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Where have all the bees gone? The mystery of vanishing bee colonies in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere may not seem to matter much. For those of us whose main contact with bees is swatting them away from a summer picnic table, or wincing from an occasional sting, the disappearance of whole colonies of bees may almost be a blessing. But that’s not so.
The honeybee’s disappearance is, in fact, a significant threat. It not only raises the prospect of another wildlife species going extinct, it also endangers the livelihoods of beekeepers and farmers and even the cost and availability of many foods.
Since last fall, at least a fourth of the 2.4 million bee colonies in the U.S. have gone missing, according to the Apiary Inspectors of America. Some beekeepers -- especially itinerant ones who move their bees cross-country to provide pollination services -- reported that what’s being called colony collapse disorder (CCD) has claimed up to 90% of their bees. And the scientists haven’t many clues about what’s killing the critters.
Crops that make up a third of the U.S. diet depend on honeybees for production. That’s $15 billion worth of fruits, vegetables and tree nuts. Roughly 11% of all U.S. crops (measured by value) require the bees to do their ancient job of aiding propagation by spreading pollen from one plant to another. And honeybees contribute to the pollination of many other crops, including major U.S. field crops soybeans, sunflowers and cotton. In California alone, about a fourth of all farm productions -- $6 billion in fruits, including wine grapes, nuts, vegetables, alfalfa and other crops -- rely on honeybees.
For farmers there and elsewhere, CCD spells much higher production costs. Almond growers in the Golden State, for example, for years paid beekeepers $30-$50 per hive to pollinate their almond orchards each spring. Last year, fees for the bee’s services rose to over $100, largely because hive populations had been reduced by infestations of a deadly mite. This year, with hives further devastated by CCD, the cost for desperate orchard owners climbed to between $130 and $150, says Gene Brandi, a spokesman for the Calif. State Beekeepers Assn. Some even imported colony starter kits, which have a queen and a few thousand worker bees, from Australia to do the job, he says.
Eventually, consumers will pay the price for the pollinators’ disappearance. Poor pollination will shrink yields, driving up the tab for putting fruits, vegetables and other foods on the dinner table. Already, the price of honey is pushing higher. Producers got an average of 14% more last year for the golden sweetener than they did the year before.
Unless bee experts solve the mystery and come up with a remedy soon, millions more bees are bound to be wiped out next fall and winter. Making matters worse, populations of other pollinators, such as wasps and other bees have been vastly reduced by pesticide use, loss of habitat or other diseases. Wild honeybees, for example, are being ravaged by the same deadly varroa mite that beekeepers see attacking their hives.
What entomologists know about CCD now is fairly elementary. According to Professor Diane Cox Foster at Penn State University, it apparently involves a loss of navigation ability for bees since they leave the hive and don’t return, leaving only the queen and a few young. Additionally, high levels of bacteria and, particularly, fungi are typically found in dead bees, suggesting something is suppressing their immune systems. The leading suspects are pathogens, perhaps imported from another continent, and pesticides, including the Bacillus thuringiensis that genetically engineered corn and cotton produce themselves. But scientists are casting a wide net in their search for the cause. Even the possible effects of radio waves -- from cell phones, for example -- on bees' homing ability are being checked. Their efforts are aided by the recent sequencing of the honeybee genome at Baylor University. That will allow them to quickly isolate and identify genes tied to traits that may resist CCD.
Meanwhile, beekeepers are playing defense with hive hygiene, mite control and extra feed to strengthen bees, says Daniel Weaver, president of the American Beekeeping Federation. They’re being more cautious in blending new bees with theirs and asking farmers to help by taking great care with the use of pesticides. Some pesticides can hurt queens and young bees, even though they’re safe for adult bees. Beekeepers now want anyone applying pesticides within a three-mile radius of the beehives to communicate with the bees' managers.
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POSTED BY: Jason (June 01, 2007 06:39 AM)
The loss of honey bees could be an ecological disaster unlike any we have seen. They are a keystone species. It seems like we would see more press coverage of this important topic.
POSTED BY: Toshikatsu (June 03, 2007 10:21 PM)
To my knowledge, Colony Collapse Disorder has exclusively affected the *European* honeybee, Apis mellifera. Hopefully, this will remain so.
The American sentimentality expressed in some previous comments is misplaced. Who weeps for the orchard mason bee?
It is my sincere wish that CCD decimates this foreign interloper in my native Japan, allowing for native faunal recovery.
Negative consequences of honeybee introduction: "competition with native pollinators for floral resources; competition for nest sites; co-introduction of natural enemies, particularly pathogens that may infect native organisms; pollination of exotic weeds; and disruption of pollination of native plants."
POSTED BY: George D (June 10, 2007 07:00 PM)
Worker bees, possibly weakened by parasites, bacteria, fungi, or pesticides, may be physically unable to return to the hive after loading up with pollen, nectar, or water rather than suffering from a loss of the ability to navigate.
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