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http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?p ... egmentID=3

CURWOOD: It's Living on Earth. I'm Steve Curwood. Something mysterious is killing the nation's honeybees and it's alarming scientists and beekeepers, who first noticed the strange die-off last year. Now the bizarre syndrome, which researchers have dubbed "Colony Collapse Disorder" has spread to nearly half the states and is responsible for killing as many as 90 percent of the hives in some places.

And there have been similar reports from Europe as well. The rapid die-offs here put more than a third of U.S. food crops in peril because without honeybees, many fruits, vegetables, and nut trees wouldn't get pollinated. Jerry Hayes is Chief of the Apiary Section at Florida's Department of Agriculture. We gave him a buzz on his cell phone in a research field outside of Gainesville.
 
Could it be GM ?

http://www.raidersnewsnetwork.com/full.php?news=3585

With reports coming in about a scourge affecting honeybees, researchers are launching a drive to find the cause of the destruction. The reasons for rapid colony collapse are not clear. Old diseases, parasites and new diseases are being looked at.

Over the past 100 or so years, beekeepers have experienced colony losses from bacterial agents (foulbrood), mites (varroa and tracheal) and other parasites and pathogens. Beekeepers have dealt with these problems by using antibiotics, miticides or integrated pest management.

While losses, particularly in overwintering, are a chronic condition, most beekeepers have learned to limit their losses by staying on top of new advice from entomologists. Unlike the more common problems, this new die-off has been virtually instantaneous throughout the country, not spreading at the slower pace of conventional classical disease.

As an interested beekeeper with some background in biology, I think it might be fruitful to investigate the role of genetically modified or transgenic farm crops. Although we are assured by nearly every bit of research that these manipulations of the crop genome are safe for both human consumption and the environment, looking more closely at what is involved here might raise questions about those assumptions.

The most commonly transplanted segment of transgenic DNA involves genes from a well-known bacterium, bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which has been used for decades by farmers and gardeners to control butterflies that damage cole crops such as cabbage and broccoli. Instead of the bacterial solution being sprayed on the plant, where it is eaten by the target insect, the genes that contain the insecticidal traits are incorporated into the genome of the farm crop. As the transformed plant grows, these Bt genes are replicated along with the plant genes so that each cell contains its own poison pill that kills the target insect.

In the case of field corn, these insects are stem- and root-borers, lepidopterans (butterflies) that, in their larval stage, dine on some region of the corn plant, ingesting the bacterial gene, which eventually causes a crystallization effect in the guts of the borer larvae, thus killing them.

What is not generally known to the public is that Bt variants are available that also target coleopterans (beetles) and dipterids (flies and mosquitoes). We are assured that the bee family, hymenopterans, is not affected.

That there is Bt in beehives is not a question. Beekeepers spray Bt under hive lids sometimes to control the wax moth, an insect whose larval forms produce messy webs on honey. Canadian beekeepers have detected the disappearance of the wax moth in untreated hives, apparently a result of worker bees foraging in fields of transgenic canola plants.

Bees forage heavily on corn flowers to obtain pollen for the rearing of young broods, and these pollen grains also contain the Bt gene of the parent plant, because they are present in the cells from which pollen forms.

Is it not possible that while there is no lethal effect directly to the new bees, there might be some sublethal effect, such as immune suppression, acting as a slow killer?

The planting of transgenic corn and soybean has increased exponentially, according to statistics from farm states. Tens of millions of acres of transgenic crops are allowing Bt genes to move off crop fields.

A quick and easy way to get an approximate answer would be to make a comparison of colony losses of bees from regions where no genetically modified crops are grown, and to put test hives in areas where modern farming practices are so distant from the hives that the foraging worker bees would have no exposure to them.

Given that nearly every bite of food that we eat has a pollinator, the seriousness of this emerging problem could dwarf all previous food disruptions.

This article appeared on page F - 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle
 
Sounds serious:
Honey bees in US facing extinction
By Michael Leidig in Vienna
Last Updated: 2:20am GMT 14/03/2007

Albert Einstein once predicted that if bees were to disappear, man would follow only a few years later.

That hypothesis could soon be put to the test, as a mysterious condition that has wiped half of the honey bee population the United States over the last 35 years appears to be repeating itself in Europe.

Experts are at a loss to explain the fall in honey bee populations in America, with fears of that a new disease, the effects of pollution or the increased use of pesticides could be to blame for "colony collapse disorder". From 1971 to 2006 approximately one half of the US honey bee colonies have vanished.

Now in Spain, hundreds of thousands of colonies have been lost and beekeepers in northern Croatia estimated that five million bees had died in just 48 hours this week. In Poland, the Swietokrzyskie beekeeper association has estimated that up to 40 per cent of bees were wiped out last year. Greece, Switzerland, Italy and Portugal have also reported heavy losses.

The depopulation of bees could have a huge impact on the environment, which is reliant on the insects for pollination. If taken to the extreme, crops, fodder - and therefore livestock - could die off if there are no pollinating insects left.

In France in 2004, the government banned the pesticide Fipronil after beekeepers in the south-west blamed it for huge losses of hives. The manufacturers denied their products were harmful to bees. Polish beekeeper associations claimed that the losses in their country could be connected to cheap sugar substitutes used in mass honey production.

However, experts at the largest honey bee health company in the world, Vita, based in Basingstoke, said the cause was still unknown, and therefore neither was the cure.

The company's technical director, Dr Max Watkins, said: "If it turns out to be a disease we will probably find a cure. But if it turns out to be something different, like environmental pollution, then I do not know what can be done.

"At the moment, all we know is colonies are dying and we simply don't know why. It could be a new disease or a combination of factors. And of course it could turn out what we are seeing here in Europe is different to what has been reported in America, although at the moment they look very, very similar."

Dennis van Engelsdorp, of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, said: "Preliminary work has identified several likely factors that could be causing or contributing to CCD. Among them are mites and associated diseases, some unknown pathogenic disease and pesticide contamination or poisoning."

Initial studies of dying colonies in America revealed a large number of disease organisms present, with no one disease being identified as the culprit, van Engelsdorp added.

German bee expert Professor Joergen Tautz from Wurzburg University said: "Bees are vital to bio diversity. There are 130,000 plants for example for which bees are essential to pollination, from melons to pumpkins, raspberries and all kind of fruit trees - as well as animal fodder - like clover.

"Bees are more important than poultry in terms of human nutrition. Bees from one hive can visit a million flowers within a 400 square kilometre area in just one day.

