Mar 5th, 2007, 04:28 PM
This isn't the greatest article, but it gives you some info. Basically, Bees are going off in search of pollen and not being able to find their way back to the hive. No one knows why. The article also doesn't detail how critical honey bees are to modern agriculture. About a third of what humans eat is polinated by honeybees.
If it turns out to be a parasite or infection, perhaps we can find some sort of cure, or if it's a disease it could simpky burn itself out. But if it's some environmental insult that's causing neurolgical damage, or interfering in some other way with their navigational sense, something that's not clearly understood to begin with, it could have very serious repercusions.
It may well turn out to be no big deal, but I hate this stage in scientiffic mysteries when next to nothing is known. And the reporting so far absolutely sucks. If Tigers go extinct (something that will probably happen in our lifetime) it's an aesthetic tragedy, but it really doesn't change things very much for people. If honeybees go extinct, we are very, very fucked.
Mystery illness killing honeybees
Feb. 28, 2007
Asso*ciated Press
A mys*te*ri*ous ill*ness is kill*ing tens of thou*sands of hon*ey*bee col*o*nies across the U.S., threat*en*ing hon*ey pro*duc*tion, the live*li*hood of bee*keep*ers and pos*si*bly crops that need bees for pol*li*na*tion.
Re*search*ers are scram*bling to find the cause of the ail*ment, called Col*o*ny Col*lapse Dis*or*der.
Re*ports of un*u*su*al col*o*ny deaths have come from at least 22 U.S. states. Some af*fect*ed com*mer*cial bee*keep*ers — who of*ten keep thou*sands of col*o*nies — have re*ported los*ing more than 50 per*cent of their bees. A col*o*ny can have rough*ly 20,000 bees in the win*ter, and up to 60,000 in the sum*mer.
“We have seen a lot of things hap*pen in 40 years, but this is the epit*o*me of it al*l,” Dave Hack*en*berg, of Lewisburg, Penn.-based Hack*en*berg Api*ar*ies, said by phone from Fort Meade, Fla., where he was work*ing with his bees.
The coun*try’s bee pop*u*la*tion had al*ready been shocked in re*cent years by a ti*ny, par*a*sit*ic bug called the var*roa mite, which has de*stroyed more than half of some bee*keep*ers’ hives and dev*as*tat*ed most wild hon*ey*bee pop*u*la*tions.
Along with be*ing pro*duc*ers of hon*ey, com*mer*cial bee col*o*nies are im*por*tant to ag*ri*cul*ture as pol*li*na*tors, along with some birds, bats and oth*er in*sects. A re*cent re*port by the Na*tion*al Re*search Coun*cil not*ed that in or*der to bear fruit, three-quarters of all flow*er*ing plants — in*clud*ing most food crops and some that pro*vide fi*ber, drugs and fu*el — re*ly on pol*li*na*tors for fer*ti*li*za*tion.
Hack*en*berg, 58, was first to re*port Col*o*ny Col*lapse Dis*or*der to bee re*search*ers at Penn State Uni*ver*si*ty. He no*ti*fied them in No*vem*ber when he was down to about 1,000 col*o*nies — af*ter hav*ing started the fall with 2,900.
“We are go*ing to take bees we got and make more bees ... but it’s cost*ly,” he said. “We are talk*ing about ma*jor bucks. You can on*ly take so many blows so many times.”
One bee*keep*er who trav*eled with two truck*loads of bees to Cal*i*for*nia to help pol*li*nate al*mond trees found near*ly all of his bees dead up*on ar*ri*val, said Den*nis va*nEn*gles*dorp, act*ing state api*a*rist for the Penn*syl*va*nia De*part*ment of Ag*ri*cul*ture.
“I would char*ac*ter*ize it as se*ri*ous,” said Dan*iel Weav*er, pres*ident of the Amer*i*can Bee*keep*ing Fed*er*a*tion. “Whether it threat*ens the api*cul*ture in*dus*try in the Unit*ed States or not, that’s up in the air.”
Sci*en*tists at Penn State, the Uni*ver*si*ty of Mon*tana and the U.S. De*part*ment of Ag*ri*cul*ture are among the quick*ly grow*ing group of re*search*ers and in*dus*try of*fi*cials try*ing to solve the mys*tery.
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