Bee Extinction On A Rise, Fruit And Vegetable Industry Threatened
February 27, 2007 1:30 p.m. EST
Ihuoma Ezeh - All Headline News
Visalia, CA (AHN) - Beekeepers are facing a career shock as 24 states throughout the country reporting bee disappearance at a startling rate.
The shocking loss highlights the critical importance of honeybees in the fruit and vegetable food chain.
David Bradshaw, a Californian beekeeper said he was stunned by the sudden disappearance of his bees.
"I have never seen anything like it. Box after box after box are just empty," Bradshaw told the New York Times.
A research at Cornell University estimated that honeybees yearly pollinate more than $14 billion worth of fruits, vegetables and nuts in the U.S.
Zac Browning, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation said most seeds and crops are honeybee dependent.
"Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee to pollinate that food," said Browning.
Researchers say the bees are apparently dying in the fields, perhaps becoming exhausted or simply disoriented and eventually falling victim to the cold.
"The real question is why they leave," Jerry Hayes, a bee expert for the Florida Department of Agriculture told the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.
This attack is the first national honeybee crisis ever. The losses are ranging from 30 to 60 percent on the West Coast and 70 percent in Texas.
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7006587883
Bee Extinction On A Rise, editovan naslov zbog DODATAKA
Moderator: anex
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rashomon
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#1 Bee Extinction On A Rise, editovan naslov zbog DODATAKA
Last edited by rashomon on 16/04/2007 17:01, edited 2 times in total.
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_BosanaC
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- Contact:
#3
Objavljeno prije 1 sat
Busheva administracija nalaže naučnicima kako da raspravljaju o klimatskim promjenama
Američki stručnjaci za divlje životinje, koji uskoro trebaju prisustvovati međunarodnom mitingu o polarnim medvjedima, dobili su tri dopisa u kojima im se nalaže da ne smiju spominjati opasnosti globalnog zagrijavanja za habitat divljih životinja.
Prošlog mjeseca poslana su dva dopisa u kojima se određuju striktna ograničenja o čemu sve zaposleni mogu raspravljati na mitingu u Rusiji i Norveškoj. Poslan je i treći dopis u kojem se zabranjuje raspravljanje o pitanju globalnog zagrijavanja i njegovog utjecaja na stanište polarnih medvjeda sa “bilo kojom sjevernom zemljom”.
Zvaničnici su objasnili kako su ti dopisi samo usmjerenja koja predstavnici SAD-a trebaju poštovati kako bi se držali osnovne teme rasprave na mitingu.
Ovo nije prvi put da Busheva administracija zabranjuje naučnicima da javno govore o posljedicama globalnog zagrijavanja.
Prošle godine je NASA-inim naučnicima zabranjeno da razgovaraju sa novinarima. E-mail naučnika iz NOAA (Nacionalna administracija za oceane i atmosferu) u kojem se govori o povezanosti između globalnog zagrijavanja i uragana je zatajen, a dvojici naučnika iz NOAA je zabranjeno da spominju “klimatske promjene” i “Kyoto”.
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EI Presidente
- Posts: 765
- Joined: 17/11/2004 21:24
#4
Ja u avliji imam divlju kosnicu (u drvetu) i komsije navalile da se otarasim pcela...vele hazard, ubosce im potomke...u ratu sam s citavim komsilukom radi ovih pcela...ali ih necu maci pa makar poslali 101 airborne 
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pitt
- Posts: 27093
- Joined: 03/12/2002 00:00
- Location: Steelers Nation
#5
a jesu li 'cele ili wasps....ili ne do bog sta goreEI Presidente wrote:Ja u avliji imam divlju kosnicu (u drvetu) i komsije navalile da se otarasim pcela...vele hazard, ubosce im potomke...u ratu sam s citavim komsilukom radi ovih pcela...ali ih necu maci pa makar poslali 101 airborne
:D:D-
EI Presidente
- Posts: 765
- Joined: 17/11/2004 21:24
#6
pcele jaro, medne, i vrijedne ko pcelepitt wrote:a jesu li 'cele ili wasps....ili ne do bog sta goreEI Presidente wrote:Ja u avliji imam divlju kosnicu (u drvetu) i komsije navalile da se otarasim pcela...vele hazard, ubosce im potomke...u ratu sam s citavim komsilukom radi ovih pcela...ali ih necu maci pa makar poslali 101 airborne
...na proljece, ljeto, jesen ove moje komsije se nikad ne zapitaju zasto imamo toliko cvijeca na nasem bloku da je to prosto divota...nego, vele, kupi sprej i poprskaj gamad...ljetos mi ovaj jedan samoinicijativno uso u bastu i poceo prskat...rekoh you go spray your hanuma...is what I told him...a mojih se pcela popusti... -
pitt
- Posts: 27093
- Joined: 03/12/2002 00:00
- Location: Steelers Nation
#7
cuj uso u bastu.......odmah si ga trebao upucati.....kako nam ustav zapovjedaEI Presidente wrote:pcele jaro, medne, i vrijedne ko pcelepitt wrote:a jesu li 'cele ili wasps....ili ne do bog sta goreEI Presidente wrote:Ja u avliji imam divlju kosnicu (u drvetu) i komsije navalile da se otarasim pcela...vele hazard, ubosce im potomke...u ratu sam s citavim komsilukom radi ovih pcela...ali ih necu maci pa makar poslali 101 airborne
ma kao nisi alergican, neka ih,......nece ba one napast prve :D Ja imam u basti zeceva, onih chipmunks i nedavno vidim i onog groundhoga kako preko ograde guzelja :Di-
EI Presidente
- Posts: 765
- Joined: 17/11/2004 21:24
#8
ja ba, doduse nisam se ni ja potrudio (mamne rapa) da ogradu obnovim, tako da mi je backyard sirom otvoren, al' sad cemo i to rijesit, pa nek ide prskat pred whiteHousepitt wrote:EI Presidente wrote: cuj uso u bastu.......odmah si ga trebao upucati.....kako nam ustav zapovjeda
ih pa kod tebe zivotnijsko carstvo, mozes album popunit
PS. nista oruzje ba, pa ljudi smo, nismo republikanci
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rashomon
- Posts: 1107
- Joined: 15/01/2003 00:00
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#9
PROČITATI
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious 'colony collapse' of bees
By Geoffrey Lean and Harriet Shawcross
Published: 15 April 2007
It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail.
They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.
The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up.
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive's inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers, like so many apian Mary Celestes. The vanished bees are never found, but thought to die singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives.
The alarm was first sounded last autumn, but has now hit half of all American states. The West Coast is thought to have lost 60 per cent of its commercial bee population, with 70 per cent missing on the East Coast.
CCD has since spread to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. And last week John Chapple, one of London's biggest bee-keepers, announced that 23 of his 40 hives have been abruptly abandoned.
Other apiarists have recorded losses in Scotland, Wales and north-west England, but the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insisted: "There is absolutely no evidence of CCD in the UK."
The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have only four years of life left".
