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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:35 pm Post Subject: Dangerous decline in bees spreads...
Quote:
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.
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.
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."
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.
Yes I’ve been seeing some news on this too. One article suggested pesticides could be the cause –I can’t find it now. However I found this post on a forum as follows:
Quote:
A leading suspect for bee hive depopulation has been an insecticide that causes insects to become confused. This insecticide has been accused of causing bees to not return to the hive - which would explain so many hives without even dead bodies.
Beekeepers recently testified to Congress on this problem requesting a major funding for research. Without these facts the insecticide companies refuse to stop selling their unique product.
The usual suspects (ie mites) have been eliminated from the suspects list. This problem has been ongoing and increasing for many years now.
I wouldn’t expect to see the beekeepers’ request being made public, rather other smokescreen stories being reported. It’s pretty alarming stuff if it keeps going on. Note that it seems to have been an increasing problem for years already.
True enough! I also find the percentage of decline disturbing. Maybe 10 or 20% decline could be explained away but 60 to 70% is disasterous. If its not to do with frequencies it could quite easily be the GE crops. Who knows!. I will be keeping an eye on this one, will post if I find more.
Joined: 24 Jul 2006
Posts: 173
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 12:39 am Post Subject:
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
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
Joined: 05 Nov 2003
Posts: 387
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 3:09 pm Post Subject:
From Deano's original post in this thread:
Quote:
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."
What is there about England (assuming the statement is correct, and it may not be) that they don't have the problem? Surely their density of cell phone coverage and use plus other technologies is greater than many of the affected countries?
These types of anomaly can be significant clues. Reminds me somewhat of the Phylloxera epidemic of the late 1800s when most of the wine grapes in Europe's vineyards were destroyed. The only grape varieties that were unaffected were those native to America. A clue that helped to pinpoint the origin of the problem - in this case a tiny pale yellow sap-sucking insect, related to aphids, that fed on the roots of grapevines (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, family Phylloxeridae). To this day the use of resistant American rootstock to guard against Phylloxera is widespread throughout the word, including New Zealand.
An interesting parallel with some of the theories presented in this thread is the connection between the onset of the Phylloxera epidemic and an emerging technology. In this case it was the use of steamships on the Atlantic trade routes to carry goods, including horticultural products, between Europe and America. In the days of sailing ships, the journey took so long that Phylloxera mites never survived the journey, but the new steamships were so speedy that the mites arrived in good condition and quickly infested most wine producing countries...
There has been a lot of talk about the declining bee populations in the USA and Europe and it would seem that some of the dire consequences predicted are not necessarily entirely correct. Certainly the European honeybee appears to be in decline but very little has been mentioned about the native North American bees of which there are about four thousand varieties and which were the only bees pollinating crops prior to the introduction of the European honeybee in the 1950s.
I came across the following articles in National Geographic suggesting that the native wild bees of North America could be the answer to their declining honeybee population. Apparently these wild bees are not susceptible to the mites that infect the European honeybee and don’t seem to be in such decline.
Joined: 05 Nov 2003
Posts: 387
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 2:02 am Post Subject:
And now in Taiwan:
Quote:
Taiwan stung by millions of missing bees
Thu Apr 26, 6:19 AM ET
TAIPEI (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."
Joined: 05 Nov 2003
Posts: 387
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 10:28 am Post Subject:
Do organic beekeepers have the answer?
Quote:
No ORGANIC Bee Losses
2007 05 06
Received from Lancifer
I am quite involved with many alternative agriculture groups, and I received this email from a trusted
friend...you might want to check it out for your news section...
"Sharon Labchuk is a longtime environmental activist and part-time organic beekeeper from Prince Edward Island. She has twice run for a seat in Ottawa's House of Commons, making strong showings around 5% for Canada's fledgling Green Party. She is also leader of the provincial wing of her party. In a widely circulated email, she wrote:
I'm on an organic beekeeping 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 the big commercial guys is that they put pesticides in their hives to fumigate for varroa mites, and they feed antibiotics to the bees. They also haul the hives by truck all over the place to make more money with pollination services, which stresses the colonies.
