectives.

Imagine you belong to one of the following ‘groups’ and write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper (or local Member of Parliament) explaining your viewpoint.

Crop farmers
Organic farmers
Environmentalists
Scientists who work at the Canadian pesticide company
CEO of the pesticide company
Bees
Wild plants etc

Discussing what might happen if particular scenarios are played out can support students to develop their Systems thinking.

What are the flow on effects of beneficial bacteria, fungi, and insects being negatively affected by the pesticides?
What are the likely unintended consequences, if any, of using bees that collect honey?
Draw a food web which includes the bumblebees and the targeted plants.
Consider the flow on effects up the food chain.Consider questions such as: What could happen if you eradicated all of the insect pests and diseases that would normally affect a plant, and how would this affect other species?

Provide opportunities to discuss systems models in a variety of contexts. You could use the following tools:

Make a consequence wheel similar to the way this one here is created: http://www.wettropics.gov.au/rainforest_explorer/Resources/Documents/8to...
Make an Actor – Network theory Cartography map similar to here: http://www.parrise.eu/cartography-of-controversies-and-actor-network-the...

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