why are all the bees disappearing?

There is a crisis in Europe and USA. The honey bees are just disappearing. They abandon the hives and dont come back. They are nowhere to be found.
http://www.celsias.com/blog/2007/03/15/bee-colony-collapse-disorder-where-is-it-heading/
In the UK the Bumble bee is disappearing and at an alarming rate. The british ecology depends on the bumble bee and it is disappearing so fast that scientists are worried about catastrophic crop failure
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6438373.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder

I myself have observed some strange behaviour with the bees in britain.
I have noticed many honey bees coming into the garden and hovering over the grass, then they go down into the grass and afterwards go to a patch of mud
where it looks like they are trying to eat the mud before flying off. I have never seen this before and its unusual in that it is a species of bee I only normally would see around the white climbing plants on the wall. This year they are ignoring it and diving into the grass.

I wondered if the UV from the sun could have affected their eyesight?

 

Bees are often traumatized from the smoke bombs and other devices honey-collectors use. That might be the problem.

 

maybe they're leaving because the planet's about to be destroyed?

 

I heard it was because of the mobile phone masts - but that was in the Daily mail.

To be fair i have read this idea in many differing places.

newmediaexplorer.org

 

A tiny bit of good news about bees.........


In my yard, in Southern Indiana, I have apple trees in full bloom, and saw what I'm quite sure were honey bees up high in the trees, swarming around the blossoms and lighting there. Also saw bumblebees visiting the lilacs. I was thrilled to see them!

 

Are there many phone masts in indiana?

 

yes

 

Bees are being killed by a flea like parasite.

 

The Apple tree in my backyard won't bloom for a couple of weeks - so i'll see for myself.

On a side note: over the past couple of years there's been a plague of earthworms - has anyone else noticed

Hotwater

 

really good informative article about this particular symptom of the world at large

http://hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231823

 

White Feather - just what is this "flea-like parasite" you speak of here - what precisely is this parasite? Do you know where it originated; and is it something that's been in existence for a long time? Do you know if it carries and transmits a disease of some sort to the bees; and that's what kills them?

Michaela

_______________________________________

"They will never make a perfect heart until they make
one that can't be broken."
........ The Wizard, "The Wizard of Oz"
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Personally, i wouldn't be sad if all bees went extinct.
bloody evil minded bastards that they are...
(i had a bad experience as a child)...

 

i had a bad experience or two as well, but i dont wish death on them... plus the honey is so darn good

 

Yeah! GOOD OPINION. Fucking dumbass! Bees pollenate everything. Try starving then. See if you get by.

 

Yeah, without bees, we would have 4 years to live, thats what albert einstein said...

 

It has to do primarily with GM crops. These plants produce their own pesticide which is killing the bees. I am sure there are other factors as well, but this is the big one.

 

when and where did he say that ?

 

Nice. I'm sure they sense those ultra-sensitive vibrations of man's impeding doom. This should work out nicely to prove this simple theory.

 

mites:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6299480

See also: http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/sn_arc98/8_8_98/fob1.htm

 

Well, the vogons were nice enough to give them a head's up about the earth being demolished for a freeway...

Albert Einstein was a gifted physicist. However, he wasn't a biologist, so his opinions are pretty much as valid in this area as mine.

there were flowering plants before bees, there will be flowering plants after bees. nature abhors a vacuum, and if the other pollinating insects' main rivals are killed off, their numbers will flourish.