Across the United States last year the honey bee population was decimated by a strange phenomenon that has since become known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), and its cause is still unclear.
The symptoms are consistent, however: empty hives and vanished bees. All this makes scientific analysis very difficult.
In hives where a few bees have remained, scientists have detected signs of multiple infection, giving rise to one theory that their immune systems had failed. The scientists also found that the empty hives were untouched by other insects and rival bee populations, who would normally invade an abandoned hive. This led some experts to speculate that the hives themselves contained some sort of repellent toxicity.
Theories
Other theories revolve around the Varroa mite, recent mild winters, genetically modified crops, Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus and even mobile phone signals interfering with the bees' navigation systems. The demanding 'famine/feast' methods that commercial pollinators use in the United States have also invited theories that stress amongst bees is a cause of CCD.
As Dr Sjef van der Steen, scientific bee keeper at Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands puts it:
"Pollination is quite profitable in the United States compared to honey production, so a lot of American bee-keepers have changed their way of working and use the honey-bees for pollination, so they bring their hives over thousands of miles....
But that means that there are days or weeks that the bees don't have the possibility to feed themselves with enough protein or nectar. It gives a lot of stress, this driving over the highways. (It) weakens the bees and in combination with the parasite and the secondary infections gives the problem."Whether any or a combination of these factors are behind CCD, its effects are very clear and devastating; in the United States 70 percent of all commercial honey bees were wiped out.
Einstein
A quote supposedly by Albert Einstein runs "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."
In fact, no record of this quote can be found before 1995 and it's likely that Einstein never said any such thing. Nevertheless, the spread of CCD has set imaginations on fire, with doomsday scenarios abounding.
Although other insects do contribute, bees carry out the most pollination of any insects and any decline in their population would see a drop in crop production and a resultant increase in food prices.
Based on an interview by Thijs Westerbeek
Tags:
bees,
Colony Collapse Disorder,
Einstein,
Varroa mite
Bob Terrell,
31-10-2008
- USA
I live in West Texas. When I was young (40's to 50's) we had lots of beautiful Monarch butterflies around, especially in the fall when they came through on their way to Mexico for their annual migration. In the 50's and up til now, enormous amounts of poisons and defoliants have been sprayed for the large cotton crops we grow here.
Today we have very few of the Monarchs around; I am seeing 4-5 a day this week, but normally I see none at all. We have also had a large die-off of bees here, and I wonder how much of it is due the fact that the beekeepers are using them for pollination.
I knew a beekeeper when I was a teenager, and he helped me raise 4 hives of bees myself. Today I see very few around, and my garden is not nearly as productive as I think it should be. I am considering getting back into beekeeping again.
I love the Netherlands, I was stationed at Soesterberg from 1963 to 1967, and the Netherlands was an eye-opening experience to me because your land is managed in such a healthier way than ours is.
I'm glad you are taking such an interest in this, because we need to move to organic techniques and abandon the 'poison-everything' mode of agribusiness; and it is tough to stand up to it here where so many large industrial interests keep this poisoning process in place for their profits.
Greg,
31-10-2008
- USA
It's refreshing to read an article that has done some research on its aquired information. So many US articles are under such time constraints many facts can be questionable.
The Bee Tree,
13-08-2008
- usa
Help the honeybees! Prevent the loss of the world food supply.
Learn how you can help cure Colony Collapse Disorder. What is the bee tree?
http://www.thebeetree.org
Nick G,
05-08-2008
- Netherlands
'Decimate' refers to the ancient Roman practice of killing every TENTH man in a legion (or unit) as a punishment. It doesn't mean destroy or even bring to the point of destruction. Professional journalists ought to know better.
Moderator's response:
Nick, Strictly speaking you are correct, the word originated from the Romans. I was using it to mean "kill a lot of" which I believe is acceptable in modern speech. It is an interesting point you raise about the meaning of words changing over time. If we used all words in the sense of their original meaning, would language evolve at all? SF
jasmin,
05-08-2008
- India
[deleted see note from editor]
Moderator's response:
This response was not at all related to the article above [RNW internet editor]
jasmin,
05-08-2008
- India
That was clever, Carlos...I am really a dumbhead....not highly educated as you are..But I can see the dots....my eyes are sharp..
Carlos, don't you think that the Bush jr has made the world unsafe by his pro-war attitude? And I didn't connect the honourable Bees to Mr. Bush....you saw those dots, and connected them..
We all are parts of the eco-system and any lapse anywhere in the world has an impact on all..Bees aren't collapsing due to Bush but his policies have made the world a lot more unsafer..which is scary...We have bombs blasting daily because a protege of your Bush, who happens to be our neighbour, is being supplied with dollars ...Poor, innocent Bush, ..he doesn't even know what his dollars to them are doing to us...tch, tch..
I am dumb, Carlos, but you are not...
Carlos Borjal,
05-08-2008
- USA
Jasmin: You seem to always find ways to blame Mr. Bush even when we are talking about bees. You are very adept in connecting dots even where there isn't. I'm sure you are a highly educated person but somehow you don't show it. I'm no fan of Mr. Bush either, I think he's a pinhead, but I find it very hard to equate the war with the bee population in the US and the emminent demise of the human race.
jasmin,
04-08-2008
- India
In our haste to conquer the world, we humans have wiped off numerous species by our faulty ways of living and increasing production of crops and living an easier life..
I mourn the demise of our fellow creatures, who went away unsung, their works were never recognised. But we will surely feel the impact of their absence in a real hard way: by losing ourselves..
Whether Einstein said that or not, but it is true, this collapse of bees would mean collapse of our human civilization..
And, it is too late to mend our ways...Ask the multinational companies making BT foods and pesticides, builders acquiring natural farmlands for construction, automobile manufacturers, mobile makers....and outgoing Prez Bush and fanatics, for initiating wars leading to use of bombs all over the world resulting in destruction of flora and fauna along with the humans..
I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel, because there isn't any...
We need a miracle to save our planet..
But is God interested?
Evert C. Weidner,
04-08-2008
- USA
Scientists have mentioned that the cause was air pollution that made the blossoms lose their scent or honey, so that the bees no longer could find them, and became so exhausted in their futile search, that they no longer could fly back to their hive.
Has this theory been rejected even though it did not deal with bees but with plants?