No one knows why it is happening. Theories involving mites, pesticides, global warming and GM crops have been proposed, but all have drawbacks.
German research has long shown that bees' behaviour changes near power lines.
Now a limited study at Landau University has found that bees refuse to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. Dr Jochen Kuhn, who carried it out, said this could provide a "hint" to a possible cause.
Dr George Carlo, who headed a massive study by the US government and mobile phone industry of hazards from mobiles in the Nineties, said: "I am convinced the possibility is real."
The case against handsets
Evidence of dangers to people from mobile phones is increasing. But proof is still lacking, largely because many of the biggest perils, such as cancer, take decades to show up.
Most research on cancer has so far proved inconclusive. But an official Finnish study found that people who used the phones for more than 10 years were 40 per cent more likely to get a brain tumour on the same side as they held the handset.
Equally alarming, blue-chip Swedish research revealed that radiation from mobile phones killed off brain cells, suggesting that today's teenagers could go senile in the prime of their lives.
Studies in India and the US have raised the possibility that men who use mobile phones heavily have reduced sperm counts. And, more prosaically, doctors have identified the condition of "text thumb", a form of RSI from constant texting.
Professor Sir William Stewart, who has headed two official inquiries, warned that children under eight should not use mobiles and made a series of safety recommendations, largely ignored by ministers.
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious 'colony collapse' of bees
By Geoffrey Lean and Harriet Shawcross
Published: 15 April 2007
It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail.
They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.
The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up.
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive's inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers, like so many apian Mary Celestes. The vanished bees are never found, but thought to die singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives.
The alarm was first sounded last autumn, but has now hit half of all American states. The West Coast is thought to have lost 60 per cent of its commercial bee population, with 70 per cent missing on the East Coast.
CCD has since spread to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. And last week John Chapple, one of London's biggest bee-keepers, announced that 23 of his 40 hives have been abruptly abandoned.
Other apiarists have recorded losses in Scotland, Wales and north-west England, but the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insisted: "There is absolutely no evidence of CCD in the UK."
The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have only four years of life left".
No one knows why it is happening. Theories involving mites, pesticides, global warming and GM crops have been proposed, but all have drawbacks.
German research has long shown that bees' behaviour changes near power lines.
Now a limited study at Landau University has found that bees refuse to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. Dr Jochen Kuhn, who carried it out, said this could provide a "hint" to a possible cause.
Dr George Carlo, who headed a massive study by the US government and mobile phone industry of hazards from mobiles in the Nineties, said: "I am convinced the possibility is real."
The case against handsets
Evidence of dangers to people from mobile phones is increasing. But proof is still lacking, largely because many of the biggest perils, such as cancer, take decades to show up.
Most research on cancer has so far proved inconclusive. But an official Finnish study found that people who used the phones for more than 10 years were 40 per cent more likely to get a brain tumour on the same side as they held the handset.
Equally alarming, blue-chip Swedish research revealed that radiation from mobile phones killed off brain cells, suggesting that today's teenagers could go senile in the prime of their lives.
Studies in India and the US have raised the possibility that men who use mobile phones heavily have reduced sperm counts. And, more prosaically, doctors have identified the condition of "text thumb", a form of RSI from constant texting.
Professor Sir William Stewart, who has headed two official inquiries, warned that children under eight should not use mobiles and made a series of safety recommendations, largely ignored by ministers.
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rashomon
- Posts: 1107
- Joined: 15/01/2003 00:00
- Location: "Bolestan; gostima pozdrav s poštovanjem!"
#10
Još par dodataka na istu temu
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Honeybees Vanish, Leaving Keepers in Peril
Ann Johansson for The New York Times
Isaias Corona of Bradshaw Honey Farm, near Visalia, Calif., putting corn syrup — bee food — into hives. The farm has lost about half its bees.
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
Published: February 27, 2007
VISALIA, Calif., Feb. 23 — David Bradshaw has endured countless stings during his life as a beekeeper, but he got the shock of his career when he opened his boxes last month and found half of his 100 million bees missing.
Ann Johansson for The New York Times
A honeybee collects nectar from an almond tree in bloom.
In 24 states throughout the country, beekeepers have gone through similar shocks as their bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only their livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of the nation’s most profitable.
“I have never seen anything like it,” Mr. Bradshaw, 50, said from an almond orchard here beginning to bloom. “Box after box after box are just empty. There’s nobody home.”
The sudden mysterious losses are highlighting the critical link that honeybees play in the long chain that gets fruit and vegetables to supermarkets and dinner tables across the country.
Beekeepers have fought regional bee crises before, but this is the first national affliction.
Now, in a mystery worthy of Agatha Christie, bees are flying off in search of pollen and nectar and simply never returning to their colonies. And nobody knows why. Researchers say the bees are presumably dying in the fields, perhaps becoming exhausted or simply disoriented and eventually falling victim to the cold.
As researchers scramble to find answers to the syndrome they have decided to call “colony collapse disorder,” growers are becoming openly nervous about the capability of the commercial bee industry to meet the growing demand for bees to pollinate dozens of crops, from almonds to avocados to kiwis.
Along with recent stresses on the bees themselves, as well as on an industry increasingly under consolidation, some fear this disorder may force a breaking point for even large beekeepers.
A Cornell University study has estimated that honeybees annually pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in the United States, mostly fruits, vegetables and nuts. “Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee to pollinate that food,” said Zac Browning, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation.
The bee losses are ranging from 30 to 60 percent on the West Coast, with some beekeepers on the East Coast and in Texas reporting losses of more than 70 percent; beekeepers consider a loss of up to 20 percent in the offseason to be normal.
Beekeepers are the nomads of the agriculture world, working in obscurity in their white protective suits and frequently trekking around the country with their insects packed into 18-wheelers, looking for pollination work.
Once the domain of hobbyists with a handful of backyard hives, beekeeping has become increasingly commercial and consolidated. Over the last two decades, the number of beehives, now estimated by the Agriculture Department to be 2.4 million, has dropped by a quarter and the number of beekeepers by half.
Pressure has been building on the bee industry. The costs to maintain hives, also known as colonies, are rising along with the strain on bees of being bred to pollinate rather than just make honey. And beekeepers are losing out to suburban sprawl in their quest for spots where bees can forage for nectar to stay healthy and strong during the pollination season.
“There are less beekeepers, less bees, yet more crops to pollinate,” Mr. Browning said. “While this sounds sweet for the bee business, with so much added loss and expense due to disease, pests and higher equipment costs, profitability is actually falling.”
Some 15 worried beekeepers convened in Florida this month to brainstorm with researchers how to cope with the extensive bee losses. Investigators are exploring a range of theories, including viruses, a fungus and poor bee nutrition.
They are also studying a group of pesticides that were banned in some European countries to see if they are somehow affecting bees’ innate ability to find their way back home.
It could just be that the bees are stressed out. Bees are being raised to survive a shorter offseason, to be ready to pollinate once the almond bloom begins in February. That has most likely lowered their immunity to viruses.
