Vanishing Honeybees Will Affect Future Crops

daninbusiness writes "Across the US, beekeepers are finding that their bees are disappearing — not returning while searching for nectar and pollen. This could have a major impact on the food industry in the United States, where as much as $14 billion worth of agriculture business depends on bees for crop pollination. Reasons for this problem, dubbed 'colony collapse disorder,' are still unknown. Theories include viruses, some type of fungus, poor bee nutrition, and pesticides."

It's Global Warming!

[spun]

Where's my check?

Haha, just kidding. I believe in anthropogenic global warming, but I can't resist an easy shot like that.

Re:

[Yvanhoe]

Here in France, Genetically Engineered Organisms are blamed for that.

Re:

[Dr Caleb]

France blames global warming on GEOs? Wow! Personally, I blame Chevrolet for the GEO.

GMO!

[cluckshot]

It is the GMO's. Sorry for those who think that it isn't so. There is a 1:1 correspondence. The gene that makes cotton and other crops resistant to pests also infects their pollen and nectar. The result is that after a bee has taken its fill of nectar, it succumbs to the poison in the nectar. As such a crop bees that goes for the pollen and nectar of such a GMO crop is doomed. The French are RIGHT!

This is another in the long line of accomplishments of the GMO people. Unintended consequences of their actions bring real problems. The GMO people always deny these problems. For example, they told farmers that weeds were the problem with their crops and the roundup resistance gene was used to end weeds all together. It worked too! But with the weeds gone there was nothing to prevent soil erosion in the winter. So the farmers in my area now have to plant winter wheat to protect their soil and then kill it when the drill in their other crops in the spring. In the mean time the cost of cotton dropped by nearly 2/3 of the total price resulting in farmers being hardly able to make any money. Their machinery and loans and GMO payments became their slave masters. This stuff of playing with mother nature isn't exactly working out like the economics professors said it would.

Re:GMO!

[Eravnrekaree]

I do think the GMO theory deserves a very serious look. GMO have been known to cause problems for butterflys: http://www.netlink.de/gen/Zeitung/2000/000919.html [netlink.de] .

GMO organisms are artificial. These are DNA sequences and protiens that have been created in a way they never would have been in nature. Perhaps nature has a way of coding DNA in certain manners, and perhaps there are complex interdependancies between genes we dont know about, where if one gene is altered, it may have implications throughout the organism. Scientists claim to know what genes do, but they only know the tip of the iceberg, a gene may have numerous additional functions that they have no idea about.

It could be that GMOs are fundamentally different in someway from natural food that makes them difficult to digest. Perhaps it causes a weakening of bee colonies.

bees, humans, and so on have evolved for millions of years eating natural foods with DNA produces through natural processes. The further we get from those natural nutrition sources that are body is equipped to handle, the less efficiently your body may be able to use those foods. GMO food is unnatural food that has an unacceptably high risk. Usually i say it should be the choice of the consumer. This is so with food colours and additives. However, GMOs by their nature can contaminate non GMO crops where they are not wanted, endangering consumer choice and our right to whole, natural, and healthy foods. I do think GMOs should be banned for this reason, and the fact that non-GMO foods are natural and what we have been eating for millions of years.

Re:

[Joey Vegetables]

bees, humans, and so on have evolved for millions of years eating natural foods with DNA produces through natural processes. The further we get from those natural nutrition sources that are body is equipped to handle, the less efficiently your body may be able to use those foods.

You don't even need to artificially modify the genome, to encounter ill effects from eating non-natural "foods."

HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup) could not be part of a genuinely natural diet, because it relies on an abundance o

Re:It's Global Warming!

[Red Flayer]

I know you're joking, but a slightly warmer climate definitely can impact susceptibility to fungal infections, etc.

I kept bees for quite a few years (in NJ) but stopped because of a mite that destroyed my colonies. My last extraction (in 2001) produced less than six pounds from each super, I had been getting 22-25 pounds in the early 90s. The Beekeepers Quarterly had an article at the time suggesting that the red mite was limited in it's northern expansion due to temperature, but that a succession of a few warm winters allowed it to reach nearly all the continental US -- only a harsh winter will kick it back down south.

None of this, by the way, provides any insight into why a slashdotter would keep bees, which is a mystery better left unexplored.

