OT: The Mysterious Deaths Of The Honeybees

[Guest guest]

The Mysterious Deaths Of The Honeybees

 

Honeybee colony collapse drives price of honey higher and threatens

fruit and vegetable production.

 

By CNN's Amy Sahba

March 29 2007: 5:28 PM EDT

 

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Beekeepers throughout the United States have been

losing between 50 and 90 percent of their honeybees over the past six

months, perplexing scientists, driving honey prices higher and

threatening fruit and vegetable production.

 

At a House Agricultural Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C.,

today, members of various organizations came together to share their

concerns about what they have been calling the " Colony Collapse

Disorder, " or CCD.

 

Beginning in October 2006, beekeepers from 24 states reported that

hundreds of thousands of their bees were dying and their colonies were

being devastated.

 

In December 2006, beekeepers' associations, scientists and officials

formed the CCD working group, in hopes of identifying the cause and

solving the problem of CCD.

 

Most of the beekeepers who have recently reported heavy losses

associated with CCD are large commercial migratory beekeepers, some of

whom are losing 50 percent to 90 percent of their colonies.

 

The great corn gold rush

 

Moreover, surviving colonies are often so weak that they are not

viable pollinating or honey-producing units. Losses have been reported

in migratory operations in California, Florida, Oklahoma and Texas,

but in February some larger keepers of nonmigratory bees, particularly

from the mid-Atlantic region and the Pacific Northwest reported

significant losses of more than 50 percent.

 

Testifying in front of the committee this morning, Caird E. Rexroad,

from the Agricultural Research Service, said that although his agency

has a variety of theories as to what might be causing CCD, it believes

stress on the bees might be the major motive.

 

" We believe that some form of stress may be suppressing immune systems

of bees, ultimately contributing to CCD. " The main four types of

stresses that Rexroad identified were migratory stresses, mites,

pathogens and pesticides.

 

According to the National Agricultural Statistic Service, honey

production declined by 11 percent in 2006, and honey prices per pound

increased 14 percent, from 91.8 cents in 2005 to 104.2 cents in 2006.

Daren Jantzy, with the National Agricultural Statistics Service, told

CNN that these statistics are based on numbers collected mostly before

the true impact of CCD was noted. Its effect will be more noticeable

when the 2007 statistics are collected.

 

And the impact goes far beyond direct bee products like honey and wax.

Three-quarters of the world's 250,000 flowering plants - including

many fruits and vegetables - require pollination to reproduce.

 

Dr. May R. Berenbaum, head of the department of entomology at the

University of Illinois, believes the economic impact of the decline in

bees could be disastrous.

 

" Though economists differ in calculating the exact dollar value of

honeybee pollination, virtually all estimates range in the billions of

dollars, " she told representatives at the House hearing.

 

But this is not a new problem. Over the past two decades, concern has

risen around the world about the decline of pollinators of all

descriptions. During this period in the United States, the honeybee,

the world's premier pollinator, experienced a dramatic 40 percent

decline, from nearly six million to less than two and a half million.

 

In 2005, for the first time in 85 years, the United States was forced

to import honeybees in order to meet its pollination demands.

Berenbaum says that " if honeybees numbers continued to decline at the

rates documented from 1989 to 1996, managed honeybees ... will cease

to exist in the United States by 2035. "

 

© 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.

[Guest guest]

On this note I would like to share with everyone that two days ago a swarm of

non-africanized honey bees moved into the village where I work...we're trying

to find a beekeeper who will help them colonize, not euthanize them.

 

Butch Owen <butchbsi wrote:

The Mysterious Deaths Of The Honeybees

 

Honeybee colony collapse drives price of honey higher and threatens

fruit and vegetable production.

 

By CNN's Amy Sahba

March 29 2007: 5:28 PM EDT

 

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Beekeepers throughout the United States have been

losing between 50 and 90 percent of their honeybees over the past six

months, perplexing scientists, driving honey prices higher and

threatening fruit and vegetable production.

 

At a House Agricultural Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C.,

today, members of various organizations came together to share their

concerns about what they have been calling the " Colony Collapse

Disorder, " or CCD.

 

Beginning in October 2006, beekeepers from 24 states reported that

hundreds of thousands of their bees were dying and their colonies were

being devastated.

 

In December 2006, beekeepers' associations, scientists and officials

formed the CCD working group, in hopes of identifying the cause and

solving the problem of CCD.

 

Most of the beekeepers who have recently reported heavy losses

associated with CCD are large commercial migratory beekeepers, some of

whom are losing 50 percent to 90 percent of their colonies.

 

The great corn gold rush

 

Moreover, surviving colonies are often so weak that they are not

viable pollinating or honey-producing units. Losses have been reported

in migratory operations in California, Florida, Oklahoma and Texas,

but in February some larger keepers of nonmigratory bees, particularly

from the mid-Atlantic region and the Pacific Northwest reported

significant losses of more than 50 percent.

 

Testifying in front of the committee this morning, Caird E. Rexroad,

from the Agricultural Research Service, said that although his agency

has a variety of theories as to what might be causing CCD, it believes

stress on the bees might be the major motive.

 

" We believe that some form of stress may be suppressing immune systems

of bees, ultimately contributing to CCD. " The main four types of

stresses that Rexroad identified were migratory stresses, mites,

pathogens and pesticides.

 

According to the National Agricultural Statistic Service, honey

production declined by 11 percent in 2006, and honey prices per pound

increased 14 percent, from 91.8 cents in 2005 to 104.2 cents in 2006.

Daren Jantzy, with the National Agricultural Statistics Service, told

CNN that these statistics are based on numbers collected mostly before

the true impact of CCD was noted. Its effect will be more noticeable

when the 2007 statistics are collected.

 

And the impact goes far beyond direct bee products like honey and wax.

Three-quarters of the world's 250,000 flowering plants - including

many fruits and vegetables - require pollination to reproduce.

 

Dr. May R. Berenbaum, head of the department of entomology at the

University of Illinois, believes the economic impact of the decline in

bees could be disastrous.

 

" Though economists differ in calculating the exact dollar value of

honeybee pollination, virtually all estimates range in the billions of

dollars, " she told representatives at the House hearing.

 

But this is not a new problem. Over the past two decades, concern has

risen around the world about the decline of pollinators of all

descriptions. During this period in the United States, the honeybee,

the world's premier pollinator, experienced a dramatic 40 percent

decline, from nearly six million to less than two and a half million.

 

In 2005, for the first time in 85 years, the United States was forced

to import honeybees in order to meet its pollination demands.

Berenbaum says that " if honeybees numbers continued to decline at the

rates documented from 1989 to 1996, managed honeybees ... will cease

to exist in the United States by 2035. "

 

© 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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