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I ovo
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February 26, 2007
The mystery of disappearing bees
The New York Times has a worrying article on the mysterious decline in honeybee populations:
In 24 states throughout the country, beekeepers have gone through similar shocks as their bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only their livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of the nation’s most profitable....
The bee losses are ranging from 30 to 60 percent on the West Coast, with some beekeepers on the East Coast and in Texas reporting losses of more than 70 percent; beekeepers consider a loss of up to 20 percent in the offseason to be normal....
Researchers say the bees are presumably dying in the fields, perhaps becoming exhausted or simply disoriented and eventually falling victim to the cold.
As researchers scramble to find answers to the syndrome they have decided to call “colony collapse disorder,” growers are becoming openly nervous about the capability of the commercial bee industry to meet the growing demand for bees to pollinate dozens of crops, from almonds to avocados to kiwis.
The article goes on to talk about the growth of a commercial pollinating industry-- essentially, beekeeper who travel the country, setting up hives that pollinate crops-- and the threat this die-off poses to them, but the bigger worry is more fundamental. Pollinating insects play a critical role in agriculture, and a decline in the number of pollinators-- especially a long-term decline in both wild and domesticated pollinating insects-- would mean pretty bad things for food prices and production.
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I ovo
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6400179.stm
Bee vanishing act baffles keepers
The losses threaten beekeepers' livelihoods
Honeybees are vanishing at an alarming rate from 24 US states, threatening the production of numerous crops.
The cause of the losses, which range from 30% to more than 70%, is a mystery, but experts are investigating several theories.
American bee colonies have been hit by regional crises before, but keepers say this is the first national crisis.
Bees pollinate more than $14bn (£7bn) worth of US seeds and crops each year, mostly fruits, vegetables and nuts.
Box after box after box are just empty. There's nobody home
David Bradshaw, Beekeeper
The mystery disappearances highlight the important link that honeybees play in the chain that brings fruit and vegetables to supermarkets and dinner tables.
The crisis threatens numerous crops, from avocados to kiwis and California almonds - one of the most profitable in the US.
"I have never seen anything like it," California beekeeper David Bradshaw, 50, told the New York Times.
"Box after box after box are just empty. There's nobody home."
Under pressure
With an industry increasingly under consolidation, some fear the disorder could prove the breaking point for even large beekeepers.
The bee losses range from 30 to 60% on the West Coast, with some beekeepers on the East Coast and in Texas reporting losses of more than 70%.
Beekeepers consider a loss of up to 20% in the offseason to be normal.
Researchers say the bees are presumably dying in the fields, perhaps becoming exhausted or simply disoriented and eventually falling victim to the cold.
"The real question is why they leave," Jerry Hayes, a bee expert for the Florida Department of Agriculture told the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.
"Bees are highly social insects. They don't leave their babies and the queen."
The investigators are exploring a range of possibilities to explain the losses, which they are calling "colony collapse disorder". These include viruses, a fungus and poor bee nutrition.
They are also studying pesticides banned in some European countries to see if they are affecting the bees' innate ability to navigate their way back to their hives.
In some cases, bees are being raised to survive a shorter offseason, to be ready to pollinate once the almond bloom begins in February. This could have lowered their immunity to viruses.
Mites have also damaged bee colonies, and the insecticides used to try to kill them are harming the ability of queen bees to spawn as many workers.
Urban sprawl
Once the domain of hobbyists, beekeeping has become increasingly commercial and consolidated in the US.
During the last two decades, the number of beehives has dropped by a quarter, and is now estimated at 2.4 million. The number of beekeepers has fallen by half during the same period.
Bees are vital for the pollination of important US crops
Pressure has been building on the bee industry. The costs to maintain hives, or colonies, are rising.
In addition, urban growth means that the areas where the insects can forage for nectar to stay healthy and strong during the pollination season are being squeezed.
"There are less beekeepers, less bees, yet more crops to pollinate," said Zac Browning, vice-president of the American Beekeeping Federation.
"With so much added loss and expense due to disease, pests and higher equipment costs, profitability is actually falling."
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I još ovo
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March 28, 2007
Spiegel Online
A mysterious decimation of bee populations has German beekeepers
worried, while a similar phenomenon in the United States is gradually
assuming catastrophic proportions. The consequences for agriculture
and the economy could be enormous.
Is the mysterous decimation of bee populations in the US and Germany
a result of GM crops?
Walter Haefeker is a man who is used to painting grim scenarios. He
sits on the board of directors of the German Beekeepers Association
(DBIB) and is vice president of the European Professional Beekeepers
Association. And because griping is part of a lobbyist’s trade, it is
practically his professional duty to warn that “the very existence of
beekeeping is at stake.”
The problem, says Haefeker, has a number of causes, one being the
varroa mite, introduced from Asia, and another is the widespread
practice in agriculture of spraying wildflowers with herbicides and
practicing monoculture. Another possible cause, according to
Haefeker, is the controversial and growing use of genetic engineering
in agriculture.
As far back as 2005, Haefeker ended an article he contributed to the
journal Der Kritischer Agrarbericht (Critical Agricultural Report)
with an Albert Einstein quote: “If the bee disappeared off the
surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life
left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more
animals, no more man.”
Mysterious events in recent months have suddenly made Einstein’s
apocalyptic vision seem all the more topical. For unknown reasons,
bee populations throughout Germany are disappearing — something that
is so far only harming beekeepers. But the situation is different in
the United States, where bees are dying in such dramatic numbers that
the economic consequences could soon be dire. No one knows what is
causing the bees to perish, but some experts believe that the large-
scale use of genetically modified plants in the US could be a factor.
Felix Kriechbaum, an official with a regional beekeepers’ association
in Bavaria, recently reported a decline of almost 12 percent in local
bee populations. When “bee populations disappear without a trace,”
says Kriechbaum, it is difficult to investigate the causes, because
“most bees don’t die in the beehive.” There are many diseases that
can cause bees to lose their sense of orientation so they can no
longer find their way back to their hives.
Manfred Hederer, the president of the German Beekeepers Association,
almost simultaneously reported a 25 percent drop in bee populations
throughout Germany. In isolated cases, says Hederer, declines of up
to 80 percent have been reported. He speculates that “a particular
toxin, some agent with which we are not familiar,” is killing the bees.
Politicians, until now, have shown little concern for such warnings
or the woes of beekeepers. Although apiarists have been given a
chance to make their case — for example in the run-up to the German
cabinet’s approval of a genetic engineering policy document by
Minister of Agriculture Horst Seehofer in February — their
complaints are still largely ignored.
Even when beekeepers actually go to court, as they recently did in a
joint effort with the German chapter of the organic farming
organization Demeter International and other groups to oppose the use
of genetically modified corn plants, they can only dream of the sort
of media attention environmental organizations like Greenpeace
attract with their protests at test sites.
But that could soon change. Since last November, the US has seen a
decline in bee populations so dramatic that it eclipses all previous
incidences of mass mortality. Beekeepers on the east coast of the
United States complain that they have lost more than 70 percent of
their stock since late last year, while the west coast has seen a
decline of up to 60 percent.
