Sudden [bee] colony collapse - what's causing it?

[Tzupy]

The collapse of honey bee colonies is a global, worrying and progressing issue.
Unfortunately for my mother, it became personal a couple of days ago, while her bees, around 80 hives, were starting the sunflower harvest.
The same happened to several beekepers over an area exceeding 1,000 km2.
I searched on the Web for possible causes and found mainly two:
1) exposure to pesticides, which may not kill the bees but disrupt their orientation abilities.
2) infection with a new pathogen, which could be a prothozoar, virus or a fungus.
But I couldn't find any up-to-date information and especially how to deal with it, before the whole colony is wasted.
If someone knows something sure about this sudden collony collapse, please tell. Thank you.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hello,

This is happening here in the USA, as well -- I have heard figures from 75-90% of all hives have essentially disappeared! This is a very serious problem.

The other possibly related cause, or contributing factor, that I have heard mentioned is global warming -- which could be part of how the pathogen could be happening. I think the insecticide theory is less likely, since the use of specific insecticides in all the various places around the world can't be that consistent.

[Sooty]

Transmissions from mobile (cell) phone masts, is one theory I've heard.

[mr. poopyhead]

i think i heard something about the movement of the magnetic poles being the culprit...

[jaganath]

Transmissions from mobile (cell) phone masts, is one theory I've heard.

AFAICT, there is no evidence at all for this theory. The researchers behind the one study that was picked up by the media claim their work was misinterpreted.

i think i heard something about the movement of the magnetic poles being the culprit...

one would assume that over the many millions of years that this has been happening the bees would be used to it by now.

I think a fungal infection is more likely:
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl? ... 27/1724239
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosema_ceranae

[fri2219]

Last month, there was a brief article in Science from researchers at UC Davis with decent evidence narrowing the culprit down to a rhabdovirus. PCR results were consistent with a previously described pathogen which turned up in (frozen dead bees from locations affected by Colony Collapse Disorder) samples taken from many distinct geographic locations. Whether that agent can be used proven to fulfill Koch's Postulates is another matter, however. There are several technical hurdles involved, as insect tissue culture is a major pain in the ass.

Pesticides have been widely suspected in initial reports, but unlike previous die-offs due to pesticides, bee corpses aren't turning up around hive entrances. The epidemiology of the outbreak is consistent with hive to hive transmission from trucked in European Bee Colonies. Isolated agricultural areas that do not use commercial pollinators have not seen outbreaks of CCD.

That said, the magnitude of the problem might have been overstated. Native bees are often 5-10x more efficient in pollinating crops such as Sunflowers, and are the sole pollinators of crops such as tomatoes. If agricultural businesses would simply promote habitat for "wild bees", trucking in bees probably wouldn't be needed.

P.S. The links in my response have sources and layman's explanations of the jargon I just tossed out, as well as pretty pictures. Science is a pay site (to say the least), so I wasn't able to link to the original article.

[Tzupy]

This the most comprehensive article I found on the matter: http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1 ... nvironment
Two major suspects are: Nosema ceranae - a fungus-prothozoar parasite from Asia, and the pesticides based on Imidacloprid, that can accumulate in the soil.
However, since bee samples (not my mother's bees, there was not enough time for that) have tested positive for many pathogens, Nosema may be the effect and not the first cause of the collapse. Can a Rhabdovirus cause something like bee-AIDS?
The collapse has been fast, within 2-3 days, so anything like magnetic poles shift or cell phones network are very unlikely.

[beboop]

the magnitude of the problem might have been overstated. Native bees are often 5-10x more efficient in pollinating crops such as Sunflowers, and are the sole pollinators of crops such as tomatoes. If agricultural businesses would simply promote habitat for "wild bees", trucking in bees probably wouldn't be needed.

The missing information there is that, while the various US native bee species may be great at pollinating a specific plant species, or a few plant species, for a short period during the growing season, there are no native bee species that efficiently pollinate as broad a variety of plants, or are active for as long a period as honeybees.

So, for example, I can buy native blue orchard bees, which will do a great job of pollinating apple trees when they bloom. But by the time beans are in blossom, those bees are already dormant for the year. It takes a diverse ecosystem of multiple native bee species to replace honeybees.

And native bees are subject to the many of the same stressors that affect honeybees. Honeybees are in the news because they're a huge industry. We know far less about what's happening to native pollinator species.

So it may be that the magnitude of the case has been overstated -- or understated. We probably won't have to wait very long to find out.

[fri2219]

The missing information there is that, while the various US native bee species may be great at pollinating a specific plant species, or a few plant species, for a short period during the growing season, there are no native bee species that efficiently pollinate as broad a variety of plants, or are active for as long a period as honeybees.

So, for example, I can buy native blue orchard bees, which will do a great job of pollinating apple trees when they bloom. But by the time beans are in blossom, those bees are already dormant for the year. It takes a diverse ecosystem of multiple native bee species to replace honeybees.

Exactly! The advantage to native species lies in their diversity- the gene pool of the European Honeybees is so limited, a single pathogen can wipe them out, as the recent outbreaks of Varroa mites and Foulbrood have demonstrated. (Which is why I stated that effort should be made to create habitat for the natives.)

And native bees are subject to the many of the same stressors that affect honeybees. Honeybees are in the news because they're a huge industry. We know far less about what's happening to native pollinator species.

European Honey Bees have only been a huge industry since the 1950's. Prior to that, things just happened, and somehow people still ate. The genetic diversity once again comes into play. There have been quite a few studies delimiting exactly what would need to be done to shift away from European Honeybees.