Re:

[bladesjester]

None of this, by the way, provides any insight into why a slashdotter would keep bees, which is a mystery better left unexplored.

Because honey in the comb is a wonderful thing? There were beehives on my family's farm when I was a kid.

Re:

[Red Flayer]

I've bookmarked your link.

I'm a big fan of the hugely bold honeys, like buckwheat -- sick of the watered-down tasting almond honey in the supermarkets.

Blueberry is also a big one in NJ, nice flavor.

I've a few friends in Connecticut who brew nice strong ales, they like using my buckwheat honey just before bottling for a little extra bottle fermentation. As soon as they figure out that it's more than twice as potent as sugar, they'll get the carbonation under control and win some of those contests they'v

Re:

[Plunky]

It was also nice to have some 350 odd acres to play on as a kid.

what was odd about them, did it affect your development?

Re:It's Global Warming!

[dave562]

The Beekeepers Quarterly had an article at the time suggesting that the red mite was limited in it's northern expansion due to temperature, but that a succession of a few warm winters allowed it to reach nearly all the continental US -- only a harsh winter will kick it back down south.

I read an article about a similar scenario that is happening in Colorado. Some species of beatle is eating the redwoods. In the past it wasn't as big of a deal because the frost would come through every winter and kill the bastards off. These days it doesn't get cold enough to kill them so they are just laying waste to huge swaths of the forest. =(

80% die-off due to beetles

[goombah99]

No kidding colorado and New Mexico are being ravaged by bark beetles. Outside my window the entire canyon is 80% dead trees. I'm not exagerating. that's the official figure. It's expected many ski areas in colorado will be baren within the decade. he last few winter cycles have not been cold enough. On the flip side, the birds look chubbier. But they will leave when the trees are all gone. And after all the trees fall over in ten years the rocky baren mountain sides will look handsome. Right now they look uggly with all the black limbess sticks.

Re:

[Maxo-Texas]

The mountains in south america are covered with trees.

I'm sure the plants will come (tho at a slower pace than the insects).

Humans have tried to do this artificially with terrible results so we are hesitant to introduce new species these days so it will probably have to happen naturally. But it will.

I doubt the spruce trees can adapt quickly enough.

Re:

[gurudyne]

I read an article about a similar scenario that is happening in Colorado. Some species of beatle is eating the redwoods.

Redwoods? In Colorado? Redwoods in California/Oregon I would believe. Reddish somethings in Colorado I would believe, but not redwoods.

Re:It's Global Warming!

[ArcherB]

These days it doesn't get cold enough to kill them so they are just laying waste to huge swaths of the forest. =(

I know it is offtopic, but the same thing was happening in East Texas. The pine beetle was devastating the forests there. However, a control method was found that stopped the problem cold. Whenever you found a tree that was infected, you cut the tree down. Unfortunately, the Clinton administration banned cutting down tree on national forests to prevent logging. While his intentions were well meaning, it ended up destroying forests. Like in the west where forest fires had no breaks to stop them, the pine beetle wiped out many national forests in East Texas. It was almost humorous to be driving along and see an empty field surrounded by wooded areas. I asked my uncle what happened and he told that the clear area was a national land while the area around it was privately owned. The private owners would spot the infected trees and cut them down, but since that was illegal in the national forest, the whole plot was wiped out.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Its all that Norwegian Wood.

Re:

[GJSchaller]

Honey for Mead hombrewing? That's why I'd do it.

That, or a new packet transport method...

Re:

[ivan256]

It would be interesting to see if the two harsh winters we've had on the east coast since 2001 have changed anything.

Re:

[ivan256]

He said he was in New Jersey. I assumed that when the word "harsh" was used, we were going by local standards.

Yes, there are places on the planet where a harsh winter means 40 below. That's lovely for those places. Perhaps they deserve a medal.

Simpler explanations for bee losses ....

[waterbear]

Well, as another /.er who used to keep bees, I could point to some possible explanations that are simpler too:

Hive-based diseases such as mites and fungi tend to kill bees in and around the hive.

