Today, Scientific American brings us some answers to the question what happened to the honeybees? Since the “Colony Collapse Disorder” (CCD) appeared in 2006, millions of beehives have been abandoned by the bees, putting bee-pollinated crops at risk — and in turn threatening the livelihood of farmers and apiarists (beekeepers). In the SA article Solving the Mystery of the Vanishing Bees, researchers Diana Cox-Foster and Dennis vanEngelsdorp detail their efforts to solve the mystery, through contact with beekeepers and scientific investigation. A few snippets from the article (after a neat bee picture I took in 2004):
The bee loss has raised alarms because one third of the world’s agricultural production depends on the European honeybee, Apis mellifera the kind universally adopted by beekeepers in Western countries. Large, monoculture farms require intense pollination activity for short periods of the year, a role that other pollinators such as wild bees and bats cannot fill. Only A. melliferacan deploy armies of pollinators at almost any time of the year, wherever the weather is mild enough and there are flowers to visit.
The growing consensus among researchers is that multiple factors such as poor nutrition and exposure to pesticides can interact to weaken colonies and make them susceptible to a virus-mediated collapse. In the case of our experiments in greenhouses, the stress of being confined to a relatively small space could have been enough to make colonies succumb to IAPV [Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus] and die with CCD-like symptoms.
Meanwhile many beekeepers have had some success at preventing colony loss by redoubling their efforts at improving their colonies’ diets, keeping infections and parasites such as varroa and nosema in check, and practicing good hygiene. In particular, research has shown that sterilizing old beehive frames with gamma rays before reusing them cuts down the risk of colony collapse. And simple changes in agricultural practices such as breaking up monocultures with hedgerows could help restore balance in honeybees’ diets, while providing nourishment to wild pollinators as well.
In short, CCD seems a bit like human AIDS — an immunodeficiency which allows secondary infections and parasites to take over. It’s a complex issue with a complex solution. Read the article for a fascinating bit of science writing, directly from the scientists who have been working on the problem.
(Via Kottke.org. Photo by me!)
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As anyone w/ hay fever, like me, can attest, all pollen is not alike. It seems to me a big culprit might be monoculture. A bee hive that only pollenates apple trees needs a more varied diet, just like humans (or Americans) who have grown over dependent on corn.
posted by Jonny on 3-23-2009 at 7:47 pm
Spring before last we had a swarm of bees take up temporary residence in a miniture plum tree. They were at eye level, and at arms’s length. I called a bee keeper to come and capture them because I didn’t fancy a hive in the middle of my garden right next to where my children play, but by the time he got there, (they’d been there over night) they decided they’d been there long enough and flew away. Spectacular sight, the way they rose up above the tree, circling around and round, then took off as one cloud, with the bee keeper in hot pursuit.
The practice of monoculture will end up killing more than bees. Remember the potato famine in Ireland? One kind of potato, widely planted in a place far from where it developed, led to blight and starvation. Also I think it’s a bad idea moving the bee hives around like that. It must expose them to more pathogens than they would otherwise experience.
posted by Pam on 3-23-2009 at 8:04 pm
If the bees are eradicated, humans will be right behind them.
posted by d3wayne on 3-23-2009 at 8:51 pm
So, basically, don’t be surprised if the Earth moves across the sky into deep space, along with a number of other stolen planets?
posted by Optramark on 3-24-2009 at 12:01 am
I think we’re missing the big issue here, people… bombarding their hives with GAMMA RAYS?! If you ask me, the only thing worse than a dead bee is a HULK BEE! That’s not good for anybody.
posted by TBV on 3-24-2009 at 9:28 am
I’m glad I’m not the only one who caught the Gamma Ray implications. Although giant green Hulk bees would probably fight off disease with relative ease
posted by NDL on 3-24-2009 at 11:57 am
TBV and NDL are on to a box office hit! Gamma Ray Hulk Bees take over and action packed drama ensues. It will make a fortune…
posted by tiffany on 3-24-2009 at 5:31 pm
Get a grip, folks. They didn’t say anything about irradiating the _bees_, just the (unpopulated) frames (which are removed from the hive to harvest the honey). The gamma radiation is designed to kill the viral cooties that might infest the frames – - kind of like laundering your clothing and bedsheets with bleach or other disinfectant after one has had the flu.
