We all get stung by bee colony collapse
On Tuesday, the Obama administration will announce plans to protect bees, other pollinators and their breeding grounds. Honeybees are critical to our food supply. One of every three bites of our food originates from bees pollinating the flowers that produce many of our fruits, nuts and vegetables. Last June, President Obama established a Pollinator Health Task Force to focus federal efforts to stem pollinator loss.
The honeybee population in the United States is now less than half of what it was at the end of World War II. Driven largely by industrial farming practices, that decline was well underway when, in 2006, commercial beekeepers began finding many of their hives suddenly abandoned. Colony collapse appears to be linked to a variety of factors that work in concert to weaken bees.
By Patterson Clark
May 18, 2015
On Tuesday, the Obama administration will announce plans to protect bees,
other pollinators and their breeding grounds. Honeybees are critical to our food
supply. One of every three bites of our food originates from bees pollinating the
flowers that produce many of our fruits, nuts and vegetables. Last June,
President Obama established a Pollinator Health Task Force to focus federal efforts
to stem pollinator loss. The USDA announced incentives to farmers and ranchers in
five states who establish new habitats for honeybees.
The honeybee population in the United States is now less than half of what it was
at the end of World War II. Driven largely by industrial farming practices, that
decline was well underway when, in 2006, commercial beekeepers began finding
many of their hives suddenly abandoned. Colony collapse appears to be linked to
a variety of factors that work in concert to weaken bees. Read related article.
The symptoms of colony collapse
Download a full-page pdf-file of this graphic.
Bee swarms are good news (related article)
Honeybee stressors
• The hive suffers a rapid loss of older worker bees.
• Bees avoid supplemental foods provided by the
beekeeper.
• The abandoned hive contains an excess of cells
holding developing young bees. (Normally when
bees leave a hive, they wait until the young emerge.)
• Honeycomb pests, which would normally raid an
unguarded comb, delay their entry into the hive.
• The abandoned hive lacks dead bees.
Studies show no links between colony collapse and either cellphone-tower radiation or genetically modified crops.
POISONS
Crops pollinated by bees
include almonds, apples,
apricots, avocados, blueberries, cantaloupes, cashews,
coffee, cranberries, cucumbers, eggplants, grapes,
kiwis, mangoes, okra, peaches, pears, peppers,
strawberries, tangerines, walnuts and watermelons.
Seeds coated with neonicotinoid pesticides , or neonics, sprout into crops laced with the chemicals, which shut down the nervous system of any insect munching on the plant. The chemicals even make their way into nectar and pollen, which can dose bees with enough of the toxin to cause disorientation and a loss of ability to learn and communicate — crucial skills for a social insect. The poisons can be even stronger when store-shelf insecticides are used by home gardeners. Europe has temporarily banned neonics, the EPA is assessing these insecticides and will finalize regulatory action by the end of 2018.
Western honeybee Apis mellifera
Studies show no links between colony collapse and either cellphone-tower radiation or genetically modified crops.
PARASITES
Honeybees are the targets of myriad pests, the most
damaging of which is the
varroa mite
, a parasite that
begins sucking the blood-like hemolymph of young bees
soon after they hatch. The mite suppresses bee
immune systems and transmits viruses.
Honeybees from Africa are less susceptible to varroa, partly
because they bite at the mites and try to remove them.
Some commercial beekeepers have begun building
hives with western honeybee queens that exhibit
similar grooming behavior.
A tiny
phorid fly
deposits her eggs inside a bee’s
abdomen. A week later, the affected bee abandons the
hive before a fly larva emerges from the doomed bee’s
neck.
Varroa destructor
Studies show no links between colony collapse and either cellphone-tower radiation or genetically modified crops.
PATHOGENS
Nosema
ceranae
spore
Honey
stomach
Midgut
Bees weakened by varroa mites or neonics
appear to be more susceptible to a virulent new
form of
Nosema
, a single-celled fungus that
infects the cells lining the midgut of bees,
reducing their ability to digest pollen. Spores are
probably spread by bee feces.
Infected worker bees abandon the colony, which
greatly reduces the ability of the hive to gather
food.
Some evidence suggests that if bees are
also infected with the
invertebrate iridescent
virus
, the hive might be at even greater risk of
collapsing.
Scientists have found a strong correlation
between collapsed hives and the presence of
Israeli acute paralysis disease
, a virus that
arrived in bees imported to the United States.
Studies show no links between colony collapse and either cellphone-tower radiation or genetically modified crops.
COMB CELL SIZE
Natural-size cells are 4.9 mm across.
“Standard-size” cells are 5.4 mm across.
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Natural-size bees are slightly smaller than most commercial bees.
For more than a century, beekeepers have used unnaturally large fabricated honeycomb templates , or foundation, on which bees build their colonies. Larger comb cells produce bigger bees, but those bees tend to have compromised immune systems and their young bees take slightly longer to develop, which some scientific studies say gives varroa mites more time to infest young bees. A growing number of beekeepers now use smaller, natural-size cells and say that their bees are better able to deal with mites. Some studies back this up, but others say that cell size has no effect on mite infestations.
Studies show no links between colony collapse and either cellphone-tower radiation or genetically modified crops.
MALNUTRITION
When bees are trucked thousands of miles to
pollinate large areas planted in a single crop, they
can feed from only one type of flower, which puts
them at risk for malnutrition.
Puddles
collect
pesticides, dosing
bees when they
drop by for a drink.
Watermelon flowers need
at least eight visits from
pollinators before they can
develop big, round melons.
A diverse diet from a broad range of flowers helps bees resist diseases. But that is not what many bee colonies find when they are transported to fertilize a single crop. Beekeepers sometimes supplement bee diets with high fructose corn syrup , which is chemically different from the fructose found in fruits and honey. HFCS is sometimes contaminated with mercury, a potent neurotoxin, and hydroxymethylfurfural, which can cause ulcers in bee intestines, leading to dysentery and early death. Pollen , the sole protein source for bees, has been shown to harbor as many as 46 different pesticides.
Studies show no links between colony collapse and either cellphone-tower radiation or genetically modified crops.
GENETIC WEAKNESS, GLOBAL WARMING
Bumblebees
, which are the
main pollinator of tomatoes,
are vulnerable to many of the
same pesticides, parasites
and diseases that affect
honeybees.
Most queen honeybees in the U.S. come from a limited pool of breeder queens, which has led to poor genetic diversity . That makes them more susceptible to new pests and pathogens. Climate disruption can compound pressure on bee colonies. This year, Australia experienced its hottest summer ever recorded, resulting in a vast drought, which curtailed nectar and pollen production, reducing honey output by half and adding extra stress on hives.
Studies show no links between colony collapse and either cellphone-tower radiation or genetically modified crops.
TWO WAYS TO HELP BEES
1 Plant a wide variety of bee-friendly flowers, such as bee balm, joe-pye weed, foxglove and red clover; encourage white clover to grow in your lawn. 2 Avoid using pesticides; eat foods grown without them.
Healthy bees are much better equipped to fight off pests and diseases. How the average person can bolster bees:
White clover
SOURCE: Science; Nature; Nature Communications; PLOS ONE; Environmental Pollution; Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry; Journal of Applied Ecology; Environmental Health; USDA; Apidologie; Psyche: A Journal of Entomology; Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences; Naturwissenschaften; University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences; Journal of Invertebrate Pathology; Biochemical Society; British Ecological Society; Southwest Agricultural Conference; Society for Experimental Biology, Springer Life Sciences; scientificbeekeeping.com; “Natural Beekeeping,” by Ross Conrad; Environmental Health Perspectives; Australia Honey Bee Industry Council. .