One common cause of bees failing to return home after foraging is poisoning by recently-applied pesticides. It's not pesticide use in general that's responsible, it happens more when a farmer applies pesticide close to when a crop is in bloom and attracting the bees.
For just this reason, some agricultural pesticides come with instructions not to apply them within a window of time related to crop blooming, but like many instructions, users do not always read and follow them. If there is a new pesticide around, or a new fashion for how to apply an existing one, this could have big consequences for bee mortality.

Then again, if the bees are not dying, but just not returning, this could be behavior based on the strain of bees. It could follow a change in strain chosen by large-scale bee-breeders and beekeepers. Colonies of some strains are bad at staying put in their hive, they tend to abscond, ie relocate, specially when short of stores and brood. Absconding is a bit different than swarming, where a nucleus of bees is left behind to carry on the old colony. Africanized bees, for example, are known as bad absconders as well as swarmers.

-wb-

Re:

[Red Flayer]

So if the Africanized Bees are also effected, the it definitely is not Global Warming.

Yes, Africanized bees are affected. However, I think you miss the point, there are two factors at work.

Yes, Africanized bees are more heat-tolerant. The red mites are one of the factors limiting their penetration into most of the US. However, non-Africanized bees in colder climates are also affected by the red mites -- and a streak of warm winters means these bees are having more problems with the mites. It just so ha

Re:

[trongey]

...I believe in anthropogenic global warming...

So, what, it's a religion now?
Are you a born-again believer, or did you grow up in a anthropogenic global warming household?

Re:

[spun]

I grew up in a Newtonian gravity household. Einstein is the devil. Space-time is myth! Anyone can plainly see that space and time are two different things.

Anthropogenic global warming, on the other hand, is like Buddhism. You can tack it onto anything. On Falling Apple Day, we used to bake an apple pie using a solar oven as a tribute to Saint Gore.

Re:

[spun]

Wait a minute - you can see space and time?

Sure, and with a little ayahuasca [wikipedia.org], so can you. Just watch out for the self-transforming machine elves. [wikipedia.org]

Re:

[zotz]

Well, actually, I figure this is the issue that will get Bush his Oscar a few years down the road...

all the best,

drew

Re:

[spun]

The NYT is liberal like CNN is conservative, i.e. not very. There is no liberal bias. There is corporate bias, and there is laziness, and that is all you need to know to explain the media.

Logical fallacy

[Johnny Mnemonic]

Damn you beat me to it! I can't belive it's not there, coming from such a liberal biased rag as the NYT!

I don't recall my philosophy classes well enough to remember if this is a defined formal fallacy. ie: A) subjective stipulation; B) Evidence that contradicts a; C) regardless, assertion of a. In this example: A) NYT is a "liberal biased rag", B) NYT fails to advance a "liberal" cause in this case, C) Nevertheless, NYT is liberal. For why, exactly? For failing to advance the liberal cause?

Damn birds

[MightyYar]

Obviously it is the resurgence in bird populations that is killing the bees.

We have to bring back DDT.

This is simply a matter of the birds and the bees.

Re:

[minus_273]

man bear pig is killing them. get al gore!

No, you fool!

[Roadkills-R-Us]

The Amercican bees are just too lazy. They're all heading off to beehives where they aren't expected to work. But soon we'll have bees sneaking in from Mexico, and everything will be fine again!

Re:Damn birds

[HTH NE1]

Bees get on my chimes anyway. The fuckers always want to sting me.

Have you considered wearing pants?

please...

[gEvil (beta)]

Oh please. Like bees have anything to do with crop production...What are these so-called "scientists" going to try to convince us of next?

Re:

[jimstapleton]

please tell me that's a joke.

As the article stated, bees are very important for polination on many species of plants. In english: The bees help the plants have sex.

Severly reduce the bees, and you have less seeds. Less seeds means less plants. Oh, and most fruits are just elaborate seed casings, so fewer bees -> fewer seeds -> lower fruit output of such plants -> lower crop.

Re:

[ryanov]

Less seeds means less plants.

No, less seeds means you don't know the difference between less and fewer [llrx.com].

Re:

[ryanov]

There's no proviso that someone has to be willing to count the seeds, just that it is possible.

I suppose one could say it's theoretically possible to count the molecules in a substance, but...

Re:

[AeroIllini]

<-- WHOOOSH --
. O
.-+-
. |
./ \



"Sarcasm"
Text on Internet Post
AeroIllini, 2007

Re:

[jimstapleton]

definetly!

