Bumble-bye: The case of the disappearing honeybees

[marmar]

from the Duquesne Duke:



Bumble-bye
The case of the disappearing honeybees

By Katherine Mansfield


The buzz around town is that the world is facing a serious ecological problem, and no one seems to be listening.

Bad news first: the honey bee population is on the verge of extinction.

So you don't know why a dwindling population of stinging pests is a bad thing? You are not alone. The effects of the disappearing honey bee haven't yet begun to take their toll on the masses. But the recent release of multiple bee-related documentaries, among them Pollen Nation and award-winning Vanishing of the Bees, has brought the issue into the mainstream media, along with science's recent interest in the disappearing bees. You'd think people would care about our black and yellow friends more than they do.

Honey bees are responsible for more than simply producing honey and making Cheerios taste better. In fact, they provide the average person with one out of every three bites of food. The honey bee population ultimately provides us with most of the fruits and vegetables, berries, and nuts that we consume on a daily basis. Without honey bees, we would be unable to enjoy foods ranging from refreshing fruit salad to decadent burnt almond torte. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.theduquesneduke.com/bumble-bye-1.2580155#.Tm_j8OxvC7s

[bluestateguy]

1. Damn! I wish this would be happening to wasps and hornets

Those little bastards could disappear tomorrow and it'd be fine with me.

Bees, however, we need and are actually not especially aggressive.

[MadHound]

2. Actually honeybees are far less aggressive than wasps.

Honeybees are only aggressive if you threaten their home or queen. Wasps and hornets get aggressive if you look at them wrong. The thing is, we need all these creatures.

[awoke_in_2003]

22. The last 3 summers...

we have been over run with yellow jackets. I would much rather see bees, as they don't tend to sting you (as it kills them) and they are a valuable insect.

[Countdown_3_2_1]

3. I wonder if this is affecting the Killer Bee invasion?

They are already in the southern states.

[awoke_in_2003]

24. From what I have read...

it is partially that, and partially the amount of insecticides people are using these days.

[spanone]

4. we had more honey bees than i've ever seen this year

swarming the hummingbird feeders....not aggressive....hungry

[marmar]

5. I've hardly seen any.....And actually very few of the yellowjacket wasps....

.... which are usually out terrorizing everyone this time of year.

[awoke_in_2003]

25. they must have migrated south...

the yellow jackets have been out of control the last three years down here (Texas). This year alone, I am responsible for the death of at least 500 of the bastards, and I have a small yard.

[leftyladyfrommo]

6. WE have almost none here where I live in Kansas City

We have bumblebees but not honey bees.

[Curmudgeoness]

11. I also see a lot of honeybees. Every time I see them,

I am so grateful that they are still doing well here. Of course, when my onions were in bloom, I wondered how the honey would taste. They were all over those blooms. Also absolutely were all over the coneflowers.

Glad to still see them here in W PA.

[oldlib]

13. Honey Bees have been attacking my Hummingbird Feeder

and it has become a serious problem. This is the first year that I have had this problem and I am considering a feeder that bees wont attack.

[Doremus]

17. Maybe they are just overjoyed to have found a source of nectar that won't kill them. n/t

[MadHound]

7. Interesting piece I heard on the radio a couple of weeks ago about this,

A lot of evidence is pointing to the diet that a lot of bees get. These days, most bees are used to pollinate crops. They are loaded onto large trucks, shipped thousands of miles, and when put back out into the environment, they're forced to only eat from one source of food, namely the one that farmers want pollinated.

But bees need variety in their diet, just like most creatures. They need different trace minerals and nutrients at different times of the year.

The theory is that this forced feeding from one source is dropping their immunity, and thus killing them.

I can testify to the potential validity of this theory. I've got wild bees on my property, and despite the plague sweeping through domesticated bees, mine are doing fine. But then again, I let them eat whatever they want.

[peacebird]

14. also commercial bees hives are treated with chemicals to kill mites, and chemicals

for other potential problems PLUS fed high fructose corn syrup.

Their immunity is being destroyed by the chemicals fed to them in their hives, and the chemicals sprayed on the crops they feed on, plus the stress of being moved.

We became beekeepers three years ago strictly to help the bees. We do not use chemicals in our hives or on our acreage. If the bees swarm, fine! I hope they can make a surviving natural hive. We have 3 hives now.

[Overseas]

8. K&R. I didn't realize how crucial the honeybees were.

Thought they were just one of many insects that pollinate our crops.

[MadHound]

9. Sad thing is, a lot of other pollinators are disappearing as well.

Monarch butterflies are going quick, mainly because the forest area that they migrate to in the winter is being cut down, thus gutting their mating/birth routines.

Other butterflies are disappearing as well.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

10. The bigger message is, it's just not bees that are disappearing.

Many insects, animal species, fish stocks and plants all over the earth are being threatened with extinction.
And we continue on the same course.

[mike_c]

12. this is a TERRIBLE, over blown, inaccurate article....

C'mon, folks. I'm a professional entomologist and insect ecologist. There is absolutely NO evidence that honey bees are "on the brink of extinction." That is utterly ludicrous. Further, nearly all the world's staple crops are wind pollinated, not bee pollinated. The only thing that's really threatened at present-- and the extent of that threat is not at all clear-- is the managed pollination industry that serves giant ag in places like the central valley of California.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

15. I stand with my reply above.

We are not on a sustainable course for a good outcome in the future.
But being humans, I guess we need to see how close to the brink that we can get.