In an article in its business section in late February, the New York
Times calculated the damage US agriculture would suffer if bees died
out. Experts at Cornell University in upstate New York have estimated
the value bees generate — by pollinating fruit and vegetable plants,
almond trees and animal feed like clover — at more than $14 billion.
Scientists call the mysterious phenomenon “Colony Collapse
Disorder” (CCD), and it is fast turning into a national catastrophe
of sorts. A number of universities and government agencies have
formed a “CCD Working Group” to search for the causes of the
calamity, but have so far come up empty-handed. But, like Dennis
vanEngelsdorp, an apiarist with the Pennsylvania Department of
Agriculture, they are already referring to the problem as a potential
“AIDS for the bee industry.”
One thing is certain: Millions of bees have simply vanished. In most
cases, all that’s left in the hives are the doomed offspring. But
dead bees are nowhere to be found — neither in nor anywhere close to
the hives. Diana Cox-Foster, a member of the CCD Working Group, told
The Independent that researchers were “extremely alarmed,” adding
that the crisis “has the potential to devastate the US beekeeping
industry.”
It is particularly worrisome, she said, that the bees’ death is
accompanied by a set of symptoms “which does not seem to match
anything in the literature.”
In many cases, scientists have found evidence of almost all known bee
viruses in the few surviving bees found in the hives after most have
disappeared. Some had five or six infections at the same time and
were infested with fungi — a sign, experts say, that the insects’
immune system may have collapsed.
The scientists are also surprised that bees and other insects usually
leave the abandoned hives untouched. Nearby bee populations or
parasites would normally raid the honey and pollen stores of colonies
that have died for other reasons, such as excessive winter cold.
“This suggests that there is something toxic in the colony itself
which is repelling them,” says Cox-Foster.
Walter Haefeker, the German beekeeping official, speculates that
“besides a number of other factors,” the fact that genetically
modified, insect-resistant plants are now used in 40 percent of
cornfields in the United States could be playing a role. The figure
is much lower in Germany — only 0.06 percent — and most of that
occurs in the eastern states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and
Brandenburg. Haefeker recently sent a researcher at the CCD Working
Group some data from a bee study that he has long felt shows a
possible connection between genetic engineering and diseases in bees.
The study in question is a small research project conducted at the
University of Jena from 2001 to 2004. The researchers examined the
effects of pollen from a genetically modified maize variant called
“Bt corn” on bees. A gene from a soil bacterium had been inserted
into the corn that enabled the plant to produce an agent that is
toxic to insect pests. The study concluded that there was no evidence
of a “toxic effect of Bt corn on healthy honeybee populations.” But
when, by sheer chance, the bees used in the experiments were infested
with a parasite, something eerie happened. According to the Jena
study, a “significantly stronger decline in the number of bees”
occurred among the insects that had been fed a highly concentrated Bt
poison feed.
According to Hans-Hinrich Kaatz, a professor at the University of
Halle in eastern Germany and the director of the study, the bacterial
toxin in the genetically modified corn may have “altered the surface
of the bee’s intestines, sufficiently weakening the bees to allow the
parasites to gain entry — or perhaps it was the other way around. We
don’t know.”
Of course, the concentration of the toxin was ten times higher in
the experiments than in normal Bt corn pollen. In addition, the bee
feed was administered over a relatively lengthy six-week period.
Kaatz would have preferred to continue studying the phenomenon but
lacked the necessary funding. “Those who have the money are not
interested in this sort of research,” says the professor, “and those
who are interested don’t have the money.”
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More news @ 11
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Honeybees Vanish, Leaving Keepers in Peril
Ann Johansson for The New York Times
Isaias Corona of Bradshaw Honey Farm, near Visalia, Calif., putting corn syrup — bee food — into hives. The farm has lost about half its bees.
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
Published: February 27, 2007
VISALIA, Calif., Feb. 23 — David Bradshaw has endured countless stings during his life as a beekeeper, but he got the shock of his career when he opened his boxes last month and found half of his 100 million bees missing.
Ann Johansson for The New York Times
A honeybee collects nectar from an almond tree in bloom.
In 24 states throughout the country, beekeepers have gone through similar shocks as their bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only their livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of the nation’s most profitable.
“I have never seen anything like it,” Mr. Bradshaw, 50, said from an almond orchard here beginning to bloom. “Box after box after box are just empty. There’s nobody home.”
The sudden mysterious losses are highlighting the critical link that honeybees play in the long chain that gets fruit and vegetables to supermarkets and dinner tables across the country.
Beekeepers have fought regional bee crises before, but this is the first national affliction.
Now, in a mystery worthy of Agatha Christie, bees are flying off in search of pollen and nectar and simply never returning to their colonies. And nobody knows why. Researchers say the bees are presumably dying in the fields, perhaps becoming exhausted or simply disoriented and eventually falling victim to the cold.
As researchers scramble to find answers to the syndrome they have decided to call “colony collapse disorder,” growers are becoming openly nervous about the capability of the commercial bee industry to meet the growing demand for bees to pollinate dozens of crops, from almonds to avocados to kiwis.
Along with recent stresses on the bees themselves, as well as on an industry increasingly under consolidation, some fear this disorder may force a breaking point for even large beekeepers.
A Cornell University study has estimated that honeybees annually pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in the United States, mostly fruits, vegetables and nuts. “Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee to pollinate that food,” said Zac Browning, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation.
The bee losses are ranging from 30 to 60 percent on the West Coast, with some beekeepers on the East Coast and in Texas reporting losses of more than 70 percent; beekeepers consider a loss of up to 20 percent in the offseason to be normal.
Beekeepers are the nomads of the agriculture world, working in obscurity in their white protective suits and frequently trekking around the country with their insects packed into 18-wheelers, looking for pollination work.
Once the domain of hobbyists with a handful of backyard hives, beekeeping has become increasingly commercial and consolidated. Over the last two decades, the number of beehives, now estimated by the Agriculture Department to be 2.4 million, has dropped by a quarter and the number of beekeepers by half.
Pressure has been building on the bee industry. The costs to maintain hives, also known as colonies, are rising along with the strain on bees of being bred to pollinate rather than just make honey. And beekeepers are losing out to suburban sprawl in their quest for spots where bees can forage for nectar to stay healthy and strong during the pollination season.
“There are less beekeepers, less bees, yet more crops to pollinate,” Mr. Browning said. “While this sounds sweet for the bee business, with so much added loss and expense due to disease, pests and higher equipment costs, profitability is actually falling.”
Some 15 worried beekeepers convened in Florida this month to brainstorm with researchers how to cope with the extensive bee losses. Investigators are exploring a range of theories, including viruses, a fungus and poor bee nutrition.
They are also studying a group of pesticides that were banned in some European countries to see if they are somehow affecting bees’ innate ability to find their way back home.
It could just be that the bees are stressed out. Bees are being raised to survive a shorter offseason, to be ready to pollinate once the almond bloom begins in February. That has most likely lowered their immunity to viruses.