Re:

[twiddlingbits]

I hope that was satire. Many crops are NOT self-pollinating and it takes bees to spread the pollen. You will get some pollination from wind but bees are the best. Yields have increased 2-3X when orchards bring in bees versus just letting whatever ones are around do the job. Beekeepers actually lease hives to fruit/vegatable producers and make significant money for such (plus they get to keep the honey). The decline of bees is a BAD thing, it could really affect crops and thus the prices we pay for food.

Re:

[Aqua_boy17]

Sounds like your parents never taught you about the 'birds and the bees'.

Re:please...

[CaseyG]

I hope you have learned from this that there can be no sarcasm so obvious that it will not be taken seriously.

  -c.

Scientists?

[encoderer]

Scientists? Please.

These are the people who don't believe in the book of Genesis, for chrissake.

<cite: bill maher>

like going out to get cigarettes...

[User 956]

Across the US, beekeepers are finding that their bees are disappearing -- not returning while searching for nectar and pollen.

Maybe they just don't like their family.

They're heading back..

[bagboy]

across the border into Mexico.... They heard the pollen there is sweeter and more abundant.. Plus they can get health care for free..

It sucks.

[frakir]

Albert Einstein's: "if bees were to disappear, man would only have a few years to live".
Bees pollinate about 60% of crops in US and Europe. Note that exact same disappearing colonies fenomenon happens in Portugal and Poland.
We are doomed.

Children have little fingers

[spun]

We could put them to work in the fields, pollinating plants. Feed them enough sugar and they'd even buzz around like bees.

You people worry to much. No matter how much we fuck things up, we'll always find a way to fix it that doesn't hurt anyone that matters.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[Joe Snipe]

I don't matter you insensitive clod!

Re:

[Hoi Polloi]

"fenomenon"

The first sign of this collapse is the loss of spelling skills.

Re:

[Joe Snipe]

Well yeah, everyone knows spelling bees are the phirst to go...
wait, phirst? Uh, oh...

Re:

[senatorpjt]

If they ever figure out what's killing all the bees, someone PLEASE do it to all the goddamn yellowjackets!

Some species do benefit ...

[jc42]

Here in New England, one of the effects of the loss of honeybees has been a very visible recovery of native pollinators. At least it's visible if you have a garden and pay attention to what's happening there. In our yard, we've seen a huge increase in the number of bumblebees over the past few years. We used to see only a few per day; now in the summer you can almost always see several at a time. Of course, you don't get a whole lot of honey from a bumblebee's nest.

Anyway, the local wildlife people have long considered the honeybee an alien invader, much like English sparrows and starlings. They were introduced to North America by humans, and have crowded out many native species.

The natives are doing much better with the honeybees mostly gone. Now if we could find something that kills off English sparrows and starlings in large numbers. Honeybees at least provide honey, but nobody can think of anything that those two kinds of birds are good for.

Re:Some species do benefit ...

[jc42]

There are several similar stories in the US. Some cities have found the hard way that eliminating various "pest" species, including pigeons and rats, leads to huge increases in the insects that eat the garbage that those species had been hogging for themselves. If you want to clean up such pests, you need to also clean up all the garbage. Pigeons and rats are actually much better at this than humans.

There was also a story some years back about a farming area in California where the people decided to eradicate "vermin", which included skunks and foxes. They succeeded so well that the area was overrun with mice. It got so bad that people had trouble driving down the roads due to the slippery surface caused by all the squashed mice. When the story was written up, people from all over started offering to trap some of their local skunks and foxes and ship them out to control the mice. The folks there weren't too amused by these gracious offers.

In our area (the western suburbs of Boston), a few years ago there was a heavy outbreak of lawn grubs that devastated most of the lawns. We and a few neighbors didn't have any problems, though. We refused to spray our lawns, and we have woods nearby. We started meeting skunks when we came home an night, and we also saw a lot of small "divots" where the skunks had dug up grubs. We pressed the dug-up grass back in the hole, and everything was fine.

We did have a couple of incidents in which a young skunk claimed our back yard as his territory, and threatened us when we came home at night. But we found that we could calmly explain to him that it was ok; we were just going into the house. He reacted by slowly walking away, while keeping a careful eye on us.