[Red Mountain]

18. We set up two hives this spring....

First time beekeepers. They seem to be thriving. When our drought was at its worst this summer they did become a bit of a nuisance around the hummingbird feeders. We have been feeding them direct for a good part of the summer and it was always easy to tell when they ran out.

Our closest neighbor noticed, too.

[mike_c]

21. look, I agree with much of what you're saying...

...at least in principle, but propagating ill-informed, inaccurate and frankly hysterical pseudo science articles by people who have neither training nor understanding in the field doesn't do the cause of sustainable agriculture any service. It makes us look like idiots.

No credible entomologist would agree with this article's premise. We're not all "oligarchs" (to quote from a reply down thread). Most of us are ardent environmentalists as well as ecologists. So that lack of agreement stems largely from there being little or no evidence in support of the scaremongering that's flogging this topic.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

23. And I agree with what you have stated as well.

[peacebird]

19. crops pollinated by insects include squash, melons, beans, okra, cauliflower, beets

celery, mustard, apples, cherries, almonds, hazelnuts, cabbage, pears, raspberries, plums, eggplant, blueberries, tomatoes..... and that's just a few of them.
This U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) list identifies those crops requiring assistance of insect pollinators.

A1falfa, Clovers minor, Gooseberries, Pumpkins, and squash,allspice, Cranberries ,Herbs(spices) Crimson clover, JuJube Quinine, Almonds, Crownvetch, Kola-nut, Radish,Apples, Raspberries, Cucumbers, Lavander, Avocado ,Currants, Litchi, Red clover ,Berseem ,Cut-flower,Longan, Rutabagas,Blackberries,Mango,Sunflower, Buckwheat,Eggplants,Muskmelons,Cocoa,Sweetvetch, Cantaloupe,Sweetclovers,Tea,Crenshaw,Cardamon,Casaba,Broccoli, Cardamon,trefalis,welsh onion,watermelon,leek,fennel,dill,coriander,collards,cauliflower,cabbage,brussel sprouts,plums and prunes,pears,pimento,nutmeg,niger,passion fruit,peaches,cole crops,chives,chicory,carrots,caraway,asparagus,turnips,tung,tea,tangerine, tangelo,pummelo,chinese gooseberry or kiwi,cicermilkvetch ,cabbage,macadamia,mango, cherries,honeyball,honeydew, pears..etc.


That includes an awful lot of stuff that my family enjoys eating. And it all requires insects for pollination.

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

[mike_c]

26. many of those can be pollinated by native pollinators...

...or are pollinated by insects other than imported honey bees. All were pollinated by native pollinators at one time (and still are, to some extent). I'm not going to argue that the honey bee is bad-- it is a SUPER efficient pollinator. But it IS an introduced pollinator, and most native plants have coevolved native pollinators that we largely ignore for two reasons: first, they don't produce honey (a multi-million dollar product produced largely by the managed pollination industry) and second, because they are not as docile and easy to truck from one part of the country to another from week to week.

But all that's a bit beside the point. There is NO EVIDENCE that honey bees are-- as the article states-- "on the brink of extinction." Furthermore, there is still no consensus about whether colony collapse disorder (CCD) is even a real, distinct phenomenon. There have been reports of similar catastrophic colony losses for a hundred years, under a variety of names, and from which the bee industry has always recovered in the past. There is no evidence that CCD is any different, although my personal opinion is that it's causes are a bit different than previous iterations, even if it is a similar phenomenon.

I don't think it's time to become hysterical about honey bee extinction just yet.

[peacebird]

27. Colony Collapse is a well documented fact. No insect or creature will touch the honey

in a hive abandoned during colony collapse.

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

[mike_c]

28. read the link you posted....

From your Wikipedia link:

"While such disappearances have occurred throughout the history of apiculture, the term colony collapse disorder was first applied to a drastic rise in the number of disappearances of Western honey bee colonies in North America in late 2006."

The initial reports regarding CCD regarded it as another example of a long time problem (recognized for over a century), variously called "fall dwindle disease," "disappearing disease," "May disease," "spring dwindle," and "autumn collapse." Here is a link to that first report regarding the 2006 dwindle: http://www.freshfromflorida.com/pi/plantinsp/apiary/fall_dwindle_report.pdf. I emphasize the date of that report because many of its suggestions have since been followed up on and it is now somewhat out of date, but the fact remains that there is still no consensus among entomologists about whether CCD is a new phenomenon, a new manifestation of an old problem that has historically been poorly understood but eventually overcome, or whether it is a combination of the two, i.e. an old problem with a new causal agent (or agents).

Here's a link to a power point presentation summarizing that report: http://www.utahcountybeekeepers.org/Other%20Files/Information%20Articles/FallDwindleDisTalkAustin.pdf. See especially the slide titled "Previous reports." It goes back to the nineteenth century!

As for your statement that "no insect or creature will touch the honey abandoned," it's absolutely ridiculous. I'd call it an urban myth but I doubt that it's really elevated to that status. It's simply wrong.

[Doremus]

16. One word: MONSANTO

Pesticides are killing the bees.

It's not brain science but the oligarchs would have us believe it is.

[pipi_k]

20. They've been after my blueberry bushes

Last time I was picking blueberries, there were lots of honeybees making holes in the fruit and climbing inside to get at the centers.

You have to watch where you grab...take each berry individually or end up with a handful of bees.