The Honey Bee Mystery Called Colony Collapse Disorder

The Honey Bee Mystery Called Colony Collapse Disorder

Article on the mystery of the disappearing honey bee called Colony Collapse Disorder.

The honey bee is one of the most important pollinators known to man. Honey bee pollination is responsible for the growth of all fruits and many vegetables as well as livestock feed. It is estimated that bees pollinate 1/3 of American food and 3/4 of the plants, including crops, fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, even cotton that is used in fabrics. The value of the honey bee on United States crops alone is said to be about 15 billion dollars. The truth is that without pollination provided by the honey bee much of the food that we eat and now take for granted would disappear.

The fact is that most of the pollination for more than 90 commercial crops grown throughout the United States is provided by the honey bee. Overall, about one third of human nutrition is directly due to crops grown through bee pollination. Albert Einstein certainly recognized the value of the honey bee when he speculated that " if the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left."

We should hope that Einstein was wrong in his speculative comment because the honey bee is now disappearing at a sudden and alarming rate. It is estimated that 24 billion bees have disappeared since Spring 2006. In the United States, up to 25% of the managed honey bee population has disappeared in twenty four states.

In Quebec, beekeepers claim that 40% of their beehives have died. European beekeepers have observed a similar phenomenon in Belgium, France, Netherlands, Poland, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and Germany. The rate of bee loss is so dramatic that it has been given the name "Colony Collapse Disorder". Scientist have no idea why millions of bees are abandoning their hives and flying off to die (they cannot survive as a colony without the queen, who is always left behind).

Commercial beekeepers using bees for large scale pollination of fruit and vegetable crops are suddenly facing financial ruin. There is also a developing agricultural threat to national and worldwide food supplies. The problem is so severe that some large commercial beekeeping operations which have been hit hard by current events have had to import millions of bees from Australia. Beekeepers are trucking hives of bees around the country to pollinate flowers at major growers. Recently, Australian bees have enabled almond trees to be pollinated in California.

Scientists are looking for the reasons behind Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Theories include environmental-change related stresses, malnutrition, pathogens (disease), mites, pesticides, and genetically modified crops. Radiation from cell phone use has been eliminated as a possible cause. It is interesting to note that even predators of the bee such as the bear won't touch bee hives affected by CCD.

In addition to the bear not touching hives effected by CCD, other common findings on effected hives are: Bees leave the hive to die elsewhere, over a period of about one week. Another finding was that the few bees left behind in the hive were carrying " a tremendous number of pathogens" or viruses. Some bees were carrying five or six viruses at a time as well as fungal infections. It is assumed from these findings that CCD suppresses the bees' immune system in some way. This has led to speculation that CCD could be an "AIDS" like virus in bees.

Another theory is that the bees may be suffering from "stress" as beekeepers increasingly transport them around the country to carry out pollination in orchard after orchard. An operator may go from Florida oranges to Pennsylvania apples to cranberries in Massachusetts with the same hives of bees.

At this point, scientists throughout the world have theories but no conclusive findings. However, time is of the essence since bees could completely disappear from the Earth by the year 2035 if they continue to die at their current rate. The beekeeper and agricultural industries face real financial challenges until this disappearing bee mystery is solved. The disappearance of the honey bee in the last year in such massive numbers provides a real dilemma for agriculture both on a national and worldwide scale.

For the consumer, much of the food supply is suddenly at risk. The threat to the food supply may soon become more important to humans than global warming. Indeed, everyone should hope that scientists quickly determine a cause and solution for this mystery of the disappearing honey bee called Colony Collapse Disorder.

http://www.eworldvu.com

James William Smith has worked in senior management positions for some of the largest financial services firms in the United States for the last twenty five years. He has also provided business consulting support for insurance organizations and start up businesses. Mr. Smith has a Bachelor of Science Degree from Boston College. He enjoys writing articles on political, national, and world events. Visit his website at http://www.eworldvu.com

By James Smith