Deadly Bee Mite may have Reached Manoa Honey Farm

Deadly Bee Mite may have Reached Manoa Honey Farm

the.honoluluadvertiser.com

A bee mite that could pose a serious threat to Hawai'i's honey bee industry and has been a worldwide problem for years may have been discovered at a bee farm in Manoa last week, the state Department of Agriculture said in a news release yesterday.
The news release said varroa mites might have been discovered after abandoned hives from Makiki Heights were relocated to the property last week.

Varroa mites were detected on bees in three of the abandoned hives on April 6 by the beekeeper and reported to the HDOA.

(visit the link for the full news article)



Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Honey Bees Disappearance in US Mystery UPDATE

Could this be one of the reasons for the bee kill going on, the article says that this mite is native to Asia but has spread worldwide.

the.honoluluadvertiser.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

In this central California article the bee crisis is becoming critical, it says that the industry was already battling this mite and said that it has caused catastrophic losses, but this new decline in bees could be attributed to pesticides and also mentions the genetically modified crops being discussed in the thread linked in the OP.

The article ends with this quote:

"The need for additional bee research is obvious," says Mr. Brandi. "There are just too many unanswered questions that need to be addressed if the bee industry is to survive and perhaps thrive again."

Mysterious bee losses continue; threaten crops

This article confirms the mite's prescence in the Hawaiin Islands:

Appearance Of Bee Mite Poses Threat To Hawaii Industry

HONOLULU -- Hawaii was the last place on Earth to be free of a pest that attacks honeybees, but now that pest has arrived and scientists worry its presence will have a global impact on Hawaii's bee and honey industry.

The varroa mite has been discovered on honeybees in Makiki and Manoa on April 6.

Speaking of the pesticide angle, this article a Pennsylvania beekeeper blames new pesticides which were advertised to be environmentally benign.

Is New Pesticide Less Than Bee-nign?

Hackenberg, who has supplied beehives to Jasper Wyman & Son and other Maine wild blueberry growers since the 1960s, suspects neo-nicotinoids may have triggered “colony collapse disorder” and the mass abandonment of hundreds of thousands of bee colonies around the country this winter.

The insecticides, increasingly used to treat agricultural crops ranging from corn to wheat, are favored because they isolate specific pests.

I am going to try and find the specific pesticide they are discussing and will post back here when I find something.


[edit on 2007/4/12 by JacKatMtn]

Whoa!! It seems that this pesticide, was responsible for a big bee killing in France in the 90's, here is a report from UCDavis entemology from 2004. See wiki link for the 90's France bee kill.

Neonicotinoids and Bees page 2 of pdf

Chemists working for pesticide manufacturing companies try to stay at least one step ahead of targeted pests on what some have called, derogatorily, the “pesticide treadmill.”
New products developed for pest control must be novel enough to avoid established biochemistries of resistance in crop pests. New products must
also be safe for use in the environment. A new class of insecticides, called “neonicotinoids,” appeared to many to fit the bill.

WIKI

Guess I got have to find what company has been promoting and selling this pesticide..

[edit on 2007/4/12 by JacKatMtn]

This article from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture from 2003 touches on the subject of increased mite population in relation to the use of neonicotinoid pesticides, it doesn't specifically mention the varroa mite but I wonder if this mite might be affected in the same way.

Neonicotinoids (Assail, Admire): Mites and Resistance

Assail 70 WP (acetamiprid) has been registered for use on various crops since 2002. On grapes, it can be used for management of leafhoppers; on pome fruit (apples, crabapples and pears) it is registered for use against aphids, tentiform leafminer, leafhoppers, codling moth, and pear psylla. Assail is in the same chemical family as Admire (imidacloprid): the neonicotinoids (sometimes referred to as chloronicotinoids).

Mites

There is evidence in some studies in the U.S. and in British Columbia of increased numbers of mites with the use of neonicotinoid pesticides. Although I have not completed an exhaustive literature review yet, I would be happy to provide a review of what I have gathered or the references themselves to anyone interested. I think it is important to point out that negative results are sometimes not reported (or not noticed). Researchers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Vineland have not yet documented increased mite egg production or predatory mite decreases in small plot field trials of Assail.

Probably the most sensible reaction to the mite issue is to recognize that there is some need for concern but that should go along with the caution that there are many possible reasons for mite outbreaks, so one should be careful in assigning blame for mite problems to any one cause. In all cases, keep a close eye on mite numbers through regular monitoring as a normal part of vineyard and orchard management.

Here is a little piece from AgPro in 2003:

The Neonicotinoids

A revolutionary group of insecticides hit the U. S. market during the early nineties. This group is known as the neonicotinoids and presently includes brand names such as Admire, Provado, Platinum, Actara, and Assail manufactured by, Bayer, Syngenta and Cerexagri. These insecticides are labeled on many crops, including fruits, vegetables, turf and ornamentals and some row crops. A wide range of pests is controlled including some of the most crop limiting that we have. This list includes the silverleaf whitefly, Colorado potato beetle, many species of aphids and, many thrips, weevils, psyllids, leafhoppers, etc. The products are environmentally friendly and are in EPA's Reduced Risk category.