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I ovo
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February 26, 2007
The mystery of disappearing bees
The New York Times has a worrying article on the mysterious decline in honeybee populations:
In 24 states throughout the country, beekeepers have gone through similar shocks as their bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only their livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of the nation’s most profitable....
The bee losses are ranging from 30 to 60 percent on the West Coast, with some beekeepers on the East Coast and in Texas reporting losses of more than 70 percent; beekeepers consider a loss of up to 20 percent in the offseason to be normal....
Researchers say the bees are presumably dying in the fields, perhaps becoming exhausted or simply disoriented and eventually falling victim to the cold.
As researchers scramble to find answers to the syndrome they have decided to call “colony collapse disorder,” growers are becoming openly nervous about the capability of the commercial bee industry to meet the growing demand for bees to pollinate dozens of crops, from almonds to avocados to kiwis.
The article goes on to talk about the growth of a commercial pollinating industry-- essentially, beekeeper who travel the country, setting up hives that pollinate crops-- and the threat this die-off poses to them, but the bigger worry is more fundamental. Pollinating insects play a critical role in agriculture, and a decline in the number of pollinators-- especially a long-term decline in both wild and domesticated pollinating insects-- would mean pretty bad things for food prices and production.
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I ovo
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6400179.stm
Bee vanishing act baffles keepers
The losses threaten beekeepers' livelihoods
Honeybees are vanishing at an alarming rate from 24 US states, threatening the production of numerous crops.
The cause of the losses, which range from 30% to more than 70%, is a mystery, but experts are investigating several theories.
American bee colonies have been hit by regional crises before, but keepers say this is the first national crisis.
Bees pollinate more than $14bn (£7bn) worth of US seeds and crops each year, mostly fruits, vegetables and nuts.
Box after box after box are just empty. There's nobody home
David Bradshaw, Beekeeper
The mystery disappearances highlight the important link that honeybees play in the chain that brings fruit and vegetables to supermarkets and dinner tables.
The crisis threatens numerous crops, from avocados to kiwis and California almonds - one of the most profitable in the US.
"I have never seen anything like it," California beekeeper David Bradshaw, 50, told the New York Times.
"Box after box after box are just empty. There's nobody home."
Under pressure
With an industry increasingly under consolidation, some fear the disorder could prove the breaking point for even large beekeepers.
The bee losses range from 30 to 60% on the West Coast, with some beekeepers on the East Coast and in Texas reporting losses of more than 70%.
Beekeepers consider a loss of up to 20% in the offseason to be normal.
Researchers say the bees are presumably dying in the fields, perhaps becoming exhausted or simply disoriented and eventually falling victim to the cold.
"The real question is why they leave," Jerry Hayes, a bee expert for the Florida Department of Agriculture told the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.
"Bees are highly social insects. They don't leave their babies and the queen."
The investigators are exploring a range of possibilities to explain the losses, which they are calling "colony collapse disorder". These include viruses, a fungus and poor bee nutrition.
They are also studying pesticides banned in some European countries to see if they are affecting the bees' innate ability to navigate their way back to their hives.
In some cases, bees are being raised to survive a shorter offseason, to be ready to pollinate once the almond bloom begins in February. This could have lowered their immunity to viruses.
Mites have also damaged bee colonies, and the insecticides used to try to kill them are harming the ability of queen bees to spawn as many workers.
Urban sprawl
Once the domain of hobbyists, beekeeping has become increasingly commercial and consolidated in the US.
During the last two decades, the number of beehives has dropped by a quarter, and is now estimated at 2.4 million. The number of beekeepers has fallen by half during the same period.
Bees are vital for the pollination of important US crops
Pressure has been building on the bee industry. The costs to maintain hives, or colonies, are rising.
In addition, urban growth means that the areas where the insects can forage for nectar to stay healthy and strong during the pollination season are being squeezed.
"There are less beekeepers, less bees, yet more crops to pollinate," said Zac Browning, vice-president of the American Beekeeping Federation.
"With so much added loss and expense due to disease, pests and higher equipment costs, profitability is actually falling."
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I još ovo
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March 28, 2007
Spiegel Online
A mysterious decimation of bee populations has German beekeepers
worried, while a similar phenomenon in the United States is gradually
assuming catastrophic proportions. The consequences for agriculture
and the economy could be enormous.
Is the mysterous decimation of bee populations in the US and Germany
a result of GM crops?
Walter Haefeker is a man who is used to painting grim scenarios. He
sits on the board of directors of the German Beekeepers Association
(DBIB) and is vice president of the European Professional Beekeepers
Association. And because griping is part of a lobbyist’s trade, it is
practically his professional duty to warn that “the very existence of
beekeeping is at stake.”
The problem, says Haefeker, has a number of causes, one being the
varroa mite, introduced from Asia, and another is the widespread
practice in agriculture of spraying wildflowers with herbicides and
practicing monoculture. Another possible cause, according to
Haefeker, is the controversial and growing use of genetic engineering
in agriculture.
As far back as 2005, Haefeker ended an article he contributed to the
journal Der Kritischer Agrarbericht (Critical Agricultural Report)
with an Albert Einstein quote: “If the bee disappeared off the
surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life
left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more
animals, no more man.”
Mysterious events in recent months have suddenly made Einstein’s
apocalyptic vision seem all the more topical. For unknown reasons,
bee populations throughout Germany are disappearing — something that
is so far only harming beekeepers. But the situation is different in
the United States, where bees are dying in such dramatic numbers that
the economic consequences could soon be dire. No one knows what is
causing the bees to perish, but some experts believe that the large-
scale use of genetically modified plants in the US could be a factor.
Felix Kriechbaum, an official with a regional beekeepers’ association
in Bavaria, recently reported a decline of almost 12 percent in local
bee populations. When “bee populations disappear without a trace,”
says Kriechbaum, it is difficult to investigate the causes, because
“most bees don’t die in the beehive.” There are many diseases that
can cause bees to lose their sense of orientation so they can no
longer find their way back to their hives.
Manfred Hederer, the president of the German Beekeepers Association,
almost simultaneously reported a 25 percent drop in bee populations
throughout Germany. In isolated cases, says Hederer, declines of up
to 80 percent have been reported. He speculates that “a particular
toxin, some agent with which we are not familiar,” is killing the bees.
Politicians, until now, have shown little concern for such warnings
or the woes of beekeepers. Although apiarists have been given a
chance to make their case — for example in the run-up to the German
cabinet’s approval of a genetic engineering policy document by
Minister of Agriculture Horst Seehofer in February — their
complaints are still largely ignored.
Even when beekeepers actually go to court, as they recently did in a
joint effort with the German chapter of the organic farming
organization Demeter International and other groups to oppose the use
of genetically modified corn plants, they can only dream of the sort
of media attention environmental organizations like Greenpeace
attract with their protests at test sites.
