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Isabella Rossellini explains bees in another educational insect video

By KATE STANTON, UPI.com

Rossellini, who wrote and produced "Burt Talks to the Bees," plays multiple bee personalities for the project. She also sports a flannel shirt and construction-paper beard to play Burt.

The series hopes to increase awareness of bee troubles like the mysterious "colony collapse disorder," in which worker bees suddenly disappear from the hive.

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According to Burt's Bees, honeybee numbers have declined each year by more than 30 percent since 2007, a statistic that could have a significant impact on our agricultural ecosystem, since bee pollination plays such a critical role in plant growth.

Honeybees are also battling parasites that cause a so-called Deformed Wing Virus, UPI reported earlier this month.

It is estimated that millions of honeybee colonies--and thus billions of honeybees--have died from the virus, which could also be playing a role in colony collapse disorder.

Rossellini first investigated insect lives in a series of Sundance Channel shorts called "Green Porno," detailing the sex lives of insects, including the dragonfly, spider, worm and bedbug.

"Green Porno's" second and third season investigated the mating habits of marine animals and various threats to animals' ocean habitat.

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In both series of short films, Rossellini has used ordinary arts-and-crafts materials to construct the costumes for her insect characters, giving them a homey, charming aesthetic.

"We had very little money, so I thought if we used paper it would be economically advantageous, but also to give it visual continuity," Rossellini said in an interview with Time.

"We also decided to keep the colors very simple and very bright, which was dictated by the fact that we imagined these films to be viewed on a lot of mobiles."

(Photo Credit: Sundance Channel)

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