Bee crisis deepens; "world may be on the brink of biological disaster."

Fresh ecological doom, served piping hot...no honey on top today, though. Sorry.

The "bee crisis," or colony collapse disorder, first received attention several years ago, but it since seems to have fallen off the radar for most people. Apparently the problem is still a big issue, however, and is raising serious concerns about crop yields. About 1/3 of all human food is dependent on bee polinization, and it seems we are no nearer to understanding the causes of the problem -- or to solving it.

The world may be on the brink of biological disaster after news that a third of US bee colonies did not survive the winter.

Disturbing evidence that honeybees are in terminal decline has emerged from the United States where, for the fourth year in a row, more than a third of colonies have failed to survive the winter.

The decline of the country's estimated 2.4 million beehives began in 2006, when a phenomenon dubbed colony collapse disorder (CCD) led to the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of colonies. Since then more than three million colonies in the US and billions of honeybees worldwide have died and scientists are no nearer to knowing what is causing the catastrophic fall in numbers.

The number of managed honeybee colonies in the US fell by 33.8% last winter, according to the annual survey by the Apiary Inspectors of America and the US government's Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

The collapse in the global honeybee population is a major threat to crops. It is estimated that a third of everything we eat depends upon honeybee pollination, which means that bees contribute some £26bn to the global economy.

Potential causes range from parasites, such as the bloodsucking varroa mite, to viral and bacterial infections, pesticides and poor nutrition stemming from intensive farming methods. The disappearance of so many colonies has also been dubbed "Mary Celeste syndrome" due to the absence of dead bees in many of the empty hives.

More at source:
www.guardian.co.uk...

I have to report that Yesterday --> Saturday 1 May '10....

i finally seen a regular, small, black & yellowish 'honey bee'..
for the lat 4 years here in myrtle beach, SC 29577,
all myself and my network of friends seen were these big
'carpenter bees' that took over the pollination in our flower and veggie gardens.

the little critter buzzed into my bedroom (because the screen slider was open) i coaxed it back outside... although i was glad to see him/it


perhaps we are seeing the first signs of a recovery in the bee hive collapse ?


thanks for listening...

Originally posted by St Udio


perhaps we are seeing the first signs of a recovery in the bee hive collapse ?

I truly hope you are correct, but unfortunately, statistical evidence always trumps the isolated observations of a single individual.

Still, we can always hope...

We don't need to sit around and lament this one we can do something about it! get involved and start raising bees the organic and healthy way!

www.backyardhive.com...

I haven't sen a bee in years! But then I haven't got stung by one either so i can't say i miss them.

reply to post by silent thunder


We raised bees many years ago.
In the winter we fed the bees with disovled sugar.
Today they feed bees with High Fructose Corn Syrup!!

Corn syrup made from geneticly modified corn.
I believe this is the source of hive collapse.

Originally posted by TriggerFish
reply to post by silent thunder

 

We raised bees many years ago.
In the winter we fed the bees with disovled sugar.
Today they feed bees with High Fructose Corn Syrup!!

Corn syrup made from geneticly modified corn.
I believe this is the source of hive collapse.

Hmmm, interesting. I just did a pretty exstensive paper on CCD about a month ago. Your theory makes more sense then all the other that I researched.

I live in North Eastern Pa and one thing I've noticed about this topic is the lack of bees in my area. Not only that but I've also noticed that there are more carpenter bees. I used to live in a historical mansion that was bought by a broker and turned into apartments for college students and we noticed carpenter bees never really messed with you. They came and burrowed into the wooden porch then took off. Recently though, I've noticed they almost act confused. My apologies if this sounds silly. Can anyone relate or am I the only one.

BTW I'm new and this is my first post. Love the site and everyone's opinions/insights.

There's been plenty of theories, at this point I think the pesticide Clothianidin is the prime candidate. However it may be a cocktail of things.

Bayer is the manufacturer, a powerful pharmacuetical company (making pesticides eek), and with a rap sheet that might resemble that of Satan himself.

reply to post by bh325es

I don't know about carpenter bees, but most of the honey bees I have seen in Southern California in the last few years have seemed either sick/dying/disoriented or already dead. Rarely do I ever see them doing what they do: pollinating flowers and scaring my girlfriend.
I wonder how much research effort is going towards finding the cause(s) and solution(s) for this issue. I think that the loss of the honeybees ultimately spells disaster for humans. Of course, thanks to GM foods courtesy of Monsanto, we have hybrids, and I'm SURE the HUGE MULTI-BILLION industry will save us all from even needing honeybees to pollinate sexless plants...
(place tongue firmly in cheek)

I missed this thread.
However this is important and it needs a bump.

I just read the article and I'm baffled by the lack of responses

S & F

Why can't the damn wasps die? I am sick of those evil things... Save the Bees, kill the wasps!

I have seen many bees in my yard. I have a bottle brush tree that they are very insterested in. Last winter, I had a mini-swarm at the corner of house. Happily, they decided not to nest there.
I know there is a huge problem. GMOs, pesticides, and single food source are more that the poor little fellows can survive.
We have rental hives down the road - orange grove pollination - but I don't see the bees buzzing around them. Seems strange, usually there would be a lot of activity.
Bees aren't the only things that are suddenly dying. The bats are having a bad time too. I know they aren't cute and cuddly, but they do mankind a tremendous service by munching on all the bugs that make summer evenings miserable. Their equivalent of CCD is spreading down from NY.
It's been theorized that the bats are eating the bugs and they are being affected by the same thing as the bees.

Maybe if people didn't start whacking the things everytime they simply were flying around looking for pollen the species might have a chance.
Instead a Bee gets curious and people freak out, thinking its about to attack them.

I also understand Bee's pollenate using UV receptors rather than colourisation itself, what if the cr-p were spraying on crops is disorientating the Bee's significantly so that they don't know what yields fresh pollen and whats old stock, gradually contributing to the downfall of the Hive.

what do the birds think of this???