"It is not a sudden problem, I has been happening for a few years now. Five years ago in Germany there were a million hives, now there are less than 800,000. If that continues there will eventually be no bees."

"Bees are not only working for our welfare, they are also perfect indicators of the state of the environment. We should take note."
http://tinyurl.com/3ct822
 
A good and informative article on the bee emergency.

http://www.healthtruthrevealed.com/full ... ge=article

A partial quote from a long piece.
In the UK, there have been "a few but significant examples" of what experts call the "Marie Celeste phenomenon" - colonies abandoning hives altogether leaving no evidence of what caused their disappearance. Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain have also had their bouts with “colony collapse disorder.”

More than 90 crops in North America rely on honeybees to transport
pollen from flower to flower, effecting fertilization and allowing production of fruit and seed. The amazing versatility of the species is worth an estimated $14 billion a year to the United States economy.

Honey bees are responsible for approximately one third of the United States crop pollination including almonds, peaches, soybeans, apples, pears, pumpkins, cucumbers, cherries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries. Investigators are exploring a range of theories, including viruses, a fungus and poor bee nutrition. They are also studying a group of pesticides that were banned in some European countries to see if these are somehow affecting the bees’ innate ability to find their way back home. It has been noted that to give bees energy while they are pollinating, beekeepers now feed them protein supplements and a liquid mix of sucrose and corn syrup.

There are no tell-tale bee corpses inside colonies or out in front of hives, where bees typically deposit their dead nest mates.

Experts are speculating that it may be the consequence of a new infection, or of several diseases simultaneously, leading to a fatally compromised immune system. It is also possible that severe stress brought on by crowding, inadequate nutrition or perhaps the combined effects of prophylactic antibiotics and miticides sprayed by beekeepers to ward off infections. Another particularly sad possibility is that accidental exposure to a new pesticide may cause non-lethal behavioral changes that interfere with the ability of honeybees to orient and navigate; brain-damaged foraging bees may simply get lost on their way home and starve to death away from the hive.

Honeybees contribute to our food chain in more ways than any other animal species. They are vital to alfalfa and clover, which is processed into hay to feed beef and dairy cattle.

The public does not recognize the magnitude of the threat that these mysterious events present but we should be more than alarmed. Scientists have been observing how one species after another is disappearing from our planet but never before has one with such a direct bearing on food production been threatened. Extinction of a species doesn't just affect the group that disappears - it tends to alter much more.

Earth's biodiversity is being overtaken by a mass extinction which, if allowed to proceed unchecked, could well eliminate between one quarter and one half of all species.
Norman Myers

Bees do make excellent biological geiger counters. They are especially valuable perennial mobile biomonitors of the local environment. Foraging honey bees fly and crawl into flowers and inspect many substrates and openings. As such, they come in contact with naturally-occurring materials in the environment as well as manmade pollutants including heavy metals and pesticides. Pollen and these exotic materials stick to their hairy bodies and are carried back to the nest cavity where they often become incorporated into the beeswax, pollen and honey stores. Thus, with their wide foraging range and collecting activities, they are natural monitoring agents for investigating the ebb and flow of floral resources and toxic substances within the environment. At least one researcher has effectively used honey bees to collect pollutants including heavy metals, radionuclides and pesticides, which are concentrated within their nests and can be subsequently analyzed using modern chemical analytical instrumentation.

This reporting of “colony collapse disorder (CCD)” is a very interesting lesson in science. Either scientists have lost their ability to think intuitively[ii] or the media is again demonstrating its dishonesty by refusing to publish essential but unpopular information that threatens incoming advertising dollars. Though it is not reasonable to assume that any single factor is responsible, it is a glaring error to omit from the equation the rising tide of mercury on the land, water and air to which both we and honey bees are exposed. Most beekeepers affected by CCD report that they use antibiotics and miticides in their colonies, though the lack of uniformity as to which particular chemicals are used makes it seem unlikely that any single such chemical is involved. Yet when one chemical weakens a biological system, another can come in with a killer blow.

The decline of honeybee populations has brought the agricultural community to the brink of a pollination crisis.

Scientists have already studied mercury levels in the head, abdomen and thorax of bees (Apis mellifera) from 20 bee populations coming from industrially contaminated areas with a dominant load of mercury (10 populations) as well as from uncontaminated areas. The following mercury levels were found in bees from the contaminated area: heads 0.029-0.385 mg/kg, thorax 0.028-0.595 mg/kg and abdomen 0.083-2.255 mg/kg. Mercury levels in samples from uncontaminated areas ranged from 0.004 to 0.024 mg/kg in the heads, from 0.004 to 0.008 mg/kg in the thorax and from 0.008 to 0.020 mg/kg in the abdomen. In honey samples from the contaminated and uncontaminated areas mercury levels ranged from 0.050 to 0.212 mg/kg and from 0.001 to 0.003 mg/kg, respectively.[iii] Researchers have also demonstrated heavy metal accumulation in honey suggested that honey may be useful for assessing the presence of environmental contaminants.[iv]

Because of their experimental traceability, recently sequenced genome and well-understood biology, honey bees are an ideal model system for integrating molecular, genetic, physiological and socio-biological perspectives to advance our understanding of converging environmental stresses. Honey bees have the highest rates of flight muscle metabolism and power output ever recorded in the animal kingdom. Researchers believe that it is likely that changes in muscle gene expression, biochemistry, metabolism and functional capacity may be driven primarily by behavior as opposed to age, as is the case for changes in honey bee brains.[v] Even at low levels of exposure, mercury can permanently damage the brain and nervous system and cause behavioral changes in people. Mercury is a harsh neurological poison that affects neurological tissues throughout the animal kingdom and it is very possible that it is affecting the sensitive brains of honey bees.

When gilial progenitor stem cells in the brain were exposed to 5 to 6 parts per billion (ppb) of mercury, these cells stop dividing and simply shut down! These cells are absolutely crucial in building the brain in infancy and beyond.

Professor Mark Noble
University of Rochester NY

 
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/article ... news04.txt

SIOUX FALLS — A mysterious disorder that’s killing honeybees nationwide apparently has affected South Dakota bees and might even have struck in downtown Sioux Falls.

Known as colony collapse disorder, it has killed tens of thousands of commercial hives in the United States. Some beekeepers have lost as much as 90 percent of their colonies.

South Dakota beekeepers say the disorder has started to affect their colonies, most of which have been shipped south for the winter and are pollinating crops in California, Texas and other states.