P.S. Don't take my word on any of this, look at the peer reviewed material at the Xerces Society, Science, and the American Society for Microbiology that I linked to.

[Max Slowik]

i think i heard something about the movement of the magnetic poles being the culprit...

Should the poles wobble (I'm not even talking about reverse, here, which is a somewhat periodic event, say, once per two hundred millennia) people would see a noticed increase in auroras, and radiation would start f%$king holes through things, people, life as we know it, etc. It happens a little more frequently, geologically speaking than a polar reversal, and is very short-lived.

And people worry about us f*@king with the environment, not the other way around. Sheesh.

Oh yeah, we're almost due. . .(again, geologically speaking. Who knows, there might not even be any homo sapiens sapiens around to see it happens.)

[beboop]

European Honey Bees have only been a huge industry since the 1950's. Prior to that, things just happened, and somehow people still ate. The genetic diversity once again comes into play. There have been quite a few studies delimiting exactly what would need to be done to shift away from European Honeybees.

P.S. Don't take my word on any of this, look at the peer reviewed material at the Xerces Society, Science, and the American Society for Microbiology that I linked to.

well...regardless of when their significance was first acknowledged by accountants and economists, honeybees have been part of US agriculture for the past four centuries or so, and part of human culture in general for four millennia or more. It's impossible to know precisely the consequences of their decline, but it's reasonable to expect that there will be consequences.

I've been interested in this for a while, I have a small farm (very much like the ideal native-pollinator scenario described in one of those links), and this year, for the first time, we have no honeybees. So I have front-row seats to the honeybee apocalypse, and excellent native pollinator habitat.

So, we'll see how it plays out -- I wouldn't presume to predict anything, it's, well, a complex situation.

here's a link I found fascinating, full texts of various beekeeping books going back to at least 1804. Most are just .jpg page scans, so it's difficult to search any particular volume for something, but interesting nonetheless --

http://www.digitalbookindex.org/_search ... epinga.asp

[Redzo]

honeybees have been part of US agriculture for the past four centuries or so, and part of human culture in general for four millennia or more. It's impossible to know precisely the consequences of their decline, but it's reasonable to expect that there will be consequences.

And I thought that USA did not exist untill 1770.

[Max Slowik]

The first European settlers were arriving in numbers by 1500. . .like, a bunch of people got here in 1770 and by 1775 they were pissed off to the point they'd fight a rebellion?

Though that would be pretty industrious.

Of course, here in Colorado some anthropologists found a burial mound that appears to be a Viking drakkar, with metal tools, weapons, and everything in it, so the Pilgrims were really the first Europeans to arrive en masse.

[beboop]

And I thought that USA did not exist untill 1770.

heheh. I knew as soon as I posted that someone would make that comment. So, to clarify, change "US" to "the landmass now known as the US"
European settlers (and their bees) were here for a long time before the 1775 rebellion, as Max pointed out. The USA declared itself the USA in 1776.

[Max Slowik]

You have to be kidding me.

http://www.xkcd.com/c169.html

That's like saying Celtic heroes aren't a part of French and British history because, technically, they didn't exist as countries until later, too. You're saying colonial history and agriculture aren't part of US culture and ag history; how can they not?

Also calling it the North American Pre-Revolution, Post-Columbian Terran Feature only makes sense if you speak German.

By the way, the name "United States of America" wasn't ratified until 1788 and wasn't used by the federal government until 1789. It wasn't used popularly outside the federal government until much later, during Reconstruction, IIRC. Before then, mosts states were fervently anti-federalist, and collections of prominent letters often have people referring to their state's citizenship, not their country's, markedly in international dialogs.

[beboop]

You have to be kidding me.

http://www.xkcd.com/c169.html

That's like saying Celtic heroes aren't a part of French and British history because, technically, they didn't exist as countries until later, too. You're saying colonial history and agriculture aren't part of US culture and ag history; how can they not?

Also calling it the North American Pre-Revolution, Post-Columbian Terran Feature only makes sense if you speak German.

By the way, the name "United States of America" wasn't ratified until 1788 and wasn't used by the federal government until 1789. It wasn't used popularly outside the federal government until much later, during Reconstruction, IIRC. Before then, mosts states were fervently anti-federalist, and collections of prominent letters often have people referring to their state's citizenship, not their country's, markedly in international dialogs.

????? Is that addressed to me?

Not sure how anything I've posted could be interpreted that way. I was just humorously acknowledging Redzo's comment on my earlier post that technically, yes, the US has not been the US for the entire time that Europeans and their bees have been on this continent. "united states Of America" appears in the 1776 Declaration Of Independence. I'm aware of the finer details of its history, but that seemed enough to address Redzo's comment.

And that's all, nothing else expressed or implied. sheesh, I also credited you, Max Slowik, as pointing out the settlers were here long before the rebellion.

oh well. back to bees...

[bonestonne]

ok wise ones, listen here, its Phizers chemicals thats reducing the bees. they introduced a new pesticide that kills destructive insects, such as boring ones that would kill trees and such, however in turn, its killed most of the other insects around.

not sure exactly what chemical it is, but thats the facts..do your own research on it...i just know that its the definate cause, no arguing it.

[fri2219]

God forbid some facts actually get injected into a discussion in the Off-Topic forum, but there's a nice discussion of the subject in the AAAS publication, Science News. It is written for laypeople, and has reasonably complete coverage on the weaknesses and strengths of a half dozen or so possible explanations.


For those of you without libraries handy, try: www.sciencenews.org, or http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/agnic/bee/ for the article.