But that could soon change. Since last November, the US has seen a
decline in bee populations so dramatic that it eclipses all previous
incidences of mass mortality. Beekeepers on the east coast of the
United States complain that they have lost more than 70 percent of
their stock since late last year, while the west coast has seen a
decline of up to 60 percent.
In an article in its business section in late February, the New York
Times calculated the damage US agriculture would suffer if bees died
out. Experts at Cornell University in upstate New York have estimated
the value bees generate — by pollinating fruit and vegetable plants,
almond trees and animal feed like clover — at more than $14 billion.
Scientists call the mysterious phenomenon “Colony Collapse
Disorder” (CCD), and it is fast turning into a national catastrophe
of sorts. A number of universities and government agencies have
formed a “CCD Working Group” to search for the causes of the
calamity, but have so far come up empty-handed. But, like Dennis
vanEngelsdorp, an apiarist with the Pennsylvania Department of
Agriculture, they are already referring to the problem as a potential
“AIDS for the bee industry.”
One thing is certain: Millions of bees have simply vanished. In most
cases, all that’s left in the hives are the doomed offspring. But
dead bees are nowhere to be found — neither in nor anywhere close to
the hives. Diana Cox-Foster, a member of the CCD Working Group, told
The Independent that researchers were “extremely alarmed,” adding
that the crisis “has the potential to devastate the US beekeeping
industry.”
It is particularly worrisome, she said, that the bees’ death is
accompanied by a set of symptoms “which does not seem to match
anything in the literature.”
In many cases, scientists have found evidence of almost all known bee
viruses in the few surviving bees found in the hives after most have
disappeared. Some had five or six infections at the same time and
were infested with fungi — a sign, experts say, that the insects’
immune system may have collapsed.
The scientists are also surprised that bees and other insects usually
leave the abandoned hives untouched. Nearby bee populations or
parasites would normally raid the honey and pollen stores of colonies
that have died for other reasons, such as excessive winter cold.
“This suggests that there is something toxic in the colony itself
which is repelling them,” says Cox-Foster.
Walter Haefeker, the German beekeeping official, speculates that
“besides a number of other factors,” the fact that genetically
modified, insect-resistant plants are now used in 40 percent of
cornfields in the United States could be playing a role. The figure
is much lower in Germany — only 0.06 percent — and most of that
occurs in the eastern states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and
Brandenburg. Haefeker recently sent a researcher at the CCD Working
Group some data from a bee study that he has long felt shows a
possible connection between genetic engineering and diseases in bees.
The study in question is a small research project conducted at the
University of Jena from 2001 to 2004. The researchers examined the
effects of pollen from a genetically modified maize variant called
“Bt corn” on bees. A gene from a soil bacterium had been inserted
into the corn that enabled the plant to produce an agent that is
toxic to insect pests. The study concluded that there was no evidence
of a “toxic effect of Bt corn on healthy honeybee populations.” But
when, by sheer chance, the bees used in the experiments were infested
with a parasite, something eerie happened. According to the Jena
study, a “significantly stronger decline in the number of bees”
occurred among the insects that had been fed a highly concentrated Bt
poison feed.
According to Hans-Hinrich Kaatz, a professor at the University of
Halle in eastern Germany and the director of the study, the bacterial
toxin in the genetically modified corn may have “altered the surface
of the bee’s intestines, sufficiently weakening the bees to allow the
parasites to gain entry — or perhaps it was the other way around. We
don’t know.”
Of course, the concentration of the toxin was ten times higher in
the experiments than in normal Bt corn pollen. In addition, the bee
feed was administered over a relatively lengthy six-week period.
Kaatz would have preferred to continue studying the phenomenon but
lacked the necessary funding. “Those who have the money are not
interested in this sort of research,” says the professor, “and those
who are interested don’t have the money.”
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More news @ 11
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8. sekretar SKOJ-a
- Posts: 1242
- Joined: 23/01/2005 18:49
- Location: Galerija Marsaevi - Republika Bosna i Hercegovina.
#11
U pitanju je život na Planeti, a ja problem lociram na uzgoj GM biljaka. Svakim danom mulitnacionalne kompanije, lideri u tehnologijama genetike, gube bitku za bitkom svojim lažima da će spasiti svijet od gladi genskom modifikacijom biljaka.....an Albert Einstein quote: “If the bee disappeared off the
surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life
left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more
animals, no more man.”....
Evo i dr. Kaatz tačno zna šta se dešava, ali on kao naučnik, ne može špekulirati i sigurno će se naći lovator da isfinansira ova istraživanja ili nas nema:
Of course, the concentration of the toxin was ten times higher in
the experiments than in normal Bt corn pollen. In addition, the bee
feed was administered over a relatively lengthy six-week period.
Kaatz would have preferred to continue studying the phenomenon but
lacked the necessary funding. “Those who have the money are not
interested in this sort of research,” says the professor, “and those
who are interested don’t have the money.”
Šta je to Bt. i Bacillus thuringiensis:
[quote=" "Hrana i zdravlje", SA - 1998.g., S.Malohodžić/S. Stanojčić"]...Stvaranje otpornih kultivara prenošenjem jednog ili više poželjnih gena kako bi imali željene osobine u ovu svrhu koriste se bakterije Bacillus thuringiensis koja je prisutna inače u zemljištu, a poznata je po agresivnom napadu na insekte. Različiti sojevi ove bakterije napadaju različite insekte. Ova bakterija predstavlja pravi biološki insekticid koji dejstvuje putem proteina koji producira i putem kojeg razara probavni sistem napadnutih insekata.
Posljednjih godina biotehnološkim postupkom prensen je gen ove bakterije u neke biljke čime su one zaštićene od štetnih insekata, npr. zaštita krompira od zlatice, hibridi kukuruza otpornih protiv kukuruznog plamenca itd. ...[/quote]
Ovaj Bacillus thuringiensis je bezopasan za ljude, ptice i druge insekte i životinje. Ne znam da li postoji soj ovog bacila koji je terminator za jadne pčele. Međutim, kada se gen Bt. inkorporira u kukuruz ili krompir, biljka postaje opasna za ljudsku i životinjsku ishranu. Vidjeti na ovome linku šta je sve čika Arpad Pusztai, dr. genetike naučno dokazao i obznanio (Namah nije dobio produženje ugovora na Institutu u Aberdinu, Škotska) u vezi sa Bt. GM biljčicama:
Pogledati penzionerske bašte i njihov krompir za kojih dvadesetak dana(Sarajevo), nigdje ni jedne krompirove zlatice-znači, opasni GM Bt krompir!http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/pusztai.html#Primer wrote:Feeding mice with potatoes transformed with a Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki Cry1 toxin gene or the toxin itself was shown24 to have caused villus epithelial cell hypertrophy and multinucleation, disrupted microvilli, mitochondrial degeneration, increased numbers of lysosomes and autophagic vacuoles and activation of crypt Paneth cells. The results showed that despite claims to the contrary, CryI toxin was stable in the mouse gut and therefore GM crops expressing it need to be subjected to "thorough tests...to avoid the risks before marketing.24
Dragi penzioneri, izdržite još malo-nećete dugo!