Hundreds of bees died at the Washington Pavilion’s beehive exhibit this week in Sioux Falls, raising the possibility that colony collapse disorder somehow reached the city.

“That’s what I suspect now, because they’ve gotten everything they need. They’ve got feed and pollen. If they were dying from starvation, they would have all their heads in the cells, and they’d be dying that way,” Dale Rye, a Renner beekeeper who looks after the exhibit, said.

The Pavilion exhibit probably will be replenished, Chris Rossing, director of the Pavilion’s Kirby Science Discovery Center, said.

But commercial beekeepers typically have thousands of colonies.

“If they don’t figure out a way to keep the bees alive and keep them from collapsing, I just think it’s going to be devastating. I hate to say it’s the end. That’s a harsh word to say. But hopefully, they’re going to come up with something,” said Winner beekeeper Mark Trandahl, who added that he found at least 30 percent of his colonies affected by the disorder on a trip to California in January.

South Dakota was fourth in U.S. honey production in 2006 and ranked second as recently as 2004. The state has several dozen commercial beekeepers and about 225,000 hives.
 
More from the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00889.html

page 1 of 2

Let's hear it for the honeybees. These tireless workers are smart, social, and absolutely essential in assuring that crops from almonds in California to blueberries in Maine are pollinated and prolific.

Shelley McNeal, master gardener and bee maven with the Howard County Cooperative Extension, likes to share this with audiences when she presents one of her many talks on bees: "Every third bite of food we take is the result of pollinators."

There are other insect pollinators -- bumblebees, some wasps and a fly that looks like a wasp -- but fuzzy little honeybees are the biggies. They help make backyard flowers and fruits bloom, but their most important role is in agriculture. Every year, hundreds of thousands of bees are trucked from their home apiaries to farms, sometimes in distant states, where they are set out to pollinate a particular crop.

"They are so important to our food sources and to our economy," said McNeal, who has a beehive of her own on her family's 17-acre farm in Howard County. She began keeping bees about nine years ago because her family planted a small orchard and knew they needed bees as pollinators, and also because her father had noticed that his garden wasn't doing as well as it previously had.

The reason her family's garden lacked pollinators and part of the reason bees are being trucked in to carry pollen from one flower to another are the same: Bees are becoming endangered.

Perhaps a quarter of the bee population in the United States -- in some places perhaps as much as 50 percent -- has been lost since the 1990s, when hives were hit hard by mites. Now there's a new threat, colony collapse disorder, in which whole hives suddenly become empty of adult bees. No one knows why the collapse occurs. It might be from a fungus, parasites, poison from insecticides, bacteria or virus, or some combination. We have no solution.

When the problems arose with the mites, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and university researchers came up with some chemicals that killed them, McNeal said. That worked for a while, and then the mites became resistant, so practices were altered to make the treatment more effective. But there were still problems, so the department took another approach: finding and breeding bees that are mite-resistant.

They found a mite-resistant bee in Russia, and beekeepers can now buy a Russian queen that will lay eggs that grow up into mite-resisting adults. But they're not very plentiful or widely available yet.

Other problems bees face include foulbrood, a contagious but rare disease, and nozema, a kind of digestive upset that bees get over long winters when they're confined to the hive and can't get out to clean themselves. There's no treatment for foulbrood. The hive has to be destroyed. Nozema can be treated with medication that can be fed to the bees in sugar water.

However, good beekeeping practices and careful monitoring can keep these lesser threats under control. For the more serious issues, until the problem is identified and a solution found, bees need all the help they can get.

"When I give my bee talks, I say, you as homeowners can do some things to help the honeybees," said McNeal, who is a certified professional horticulturist and works as a horticulture consultant for the cooperative extension's Home and Garden Information Center.

She begins by suggesting that chemical pesticides should be a last resort. Use integrated pest management to balance beneficial insects and pests. For example, if you handpick Japanese beetles from your roses instead of spraying insecticide to control them, the honeybees won't be killed. If you have to use pesticides, use horticultural oil; insecticidal soap; or Bt, a bacterium that controls such pests as gypsy moths. If you have to use more toxic chemicals, apply them at a time of day when honeybees are not about, such as dawn or dusk. "Bees only fly when the sun is shining," McNeal said. They also come out only when temperatures are higher than about 50 degrees.
 
More inquiries as to a possible GM cause.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/spi ... %2C00.html

A mysterious decimation of bee populations has German beekeepers worried, while a similar phenomenon in the United States is gradually assuming catastrophic proportions. The consequences for agriculture and the economy could be enormous.


DDP
Is the mysterous decimation of bee populations in the US and Germany a result of GM crops?
Walter Haefeker is a man who is used to painting grim scenarios. He sits on the board of directors of the German Beekeepers Association (DBIB) and is vice president of the European Professional Beekeepers Association. And because griping is part of a lobbyist's trade, it is practically his professional duty to warn that "the very existence of beekeeping is at stake."

The problem, says Haefeker, has a number of causes, one being the varroa mite, introduced from Asia, and another is the widespread practice in agriculture of spraying wildflowers with herbicides and practicing monoculture. Another possible cause, according to Haefeker, is the controversial and growing use of genetic engineering in agriculture.

As far back as 2005, Haefeker ended an article he contributed to the journal Der Kritischer Agrarbericht (Critical Agricultural Report) with an Albert Einstein quote: "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

Mysterious events in recent months have suddenly made Einstein's apocalyptic vision seem all the more topical. For unknown reasons, bee populations throughout Germany are disappearing -- something that is so far only harming beekeepers. But the situation is different in the United States, where bees are dying in such dramatic numbers that the economic consequences could soon be dire. No one knows what is causing the bees to perish, but some experts believe that the large-scale use of genetically modified plants in the US could be a factor.


FROM THE MAGAZINE
Find out how you can reprint this DER SPIEGEL article in your publication. Felix Kriechbaum, an official with a regional beekeepers' association in Bavaria, recently reported a decline of almost 12 percent in local bee populations. When "bee populations disappear without a trace," says Kriechbaum, it is difficult to investigate the causes, because "most bees don't die in the beehive." There are many diseases that can cause bees to lose their sense of orientation so they can no longer find their way back to their hives.

Manfred Hederer, the president of the German Beekeepers Association, almost simultaneously reported a 25 percent drop in bee populations throughout Germany. In isolated cases, says Hederer, declines of up to 80 percent have been reported. He speculates that "a particular toxin, some agent with which we are not familiar," is killing the bees.

