BEE BUZZ

This story is posted because some commentators are describing it as a global warming effect and it apparently is not.

Mysterious disappearance of US bees creating a buzz
Jean-Louis Santini, April 10, 2007 (AFP via Yahoo News)

WHO
Beekeepers, bees

WHAT
The disappearance without explanation of millions of bees, as much as 30 to 70% loss in some places. Honey supply jeopardized. Loss of bee-pollinated crops (90 varieties of vegetables and fruits: almonds, apples, avocados, blueberries, cherries). Bee keepers calling for government help.

WHEN
Bee populations has halved and hive numbers reduced 25% since 1980.

WHERE
22 states: East coast, Texas, California

WHY
Named "colony collapse disorder" (CCD) by scientists. Bee external parasite varroa mite, which can wipe out a hive, appear not to be the main cause. Because bees and parasites avoid the emptied hives, entomologists suspect a toxin or chemical. Devastated colonies appear infected by multiple micro-organisms associated with stress-related illness in bees. A new pathogen or new kind of chemical product could be weakening the insects' immune systems. Suspicions now are of agriculture pesticides such as the widely-used neonicotinoids, a known bee toxin. A similar problem in 1990s France was caused by the insecticide Gaucho, now banned.

QUOTES
Gene Brandi, California State Beekeepers Association: "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…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…"