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StLouis
- Posts: 2969
- Joined: 07/03/2004 00:00
- Location: USA
#12
Cuo sam da je Ajnstajn rekao ukoliko nestanu pcele na planeti, covjeku ne preostaje vise od 4 godine postojanja. 
Pcela igra veliku ulogu u prirodi i prirodnom lancu ishrane. Govori se da je pcela druga zivotinja po vaznosti za covjeka,poslije govedine. Sta ces, ljudska pohlepa dovodi do katastrofa, a posljedice tek slijede, ustvari one su neminovne...science fiction filmovi su izgleda buducnost, zivjet cemo ispod zemlje, jesti vjestacku hranu, ili biti robovi tamo nekog okrutnog robovlasnika.
Od danas me svaki insekt veseli.
Pcela igra veliku ulogu u prirodi i prirodnom lancu ishrane. Govori se da je pcela druga zivotinja po vaznosti za covjeka,poslije govedine. Sta ces, ljudska pohlepa dovodi do katastrofa, a posljedice tek slijede, ustvari one su neminovne...science fiction filmovi su izgleda buducnost, zivjet cemo ispod zemlje, jesti vjestacku hranu, ili biti robovi tamo nekog okrutnog robovlasnika. Od danas me svaki insekt veseli.
-
8. sekretar SKOJ-a
- Posts: 1242
- Joined: 23/01/2005 18:49
- Location: Galerija Marsaevi - Republika Bosna i Hercegovina.
#13
http://www.lol.ba wrote:Američki istraživači identifikovali su virus i parazit koji su vjerovatno odgovorni za katastrofalni pomor pčela u Sjeveroj Americi i Evropi. Tim naučnika iz Hemijsko-biološkog centra Exvud (ECBC) i Univerziteta Kalifornije u San Francisku prošle sedmice izolovali su viralne i parazitske patogene koji su mogli doprinijeti stradanju pčela.
Tokom prošle godine, stručnjaci su uočili značajno opadanje u populaciji pčela, pošto su čitave kolonije propadale bez upozorenja. Nestalo je približno 50 odsto košnica, a istraživači širom zemlje pokušavali su da otkriju zašto. Naučnici su izrazili bojazan da nestanak pčela koje oprašuju usjeve voća i povrća može da ima negativan hortikulturni i ekonomski uticaj širom svijeta.
ECBC je jedan od mnogih akademskih, komercijalnih i Vladinih koncerna koji proučava opadanje populacije pčela. Njegova uloga je da identifikuje obim problema i izvrši dalje aktivnosti u oblasti detekcije.
27.4.2007
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Vozdra_123
- Posts: 2213
- Joined: 31/12/2003 00:00
- Location: SAD/Kanada
#14
bolje nismo ni za sluzili
ni Hamercki dolari nas nece spasiti
ni Hamercki dolari nas nece spasiti
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rashomon
- Posts: 1107
- Joined: 15/01/2003 00:00
- Location: "Bolestan; gostima pozdrav s poštovanjem!"
#15
Zaplet....
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/ ... 9856.shtml
Virus Is Newest Suspected Bee-Killer
Scientists Say The Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus Is Suspected Of Killing Billions Of Honeybees
(AP) Scientific sleuths have a new suspect for what's been killing billions of honeybees: a virus previously unknown in the United States.
The scientists report using a novel genetic technique and old-fashioned statistics to identify Israeli acute paralysis virus as the latest potential culprit in the widespread deaths of worker bees, a phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder.
Next up are attempts to infect honeybees with the newfound virus to see if it's indeed a killer.
"At least we have a lead now we can begin to follow. We can use it as a marker and we can use it to investigate whether it does in fact cause disease," said Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, a Columbia University epidemiologist and co-author of the study. Details appear this week in Science Express, the online edition of the journal Science.
Experts stressed that parasitic mites, pesticides and poor nutrition all remain in the lineup of suspects, as does the stress of travel. Beekeepers shuffle bees around the nation throughout the year so they can pollinate crops as they come into bloom. The newfound virus may prove to have added nothing more than insult to the injuries bees already suffer, said several experts unconnected to the study.
"This may be a piece or a couple of pieces of the puzzle, but I certainly don't think it is the whole thing," said Jerry Hayes, chief of the apiary section of the Florida department of agriculture.
Still, surveys of honeybees from decimated colonies turned up traces of the virus nearly every time; bees untouched by the phenomenon were virtually free of it. That means finding the virus should be a red flag that a hive is at risk and merits being quarantined, scientists said.
"The authors themselves recognize it's not a slam dunk, it's correlative. But it's certainly more than a smoking gun - more like a smoking arsenal. It's very compelling," said May Berenbaum, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign entomologist.
The mysterious deaths have struck between 50 percent and 90 percent of commercial honeybee hives in the United States, sowing fears about the effects on the more than 90 crops that rely on bees to pollinate them.
Scientists previously have found blasting emptied hives with radiation apparently kills whatever infectious agent that causes the disorder. That has focused their attention on viruses, bacteria and the like, to the exclusion of other noninfectious phenomena, like cell phone interference, also proposed as culprits.
The earliest reports of colony collapse disorder date to 2004, the same year the virus was first described by Israeli virologist Ilan Sela. That also was the year U.S. beekeepers began importing bees from Australia - a practice that had been banned by the Honeybee Act of 1922.
Now, Australia is being eyed as a potential source of the virus. That could turn out to be an ironic twist, since the Australian imports were meant to bolster, not further damage, U.S. bee populations devastated by another scourge, the varroa mite. Meanwhile, officials are discussing reinstating the ban, said the Agriculture Department's top bee scientist, Jeff Pettis.
In the new study, a team of nearly two dozen scientists used the genetic sequencing equivalent of a dragnet to round up suspects. The technique, called pyrosequencing, generates a list of the full repertoire of genes in bees they examined from U.S. hives and directly imported from Australia.
By separating out the bee genes and then comparing the leftover genetic sequences to others detailed in public databases - a move akin to running a suspect's fingerprints - the scientists could pick out every fungus, bacterium, parasite and virus harbored by the bees.
They then looked for each pathogen in bees collected from normal hives and others affected by colony collapse disorder. That statistical comparison showed Israeli acute paralysis virus was strongly associated with the disorder.
The technique is a model for investigating outbreaks of infectious diseases in people too, since it can rapidly pinpoint likely causes, Lipkin said.
Sela, a Hebrew University of Jerusalem professor, said he will collaborate with U.S. scientists on studying how and why the bee virus may be fatal. Preliminary research shows some bees can integrate genetic information from the virus into their own genomes, apparently giving them resistance, Sela said in a telephone interview. Sela added that about 30 percent of the bees he's examined had done so.
Those naturally "transgenic" honeybees theoretically could be propagated to create stocks of virus-resistant insects, Lipkin said.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/ ... 9856.shtml
Virus Is Newest Suspected Bee-Killer
Scientists Say The Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus Is Suspected Of Killing Billions Of Honeybees
(AP) Scientific sleuths have a new suspect for what's been killing billions of honeybees: a virus previously unknown in the United States.