We didn't have any mice in the house that year, either.

American honeybees...

[zstlaw]

Why would they come back? Chinese and Indian honeybees do it cheaper. Rather than wait for their jobs to be outsourced, American honeybees are moving on to greener pastures.

Re:American honeybees...

[Aqua_boy17]

So are you proposing bringing in a bunch of Chinese and Indian bees under an H1-Bee visa or something?

Re:

[ameline]

All your bees are belong to us.

(sorry :-)

Re:

[superstick58]

I believe the legal term is "H1-Beesa."

Re:

[georgewad]

Let's not bring Jar-Jar in to this.

I think it's pretty clear what happened here.

[mikkelm]

Clearly the introduction of Africanised bees resulted in some sort of bee-AIDS epidemic.

Those promiscuous pollen pilfering pests!

I realize that this post is supposed to be a joke

[Ynsats]

Like most of the un-funny posts to this article already. However, you managed to hit on something that it seems the article missed. Africanized (Killer) Bees have been a problem reported by bee keeps over much of the southern United States for over a decade now and the problem seems to creep farther north every year.

The problem stems from the Killer Bees infiltrating a colony of another type of bee and wiping out the colony. Since the killer bees do exhibit the same food gathering and other critical behavio

Re:I realize that this post is supposed to be a jo

[LordPhantom]

It may seem silly but it is a critically important roll that the bees have to crop production.
It's not silly at all! I, like you, believe in the great insectoid pastry from whence all food production pours forth!

Re:I realize that this post is supposed to be a jo

[superstick58]

Actually, Africanized Bees can be a benefit to the overall Bee productivity. They tend to be more productive in areas with proper climate (warm, and lots of rain). Many places have learned to breed the Africanized bees into gentler colonies that are manageable. Once the bees are bred to a manageable state, the output from the colony can be better than the original European bees. They have after all been doing it in Africa for quite a while, why not in other continents too?

It's obvious.

[Minwee]

This whole "No Drone Left Behind" thing is a failure. The bees are heading out of the country for better educations, free health care and fewer 'reality' programs on the tele.

internet addicts

[east coast]

ever since those bees got their FiOS connections they just don't go out like they use to.

Or maybe they got a WII or PS3 for Christmas.

Re:

[Pollardito]

Or maybe they got a WII or PS3 for Christmas.

who could blame them for taking time off work, those Wiis are the bee's knees

It's a conspiracy!

[mobby_6kl]

No, really. The bees are being captured by the government and kept in secret facilities where they are pollinating a secret genetically engineered type of plant, which causes them to become carriers of the smallpox virus and be more aggressive. The bees are then used to spread smallpox where needed, without causing an immediate biological warfare panic.

That's why the bees are disappearing from private bee farms.

That non-registration link didn't work too well.

[antdude]

Try this non-registration link [nytimes.com].

Traveling hives

[John Jamieson]

I find it difficult believe that roving hives are still allowed. Sure it saves a bit of cash, but the potential effect it has on the spread of disease and parasites(that afflict bee's) should not be overlooked.

Again, we sell of future potential for short term gain.

Days behind

[nra1871]

I heard this on Coast to Coast AM the other night, with a much more in depth story and interviews.

Re:

[IflyRC]

Have they been abducted? Do you think we can use remote viewing to find them?

Re:

[nra1871]

I suspect more Reptoid involvement.

They're playing WoW

[IflyRC]

Yep...WoW addicts. A new expansion just came out...so they're all out there grinding.

I blame Ayn Rand

[StefanJ]

One bee reads "The Fountainhead," blabs about it to her hive sisters, and in a week all of them starve to death while arguing about who's really a pirate, the false doctrine of altruism, and the best way to privatize royal jelly production.

Obligatory Simpsons quotation

[poot_rootbeer]

Beekeeper 1: Well, sure is quiet in here today.
Beekeeper 2: Yes, a little too quiet, if you know what I mean.
Beekeeper 1: Hmm...I'm afraid I don't.
Beekeeper 2: You see, bees usually make a lot of noise. No noise --
                          suggests no bees!
Beekeeper 1: Oh, I understand now. Oh look, there goes one now.
Beekeeper 2: To the Beemobile!
Beekeeper 1: You mean your Chevy?
Beekeeper 2: Yes.

