Note - While I was writing this diary, bob zimway posted this excellent diary on the dangers to wild fish populations, and how farmed fish populations are exasperating the problem While fish and bees are not directly related, the collapsing population of both are an indication of the stresses we are putting on our system, and the consequences of these stresses.
Cross Posted at Earth Friendly Shopping
Recently, I have been thinking and reading more about the honey bee, and the interconnectedness of our world. Frankly, it has me a little worried. Honeybees have been suffering a rapid population decline in the U.S. and Europe, the causes and implications of which are not widely understood.
Colony Collapse Disorder - Some background
In another sign of the massive stresses our environment is undergoing, honey bee colonies in the United States and Europe have been collapsing since 2006. Termed Colony Collapse disorder, (CCD) this collapse threatens a $15 Billion segment of the agriculture industry. Some crops such as almonds, other nuts, and certain vegetables, are dependent on bees for pollination. With the collapse of bee populations, there is concern that there will not be enough colonies to support polination of these crops in a few years.
Bee Keepers first noticed a dramatic decrease in hive populations in the fall of 2006
During October-December 2006, beekeepers became alarmed that honey bee colonies were dying suddenly across the continental United States. Beekeepers reported losses of 30-90%. Subsequent investigations suggested that these outbreaks of unexplained colony collapse may have been occurring for 3 or more years.
What’s causing CCD?
Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a single cause to CCD. Many researchers believe that an external parasite called the verroa mite has a major part to play in the decline.
Varroa mites are external honeybee parasites that attack both the adults and the brood, with a distinct preference for drone brood. They suck the blood from both the adults and the developing brood, weakening and shortening the life span of the ones on which they feed. Emerging brood may be deformed with missing legs or wings. Untreated infestations of varroa mites that are allowed to increase will kill honeybee colonies. Losses due to these parasitic mites are often confused with causes such as winter mortality and queenlessness if the colonies are not examined for mites.
The presence of the mites, and the damage that they have caused to colonies have led to the widespread use of chemicals to stop the mites. The most common pesticide used is a form of fluvalinate. There have recently been studies to suggest that the mites are becoming resistant to fluvalinate, and so the formulation was recently changed, making it more toxic.
In addition to fluvalinate, cocktail of different pesticides can be found in the honey and wax of many colonies. This is particularly true of colonies that are trucked from farm to farm, sometimes long distances. In each of the farms, the bees can pick up additional pesticides. While each pesticide on its own might be at a low enough level that it is not a problem, the buildup and combination of multiple pesticides may be adding another stress level. In addition, studies have shown that non-lethal levels of pesticides can impede learning, which may account for bees not being able to find the way back to the hive.
The very act of transporting the bees to long distances on flatbed trucks, often in crowded conditions, may add anonther level of stress, further weakening the bee’s immune system.
Commercial honeybee operations have uncomfortable parallels to modern factory livestock, or confined animal feed operations.
The combinations of these stresses has left colonies more vulnerable to pathogens such as the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus. which has been found in CCD affected colonies.
What are the implications?
First, we should make a couple of things clear. 1)Honeybees are not in danger of becoming extinct. 2) The vast majority of our food, mostly grains, are wind pollinated, and so are not affected by CCD. It is unlikely that CCD could lead to mass starvation.
But, there is real danger than bees simply won’t be able to perform all the pollination we are asking from them. This will mean a decline in the amount of fruits and nuts available, and could make these products more expensive. with negative impacts on nutrition.
And, as we know that the natural world is interconnected in so many ways, we simply don’t know where this could lead in the future.
What can be done?
The department of agriculture and several universities have been actively studying CCD since 2006. So far, they have not determined either a cause or a cure. But, the most common advice is for bee keepers to reduce the stresses on their colonies, lower chemical use, and improve nutrition. Using organic methodsseems to lower or eliminate the incidence of CCD
I’m on an organic beekeeping email list of about 1,000 people, mostly Americans, and no one in the organic beekeeping world, including commercial beekeepers, is reporting colony collapse on this list. The problem with commercial operations is that pesticides used in hives to fumigate for varroa mites, while antibiotics are fed to the bees to prevent disease. Hives are hauled long distances by truck, often several times during the growing season, to provide pollination services to industrial agriculture crops, which further stresses the colonies and exposes them to agricultural pesticides and GMOs.
Rowan Jacobsen, the author of Fruitless Fall, told the story of a bee keeper named Kirk Webster
Kirk Webster practices holistic beekeeping in Vermont. His specialty is queen breeding, so he wanted no part of the mite treatments, which destroy the fertility of drones (male bees) and queens. He understood that the more we used chemicals to try to treat bees’ ills, the less the bees were going to have to come up with their own solutions, which would be more sustainable (and cheaper!) in the long run. So he simply stopped using chemical treatments of any kind and let 90+ percent of his bees die. Then he took the few survivors, who happened to have some genetic resistance to the mites, and bred them together. Basically, he did to the mites exactly what the mites had done to the beekeepers. After the better part of a decade he had developed lines of bees with strong natural mite resistance. They also seemed to be more resilient toward other factors. They are supremely good survivors, and they are wildly in demand. And all Kirk had to do was go without income for a decade to get there! This is just one area where we can find the answers to problems within natural systems, or impose them from without, which is always a short-term fix.
And the Natural Resources Defense Council has some suggestions about things we can do to help. Among them to plant native plants and flowers, plant diverse, and be wary of pesticides.