Possible Cause of Bee Die-Off Is Found

[Elmore Furth]

Now there is a possibility of managing bee colony collapse syndrome.

By KIRK JOHNSON
Published: October 6, 2010

DENVER — It has been one of the great murder mysteries of horticulture: what is killing off the honeybees?

A fungus tag-teaming with a virus have apparently interacted to cause the problem, according to a paper by Army scientists in Maryland and bee experts in Montana in the online science journal PLoS One.

Exactly how that double-whammy kills bees remains uncertain, the scientists said — a subject for the next round of research. But there are solid clues: both the virus and the fungus proliferate in cool, damp weather, and both do their dirty work in the bee gut, suggesting that insect nutrition is somehow

Dr. Bromenshenk’s team at the University of Montana and Montana State University in Bozeman, working with the Army’s Edgewood Chemical Biological Center northeast of Baltimore, said in their jointly written paper that the virus-fungus one-two punch was found in every killed colony the group studied. Neither agent alone seems able to devastate; together, the research suggests, they are 100 percent fatal.

Possible Cause of Bee Die-Off Is Found

[mike_c]

1. utter lack of genetic diversity might have a LEETLE something to do with it, too....

I'm just sayin'.

[Warpy]

2. Plus the artificial food they're given after their honey is harvested.

Bee culture is going to have to change to accommodate a new reality.

[cascadiance]

9. I was reading that HFCS being fed to them instead of natural sugars was contributing...

... to their demise.

[trotsky]

14. CCD is also prevalent in Europe...

where HFCS is barely used at all.

So that was pretty much eliminated as a cause.

[laconicsax]

16. Lack of correlation proves causation with HCFS.

I'm pretty sure HCFS caused the Black Death in the 14th century. Rats, fleas, and bubonic plague are all cover stories used by PHARMA to hide the conspiracy.

[Curmudgeoness]

3. Genetic diversity coupled with monoculture diets.

There is no longer diversity in what bees have access to.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. American bees get trucked around to different crops - that's high diversity

Far from monoculture diets, they get pollen from many different species.

When you say 'genetic diversity', what do you mean? Are you saying that there are subspecies of honeybee that have been ignored for breeding, and the commercial honeybees have all been bred from one particular subspecies?

[Curmudgeoness]

10. Genetic diversity relates to hybrid vigor. When too many bees

come from the same "stock", any recessive genes can be magnified. I will not go into the whole biology lecture at this point, but it can be seen in groups like the Amish, where the whole group shares the same genetic makeup. This group has many problems with recessive inherited health problems. Humans have a large diversity within the species. Bees also would.

And, yes, bees are trucked around a lot, but these days, many are trucked from one soybean farm to another soybean farm, or almond orchard to almond orchard, etc. And there are thousands and thousands or acres with only that one crop.

[villager]

5. What!? Lack of diversity in *modern agriculture!!?*

I'm shocked -- shocked! -- to find gambling going on here! ;-)

[Xipe Totec]

7. Is that a euphemism for inbreeding?

Because that seems to be a problem in the Tea Party as well.

[mike_c]

11. its the RESULT of inbreeding...

...and yeah, I think you have a point.

[txlibdem]

13. Best post in thread!... ... ... n/t

[TexasProgresive]

12. It's not just kept bees.

We don't see any wild bees. I think the decline even took out the African hybrids which if true knocks your claim of a "lack of genetic diversity." Jus' sayin'

[mike_c]

17. there actually isn't any evidence that wild bees are experiencing CCD....

More likely, the reason for declining wild bee populations are 1) habitat loss/degradation and 2) declining domestic bee populations, which ultimately supply wild bees. Remember, even wild honey bees are not native-- wild colonies ALL begin as domestic swarms, one way or another.

on edit: oops-- I meant to add that although your anecdotal experience might be that you're seeing fewer wild populations, but I'm not aware of any data suggesting general decline in wild bee population at all. Are you?

[TexasProgresive]

18. Even though it's anecdotal

Just a few years ago there were increasing reports of attacks by Africanized bees but no longer. I live in a very rural area that is mostly grazing land and little or no crop cultivation. We don't see honey bees at all any more and they used to buzz around my wife lke she's really that sweet (could it really be the honey in her coffee?). I noticed this long before the stories about colony decline hit the news.

I just don't know and this year we had nearly zero bumblebees, those are natives. Now we got wasps, we got your red wasps, your big yellow and black, your little black and yellow and even some brown hornets-ouch! ouch! ouch!

[Better Today]

4. We've seen the cause nearly be found for many years now. I doubt this is "it" either

As noted in other posts in this OP already, there are so many issues related to bees' health that we've f'ed up for them; too many chemicals on the plants, too little care for the bees natural food source, and (though not mentioned yet) the stress of being trucked all over the place. I'm not saying they haven't found a contributing factor, but I seriously doubt it is "the" cause. Even if this cause is solved, if the other issues aren't addressed, the bees will simply acquire some other deadly problem because of their overall lack of health.

[Control-Z]

6. This is good news.

I've been worried.

:kick: and Rec

[fluffybunnyp35]

15. serious problem

I've been worried about the bee thing also. It seems like a sign of our greater issues.

[Control-Z]

19. That is exactly what it seems.

The ocean's eco-system also concerns me greatly. One seemingly small factor can have a monumental impact on life.