Re:

[sconeu]

Beekeeper 2: To the Beemobile!
Beekeeper 1: You mean your Chevy?

No, I mean to the Datsun B-210 Honey-B!

KIller Bees

[AlHunt]

Not so long ago, it was killer bees moving north from Central America that were going to mix with the more docile honey bees in the US. I wonder if there's any connection ...

Inbreeding

[zakarria]

This is what you get when you breed monocultures of plants or animals. A single disease or problem that wipes out your entire supply. Trying to determine the specific cause is all well and good, but ultimately somewhat beside the point. If we don't want to have this kind of problem we need to purposefully breed for biodiversity so that one pathogen is less likely to destroy an entire industry. I sincerely hope the entire agricultural industry, and others, really comprehend what it is they should be learning from this and change their priorities a bit before the same thing hits say, the entire corn supply.

Humor?

[Wilson_6500]

It's interesting to look at how many of the above responses are lame/decent attempts at humor.

Is this because there's nothing in the article for us to all argue about, or because everyone thinks this is funny? What if herds of cattle started vanishing mysteriously out of fields, or cell colonies for research mysteriously all started to plate really poorly?

Maybe the topic just lends itself to jokes--I had to try pretty hard to not make a cattle abduction joke up there.

Re:Humor?

[dave562]

It's interesting to look at how many of the above responses are lame/decent attempts at humor. Is this because there's nothing in the article for us to all argue about, or because everyone thinks this is funny?

When a superior man hears of the Tao,

he immediately begins to embody it.

When an average man hears of the Tao,

he half believes it, half doubts it.

When a foolish man hears of the Tao,

he laughs out loud.

If he didn't laugh,

it wouldn't be the Tao.

Re:Humor?

[complexmath]

When a pompous man hears a question, he replies with a non sequitur?

Re:Humor?

[merreborn]

It's interesting to look at how many of the above responses are lame/decent attempts at humor.

Is this because there's nothing in the article for us to all argue about, or because everyone thinks this is funny?

This is slashdot.org, not beedot.org. There aren't many people here with knowledge of the beekeeping industry. If this was about CPU fabrication, you'd see a thread full of detailed discussion on operations per cycle and whatever else.

Instead, it's bees, so all we can do is crack bee jokes. Lack of knowledge => lack of insightful commentary.

Re:

[JohnFluxx]

Everyone agrees it's worrying, and nobody has any more details. What exactly do you expect people to say in comments?

Re:

[moochfish]

What do cows get when they are sick?

Hay Fever.

A proven cause of the decline in Europe

[Toffins]

Giant Asian Hornets [telegraph.co.uk] arrived in Europe in 2004 and are voracious predators of honeybees and wasps. There were two colonies of wasps in my family's house's roof space in summer 2005. In mid August, we suddenly started seeing giant hornets entering our house in the evenings after dusk (they have excellent night vision). I captured one in a glass jar to get rid of it and put it outside and measured its body length as 5.5cm. I killed another one that started hitting on my wife for no apparent reason. It was cert

They are in the middle of war!

[kabocox]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africanized_bee [wikipedia.org]

Those poor honey bees are in middle of war! TFA said it was illness by mites that are the main thing. Well, that's just what the Africanized bees want us to think. The Africanized bees are bringing their mites to do biowarfare against the lowly honey bee! Oh no! We are being invaded and losses in our domesticated bee population are terrible! We need to support our commerical allies the honey bees in their war aganist Africanized bees and their bio warfare mites be

Sounds like it might be pesticides

[AaronW]

I came across an interesting article at http://www.everythingabout.net/articles/biology/a n imals/arthropods/insects/bees/aa/vanishing_part1.s html [everythingabout.net] which discusses pesticide use and bees.

All it takes is for a field within the range of the bee hive to use a pesticide which can harm the bees and all the bees will suffer, since workers carry it back to the hive.

What REALLY happened

[mrjb]

"bees are disappearing -- not returning while searching for nectar and pollen. [...] Theories include viruses, some type of fungus, poor bee nutrition, and pesticides." What REALLY happened though, was that the bees got abducted by aliens. Complete with anal probes and everything.

Enough with the global warming...

