LaLunaNina

I’m (1993-present) a student, and amateur chef living in the Seattle area. I’m currently in college to become a registered nurse. Some of my hobbies include cooking and eating cuisines from other parts of the world, traditional and digital art, discovering new music, growing houseplants, and just about anything to do with astrophysics. I like to consider myself an empathetic and perceptive person. I’m always ready for a conversation about the universe, including anything else that gets people thinking.

Wikipedia has been a reliable source of information for me as long as I can remember, inside and outside of school. I’m excited to learn more about how the website functions, and why it’s been able to withstand in a world so full of misinformation. I hope to further contribute, and create my own articles for young minds to come across and experience the same type of awe I had when discovering all the knowledge we have access to. The Internet can be a big scary place, and nothing makes me feel better than knowing I can, in a sense, help make it more reliable.

Article Review

I've always strived to be as hardworking, and harmonious as the Honey Bee. Despite being allergic, I understand the impact they have on our agriculture and overall health. Therefore, I’d like to know why hive numbers are decreasing at alarming rates and find out ways I can help them comfortably do their ever important job of pollinating. I visited the “Pesticide Toxicity to Bees” page on Wikipedia, and found three aspects of it worth commenting on: the lack of emphasis on the impact bees have, broken citation links, and the unbiased language throughout the article.  

The Impact of Bees

Although briefly addressed, I think the ecological importance of bees should be emphasized more. Bees are one of the most proficient pollinators we have and are incredibly important to many ecosystems. They also generate a considerable amount of revenue into our economy, further contributing to their value. In an article that discusses one of the major factors of dwindling colony health, I really want readers to understand just how detrimental the use of pesticides can be to our normal everyday lives.

Broken References

The article seems to be well maintained as far as references go, but I found some citations to be either broken, outdated, or redirected. Most notably, some of the broken reference links included [7] Pollinator Protection Requirements, [9] Toxicity Thresholds, and [78] Protecting Bees When Using Insecticides. I also noticed that the article contains a USDA Colony Collapse Disorder progress report dated from 2010, even though there is a more recent report from 2012. It might be helpful to switch this out, in case of any new information it may include.

Unbiased Language

One thing I realized was that the overall narrative seemed to be factual, and unbiased. The article includes the requirements for assessing pesticide risks in colonies from two different agencies, the EPA and PRMA. This allows the reader to understand that although toxicity levels can be a difficult thing to assess, it also reiterates just how serious the risk actually is.

Summary

In conclusion, I believe this article to be a reliable piece of information describing a real threat against the world’s most precious pollinators. The citations are plentiful and all from believable sources, but a few of them could be updated in order to keep the facts relevant. Adding a more detailed report on the value of bee pollination in our ecological and economic ecosystems could also be important in order to understand this information.

(Note: I have contributed a question to the talk page, in order to complete all the requirements of this assignment.)