Her email recommends a visit to the Bush Bees Web site at http://bushfarms.com/bees.htm , Michael Bush felt compelled to put a message to the beekeeping world right on the top page:
Most of us beekeepers are fighting with the Varroa mites. I'm happy to say my biggest problems are things like trying to get nucs through the winter and coming up with hives that won't hurt my back from lifting or better ways to feed the bees.
This change from fighting the mites is mostly because I've gone to natural sized cells. In case you weren't aware, and I wasn't for a long time, the foundation in common usage results in much larger bees than what you would find in a natural hive. I've measured sections of natural worker brood comb that are 4.6mm in diameter. What most people use for worker brood is foundation that is 5.4mm in diameter. If you translate that into three dimensions instead of one, it produces a bee that is about half as large again as is natural. By letting the bees build natural sized cells, I have virtually eliminated my Varroa and Tracheal mite problems. One cause of this is shorter capping times by one day, and shorter post-capping times by one day. This means less Varroa get into the cells, and less Varroa reproduce in the cells.
Who should be surprised that the major media reports forget to tell us that the dying bees are actually hyper-bred varieties that we coax into a larger than normal body size? It sounds just like the beef industry. And, have we here a solution to the vanishing bee problem? Is it one that the CCD Working Group, or indeed, the scientific world at large, will support? Will media coverage affect government action in dealing with this issue?
These are important questions to ask. It is not an uncommonly held opinion that, although this new pattern of bee colony collapse seems to have struck from out of the blue (which suggests a triggering agent), it is likely that some biological limit in the bees has been crossed. There is no shortage of evidence that we have been fast approaching this limit for some time.
We've been pushing them too hard, Dr. Peter Kevan, an associate professor of environmental biology at the University of Guelph in Ontario, told the CBC. And we're starving them out by feeding them artificially and moving them great distances. Given the stress commercial bees are under, Kevan suggests CCD might be caused by parasitic mites, or long cold winters, or long wet springs, or pesticides, or genetically modified crops. Maybe it's all of the above...
Some very good information on bee keeping and the unnatural cell size of some commercially produced hives. Something the average person would never consider would be done but there you go, like so many other things that are tampered with in nature for profit rather than rightness.
I have come across an article that offers another view on the disappearing bees. It suggests an upset in torsion fields could be the cause, which is also part of a greater picture of change in the solar system.
Quote:
GETTING DOWN TO BEESNESS...
As we head into Part Two, we will have an in-depth investigation of Colony Collapse Disorder -- and present compelling evidence that it is a by product of the same change in physics that is now affecting the entire solar system (if not a sizable chunk of the local Galaxy beyond ...).
If the background flux patterns of "torsion fields" are fundamentally changing, the domesticated bees may have lost their equally fundamental torsion navigation systems. This could also easily explain the sudden appearance of massive swarms in places where they've never been seen -- like, the ~60,000 honey bees which suddenly showed up in downtown Spokane, Washington the other day (literally, at City Hall!); and the equally confused colony which tried to take over a home in Florida of a family member of one of the authors, just a couple months before.
These and many other such incidents, occurring all across the country now, are indicative of, apparently, sizeable numbers of not "dead bees" ... but "lost bees."
Recognizing the recent erroneous reports from Germany -- that "cell phones" could account for the mysterious world-wide disappearances (NOT!) -- electromagnetic radiation does have a scrambling or "decohering" effect on torsion fields in certain circumstances, as many of those Russian studies have shown. But powerful radio stations, super high-power military radars and, yes, even cell phones, have all been with us (and the bees ...) year after year, literally for decades ... and we've never seen a problem like CCD before.
The answer for the bees, as you will see, all comes back to letting Nature do what it does best ... once we figure out what Nature's really trying to say
Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 977
Location: north-east victoria
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 7:01 pm Post Subject:
hi . that link to mr. bush's site is awesome useful, John . i've kept a few hives for fifteen years , and worked in two apiaries (in the bay of plenty) , but still very much a beginner . i had a look , and it answers lots of sticky questions , really well . thanks for that!!
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 11:26 am Post Subject: Mysterious Die-Off of Honeybees Explained
Quote:
A virus - first identified in Israel, then seen in Australia - may be to blame for widespread honeybee carnage in U.S., scientists say
The sudden and mysterious disappearance of honeybees in the United States over the past year may be due to a virus, according to a new research paper by an international team of scientists.