The scientists report using a novel genetic technique and old-fashioned statistics to identify Israeli acute paralysis virus as the latest potential culprit in the widespread deaths of worker bees, a phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder.
Next up are attempts to infect honeybees with the newfound virus to see if it's indeed a killer.
"At least we have a lead now we can begin to follow. We can use it as a marker and we can use it to investigate whether it does in fact cause disease," said Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, a Columbia University epidemiologist and co-author of the study. Details appear this week in Science Express, the online edition of the journal Science.
Experts stressed that parasitic mites, pesticides and poor nutrition all remain in the lineup of suspects, as does the stress of travel. Beekeepers shuffle bees around the nation throughout the year so they can pollinate crops as they come into bloom. The newfound virus may prove to have added nothing more than insult to the injuries bees already suffer, said several experts unconnected to the study.
"This may be a piece or a couple of pieces of the puzzle, but I certainly don't think it is the whole thing," said Jerry Hayes, chief of the apiary section of the Florida department of agriculture.
Still, surveys of honeybees from decimated colonies turned up traces of the virus nearly every time; bees untouched by the phenomenon were virtually free of it. That means finding the virus should be a red flag that a hive is at risk and merits being quarantined, scientists said.
"The authors themselves recognize it's not a slam dunk, it's correlative. But it's certainly more than a smoking gun - more like a smoking arsenal. It's very compelling," said May Berenbaum, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign entomologist.
The mysterious deaths have struck between 50 percent and 90 percent of commercial honeybee hives in the United States, sowing fears about the effects on the more than 90 crops that rely on bees to pollinate them.
Scientists previously have found blasting emptied hives with radiation apparently kills whatever infectious agent that causes the disorder. That has focused their attention on viruses, bacteria and the like, to the exclusion of other noninfectious phenomena, like cell phone interference, also proposed as culprits.
The earliest reports of colony collapse disorder date to 2004, the same year the virus was first described by Israeli virologist Ilan Sela. That also was the year U.S. beekeepers began importing bees from Australia - a practice that had been banned by the Honeybee Act of 1922.
Now, Australia is being eyed as a potential source of the virus. That could turn out to be an ironic twist, since the Australian imports were meant to bolster, not further damage, U.S. bee populations devastated by another scourge, the varroa mite. Meanwhile, officials are discussing reinstating the ban, said the Agriculture Department's top bee scientist, Jeff Pettis.
In the new study, a team of nearly two dozen scientists used the genetic sequencing equivalent of a dragnet to round up suspects. The technique, called pyrosequencing, generates a list of the full repertoire of genes in bees they examined from U.S. hives and directly imported from Australia.
By separating out the bee genes and then comparing the leftover genetic sequences to others detailed in public databases - a move akin to running a suspect's fingerprints - the scientists could pick out every fungus, bacterium, parasite and virus harbored by the bees.
They then looked for each pathogen in bees collected from normal hives and others affected by colony collapse disorder. That statistical comparison showed Israeli acute paralysis virus was strongly associated with the disorder.
The technique is a model for investigating outbreaks of infectious diseases in people too, since it can rapidly pinpoint likely causes, Lipkin said.
Sela, a Hebrew University of Jerusalem professor, said he will collaborate with U.S. scientists on studying how and why the bee virus may be fatal. Preliminary research shows some bees can integrate genetic information from the virus into their own genomes, apparently giving them resistance, Sela said in a telephone interview. Sela added that about 30 percent of the bees he's examined had done so.
Those naturally "transgenic" honeybees theoretically could be propagated to create stocks of virus-resistant insects, Lipkin said.
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PipiDugaDevetka
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#17
Pčele se orijentišu prema uglu Sunca u odnosu na njih i njihovu košnicu, pa prema tome, mobilna telefonija nije uzrok masovnom pomoru pčela:
http://www.poljoprivreda.ba/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1071&Itemid=63 wrote:27.7.2007. / Apimed.ba /
Nosema Ceranae krivac za masovni nestanak pčela na Zapadu
Parazit uobičajan kod azijskih pčela proširio se u Evropu i Ameriku i stoji iza masovnog nestanka pčela u mnogm zemljama, tvrdi španski naučnik koji je istraživao fenomen godinama. Krivac je mikroskopski parazit pod imenom Nosema Ceranae, kaže Mariano Higes, koji vodi tim naučnika u vladinom Istraživačkom pčelarskom centru u Guadalajara, provincija istočno od Madrida, srce španske industrije meda. On i njegove kolege su analizirale hiljade primjeraka pogođenih košnica u mnogim zemljama."Počeli smo u 2000 godini sa hipotezom da su uzročnici bili pesticidi, ali smo tu opciju uskoro isključili," rekao je Rojteru u interviju u srijedu. Tragovi pesticida bili su prisutni samo u malim proporcijama a pčele su ugibale i miljama daleko od poljoprivrednog zemljišta. Zatim su isključili i Varrou kao uzročnika, koju je lako primjetiti i koja nije bila prisutna u većini inficiranih košnica. Duže vrijeme Higes i njegove kolege smatrali su da parazit pod imenom Nosema Apis, ubija pčele. "Vidjeli smo spore, ali su simptomi bili veoma drugačiji i dešavalo se to i po suhom vremenu. Zatim je odlučio da uradi DNA parazita i otkrio je da je riječ o azijskoj varijanti Nosema Ceranae. Azijske pčele su manje osjetljive ali evropske pčele mogu nestati za nekoliko dana u labaratorijskim uslovima. "Nosema ceranae je daleko opasnija i živi i na toplom i hladnom. Košnica se može zaraziti u roku od 2 mjeseca a cijelo društvo da kolapsira od 6 do 18 mjeseci," kaže Higes, čiji je tim izdao nekoliko članaka na tu temu. "Nema sumnje da je to Nosema Ceranae i mislim da je 50% španskih košnica inficirano, kaže on. Španija sa 2.3 miliona košnica, je domaćin četvrtine pčela Evropske unije.Njegov tim je također identifikovao ovaj parazit na pčelama iz Austrije, Slovenije i drugih dijelova Istočne evrope i pretpostavlja da je vremenom došla iz Azije. Sad izgleda da je prešla Atlantik i prisutna je u Kanadi i Argentini, kaže on.Španski istražitelji nisu testirali primjerke iz SAD, gdje su pčele također masovno nestale. Tretman protiv Nosema ceranae je efikasan i jeftin -- 1 euro ($1.4) po košnici 2 godišnje – ali pčelari se moraju prvo ubijediti da je taj parazit problem.Teorija da su problem mobilni telefoni je isključena, Higes ističe da pčele koriste ugao Sunca za navigaciju a ne elektromagnetske frekvencije. Drugi elementi, kao suša ili pogrešan tretman, mogu igrati djelimičnu ulogu u slabljenju pčelinje rezistencije, ali je Higes ubjeđen da je azijski parazit glavni ubica.
Izvor: Apimed.ba