posted by Jon on 4-9-2009 at 12:39 pm
Thanks Jon, the ignorance is astounding. Either they didn’t read the article thoroughly or they just didn’t understand it. Probably a combination of the two. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. The flat earth society is a prime example of how ignorant we can be. These are the same folks who don’t think we’ve anything to do with the right rapid changes in the climate.
posted by Tim on 4-10-2009 at 1:47 am
Pesticides and virtually any chemical sprays or powders and even Mosquito sprays have been found to affect honey bees. We have a choice, use natural pest controls or eventually lose our pollinated crops all over the world.
posted by Lucien Beauley on 4-10-2009 at 5:58 pm
I’m wondering if genetically modified crops may possibly have something to do with it?
posted by Joe C on 4-10-2009 at 6:52 pm
they were just having a bit of fun, lighten up
posted by hulksmash on 4-11-2009 at 11:38 am
Jon and Tim:
You really need to grow a sense of humor. TBV and NDL were *clearly* joking. The fact that you missed such obvious joshing shows that you need to get your humor sensor recalibrated.
posted by Greg on 4-11-2009 at 12:10 pm
Someone sent me an e-mail photograph of a very large honey bee hive that was “extinguished” which was under a outdoor grill cover. I must say I was very disappointed to see this. A bee keeper would have been more than happy (along with nature) to safely remove this grand hive.
posted by Michael Lockhart on 4-11-2009 at 5:49 pm
I laughed SO hard at the Hulk comments until I read the responses from people who took them seriously. Why do seemingly literate people insist on taking everything posted on the internet at face value? What’s worse, how many of my own masterpieces have been lost on the humorless masses?? Although Tim’s response about ignorance/not reading the article thoroughly was funny in itself. Try putting down that Scientific American and read the Onion every so often.
posted by Melissa Wilde on 4-11-2009 at 8:15 pm
Honeybees are alive and well in Louisiana. No shortage of bees here.
posted by Ronnie Jinks on 4-12-2009 at 7:45 am
The problem is that too many people just take thmselves TOO seriously. I think it’s just intellectual snobbery in action. Some of the most closed minded people I’ve ever met are the ones who go out of their way to let you know how open minded they are.
Besides, someone who considers themselves to be scientifically literate should know that was a joke.
posted by Greg on 4-12-2009 at 10:31 am
There are three basic forms of particles/radiation every high school science student reads about and they are alpha, beta and gamma. Gamma is very dangers to all form of living things-for heavens sake just ask the Hulk. Forget the idea of radiating the living quarters of the bee. Find another natural alternative! Dennis from Chase, Michigan
posted by Dennis Ellison on 4-21-2009 at 10:10 am
Everyone has a bee story in Southern CA. Bees taking over their Bird house, setting up a hive in a brick wall or a wall in their home. We had a swarm land in the tree in front of our home. I’ve live in CA since 1950 and I have never seen so many bees in my life. I don’t think they are disappearing, they have just all moved to the cities and changed their behavior.
If you have a bee ball in your tree or yard, wait a day and they may just move on. Call a bee Keeper and it will cost you $125 and up. It the bees are on your parkway, Call your city manager and the city will send someone out to collect them. They don’t kill them, they just take them away to sent up a hive with a bee keeper.
posted by Jean on 4-21-2009 at 11:18 am
I think we are in trouble
posted by Deno Taucher on 4-21-2009 at 7:39 pm
There is no shortage of bees here in Arizona. Especially not the honey bee population.
posted by Sanzo on 4-22-2009 at 12:09 pm
Give me a break!!!- Gamma Rays??? Inadvertantly alter the gene on the bees and you might have a Hulk-a-Bee!!!! Pretty expensive of and undertakeing too.
posted by Dennis Ellison on 4-24-2009 at 11:21 am
sterilize anything unaturally and there’s automatic reprecussions. i’m pretty sure they have their own defense mechanisms or sterilization processes. plus getting rid of the bees disrupts the natural cultivation which leads to genetically engineering those aspects the bee would have done in it’s busy bee life. and all of this over starvation. that’s funny!
posted by mralphauno on 5-17-2010 at 4:09 pm