[edit on 2007/4/12 by JacKatMtn]

I am starting to wonder if this is the cause, almost all of the sites I check concerning this pesticide says it must be used in specific quantities and rotated out so as not to lose it's effectiveness, I found this piece from the UK and they were concerned with what increased use of this pesticide would do to the resistance of the target species, but did they ignore the effects on the bees? It seems that this has been a "Grand, In the Field" experiment that has gone wrong. Help me if I am not comprehending this correctly, but it appears this is the most likely cause.

Stewardship of neonicotinoids: A project to support proactive IRM for a key group of
aphicides

Given these concerns and the adaptable nature of this pest, the Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in the UK is funding a Sustainable Arable LINK
programme project entitled Stewardship of neonicotinoid insecticides: The potential of
natural populations of Myzus persicae to evolve resistance. The industrial partners are the
British Potato Council, the British Beet Research Organisation, Bayer CropScience and
Syngenta. The project is coordinated by Rothamsted Research, with major field inputs from
ADAS and regulatory aspects are addressed by DEFRA Pesticide Safety Directorate.
The project started in April 2004 and is now in its third year, running until March 2007. The
key aim is to investigate the risks of resistance to neonicotinoids developing in this species
before it reaches damaging levels and to proactively provide inputs to ensure effective
resistance management. The study has four main objectives: (1) A detailed characterisation
of M. persicae clones already showing some variation in response to neonicotinoids, (2)
Structured monitoring of field populations, (3) A study of operational factors influencing the
expression and selection of resistance and (4) The development and dissemination of
resistance management recommendations. Laboratory resistant clones show a consistent
pattern of cross-resistance across all the neonicotinoids tested.

[edit on 2007/4/12 by JacKatMtn]

This is a scientific study from Oxford in 2006 and it is on the pesticide and bee, I hope someone here is willing to read this and interpret it for me, it did have some mention of human physiology in relation to this pesticide so I am very interested, ATS Scholars ASSEMBLE!!! as Umbrax would say.
I would hate to think that this was some kind of money making coverup with disasterous potential....although it mentioned that this pesticide is a BILLION dollar business.

The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor gene family of the honey bee, Apis mellifera

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) mediate fast cholinergic synaptic transmission and play roles in many cognitive processes. They are under intense research as potential targets of drugs used to treat neurodegenerative diseases and neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia. Invertebrate nAChRs are targets of anthelmintics as well as a major group of insecticides, the neonicotinoids. The honey bee, Apis mellifera, is one of the most beneficial insects worldwide, playing an important role in crop pollination, and is also a valuable model system for studies on social interaction, sensory processing, learning, and memory.

Here is an interesting interview from Living on Earth from March of this year concerning the recent colony collapse at a Florida hive. This quote from the representative of the USDA has me puzzled

HAYES: Well that's the problem the bees are leaving the colonies. They're not coming back. They're actually disappearing as if the adult workers, the foragers, are going out and not remembering how to get home. So there aren't any dead bodies as you would see in a pesticide kill or something.

bold:mine

That's funny, just a little reading on the pesticide I have been researching says that the insects memory can be affected if the level of pesticide is too high. Am I wrong?

Bees On Their Knees

CURWOOD: It's Living on Earth. I'm Steve Curwood. Something mysterious is killing the nation's honeybees and it's alarming scientists and beekeepers, who first noticed the strange die-off last year. Now the bizarre syndrome, which researchers have dubbed "Colony Collapse Disorder" has spread to nearly half the states and is responsible for killing as many as 90 percent of the hives in some places.

And there have been similar reports from Europe as well. The rapid die-offs here put more than a third of U.S. food crops in peril because without honeybees, many fruits, vegetables, and nut trees wouldn't get pollinated. Jerry Hayes is Chief of the Apiary Section at Florida's Department of Agriculture. We gave him a buzz on his cell phone in a research field outside of Gainesville.

Hi there Jerry—

HAYES: How are you doing Steve?

CURWOOD: Hey uh I think I can hear some bees. Are you wearing your protective hood and uniform now?

[edit on 2007/4/12 by JacKatMtn]

Alright, this will be my last post on this subject for the evening, this research stuff is tiring... and parching, these links are to 2 more pdf's concerning the bees.

this one from Oregon goes into the causes of bee poisoning and was produced in Dec 2006

How to Reduce Bee Poisoning from Pesticides

This one is from the government and is the report to Congress on the recent colony declines and is from Mar 2007

Recent Honey Bee Colony Declines

[edit on 2007/4/12 by JacKatMtn]

Why are they not mentioning terrorism? Bio terror. It starts with the GMO's and pestisides, and then the hybridized seed causes mutations. Now this mite is the same one that killed all of the bee's in europe a couple of years ago? WE could do a global consciousness meditation and visualize the bee's remaining healthy reguardless of the outside influences. Without them we die.

After reading up on this problem, I am leaning towards a two- fisted knockout punch that the bees are dealing with.

First the pesticides which to put it simply, does a number on the bees mental functions and the added threat of the blood sucking mite which appears to be unaffected by the pesticide.