Politicians, until now, have shown little concern for such warnings or the woes of beekeepers. Although apiarists have been given a chance to make their case -- for example in the run-up to the German cabinet's approval of a genetic engineering policy document by Minister of Agriculture Horst Seehofer in February -- their complaints are still largely ignored.

Even when beekeepers actually go to court, as they recently did in a joint effort with the German chapter of the organic farming organization Demeter International and other groups to oppose the use of genetically modified corn plants, they can only dream of the sort of media attention environmental organizations like Greenpeace attract with their protests at test sites.

But that could soon change. Since last November, the US has seen a decline in bee populations so dramatic that it eclipses all previous incidences of mass mortality. Beekeepers on the east coast of the United States complain that they have lost more than 70 percent of their stock since late last year, while the west coast has seen a decline of up to 60 percent.

In an article in its business section in late February, the New York Times calculated the damage US agriculture would suffer if bees died out. Experts at Cornell University in upstate New York have estimated the value bees generate -- by pollinating fruit and vegetable plants, almond trees and animal feed like clover -- at more than $14 billion.

Scientists call the mysterious phenomenon "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD), and it is fast turning into a national catastrophe of sorts. A number of universities and government agencies have formed a "CCD Working Group" to search for the causes of the calamity, but have so far come up empty-handed. But, like Dennis vanEngelsdorp, an apiarist with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, they are already referring to the problem as a potential "AIDS for the bee industry."

One thing is certain: Millions of bees have simply vanished. In most cases, all that's left in the hives are the doomed offspring. But dead bees are nowhere to be found -- neither in nor anywhere close to the hives. Diana Cox-Foster, a member of the CCD Working Group, told The Independent that researchers were "extremely alarmed," adding that the crisis "has the potential to devastate the US beekeeping industry."

It is particularly worrisome, she said, that the bees' death is accompanied by a set of symptoms "which does not seem to match anything in the literature."

In many cases, scientists have found evidence of almost all known bee viruses in the few surviving bees found in the hives after most have disappeared. Some had five or six infections at the same time and were infested with fungi -- a sign, experts say, that the insects' immune system may have collapsed.

The scientists are also surprised that bees and other insects usually leave the abandoned hives untouched. Nearby bee populations or parasites would normally raid the honey and pollen stores of colonies that have died for other reasons, such as excessive winter cold. "This suggests that there is something toxic in the colony itself which is repelling them," says Cox-Foster.

Walter Haefeker, the German beekeeping official, speculates that "besides a number of other factors," the fact that genetically modified, insect-resistant plants are now used in 40 percent of cornfields in the United States could be playing a role. The figure is much lower in Germany -- only 0.06 percent -- and most of that occurs in the eastern states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg. Haefeker recently sent a researcher at the CCD Working Group some data from a bee study that he has long felt shows a possible connection between genetic engineering and diseases in bees.


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The study in question is a small research project conducted at the University of Jena from 2001 to 2004. The researchers examined the effects of pollen from a genetically modified maize variant called "Bt corn" on bees. A gene from a soil bacterium had been inserted into the corn that enabled the plant to produce an agent that is toxic to insect pests. The study concluded that there was no evidence of a "toxic effect of Bt corn on healthy honeybee populations." But when, by sheer chance, the bees used in the experiments were infested with a parasite, something eerie happened. According to the Jena study, a "significantly stronger decline in the number of bees" occurred among the insects that had been fed a highly concentrated Bt poison feed.

According to Hans-Hinrich Kaatz, a professor at the University of Halle in eastern Germany and the director of the study, the bacterial toxin in the genetically modified corn may have "altered the surface of the bee's intestines, sufficiently weakening the bees to allow the parasites to gain entry -- or perhaps it was the other way around. We don't know."

Of course, the concentration of the toxin was ten times higher in the experiments than in normal Bt corn pollen. In addition, the bee feed was administered over a relatively lengthy six-week period.

Kaatz would have preferred to continue studying the phenomenon but lacked the necessary funding. "Those who have the money are not interested in this sort of research," says the professor, "and those who are interested don't have the money."

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan
 
This is so sad :( New Mexico has been teeming with bees so far this month, I didn't use to appreciate them as much as I do now.
 
The Telegraph decides to take note as this crisis unfolds.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... bees01.xml

Devastating diseases are killing off vast numbers of bees across the country, threatening major ecological and economic problems. Honeybee colonies have been wiped out this winter at twice the usual rate or worse in some areas.

Honeybees account for 80pc of all pollination

The losses are the result of either Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a disease that has already decimated bee populations in the US and parts of Europe, or a new, resistant form of Varroa destructor, a parasite that attacks bees.

Experts fear that, because honeybees are responsible for 80 per cent of all pollination as they collect nectar for the hive, there could be severe ecological problems with flowers, fruit and crops failing to grow.

The pollination carried out by bees is worth £200 million to Britain's farmers each year. However, the total contribution by bees to the economy, including profits made from the sales of food, is up to £1 billion.

In London, about 4,000 hives — two-thirds of the bee colonies in the capital — are estimated to have died this winter.

advertisementThe normal winter mortality rate is about 15 per cent. John Chapple, the chairman of the London Beekeepers' Association, who has lost the populations in 30 of his 40 hives, said:"It's frightening. The mortality rate is the highest in living memory and no one seems to know what's behind it."

In 23 of Mr Chapple's hives, no trace was left of the bees — a characteristic commonly associated with CCD. Officers from the National Bee Unit at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in Sand Hutton, near York, are investigating the cause of the population slump.

They fear that, with many beekeepers yet to check their hives after the insects' winter quiescence — a form of hibernation — the extent of the problem may deepen. So far, almost 30 per cent of hives inspected by the unit have been lost, twice the normal winter loss rate.

In Worcestershire and Hereford, of the 20 hives checked, only one had survived. In West Sussex, more than 80 per cent of the colonies had been lost. In Cambridgeshire, the figure was more than 50 per cent.

A spokesman for Defra said:"It is too early in the year to reach any conclusions. Some individual beekeepers have experienced large losses, others none. Any beekeeper who has concerns should make contact with the local bee inspector."

However, a source at the unit said:"People are only just starting to check their colonies but we are already hearing of losses. We're concerned. We think the losses are going to be higher." The British honey production industry provides more than a fifth of annual honey sales — up to 6,000 tons and is worth between £10 million and £30 millio

n. Last year, Britons consumed more than 34 million jars of honey, compared with 31 million the year before. A spokesman for Tesco, the supermarket chain, said it would monitor the situation.

