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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
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. 