The pathogen, called Israeli acute paralysis virus, was detected in almost all bee hives tested during a survey of hives afflicted by what has become known as colony collapse disorder. The pathogen is rarely found in healthy hives.
The discovery will likely help put to rest rampant speculation about the source of the strange collapse in U.S. bee populations.
Beekeepers in the United States began noticing slight declines in bee numbers in 2004. The scale of deaths increased dramatically in the past year, with some apiaries losing up to 90 per cent of their hives. The workers in colonies of the highly social insects would disappear without a trace.
The enormous scale of the destruction prompted worry that some new environmental threat might be killing useful insects. Some speculated that the missing bees might have become disoriented by the recent proliferation of radiation from cellphone towers and died while foraging for nectar. Others theorized that new genetically modified crops were poisoning the bees.
But scientists who worked on the new research, which is being published in the current issue of Science Express, now believe the most likely explanation is a new infectious agent.
"Our extensive study suggests that the Israeli acute paralysis may be a potential cause of colony collapse disorder," said Ian Lipkin, an epidemiologist at Columbia University.
The death of bees had caused widespread alarm in the agricultural industry. Although most people associate bees with honey, the insects are far more important for their role in pollinating crops. About 90 foods, ranging from apples to cucumbers, depend on bees to ensure that fruits and vegetables develop.
Any threat to bee numbers could affect the global food supply. An estimated $2-billion worth of crops in Canada depend on honeybees for pollination, and about $15-billion in the United States, where the collapse has already led to difficulties in pollinating crops.
The researchers also found the virus on live bees imported into the United States from Australia, and in royal jelly samples from China. Royal jelly is the food bees produce for queens, but it is also sold as a health food for humans.
The discovery of the virus has raised speculation that the United States inadvertently allowed it into the country through the import of Australian bees. This was allowed in 2004, at the urging of the agricultural industry, to boost the number of hives available for pollinating high-value crops such as almonds.
The import of the bees coincided with the first reports of unusual problems in bee colonies.
All the hives infected with the virus either used Australian bees, or were stored near colonies that imported the insects.
To date, Canada has had no known cases of colony collapse disorder, said Danny Walker, president of the Ontario Beekeepers' Association.
He said Canada doesn't allow the importation of entire bee colonies from Australia, although it does allow apiaries to buy individual queens, which are then seeded into domestic hives.
Scientists who discovered the virus, and analyzed genes of micro-organisms found in bees, said they do not know if the pathogen itself causes colonies to die off, or whether it weakens the bees and makes them more susceptible to pesticides, poor nutrition and parasitic mites.
The virus was first described in Israel in 2004, leading to its name. Researchers there noted that infected bees - which exhibited shivering wings and paralysis - would die just outside their hives.
One perplexing finding is that bees in Australia don't seem to be affected by colony collapse disorder. The researchers speculated the reason might be that bees there are not infected with varroa mites, which are found throughout in North America. The mites suppress the immune system of bees, making them more vulnerable to other threats.
Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 977
Location: north-east victoria
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 6:13 pm Post Subject:
just for the record , there has been a flourishing trade by New Zealand beekeepers , selling bees to Canada , not just nucleus hives , or queens , but mature bees , to kick off the short northern season quickly .
i worked in two bay of plenty apiaries , a few years ago , and dispatched NZ bees to Canada , with my own fair hands
Australia enjoys Veroa-mite -free status , unlike NZ . does anyone recall the discovery of the painted apple moth in the Melbourne botanical gardens , maybe 8 or 10 years ago? (just before the power supply to Auckland was inexplicably cut for 3 months?)
anyone concerned in a practical way with the health of bees , and of the horticultural industries dependent on them , should read , and actively promote , the bush bees link , posted above , by John . it may well turn out to be the lynch-pin of all future apiculture . i will certainly be applying those principles to my future work with bees
Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 12:13 pm Post Subject: Hit the a-pis
Greetingzzz If anyone is has questions regarding bees, or the NZ bee industry. My brother is a beekeeper of 20 years plus - and the president of the East Coast Beekeepers Association.
Greetingzzz If anyone is has questions regarding bees, or the NZ bee industry. My brother is a beekeeper of 20 years plus - and the president of the East Coast Beekeepers Association.
Sure! What are the numbers like here in New Zealand. Any noticeable drop in numbers? Any big drop in health and population of bees now or in the past and in which particular years and locations.