Beekeepers fear that cuts in Defra's funding for bee research — from £250,000 in 2004 to £180,000 next year — have left them vulnerable. They plan to meet this month to discuss the new threats.

Tim Lovett, the chairman of the British Beekeepers' Association, said:"There's been an inexorable decrease in investment in beekeeping research. The work going on is pretty limited. All this green chat from the Government is about recycling but there is not half enough being done for something that actually has a serious role in the environment."

In the 1990s, the honeybee population was badly affected by Varroa destructor. As well as almost eradicating Britain's wild swarms, many bee-keepers were put out of business and membership of the BBKA halved from 16,000 in 1990 to 8,000 a decade later. Chemicals were eventually developed to treat the condition, leading to a revival in the number of hives.

Norman Carreck, a bee­scientist, said:"For 10 years we have been rather complacent and thought Varroa was easy to deal with. Suddenly we're finding it isn't as easy as we thought." In the US, 50 per cent of honeybee colonies have been destroyed by CCD, while hundreds of thousands have been wiped out in Spain.

Bee-keepers in Poland, Greece, Croatia, Switzerland, Italy and Portugal have also reported heavy losses. Meanwhile, scientists at universities in Southampton and Stirling who are concerned about declining numbers of wild bumblebees — which also aid pollination — are to use dogs to search for colonies in Scotland and Hertfordshire this year.
 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070407/sc ... turebeesus

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US beekeepers have been stung in recent months by the mysterious disappearance of millions of bees threatening honey supplies as well as crops which depend on the insects for pollination.

Bee numbers on parts of the east coast and in Texas have fallen by more than 70 percent, while California has seen colonies drop by 30 to 60 percent.

According to estimates from the US Department of Agriculture, bees are vanishing across a total of 22 states, and for the time being no one really knows why.

"Approximately 40 percent of my 2,000 colonies are currently dead and this is the greatest winter colony mortality I have ever experienced in my 30 years of beekeeping," apiarist Gene Brandi, from the California State Beekeepers Association, told Congress recently.

It is normal for hives to see populations fall by some 20 percent during the winter, but the sharp loss of bees is causing concern, especially as domestic US bee colonies have been steadily decreasing since 1980.

There are some 2.4 million professional hives in the country, according to the Agriculture Department, 25 percent fewer than at the start of the 1980s.

And the number of beekeepers has halved.

The situation is so bad, that beekeepers are now calling for some kind of government intervention, warning the flight of the bees could be catastrophic for crop growers.

Domestic bees are essential for pollinating some 90 varieties of vegetables and fruits, such as apples, avocados, and blueberries and cherries.

"The pollination work of honey bees increases the yield and quality of United States crops by approximately 15 billion dollars annually including six billion in California," Brandi said.

California's almond industry alone contributes two billion dollars to the local economy, and depends on 1.4 million bees which are brought from around the US every year to help pollinate the trees, he added.

The phenomenon now being witnessed across the United States has been dubbed "colony collapse disorder," or CCD, by scientists as they seek to explain what is causing the bees to literally disappear in droves.

The usual suspects to which bees are known to be vulnerable such as the varroa mite, an external parasite which attacks honey bees and which can wipe out a hive, appear not to be the main cause.

"CCD is associated with unique symptoms, not seen in normal collapses associated with varroa mites and honey bee viruses or in colony deaths due to winter kill," entomologist Diana Cox-Foster told the Congress committee.

In cases of colony collapse disorder, flourishing hives are suddenly depopulated leaving few, if any, surviving bees behind.

The queen bee, which is the only one in the hive allowed to reproduce, is found with just a handful of young worker bees and a reserve of food.

Curiously though no dead bees are found either inside or outside the hive.

The fact that other bees or parasites seem to shun the emptied hives raises suspicions that some kind of toxin or chemical is keeping the insects away, Cox-Foster said.

Those bees found in such devastated colonies also all seem to be infected with multiple micro-organisms, many of which are known to be behind stress-related illness in bees.

Scientists working to unravel the mysteries behind CCD believe a new pathogen may be the cause, or a new kind of chemical product which could be weakening the insects' immune systems.

The finger of suspicion is being pointed at agriculture pesticides such as the widely-used neonicotinoides, which are already known to be poisonous to bees.

France saw a huge fall in its bee population in the 1990s, blamed on the insecticide Gaucho which has now been banned in the country.
 
A long Prison Planet article about the bee die off, entertaining and informative, with the accent on entertaining especially in the conclusions drawn as to the reason, but I'm getting more persuaded by the GM causal factor, just not the elite population control reasoning.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/ap ... sdying.htm

"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man," said Albert Einstein.

Others would say four years is alarmist and that man would find other food sources, but the fact remains that the disappearance of bees is potentially devastating to agriculture and most plant life.

Reports that bee populations are declining at rates of up to 80% in areas of the U.S. and Europe should set alarm bells ringing and demand immediate action on behalf of environmental organizations. Experts are calling the worrying trend "colony collapse disorder" or CCD.

"Bee numbers on parts of the east coast and in Texas have fallen by more than 70 percent, while California has seen colonies drop by 30 to 60 percent," reports AFP.

"Approximately 40 percent of my 2,000 colonies are currently dead and this is the greatest winter colony mortality I have ever experienced in my 30 years of beekeeping," apiarist Gene Brandi, from the California State Beekeepers Association, told Congress recently.

The article states that U.S. bee colonies have been dropping since 1980 and the number of beekeepers have halved.

Scientists are thus far stumped as to what is causing the decline, ruling out parasites but leaning towards some kind of new toxin or chemical used in agriculture as being responsible. "Experts believe that the large-scale use of genetically modified plants in the US could be a factor," reports Germany's Spiegal Online.

Bee populations throughout Germany have simultaneously dropped 25% and up to 80% in some areas. Poland, Switzerland and Spain are reporting similar declines. Studies have shown that bees are not dying in the hive, something is causing them to lose their sense of orientation so that they cannot return to the hive. Depleted hives are not being raided for their honey by other insects, which normally happens when bees naturally die in the winter, clearly suggesting some kind of poisonous toxin is driving them away.

"In many cases, scientists have found evidence of almost all known bee viruses in the few surviving bees found in the hives after most have disappeared. Some had five or six infections at the same time and were infested with fungi -- a sign, experts say, that the insects' immune system may have collapsed."

