Bees dying throughout the planet

Honeybees alone would be alarming but no cause to panic. The fact that whatever the issue is, it's effecting many species of bees all over the world, not just a few. And even if only some of the species die off, this can have untold effects on the availability of food the world over. The destruction of one ecosystem can have ramifications for other ecosystems that at first glance appear to have no connection. The balance of life on this planet is SO delicate, and that is such an important fact for us to grasp.

 

My dad said something about breeding them...i guess we're going to have to start, what are your thoughts on breeding? i have a few bee nesters and honey makers( thats what i call them) around my house at nature centers, i paln on goin gback there in a week to check out if they left or not

 

"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man," said Albert Einstein."

 

Well, just checking in from WV. The honey bees pretty much dissappeared here WELL over four years ago..... You see some every now and again, but not many. Why? well the Dept. of agriculture said it was varroa mites. And that was back when it was first noticable. Yea, mites are a big problem and so are diseases, and bee keepers have got to stay on top of all that all the time. That's why I quit keeping bees. Too many things can go wrong. It's always been that way, but as time goes on they become even more susceptible to problems. In my book, the disappearing bees over the last few years is because all our neighbors who used to keep bees have either moved away or died of old age. Honey bees only travel approximately 2 miles in search of pollen. And bees that have accidentally gone wild are particularly susceptible to the mite and disease problem because there is nobody who looks after them. However, there are more and more bumble bees and yellow jackets, etc. And even tho the honey bees have become all but extinct locally, everything keeps on getting pollinated just as before. No crop failures here.

If people sat idly by and watched as the human race starved to death from lack of pollinators, then they are stupid. All types of bees AND bugs, AND flies pollinate. WIND pollinates, and if that is not enough, you can HAND pollinate. There, there's a reliable job for all those folks who complain that there are no jobs. Work in the field ALL day hand pollinating crops.........

So, the figures look bad. %75, %85, %90 die off. Scary stuff. Well, it's not QUITE as bad as all that when you figure it's COMMON to have 40 to 60% die off every year. And I think we can bet money on it not being GM crops, because here in middle WV there simply are none being grown. And the other theoretical causes, well, they did not just appear yesterday, but this CCD thing did. The bees are acting mighty strangely. Clues would be that they even leave hives that are full of honey. Even the drones leave, and they seldom do anything... And it is nearly impossivble to find any facts on the effects on other types of bees. It seems as if it is pretty much a honey bee thing. I think this has to be related to some NEW thing being added to the equasion, like just in the last year. Either that or it is some kind of natural cycle. Perhaps there-in lies the real reason. Bees have been "kept" for centuries. They are pampered, medicated, fed, given extra shelter in winter. TOO domesticated? Maybe something like this HAS to happen so that a STRONGER strain of bees can evolve. Bees that CAN fend for themselves in a natural environment.

 

I read an artical in class the other day. A german study linked cell phone signals to interfearing with how bees find there way and preventing them from finding their way back to their hive. Seeing how people just can't seem to live without their cell phones guess were all screwed. Think I'll go throw mine in a lake, damn thing just annoys the hell out of me anyways, people just can't leave me alone.

 

I have never owned a cell phone. Yesterday I asked everyone who I saw talking on a cell phone if they would be willing to give up that cell phone if it were that these phone are causing the colony collapse. Out of at least 50 people, only one said yes. Unbelievable.

 

We're doomed. Not that I think it is the cell phones that are the trouble. They have been around for quite a while. Granted there are more of them all the time, but I live up a holler where only a small handful of paople have them and we have NO CELL PHONE SERVICE down in these hollers. You have to go to the top of the hill to use one and that's almost 2 miles. But those cell phones have been proven to cause brain tumors and the government can use them to track you and listen in on your conversations. And for some reason I am disgusted by all the fat ugly housewives strolling around Walmart talking on them while they shop. I don't own one and most likely never will. But I'll never be a fat ugly housewife either

 

I know exactly what you mean. I used to work retail and nothing pissed me off more than the rude customers who would go through my line and talk on their cell phones the whole time I ringing them out. And don't even get me started on people who drive and chat on their phones.

Apathy will truely be the death of humankind.

 

Al Gore would have to make a movie before people would even consider giving up their cells.

 

Many plants multiply though division of stolon or root Not actually dependent on pollen anymore than man is for reproduction. Einstien must not have been familiar with Iris or Bermuda grass.

 

...... i've been stocking up on honey while I can.

 

well some poor guy is gonna have to go through fields and pollenate the flowers with a q-tip

 

Hello! I haven’t read all the posts but did anyone mention killer bees they kill honeybees and I heard there thriving.

This is a pretty stupid question but is the honey bee the only creature that can pollinate plants - can those killer bees pollinate plants? Cheers!

 

darn that global warming but i still cant stand bees,sorry

 

Plants are very adaptable. Animals, birds, man, insects, the wind....all these things can pollinate plants and do.

A bee is a bee if he sticks his fuzzy little legs in pollin and then moves on to another plant certainly he can pollinate.

 

Q: Did Einstein say that?

A: Undetermined.

http://www.snopes.com/quotes/einstein/bees.asp

 

Thanks now I am a little less stupid. Cheers!

 

Thanks for the reality check.

 

Why would scientists (it's all over the news..not that the news is overly reliable, but none the less--it's everywhere)
Why would a lie form about bee's dissapearing? What is the point? So that we'll all freak out more over global warming? What comes from us freaking out over it, other than things that can progress our world, so that we're not ruining ecosystems and species? (the human species included in this)

This relates to the whole "there's no such thing as human involvement in global warming" debate, I guess...but really, we live on this earth, we don't work very well with it, obviously things like this (in reference to the death of bees) are going to begin to happen and it's not overly shocking.

I really don't quite understand what people are waiting for? The most reliable source on the face of the planet to tell you that your actions, your friends actions and your families actions DO in fact impact the earth...I mean we live on it, we destroy it, there is going to be a brutal outcome from that, seeing that's how the world seems to work.

Why so cynical about bees dying? I don't quite understand why not to believe it other than pure fear. I have no real clue why someone somewhere would make up a story like...due to global warming and other factors (not fully blaming humans, because as we know, global warming has been presented as both natural and human made...) then what would the reasoning be? What mega-mind corporation or left wing scientist would just throw that information out there? There doesn't seem to be a real purpose in doing that.

 

Just like the Bird Flu hysteria, who benefits...people like Donald Rumsfield and his pharmacuetical friends that receive federal grants for research and guarranteed contracts for vaccines. Remember the flu vaccine shortages a couple years ago, and the long lines...did you survive that flu season? I did and I didn't get a shot, but the pharmacuetical companies made a mint.

Every time there's a hurricane anywhere in this country before the damage is even done or the hurricane hits landfalll we experience raised prices at the grocery store and gas pump.

What about all the press about Sadaam and WMD? To buy into every press release is to allow your life and pocket book be exploited.

Mother Nature is a powerful force. She can adapt and perform changes you can't imagine and most computer programs are not capable of imitatiting.

Yet we have proof that the addatives that China used in their grain products to up the protean count, in order to receive a higher price for and inferior product, which was purchased to create livestock and pet feed can kill, but we are told by the news media that the chickens and pigs that have injested the tainted feed do not pose a risk to the human food chain. Who to believe. I tend to do my own research and verify sources.