I am not sure but I will let you decide, I found some articles today on the bee crisis, this first one is from the UK:

Keepers fear mystery bee illness

Some keepers, especially around London, say they have lost far more than the 10 per cent of colonies that usually die off during winter.

John Chapple, chairman of the London Beekeepers Association, lost all the bees in 30 out of the 40 hives he keeps in Acton, west London.

Mr Chapple said that a nearby club in Harrow had lost half of its hives and that the Pinner and Ruislip Beekeepers Association had lost 75 per cent.

These are disturbing numbers though in the same article a government spokesman tries to downplay the concern:

"We are aware of the serious situation in the USA. Cases of colony loss in England and Wales reported to the National Bee Unit are being investigated. However, it is not unusual for some colonies to be found dead or absent at the end of winter." Some?

This article is from close to my home in Virginia with the same troubling news:

Honeybees where are they? Bee-gone: Mystery has experts buzzing

While most reported cases of CCD have been from large, commercial beekeepers, some hobbyists also have experienced problems.

Duxbury says that hives from which the bees have disappeared have not been invaded by insect pests, which is unusual.

"When there's nobody home, no guard at the door, other insects will come in," Duxbury said. "Wax moths love to go into beehives, but they won't even go in."

According to Kim Fraser, president of the Rappahannock Area Beekeepers Association, losses in the area might not necessarily be from CCD, but they are larger than in past years. Fraser, who has never lost hives, lost four this year.

What is in the hives that prevent other insects from taking over once the hive is abandoned? Could it be poisoned?


[edit on 2007/4/13 by JacKatMtn]

What a super informative thread, thanks for taking the time to research all those articles JackKatMtn. It does appear like we are all going to die.
But is that really new? And why do I find it funny. NO, I am not hysterical.

I suppose a smaller band of survivors, might be able to feed themselves in an environment hostile to the ecological cycles that support mammalian life forms.
It's not over till the fat lady sings.

Originally posted by clearwater
What a super informative thread, thanks for taking the time to research all those articles JackKatMtn. It does appear like we are all going to die.

Thanks! I don't know about us all perishing, but it does appear to be something that may be caused by man, and that would be a tragic mistake with serious consequences, I hope that they don't cover this up to protect the MONEY and sacrifice the bees existence and blame it on some other cause.

At this moment it appears to be some kind of a coverup....

Great thread. Too bad that more people don't think this is an important issue. I suspect when the food supply starts depleting they'll change there mind about the disappearance of our little fuzzy friends.

Anyway, I know that in the past when they have had problems with bee diappearances it has been attributable to mites. However, I don't think it was ever on the scale that it currently is. Some bee farmers are reporting a decrease in the bee population by 80-90 percent!! That's pretty scary.

Two more articles discussing honeybees today, one from Canada shows that there is a request for relief to Canadian beekeepers, the unusually long winter is blamed for some of the losses while certain areas are still in snow covered situations and hives in these areas have yet to be checked. It will be a few more weeks until total hive losses will be able to be documented in Canada.

Ontario beekeepers to seek financial aid

Beekeepers in Ontario are gearing up to ask the provincial government for financial aid after unusually high losses of honeybees over the winter that they figure have already cost them more than $5-million.

Brent Halsall, president of the Ontario Beekeepers' Association, said yesterday he plans to send a letter "shortly" to Agriculture Minister Leona Dombrowsky seeking funds to help pay for replacement bees and research to identify the cause or causes of the unusually high winter mortality rate.

This story is from France and they are dealing with honeybee losses from an invading Asian hornet thought to have been introduced to France in some clay pots from China.

French Beekeepers Brace for Asian Sting

The hornets are thought to have reached France in 2004 after stowing away on a cargo boat, said Claire Villemant, a lecturer at Paris' Natural History Museum....

...Since then, the hornets have been establishing themselves in their adopted country, concentrating mostly on building imposing nests.

It took until last summer for their numbers to start threatening honey production, said Henri Clement, president of the National Union for French Beekeeping. He said it was too early to give figures on the hornets' economic impact, but he is bracing for a tough summer.

You know,I am starting to think that it may be related to the changing climates as well. Last weekend there was snow here in Waco and it stuck to the ground. Now, I have noticed all week that I have been seeing a lot of dead catepillars and other insects on the sidewalks here. This wouldn't be so unusual except it doesn't look like anyone stepped on them, it looks like they just died. I wonder if the changing weather patterns might be playing havoc with bees and other insects.

I saw a commercial just this morning that lauded the praises of a pesticide that 'protected' trees from insects......All you needed to do was pour it around the base of the tree, and the tree absorbed it......making ALL parts of the tree, even those you can't reach........poisonous to the insects.......

I believe that is what has happened to the bees.....the poisons ( and apparently the inventors of the poisons) can't tell the difference between army worms and honey bees!

That stuff should be taken off the market.........what were the idiots thinking??

You got a WATS from me Jak, that is some excellent research. I wonder how the FDA has even approved this pesticide to be used if it has alreayd been shown to impact the bees negativley in France? Thats rather odd.