[suitepotato]

The scientific evidence not to mention the history of man long long long before industry shows conclusively that Earth has been much warmer in the past and also much colder. It has had varying cycles since long before we got here and it will be varying long after we get hit by a car while admiring our digital watches.

Whether or not we arrived on Earth, it was DEFINITELY going to get warmer than even now, and it was going to do it right around now, then go into another glacial. The Earth hasn't been Mayberry

I've seen mass bee deaths in California

[glyph42]

I've seen hundreds of bees crawling around, apparently unable to fly, on several occasions here in California. I see a lot of them on sidewalks, on tennis courts, on my terrace, on concrete steps. They crawl around, buzzing pitifully. I've tried to help them, but they can't fly, or at least can't fly for more than a couple seconds at a time. They all die within a matter of hours after that. I've swept dozens of dead bees of my terrace. It's kind of sad, and disturbing. When I heard about these "hive

Beekeeping

[cpuffer_hammer]

Having started beekeeping 5 years ago. I am looking forward to the next season.
I have had to dial with mites and cold and queens killed by new beekeeper mistakes.
This may be another challange, but like any from of agraculture there is a basic level of
unprodictabiliry, hail, draut, disease, and the markets.

This will be another chalange and will likely drive up the cost/value of this hobby.

All I can say is buy local honey it is better, realy better.
Find out about beekeeping is is a very different from computi

Small Hive Beetles and Varroa mites

[Purity Of Essence]

My dad is was a bee-keeper as part of his duties as a park ranger and the bee populations have been dwindling like crazy here in the Southeast USA. The Varroa [wikipedia.org] are bad, but today the main culprit seems to be Small Hive Beetles [wikipedia.org] putting stress on the hives. They are absolutely devastating the bee industry here in the south, and it looks like they are going to take over the whole country. We tried to set my dad up with an apiary at home and we got everything set up, the hive, the supers, and ordered the bees. W

Crystal honeycomb...

[fahrbot-bot]

Across the US, beekeepers are finding that their bees are disappearing -- not returning while searching for nectar and pollen.

That explains the crystal honeycomb I received in the mail last week. It was engraved, "So long and thanks for all the flowers."

Valinor

[woozlewuzzle]

They are departing these shores forever. They are traveling to the Grey Havens, never to be seen in Middle Earth again.

Oh, bees.

nevermind.

Re:

[IflyRC]

No, California almonds really are one of the nation's most profitable.

Re:Go back to Digg, take your grammar with you!

[denis-The-menace]

It's either:
Al Gore ate them. (as in past tense)

Or

Al Gore eats them. (as in present tense)

Re:

[Aqua_boy17]

Um, not really. A typical independant bee keeper makes around $30k per year. Honey prices have bottomed out due to cheap foreign imports and the cost of keeping bees has tripled over the last several years. Now that hives are disappearing, I'm sure that prices will rise (supply/demand and all that). But I think your free-market jab is unfounded, at least in this case.

Re:

[CosmeticLobotamy]

the cost of keeping bees has tripled over the last several years

It's true. I read it on Wikipedia.

Re:Bee Monoculture

[Incadenza]

Here is a perfect example of the utter and complete failure of the American free-market mantra. A select few people raising bees were made richer with no economic consideration for the risk to the food production chain by adopting a bee mono-culture. Now what?

Well, build your own.

Doesn't work only for software you know. Just google for mason bee housing [google.com] and build your own genetic diversity tool from that old piece of wood you've got laying around anyway. And save the planet.

Re:lifestyle

[Xonstantine]

What does it say about our current lifestyle when even the bees are over stressed?

It says some people don't wait for the investigation or the science to start before they pronounce a verdict. The idea is more or less "Behind every bad thing happening in the world, the US must be responsible for it, and if not the US, then surely humanity." I'm not sure this says anything about our current lifestyle, considering the research and investigation has barely begun. But don't let that stop you from rushing out to make a conclusion.

Actually

[Rob T Firefly]

It's just that not even the bees can afford to live in Manhattan anymore.

Re:

[93 Escort Wagon]

BT corn is only going to kill caterpillars (corn earworms), not bees.

I am very much against the use of genetically modified corn, in large part because it's likely to render one of the best weapons in an organic gardener's (or farmer's) arsenal ineffective with a decade. But the bacterium is specific to one particular family of pests - bees will not be affected by this.