Where Did the Bees Go?
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 02.28.07
We've mentioned a marked decline in bee populations before, but the Gray Lady reports that bees are vanishing in numbers far greater than previously anticipated, in what can only be described as a kind of anthophilic Rapture:
David Bradshaw has endured countless stings during his life as a beekeeper, but he got the shock of his career when he opened his boxes last month and found half of his 100 million bees. ...“I have never seen anything like it,” Mr. Bradshaw, 50, said from an almond orchard here beginning to bloom. “Box after box after box are just empty. There’s nobody home.” ...
Regional bee crises have happened before, but this is the first epidemic on a national scale, as bees fly off in search of pollen but fail to return to their colonies. Bee losses are ranging from 30 to 60 percent on the West Coast, but some beekeepers on the East Coast and in Texas are reporting losses of over 70 percent. (Beekeepers consider a loss of up to 20 percent during the offseason to be normal so you can imagine they're completely wigging out over this.)
The bee losses are especially distressing in light of a study last year that concluded that pollinators such as bees, birds and bats affect 35 percent of the world’s crop production, increasing the output of 87 of the leading food crops worldwide.
Without our hardworking pollinators to help spread the pollen, a third of our crops, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, spices, an oilseed, won't get fertilized. In fact, we can thank the humble honey bee for every third bite we consume in our diet, says Zac Browning, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation.
Researchers are throwing out various theories for the widespread disappearance: The bees are become exhausted or disoriented and eventually falling victim to the cold. Perhaps a group of pesticides that are banned in Europe (but presumably not in the U.S.) is somehow mucking up their internal compasses so they can't find their way home. Or, as others have conjectured, maybe the bees' immunity to viruses has invadvertently been lowered because they're being raised to survive a shorter offseason.
And what about hive-damaging mites, or the insecticides used to try and eradicate them? Can they be at fault? Africanized honeybees? Habitat loss? Global warming? JERRY FALWELL?
Beekeepers are also wringing their hands over the flood of imported honey from China and Argentina, which has depressed honey prices—further burdening domestic beekeepers as they seek out pollination contracts. ::The New York TImes
Photo credit: Ann Johansson/The New York Times
I find this troubling, so I did some more digging. One idea for the bee deaths is that it appears to be the migratory bee populations, the ones that travel around the country, and not the stay at home types (in their own fields all year)
Now, usually bee's get to eat some of their own honey and pollen, but migratory bees are simply fed corn syrup. We know corn syrup is bad for us, and doesn't provide the nutrition we need- it also doesn't provide the nutrition a bee needs, so they are more susceptible to disease. (Does BT in corn get into corn syrup? how do bees like BT?)
Lastly, in 2005 we opened up importation of bees- the first time since the early 1990's. My guess is the bees feel like the rest of the U.S., poor nutrition, too much stress, and new diseases emerging from all over the world.
It might also be something more complex and dangerous(BT corn), but as a first step to the solution, I would consider letting the bees eat more of their product as a way to ensure a healthy population.
I wrote about this yesterday, and one of my commenters suggested that the bee issue is related to pesticides. Among other things, the commenter who read my post said:
Porterville Recorder reporter Sarah Elizabeth Villicana interviewed a Terra Bella, California beekeeper, Eric Lane, who suspects harm to the bees is linked to imidacloprid, made by Bayer CropScience. “It is my personal belief that this chemical is responsible for thinning the bee population,” Lane said. “It was used it France and killed 70 percent of the bee population in France.”
I haven't seen this anywhere else, but I am curious. Has anyone else read this or heard this?
Is anyone really suprised by this? The bees that are being talked about are in essence an invasive species, one we introduced. We rely heavily on these bees for pollination services as well as honey. Most of our native bees have been either completely wiped out due to habitat losses and pesticides, or have been constrained in numbers due to the introduced bees and other biotic and abiotic factors (many of which humans have had a hand in).
So what happens when you reduce biodiveristy and rely heavily on a "monoculture"? Exactly what is happening now! The bees we rely so heavily on for services that only they can perform are now disappearing. Why, could be debated for a long time - it could be disease, it could be pesticides, who knows. What we should be focused on is that yet again, in our attempts to bend nature to meet our purposes we have failed. Perhaps one of these times we will learn.
For anyone that is interested in how important pollinators like bees really are, please check out this book...its very eye opening.
The Forgotten Pollinators (Paperback)
by Stephen L. Buchmann (Author), Gary Paul Nabhan (Author),
LH,
The CCD Working Group's preliminary report mentions neonicotinides, and specifically imidacloprid, as a suspected cause. Along with being declared highly toxic to honeybees by the EPA, the pesticide has been shown to cause changes in honeybee behavior and brain metabolism, which would explain the bees' apparent inability (or lack of desire) to return to their hives after flying off in search of pollen. Use of the chemical has increased over the past few years. The paper is informative and easy to read; if you want to check it out, here's the link:
http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/pressReleases/FallDwindleUpdate0107.pdf
And what about the evolution of the Bt bacteria genes in the crops? If drug-resistant bacteria are evolving all the time, how do we know that subsequent generations of these genetically modified crops haven't developed newer, drug-resistant bacterial genes?
increased microwave radiation could be the problem which is a affecting the globe. Microwave radiation is the predominant form of communications and can have an adverse effect on all life forms.
g. Goldberg, MD
author"Would you put your head in a microwave oven"
Sounds like Bayer to me.
imidacloprid is the immediate culprit.
says the audio stalking
public anouncing system
volumne controlled by surounding ambient
sound levels in Emeryville CA
(home of Bayer)...