Honey Bees: Where have the honey bees gone
November 3, 2007
Commercial beekeepers first reported the alarming disappearance of honey bees in the winter of 2006. The loss of honey bee colonies trend continues, according to information provided by the American Beekeeping Federation.
“Since the beginning of the year, beekeepers from all over the country have been reporting unprecedented losses,” states apiculture extension associate at Penn State University Maryann Frazier.
Termed Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium continues to investigate possible causes in the disappearance of honey bees. Some of the causes include:
- Chemical residue/contamination in the wax, food stores and bees
- Known and unknown pathogens in bees and brood
- Parasite load in bees and brood
- Nutritional fitness of the adult bees
- Level of stress in adult bees as indicated by stress induced proteins
- Lack of genetic diversity and lineage of bees
Some possible causes not under investigation?
- GMO crops
- Radiation transmitted by cell towers
Recently, researchers have been studying the Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV) as a possible cause of CCD. However, while they do not rule out IAPV as one of the causes, entomologists were able to determine that IAPV has been in the US since 2002 and not a recent virus brought in from the import of Australian honey bees.
Quoting Albert Einstein, Bill Maher blogs at The Huffington Post, “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”
Of the possible causes for CCD, Maher muses the cause is us.
“It could be from pesticides, or genetically modified food, or global warming, or the high-fructose corn syrup we started to feed them. Recently it was discovered that bees won’t fly near cell phones — the electromagnetic signals they emit might screw up the bees navigation system, knocking them out of the sky. So thanks guy in line at Starbucks, you just killed us. It’s nature’s way of saying, Can you hear me now?“