A study at the University of Jena
 
I don't think it's just diseases or GM crops, or insecticide.
In addition to this, there is a proliferation of mobile phones and microwave antennas, and radio waves everywhere. I'm sure that has something to do with it as well.
Some of these transmissions may scramble the bee's sense of direction and link to the hive.
I just wish somebody would do some serious scientific research - quick!

Edit: I just noticed the 'since 1980' bit in the previous post, which gives the impression of supporting my theory (circumstantial I know)...
 
Mythopoeika said:
I don't think it's just diseases or GM crops, or insecticide.
In addition to this, there is a proliferation of mobile phones and microwave antennas, and radio waves everywhere. I'm sure that has something to do with it as well.
Some of these transmissions may scramble the bee's sense of direction and link to the hive.
I just wish somebody would do some serious scientific research - quick!

Edit: I just noticed the 'since 1980' bit in the previous post, which gives the impression of supporting my theory (circumstantial I know)...

Nothings off the table at this stage and I've had similar thoughts myself though at the mo GM is strongest in my mind but the fact that they don't die around the hive might indicate damage to their directional sense which could support your theory.
 
Wondering about electronic transmission, too.

My husband decided that a good way to save space in the house would be both of us using wireless laptop computers (which allows us to remove two desks, two large cabinets, and a whole lot of cable).

However, the first time my computer was started, it reported six wireless connections available. Six? We live in a detacted house away from the commerical area, and still there are six connections available. That's an awful lot of transmitting.

We do have carpenter bees buzzing the garden this spring, but no European honey bees.
 
This from the Indy backing up the phone theory.

http://news.independent.co.uk/environme ... 449968.ece

Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious 'colony collapse' of bees
By Geoffrey Lean and Harriet Shawcross
Published: 15 April 2007
It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail.

They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.

The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up.

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive's inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers, like so many apian Mary Celestes. The vanished bees are never found, but thought to die singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives.

The alarm was first sounded last autumn, but has now hit half of all American states. The West Coast is thought to have lost 60 per cent of its commercial bee population, with 70 per cent missing on the East Coast.

CCD has since spread to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. And last week John Chapple, one of London's biggest bee-keepers, announced that 23 of his 40 hives have been abruptly abandoned.

Other apiarists have recorded losses in Scotland, Wales and north-west England, but the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insisted: "There is absolutely no evidence of CCD in the UK."

The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have only four years of life left".

No one knows why it is happening. Theories involving mites, pesticides, global warming and GM crops have been proposed, but all have drawbacks.

German research has long shown that bees' behaviour changes near power lines.

Now a limited study at Landau University has found that bees refuse to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. Dr Jochen Kuhn, who carried it out, said this could provide a "hint" to a possible cause.

Dr George Carlo, who headed a massive study by the US government and mobile phone industry of hazards from mobiles in the Nineties, said: "I am convinced the possibility is real."

The case against handsets

Evidence of dangers to people from mobile phones is increasing. But proof is still lacking, largely because many of the biggest perils, such as cancer, take decades to show up.

Most research on cancer has so far proved inconclusive. But an official Finnish study found that people who used the phones for more than 10 years were 40 per cent more likely to get a brain tumour on the same side as they held the handset.

Equally alarming, blue-chip Swedish research revealed that radiation from mobile phones killed off brain cells, suggesting that today's teenagers could go senile in the prime of their lives.

Studies in India and the US have raised the possibility that men who use mobile phones heavily have reduced sperm counts. And, more prosaically, doctors have identified the condition of "text thumb", a form of RSI from constant texting.

Professor Sir William Stewart, who has headed two official inquiries, warned that children under eight should not use mobiles and made a series of safety recommendations, largely ignored by ministers.
 
i'm surprised i'd never heard about this before... the hives at the conservation charity where i work mysteriously diead last year too...
 
BlackRiverFalls said:
i'm surprised i'd never heard about this before... the hives at the conservation charity where i work mysteriously diead last year too...

TBH I'm surprised that it's taken so long for this story to get anything like mainstream coverage it has the potential to be as big an issue as climate change. :evil:
 
If Charles Fort's theories about mysterious insect disappearances is correct, then expect invasions of swarms of giant killer wasps and hornets, any time soon.

:(
 
Oh No! The ladybird invasion of '76! All over again! Only with wasps and hornets!

Save yourselves! Run for your lives!

ladyboots.gif
 
Pietro_Mercurios said:
If Charles Fort's theories about mysterious insect disappearances is correct, then expect invasions of swarms of giant killer wasps and hornets, any time soon.

:(

There's a lovely used eco niche waiting for them to buzz into :cry:
 
i was a bit worried the cherry tree in my garden had blossomed too early to get pollinated... and even more worried after what i've read... though there does seem to be a few wasps around it... or maybe the sort of bees that look like wasps... i can never tell the difference...
 
I don't buy the EM theory - bees navigate mainly by polarised light as I recall, with a backup magnetic compass, and tests showed that even when the magnetric sense was disturbed they could still navigate.

Also it wouldn't explain why one hive dies off while another next to it is fine, or the odd geographical distribution of the problem. I suspect it's a complex combination of weakened immune system from environmental factors and the spread of pathogen-bearing mites and will be hard to pin down.

It's very reminiscent of the frog die-off problem -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_in ... opulations

- which seems to be mainly a fungus.
 
The Telegraph rallies the forces of right wing middle England to help count bees and while they're at it watch out for Spanish invaders, remember the Armada.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... bees17.xml

Gardeners are being encouraged to record sightings of bumblebees as part of a national drive to boost numbers.

Campaigners from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust hope the survey will enable them to map the distribution of the insects across the country.

Bumblebees are disappearing at such an alarming rate in Britain that scientists have warned that they could be wiped out within a few years. Of the 25 species native to Britain, three are now extinct and another nine are endangered.

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The insects are threatened by intensive farming practices which have seen the depletion of the marshlands, hedgerows and hay meadows where they feed and nest.

Prof Dave Goulson, co-founder of the trust, said the bee population could be increased simply by changing the plants grown in gardens.

"We are trying to encourage gardeners to plant cottage garden flowers which provide more food for the bees, rather than sticking to traditional bedding plants," he said.

The trust, which is based at the University of Stirling, is urging gardeners to take photographs of bumblebees and email them to the trust for identification.

The public is also being encouraged to buy or make bee nest boxes to help the formation of colonies in gardens.

