Bees pollinate up to one third of our food plants, and in recent months, bee colonies have been mysteriously collapsing. Up to 70% of bees on the East coast have disappeared, and about 50% in other parts of the country. One recent news account from New Hampshire says this: "The problem, called colony collapse disorder, already has hit beekeepers in 24 states, part of Canada, and several European countries. Many bees seem to disappear, with few to no bodies of dead bees found near the hives. The remaining bees, meanwhile, show mysterious symptoms. "
What's the Impact?
There have been losses in bee colonies before, usually from diseases or pesticides. Some reports say that the current situation is more of the same. But there are some important differences. No dead bodies, for one thing. And no other physical clues. Transcripts from the Congressional hearings are posted online, but offer no conclusive answers.
Nationally, a Cornell University study said the value of bee pollination is $14.7 billion annually. One scientist from Mississippi says, that “Ultimately CCD will affect fruit and vegetable production if we don’t have adequate pollination forces,” Collison said. “Bees pollinate many plants that affect wildlife and birds, so it’s not just the human diet that would suffer if bee populations are decimated.”
The Christian Science Monitor suggests that new agriculture policies are needed: "For many entomologists, the bee crisis is a wake-up call. By relying on a single species for pollination, US agriculture has put itself in a precarious position, they say. A resilient agricultural system requires diverse pollinators. This speaks to a larger conservation issue. Some evidence indicates a decline in the estimated 4,500 potential alternate pollinators – native species of butterflies, wasps. and other bees. The blame for that sits squarely on human activity – habitat loss, pesticide use, and imported disease – but much of this could be offset by different land-use practices."
The Sierra Club points out that the government has no national database of bio-engineered crops and therefore no precise way to study the impact of genetically modified food on bees. Writing to the Senate, the Sierra Club said, "Considering that loss of honeybee pollinators can leave a huge void in the kitchens of the American people and an estimated loss of 14 billion dollars to farmers, it would be prudent to use caution. If genetically engineered crops are killing honeybees, a moratorium on their planting should be considered."
News and updates are available at the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research Consortium.
Comments? Questions, we'd love your input on this subject!
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*Honeybees are the only insects that produce food for humans.
*Just a single hive contains approximately 40-45,000 bees!
*During honey production periods, a bee's life span is about 6 weeks.
*Honeybees visit about 2 million flowers to make one pound of honey.
*A bee travels an average of 1600 round trips in order to produce one ounce of honey; up to 6 miles per trip. To produce 2 pounds of honey, bees travel a distance equal to 4 times around the earth.
*Bees fly an average of 13-15 mph.
*Bees from the same hive visit about 225,000 flowers per day. One single bee usually visits between 50-1000 flowers a day, but can visit up to several thousand.
*Queens will lay almost 2000 eggs a day at a rate of 5 or 6 a minute. Between 175,000-200,000 eggs are laid per year.
*The average hive temperature is 93.5 degrees.
*Beeswax production in most hives is about 1 1/2% to 2% of the total honey yield.
*About 8 pounds of honey is eaten by bees to produce 1 pound of beeswax. |
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you can help save the bees
Written by DoubleBeeFarm, on 14-01-2008 21:19
 Make a statement, make a stand. Adopt A Bee Hive. You can make a difference. It cost around $150.00 to start a bee hive. It also takes hours of work to manage them through the seasons. Double B Farm wants to help you make a difference. Visit us a www.conyers.locallygrown.net and make your donations. A donation of $150.00 will start a hive and get you a bottle of the finest honey around. A donation of $300.00 will allow you hive to bee displayed for all to see. We will decorate to your specks(if we can) and send you regular updates and photos.
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Written by Brady Bala, on 14-01-2008 21:18
Support your local Bee Keeper. Buy Local Honey.
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Board Member, Metro Atlanta Beekeepers A
Written by Gina Gallucci, on 02-01-2008 10:54
The best thing we can do for bees is to learn more about about them. The Metro Atlanta Beekeepers Association is hosting its annual Beekeepers Short Course on January 19th, 2007.
www.beekeepingshortcourse.com
Everyone is invited to attend the one-day course, An Introduction to Honey Bees and Beekeeping. In this course you will learn basic facts about honey bees, plant pollination and the fundamentals of beekeeping.
This course is for teachers, gardeners, both new and experienced beekeepers, environmentalists, students, government employees, or others who are interested in learning new things.
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Managing Partner; Vashon Organics
Written by Steve Reed, on 26-12-2007 12:30
I have read many hypotheses regarding the possible cause for Colony Collapse Disorder, including vampiric mites, pesticides, electromagnetic radiation, GM crops, climate change and poor beekeeping practices. The latest one I've read and which makes the most sense: A group of scientists have found that a virus - IAPV – may be responsible for Colony Collapse Disorder. (Reference: Cox-Foster, Conlan, Holmes, Palacios, Evans, Moran, Quan, Briese, Hornig, Geiser, Martinson, van Engelsdorn, Kalkstein, Drysdale, Hui, Zhai, Cui, Hutchison, Simons, Egholm and Lipkin. 2007. A metagenomic survey of microbes in honey bee colony collapse disorder. Science doi:10.1126/science.114649
The team found that where there was IAPV, there was CCD. The virus and the affliction were so stongly connected that Cox-Foster and Lipkin estimated that a hive infected with IAPV had a 96% chance of suffering from CCD. Once infected, the chances of a colony collapsing shot up by 65 times.
They also found that when the same equipment that had been used for a CCD hive was reused for a new hive, CCD would be repeated. But irradiating this equipment stopped the spread of CCD.
The researchers said in their paper to remember that they haven’t proved IAPV causes CCD - only more intensive research may accomplish that. But I believe we are looking in the right direction now.
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bees
Written by sway, on 11-12-2007 06:31
My friend who works as a florist told me that one of the best things to do is to form and have our own local garden.
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