More on the Dying Honeybee Situation
Snipped from alternet.org.
There has been much discussion and debate about the causes of the disappearance of America’s honeybee. No one can seem to come up with a solid explanation basically because the bees just simply disappear never to return to the hive. No crime scene, no motive, and no evidence means no suspects excepts theories. Some researchers speculated that cell phone radiation may be interfering with their ability to navigate and find their way back to the hive. Others speculated that the deaths were due to tiny mites or bugs. Then others thought that it was due to a nasty virus that plagues honeybee colonies. Well, now we can add another speculation to the list…they are just plain worn out, tired, exhausted and just don’t want to do it anymore. Just as can happen to an overworked , modern-day American worker, in commercializing the honeybee in “honeybee factory farms”, the honeybee may have been pushed to their limits. Have we worked them to death? What have we done to our poor honey bee?
With our massive agribusiness depending on honeybees for pollination, there is a strong demand for their unique talent. There are almonds, grapes, plums, cucumbers, cantaloupe, asparagus, apples, cherries, tomatoes, soy beans and zucchini, just to name a few, all dependent on the honeybee for pollination. This used to not be a problem because wild honeybees used to take care of this vital agricultural job. But like many indigenous insects and plants, wild honeybees have been nearly wiped out by pesticides, loss of habitat and parasites like the varroa mite. So, what we have done is commercialized this vital honeybee job. And, when it comes to extracting every ounce of productivity out of a worker, bee or not, corporate America excels. But what happens as a result may only be counterproductive when honeybees start to not show up for work. Anyone who has worked for corporate America knows what I am talking about.
Here is a portion of the article that is causing scientists to scratch their heads.
Meanwhile, commercial beekeeping has come to resemble other kinds of factory farming. While the bees themselves retain more freedom of movement than almost any other living creature raised by man, a commercial bee lot is more like a cattle feed lot than a wild meadow.
Beehives are crammed close together in rows just a few feet apart; in the wild, a square mile supports at the most three or four hives. A wild colony’s diet is diverse, comprising pollen and nectar from myriad plants. To compensate for the lack of forage around bee lots, bees are typically fed high-fructose corn syrup, the same stuff that’s contributing to a human health crisis. And just like other agricultural livestock, bees become stressed when you crowd them together. They’re more susceptible to diseases and parasites, less able to function naturally.
It’s all making some bee scientists wonder: Is the epidemic known as Colony Collapse Disorder real, or are the bees simply being worked to death?
If you would like to read the full article click the image below.
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New Scientist
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Associated Press
All the plain worn out, tired, and exhausted bees have retired //to Florida, perhaps// on BSS — Beehive Social Security.
Stan you are too funny. It is odd though that they just never return to the hive…and there’s no dead bees anywhere, nothing to leave any clues.
Unum, I bet the birds are eating the bees, whether aiive, weak, or dead. And I bet there’s something wrong with the hives themselves, some material change or change in odor or an infestation //like mold// due to ??? And so, they don’t return. That’s my two cents worth of thought. Oh, whatever happened to those super, killer bees from S. America? What’s their behavior?
‘Killer Bees’ are Africanized honeybees, a fierce hybrid strain that are the result of an experiment to increase honey production in Brazil that went wrong. They recently have established themselves in New Orleans according to a September 12, 2007 Associated Press news story. The Africanized honeybees are in Texas, California and Florida. I don’t know how to set up a link to this Associated Press story; please try finding it yourself; there’s more and it’s worth a read.
It is now suggested in elsewhere news reports that the European honeybees are disappearing, done in by a newly-discovered virus. And this is what’s behind the epidemic known as the Colony Collapse Disorder. //see the above article by Unum// But what I myself would like to know is whether the Africanized honeybees can take up the pollination chores once done by the European honeybees. ??? If so, there’s no problem, that is, no Agriculture problem.
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Bee-napped! I’ve been thinking about bees after reading an article by Meredith May on urban bees in San Francisco. For background info click on:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/comments/view?f=/c/a/2007/10/08/BAOERIBMH.DTL
and
http://www.sfbee.org
What I found of interest is that it is the commercial beekeepers //I’d now say bee-nappers// who are experiencing the colony collapse disorder and that the homebody beekeeper hasn’t had any. So I’ve read.
“One of the most widely held theories of the bees’ disappearance is that commercial apiaries are overworking the bees, driving them thousands of miles in semi-trucks and renting them out to pollinate almond and fruit farms. The honeybees are stressed, sprayed with pesticides to combat mites, and sharing bee diseases with other colonies on their long travels.”
It was news to me that they are trucking bees around in 18-wheeler big trucks //must be refrigerated trucks; their units also heat the trailers when it’s too cold outside// Good Gawk! Is anybody home? Talk about fried brains. I may not get it and I may be missing some facts, but I think I’m close and can make a case for it. These bees have been kidnapped! …I mean, bee-napped! They’ve had their natural GPS damaged. They can’t find their way home. Now, by Gawk, tell me that ain’t so!
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Bumblebees — It’s funny how you see something and think about it and then see more and more about that same thing. So there’s more on bumblebees.
Robbin Thorp, an emeritus professor of entomology from the University of California at Davis, gave an in-depth overview on the sorry plight of bumblebees, starting with the extinction of Franklin’s bumblebee…
If you’re into bees and such, you can read the full article by clicking on:
http://www.examiner.com/a-977386~Worsening_plight_of_the_bumblebee_worries_scientists.html
I still think the bees are disappearing due to being bee-napped and hauled around in 18-wheeler big trucks from orchard to orchard.
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I know why the bees are disappearing/dying. I think I do. I really think I do. There’s this feature article in this Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle Magazine with story and photographs by Singeli Agnew, a lengthy story about bees and bee brokers. One of the things these guys do when they truck their bees to, say, an almond grove is to trick the bees into believing it is Spring. Bingo. That puts their circadian rhythm out of whack and…. You got it.
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Update on Honeybees — In today’s news it was reported that Haagen-Dazs donated $100,000 to the University of California — Davis for research into the decline in the bee population. Forty per cent of their ice cream flavors are linked to fruit and nut trees which bees pollinate. Haagen-Dazs will also launch a national awareness campaign re the deplorable crisis of the declining honeybee population.
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