Prof Goulson said: "It would be a national tragedy if bumblebees were to die out. They perform a vital role pollinating crops such as broad, field and runner beans and raspberries."

The British bluebell, an important food for bees and other insects, is also under threat, conservationists have warned. Its popularity has led to wild bulbs being illegally dug up and sold, the Wildlife Trusts claim.

Gardeners are also being warned not to buy Spanish bluebells, which could threaten the native variety.

The Natural History Museum is asking people to record where bluebells grow and when they flower.
 
Bee numbers falling in the Niagara region, interesting article.

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/203818

The sudden unexplained loss of millions of bees in the Niagara region – up to 90 per cent in some commercial colonies – has prompted Ontario beekeepers to ask experts at the University of Guelph to investigate.

The move comes amid the mysterious disappearance of millions of bees in the U.S., in a phenomenon so unusual that it has spawned a new phrase – "Colony Collapse Disorder."

In Canada, the problem seems to be confined so far to the Niagara region but is still early days for beekeepers in the West, who won't know the extent of the damage until they unwrap their hives later this month.

"About 80 or 90 per cent of the beekeepers in the Niagara region have had substantial losses," George Dubanow, president of the Niagara Beekeepers Association, said in an interview yesterday.

"This number is unparalleled. A typical winter loss is between 10 and 20 per cent."

That has some Niagara region fruit growers worried in the weeks leading up to the May pollination period because bees don't just make honey. They also play a vital role in pollinating everything from cherries to pear trees in Ontario, hybrid canola in Western Canada and blueberries in New Brunswick.

As much as a third of the food we eat requires bee pollination, according to experts. Bee pollination is valued at $1 billion in Canada.

Theories about why the bees are dying run the gamut from pesticides to poor weather and even radio waves from cell phone transmission towers.

Experts in Canada are reluctant to blame "Colony Collapse Disorder" for what's happened so far in Niagara.

"At this point we haven't seen the type of die-offs we're seeing in the U.S. although we're all certainly very concerned about it, said Steve Pernal, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, in northern Alberta.

Officials in Ontario blame poor weather conditions last fall and the Varroa Destructor mite, a deadly parasite that first showed up in the early '90s.

"The reason I say that is you can almost draw a line from St. Thomas to the south side of Hamilton. Below that they've lost 70 per cent of their bees with some individuals losing 100 per cent. North of that line, thank goodness, the bees are quite normal," explained Doug McRory, an apiarist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

Winter die-offs aren't unusual for beekeepers. And while 20 per cent is the average, sometimes an individual beekeeper's losses will be much higher, experts said.

However, the U.S. has now received reports from 24 states citing widespread losses. And more worrisome is the unexplained disappearance of the adult bees, a report to Congress two weeks ago stated.

It's as if the bees flew away and never came back, highly uncharacteristic behaviour, the report by U.S. agriculture analyst Renee Johnson said.

"The odds are some neurotoxin is what's causing it," said David VanderDussen, a beekeeper in Frankford, near Trenton, whose company NOD Apiary Products Ltd. recently won a provincial award for developing an environmentally friendly mite repellent.

Len Troup, a fruit grower in Jordan Station who also chairs the Ontario Tender Fruit Producers, says farmers in the area starting renting commercial bees to pollinate the cherry and pear crops, starting around mid-May.

Niagara beekeepers say the problem in the U.S. is driving up the price of Queen Bees imported from New Zealand to replenish the hives.
 
Phew, it's not all bad news, it looks like the Africanised killer bee is immune to whatever's going on.

http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/176000

Although experts are stumped about what's causing the colony-collapse disorder die-off in U.S. commercial beehives, there is some speculation that Arizona's famed Africanized — or "killer bee" — wild-bee population is somehow immune.
Dee Lusby's bees are doing fine. Actually, they're doing better than that, says the owner of Lusby Apiaries & Arizona Rangeland Honey of Arivaca.
Lusby has 900 hives of "free range" organic bees spread out over ranches from Benson to Sasabe.
"I've only lost one or two, maybe three (hives) out of every 30 or 40 hives," said Lusby.
She's not surprised by her good fortune or the modern commercial beekeepers' hive-mortality rates.
Lusby has a hunch the disorder is the result of a number of factors, including the use of pesticides, bee-growth formulas, artificial food supplements, breeding for size, inbreeding — all or some of which may make them susceptible to mites, viruses and fungi — and maybe even some strange side effects from feeding on genetically modified crops.
Breeding for size is a major factor, Lusby believes. She says the commercial honeybees are now too large to feed on some of the very plants that historically may have given them immunity to diseases and parasites. They're simply too big to get into those plant's flowers, she says.
And the man who takes the bees out of Bisbee, Reed "The Killer Bee Guy" Booth, says he's not surprised Africanized bees are thriving.
Booth started out with beekeeping to make retail honey and honey mustard, and branched out to do bee removals after the Africanized bees invaded Arizona in the early 1990s. He says he gets one to five eradication calls a day from around Cochise County during warm weather.
"It's going to be a banner year for bees," he says.
"The Africanized bees are somewhat more resistant" than the European honeybees, he says of the aggressive, slightly smaller wild bees that produce bumper crops of honey and bad press. "But they're somewhat resistant to anything, probably including nuclear war."
Booth says he switched from European bees to wild Africanized bees not long after they spread through Arizona.
"I used to have two sets of hives," says Booth. "But I got tired of going down and either finding my European bees Africanized or dead. I gave up, so, Killer Bee Honey."
But Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman, research leader of the USDA's Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson, is not so quick to crown the wildly enthusiastic Africanized honeybees as superior.
"We don't push the African populations like we do Europeans," DeGrandi-Hoffman said of the carefully genetically controlled honeybees used by commercial beekeepers for field work.
"We're putting them on trucks and taking them halfway across the country. We're stressing them in almost a feedlot situation, feeding them protein supplements. We're stressing them pretty good. And that doesn't happen with Africans".
 
A bit more connecting mobile phones to the die off.

http://www.canada.com/topics/technology ... e2&k=74835

TORONTO (CP) - A mysterious malady that is causing honeybees to disappear en masse from their hives in parts of North America and Europe may be linked to radiation from cellphones and other high-tech communications devices, a study by German researchers suggests.

While the theory has created a lot of buzz in the beekeeping world, apiarists say there could be any number of reasons why the bees are deserting their hives and presumably dying off in large numbers, including changing weather patterns and mite or other kinds of infestations.

