Ten Million Bees Missing in Taiwan

(not another bee thread )
Millions of bees missing

...business and possible crop danger after millions of the honey-making, plant-pollinating insects vanished during volatile weather

Possible reasons include disease, pesticide poisoning and unusual weather, varying from less than 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) to more than 30 degrees Celsius over a few days, experts say
He added that two kinds of pesticide can make bees turn "stupid" and lose their sense of direction.

As affected beekeepers lose business, fruit growers may lack a key pollination source and neighbors might get stung, he said.

Any evidence of where they may have went? If they were killed off, has any evidence of their bodies been found in a field somewhere? At any rate, we should all be concerned.

A pathogen of interest

samples of potential bee pathogens supplied by the Army's biodefense laboratory, the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

using a technique that allows rapid reading of the genetic code of the suspect bug. It is the same approach, known as "shotgun sequencing," that has been used to read the genomes, or the genetic code, of creatures ranging from bacteria to human beings. It was this test that pinpointed Nosema ceranae.

"The bees must have been loaded with this stuff,'' said DeRisi, who collaborated in the experiment with Dr. Donald Ganem of the UCSF Department of Microbiology and Immunology.

Google results for Nosema

Could a mixture of Fall dwindle disease & this pathogen have a deadly effect?



[edit on 26-4-2007 by Eden]

Is 10mil bee's a lot? Don't bee keepers tend over a million in their production sites? I know that even one hive gone missing or dead is a tragedy, and I am very concerned about this problem. I am trying to watch for the natural hives here in the midwest to see what happens to them this year. I will report my findings at a later date.

A honey bee hive at peak period can contain as many as 40,000 bees. So at 10 mil, you're looking at somewhere approx 250 hives' worth of bees. Probably more.