poor_old_dad
11-14-2007, 02:40 AM
Bee Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD for short, is a phenomenon where the worker bees suddenly abandon the hive, leaving the honey, the Queen bee, her eggs and babies to fend for themselves. What's scaring researchers is that waxworm moths and hive beetles ignore the honey that's left behind, when they'd usually be immediately upon it to scavenger whatever was abandoned.
Honeybees who pollinate the world's crops have been hit by issues previously. Mites, pesticides, and another mystery problem called "Disappearing Disease" hit the honeybees throughout history. What's different this time is that the CCD is hitting strong colonies and they're leaving behind plenty of food. Before, they would never abandon the entire brood of bees and ample resources. The bee keeper goes to bed with a colony of thousands of bees and wakes up the next morning to empty hives. The bees are not dying, they're simply abandoning the hives.
The plight of the bee farmer is about to become our plight too, bees are responsible for pollination of approximately one third of the United States' crop species. When we try to buy such foods as, among other things, almonds, peaches, soybeans, apples, pears, cherries, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, watermelons, squash, cantaloupes, cucumbers and strawberries ( in all about 80 American crops) from the store we're going to see shortages, sending prices skyrocketing. And when we try to grow these veggies & fruits (and lots of ornamentals too) we get great plants, but get very little of the desired veggies & fruits (or seeds for next year's ornamentals). I say get very little, but you may get some due to the efforts other insects and wind.
The economic effect on farmers is going to be huge because while bees make about $200 million worth of honey each year, they contribute to $15 billion worth of crop fertilization in the United States. Nobody really thinks of bees as the driving force behind our crops. They envision fertilizers, sprinkler systems, and rich soil, but without the honeybee, crops don't produce.
Symtoms of CCD are:
1) In collapsed colonies
# The complete absence of adult bees in colonies, with no or little build up of dead bees in the colonies or in front of those colonies.
# The presence of capped brood in colonies.
# The presence of food stores, both honey and bee bread
i. which is not immediately robbed by other bees
ii. when attacked by hive pests such as wax moth and small hive beetle, the attack is noticeably delayed.
2) In cases where the colony appear to be actively collapsing
# An insufficient workforce to maintain the brood that is present
# The workforce seems to be made up of young adult bees
# The queen is present
# The cluster is reluctant to consume provided feed, such as sugar syrup and protein supplement
For lots of info, check these Wikipedia articles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bees_and_toxic_chemicals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesticide_toxicity_to_bees
This is something we should all know about. We're talking about the elimination of 1 out of every 3 bites of food we eat.
Peace,
poor_old_dad
Honeybees who pollinate the world's crops have been hit by issues previously. Mites, pesticides, and another mystery problem called "Disappearing Disease" hit the honeybees throughout history. What's different this time is that the CCD is hitting strong colonies and they're leaving behind plenty of food. Before, they would never abandon the entire brood of bees and ample resources. The bee keeper goes to bed with a colony of thousands of bees and wakes up the next morning to empty hives. The bees are not dying, they're simply abandoning the hives.
The plight of the bee farmer is about to become our plight too, bees are responsible for pollination of approximately one third of the United States' crop species. When we try to buy such foods as, among other things, almonds, peaches, soybeans, apples, pears, cherries, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, watermelons, squash, cantaloupes, cucumbers and strawberries ( in all about 80 American crops) from the store we're going to see shortages, sending prices skyrocketing. And when we try to grow these veggies & fruits (and lots of ornamentals too) we get great plants, but get very little of the desired veggies & fruits (or seeds for next year's ornamentals). I say get very little, but you may get some due to the efforts other insects and wind.
The economic effect on farmers is going to be huge because while bees make about $200 million worth of honey each year, they contribute to $15 billion worth of crop fertilization in the United States. Nobody really thinks of bees as the driving force behind our crops. They envision fertilizers, sprinkler systems, and rich soil, but without the honeybee, crops don't produce.
Symtoms of CCD are:
1) In collapsed colonies
# The complete absence of adult bees in colonies, with no or little build up of dead bees in the colonies or in front of those colonies.
# The presence of capped brood in colonies.
# The presence of food stores, both honey and bee bread
i. which is not immediately robbed by other bees
ii. when attacked by hive pests such as wax moth and small hive beetle, the attack is noticeably delayed.
2) In cases where the colony appear to be actively collapsing
# An insufficient workforce to maintain the brood that is present
# The workforce seems to be made up of young adult bees
# The queen is present
# The cluster is reluctant to consume provided feed, such as sugar syrup and protein supplement
For lots of info, check these Wikipedia articles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bees_and_toxic_chemicals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesticide_toxicity_to_bees
This is something we should all know about. We're talking about the elimination of 1 out of every 3 bites of food we eat.
Peace,
poor_old_dad