What they do agree on is that whatever is causing the phenomenon, known as colony collapse disorder (CCD), it is playing havoc with the production of honey and other products from the hive - and threatening the growing of fruit and vegetable crops, which depend on bees for pollination.

The small study, led by Prof. Jochen Kuhn of Landau University, suggests that radiation from widely used cellphones may mess up the bees' homing abilities by interfering with the neurological mechanisms that govern learning and memory. It also appears to disrupt the insects' ability to communicate with each other.

To conduct the study, Kuhn placed cellphone handsets near hives and observed that radiation in the frequency range of 900 to 1800 megahertz caused the bees to avoid their homes.

But Brent Halsall, president of the Ontario Beekeepers' Association, said there are a lot of notions about what's causing bee colonies to dissolve like honey in a hot cup of tea.

High-frequency electromagnetic radiation from cellphones could be a factor, he acknowledged, but so could many other influences.

"Everybody's got their own little pet theory, but it's really hard to say," Halsall said from his home just south of Ottawa, where he keeps about 200 hives. "The bottom line for us as beekeepers is the industry in Ontario is already under a lot of stress because the bulk wholesale price of honey is below the cost of production."

There are about 10,000 beekeepers in Canada, operating a total of 600,000 honeybee colonies, says the Canadian Honey Council on its website. The majority are commercially operated, with Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba producing 80 per cent of Canada's 154 million kilograms of honey annually.

It's been a tough winter for Ontario's 150 to 250 commercial apiarists, who have lost about 23,000 of their 76,000 hives. Those lost hives, which at full capacity in summer house about 60,000 bees apiece, represent the loss of about $5 million worth of the industrious insects, he said.

"I think weather might be one of the big factors this year," Halsall said. "We had a very warm winter until mid-January and then, bang, it got cold."

From what he's observed so far in his hives, Halsall believes he's lost about half of his bees.

In some of his colonies, eggs had been laid and it appeared adult bees had been trying to keep the new brood alive in the face of the sudden drop in temperature. "There was honey inches away, but they probably starved to death as they tried to protect the brood."

a 2nd page is available on the link.
 
A long one from The New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/scien ... nted=print

As with any great mystery, a number of theories have been posed, and many seem to researchers to be more science fiction than science. People have blamed genetically modified crops, cellular phone towers and high-voltage transmission lines for the disappearances. Or was it a secret plot by Russia or Osama bin Laden to bring down American agriculture? Or, as some blogs have asserted, the rapture of the bees, in which God recalled them to heaven? Researchers have heard it all.

The volume of theories “is totally mind-boggling,” said Diana Cox-Foster, an entomologist at Pennsylvania State University. With Jeffrey S. Pettis, an entomologist from the United States Department of Agriculture, Dr. Cox-Foster is leading a team of researchers who are trying to find answers to explain “colony collapse disorder,” the name given for the disappearing bee syndrome.

“Clearly there is an urgency to solve this,” Dr. Cox-Foster said. “We are trying to move as quickly as we can.”

Dr. Cox-Foster and fellow scientists who are here at a two-day meeting to discuss early findings and future plans with government officials have been focusing on the most likely suspects: a virus, a fungus or a pesticide.

About 60 researchers from North America sifted the possibilities at the meeting today. Some expressed concern about the speed at which adult bees are disappearing from their hives; some colonies have collapsed in as little as two days. Others noted that countries in Europe, as well as Guatemala and parts of Brazil, are also struggling for answers.

“There are losses around the world that may or not be linked,” Dr. Pettis said.

The investigation is now entering a critical phase. The researchers have collected samples in several states and have begun doing bee autopsies and genetic analysis.

So far, known enemies of the bee world, like the varroa mite, on their own at least, do not appear to be responsible for the unusually high losses.

Genetic testing at Columbia University has revealed the presence of multiple micro-organisms in bees from hives or colonies that are in decline, suggesting that something is weakening their immune system. The researchers have found some fungi in the affected bees that are found in humans whose immune systems have been suppressed by the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or cancer.

“That is extremely unusual,” Dr. Cox-Foster said.

Meanwhile, samples were sent to an Agriculture Department laboratory in North Carolina this month to screen for 117 chemicals. Particular suspicion falls on a pesticide that France banned out of concern that it may have been decimating bee colonies. Concern has also mounted among public officials.

“There are so many of our crops that require pollinators,” said Representative Dennis Cardoza, a California Democrat whose district includes that state’s central agricultural valley, and who presided last month at a Congressional hearing on the bee issue. “We need an urgent call to arms to try to ascertain what is really going on here with the bees, and bring as much science as we possibly can to bear on the problem.”

So far, colony collapse disorder has been found in 27 states, according to Bee Alert Technology Inc., a company monitoring the problem. A recent survey of 13 states by the Apiary Inspectors of America showed that 26 percent of beekeepers had lost half of their bee colonies between September and March.
 
Now in South-East Asia:

AIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's bee farmers are feeling the sting of lost business and possible crop danger after millions of the honey-making, plant-pollinating insects vanished during volatile weather, media and experts said on Thursday.

Over the past two months, farmers in three parts of Taiwan have reported most of their bees gone, the Chinese-language United Daily News reported. Taiwan's TVBS television station said about 10 million bees had vanished in Taiwan.

A beekeeper on Taiwan's northeastern coast reported 6 million insects missing "for no reason", and one in the south said 80 of his 200 bee boxes had been emptied, the paper said.

Beekeepers usually let their bees out of boxes to pollinate plants and the insects normally make their way back to their owners. However, many of the bees have not returned over the past couple of months.

Possible reasons include disease, pesticide poisoning and unusual weather, varying from less than 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) to more than 30 degrees Celsius over a few days, experts say.

"You can see climate change really clearly these days in Taiwan," said Yang Ping-shih, entomology professor at the National Taiwan University. He added that two kinds of pesticide can make bees turn "stupid" and lose their sense of direction.

As affected beekeepers lose business, fruit growers may lack a key pollination source and neighbors might get stung, he said.

Billions of bees have fled hives in the United States since late 2006, instead of helping pollinate $15 billion worth of fruits, nuts and other crops annually. Disappearing bees also have been reported in Europe and Brazil.

The mass buzz-offs are isolated cases so far, a Taiwan government Council of Agriculture official said. But the council may collect data to study the causes of the vanishing bees and gauge possible impacts, said Kao Ching-wen, a pesticides section chief at the council.

"We want to see what the reason is, and we definitely need some evidence," Kao said. "It's hard to say whether there will be an impact."
 
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