The biggest loss was in the first 2 years varroa hit 23,000 hives since then not a great lot died.
Stats are as follows;
May 2000 there were 4956 beekeepers with 320113 hives in NZ.
May 2007 there are 2606 beekeepers with 313399 hives in NZ.
Most important are the volumes of honey.
In 2002, 4682 tons harvested.
In 2006 10423 tons- so the bees are in a good state in a lot of ways but the residue issue from chemical varroa treatments is showing up.
As for the South Island i predict there to be half as many beekeepers in 3 years due to Australian honey and the keepers not having time or money to deal with varroa.. The colony collapse disorder could change that - which scientists are blaming it on the Israel parasitic virus. However some of us are saying the bees got the virus from being fed to much sugar and exposed to agricultural sprays and the rest of the poison in the environment.
posted originally by John on another thread . it is absolute gold , for a beginning bee-person , either practical or theoretical
essentially , the thesis he puts forward , substantiated by massive support from his own experience , and that of his network of friends , is that most of the vulnerabilities suffered by commercial bees , stem from the fact that last century , the average size of the bee was increased about 6 or 8 percent
this was considered to be an improvement over Nature, and was achieved by increasing the size of the cells on foundation
left to themselves for a while , and given foundation-less frames , bees will revert to a smaller size , and without the use of poisonous plastic strips , now standard practice in NZ , they suffer very little from varroa mite , or any of the other common afflictions
credit for this is given to the slightly faster rate of reproduction in the smaller bees , which puts verroa just outside the threshold of being able to become a real pest
i would not be too worried too much about Australian honey. although Australia is still verroa-free , (to my knowledge) ,last year was a disaster on account of the drought , and this year looks like being worse , at this stage
have a look at "bushbees" , and show your brother ; anyone getting in on the ground floor with the techniques shown on that site , which enable virtually pure organic production , is going to be in a strong position in years to come
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 1:18 pm Post Subject: Bee have
Thank you for that Steve, looks interesting. Needless to say what we know of the world of corporations, the myth of democracy, and a less than sympathetic approach to, empowered knowledgeable individuals. Our mates at the top can't control or make money from natural methods. Although they have the white coated priests working 24/7 to try and synthesize the secret ingredient in Manuka honey.
By Sabine Vollmer, Raleigh News & Observer Tue Aug 26, 2:28 PM ET
RALEIGH, N.C. — Bayer CropScience is facing scrutiny because of the effect one of its best-selling pesticides has had on honeybees.
A German prosecutor is investigating Werner Wenning , Bayer's chairman, and Friedrich Berschauer , the head of Bayer CropScience , after critics alleged that they knowingly polluted the environment.
The investigation was triggered by an Aug. 13 complaint filed by German beekeepers and consumer protection advocates, a Coalition against Bayer Dangers spokesman, Philipp Mimkes, said Monday.
The complaint is part of efforts by groups on both sides of the Atlantic to determine how much Bayer CropScience knows about the part that clothianidin may have played in the death of millions of honeybees.
Bayer CropScience , which has its U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park , said field studies have shown that bees' exposure to the pesticide is minimal or nonexistent if the chemical is used properly.
Clothianidin and related pesticides generated about $1 billion of Bayer CropScience's $8.6 billion in global sales last year. The coalition is demanding that the company withdraw all of the pesticides.
"We're suspecting that Bayer submitted flawed studies to play down the risks of pesticide residues in treated plants," said Harro Schultze , the coalition's attorney.
"Bayer's ... management has to be called to account, since the risks ... have now been known for more than 10 years."
Under German law, a criminal investigation could lead to a search of Bayer offices, Mimkes said.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the Natural Resources Defense Council is pressing for research information on clothianidin.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the pesticide in 2003 under the condition that Bayer submit additional data. A lawsuit, which the environmental group filed Aug. 19 in federal court in Washington , accuses the EPA of hiding the honeybee data.
Joined: 07 Aug 2008
Posts: 1854
Location: The Wild West
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:25 am Post Subject:
Soooo... if Bayer gets rid of all the bees then Monsanto can put another GMO on the market - self-pollinating plants! Or maybe it's because they know they can't sue bees for stealing & spreading around their intellectual property? :?
