We're proud to introduce guest writer Nichelle Van Tassel, daughter of our esteemed bee expert Luc Van Tassel. Below is her essay titled "Honey Bee Extinction an Ecological Issue" in its entirety. She wrote this for an assignment in school and deservedly landed an "A". Enjoy.
Bees, via pollination, are responsible for 15 to 30 percent of the food U.S. consumers eat. But in the last 50 years the domesticated honeybee population has declined by about 50 percent. Farmers depend on honey Bees to pollinate crops.
Unless actions are taken to slow the decline of honeybee populations many fruits and vegetables may disappear from the food supply. Anecdotes of farmers losing their crops owing to the honeybee shortage appear to be on the increase. Last February, for example, there were insufficient honeybees for all the almond blossoms in California. As a result some farmers failed to meet expected yields.
Maryann Frazier, a senior extension associate in the department of entomology with Pennsylvania State University in State College, said honeybee shortages are not yet impacting commercial producers of crops, but that community farmers "are struggling to get bees for pollination." Dewey Caron, an entomologist at the University of Delaware in Newark, started to study the problem of the honeybee decline when he noticed that farmers in the northeastern U.S. increasingly lacked sufficient bee colonies to meet their pollination needs.
The honeybee decline, which is affecting domesticated and wild bee populations around the world, is mostly the result of diseases spread as a result of mites and other parasites as well as the spraying of crops with pesticides.Among the greatest problems is the varroa mite, a bloodsucking parasite that attacks young and adult honeybees. Attacked bees often have deformed wings and abdomens and a shortened life span. "The varroa mite is also really effective at transmitting disease, particularly viruses," Frazier said. Left untreated, a varroa mite infestation can wipe out a bee colony within a few months.
Another theory for the endangerment of the honeybees is that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is causing the disappearance of the honeybees. The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously home loving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this bizarre theory up.
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive's inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers. 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 percent 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 bee behavior 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 said that this information could provide a hint to a possible caused 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 alarming decline in bee populations across the United States and Europe represents a potential ecological apocalypse. It is an environmental catastrophe that could collapse the food chain and wipe out humanity. Many people don’t realize the vital role bees play in maintaining a balanced eco-system. According to experts, if bees were to become extinct then humanity would perish after just four years. “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man,” said Albert Einstein.
Others would say four years is alarmist and that man would find other food sources, but the fact remains that the disappearance of bees is potentially devastating to agriculture and most plant life.
Reports that bee populations are declining at rates of up to 80 percent in areas of the U.S. and Europe should set alarm bells ringing and demand immediate action on behalf of environmental organizations.
“Bee numbers on parts of the east coast and in Texas have fallen by more than 70 percent, while California has seen colonies drop by 30 to 60 percent. Approximately 40 percent of my 2,000 colonies are currently dead and this is the greatest winter colony mortality I have ever experienced in my 30 years of beekeeping,” apiarist Gene Brandi, from the California State Beekeepers Association, told Congress.
Scientists are stumped as to what is causing the decline, ruling out parasites but leaning towards some kind of new toxin or chemical used in agriculture as being responsible. Experts believe that the large-scale use of genetically modified plants in the US could be a factor.
Bee populations throughout Germany have simultaneously dropped 25 percent and up to 80 percent in some areas. Poland, Switzerland and Spain are reporting similar declines. Studies have shown that bees are not dying in the hive; something is causing them to lose their sense of orientation so that they cannot return to the hive. Depleted hives are not being raided for their honey by other insects, which normally happen when bees naturally die in the winter, meaning that there must be some kind of poisonous toxin is driving them away.
Scientists have found evidence of almost all known bee viruses in the few surviving bees found in the hives after most have disappeared. Some had five or six infections at the same time and were infested with fungi, a sign that the insects’ immune system may have collapsed.
A study at the University of Jena from 2001 to 2004 showed that toxins from a genetically modified maize variant designed to repel insects, when combined with a parasite, resulted in a significantly stronger decline in the number of bees than normal.
According to Hans-Hinrich Kaatz, a professor at the University of Halle in eastern Germany, and the director of the study, the bacterial toxin in the genetically modified corn may have altered the surface of the bee’s intestines, sufficiently weakening the bees to allow the parasites to gain entry. Or maybe it was the other way around.
The hyperbole surrounding man-made global warming is swallowing up all the attention while real dangers like the rapid die-off of bee populations and its link to GM food is largely shunned by governments and activist foundations.
Making bees all but extinct would be a swift and plausibly deniable method of enacting global population reduction.
Possible solutions
With honey bee colonies mysteriously dying at alarming rates across the United States the national July 10 “holiday” known as “Don’t Step on a Bee Day,” designed to prevent barefoot summer fun seekers from getting stung, has taken on new importance. The Buzz Bakery in Alexandria, Virginia, is donating proceeds from the sales of its bee-themed sweets—like its bee-shaped sugar cookies, honey ice cream, and dark chocolate-honey truffles to researching the causes and solutions of the honey bee crisis.
My family owns a bee removal business, and we try to save the honeybees if at all possible. First the technicians visually assess the situation locating where exactly the bees are living, taking into consideration construction issues. Then they determine the best course of action with the approval of the person in charge. They can do live extractions of bees where feasible or eradicate them if it is too damaging to property or economically too costly. They employ environmentally friendly insecticides that are safe for people, animals and the environment. Safety of persons and property is our first consideration in deciding on any treatment type. If it is necessary to remove combs they do so after getting permission from the person in charge. They make every attempt to repair and replace material removed to allow access to combs. They treat the affected area with longer term insecticides and seal to prevent reinfestation. They only kill bees when there is absolutely no other option.
Bees, via pollination, are responsible for 15 to 30 percent of the food U.S. consumers eat. But in the last 50 years the domesticated honeybee population has declined by about 50 percent. Farmers depend on honey Bees to pollinate crops.
Unless actions are taken to slow the decline of honeybee populations many fruits and vegetables may disappear from the food supply. Anecdotes of farmers losing their crops owing to the honeybee shortage appear to be on the increase. Last February, for example, there were insufficient honeybees for all the almond blossoms in California. As a result some farmers failed to meet expected yields.
Maryann Frazier, a senior extension associate in the department of entomology with Pennsylvania State University in State College, said honeybee shortages are not yet impacting commercial producers of crops, but that community farmers "are struggling to get bees for pollination." Dewey Caron, an entomologist at the University of Delaware in Newark, started to study the problem of the honeybee decline when he noticed that farmers in the northeastern U.S. increasingly lacked sufficient bee colonies to meet their pollination needs.
The honeybee decline, which is affecting domesticated and wild bee populations around the world, is mostly the result of diseases spread as a result of mites and other parasites as well as the spraying of crops with pesticides.Among the greatest problems is the varroa mite, a bloodsucking parasite that attacks young and adult honeybees. Attacked bees often have deformed wings and abdomens and a shortened life span. "The varroa mite is also really effective at transmitting disease, particularly viruses," Frazier said. Left untreated, a varroa mite infestation can wipe out a bee colony within a few months.
Another theory for the endangerment of the honeybees is that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is causing the disappearance of the honeybees. The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously home loving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this bizarre theory up.
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive's inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers. 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 percent 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 bee behavior 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 said that this information could provide a hint to a possible caused 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 alarming decline in bee populations across the United States and Europe represents a potential ecological apocalypse. It is an environmental catastrophe that could collapse the food chain and wipe out humanity. Many people don’t realize the vital role bees play in maintaining a balanced eco-system. According to experts, if bees were to become extinct then humanity would perish after just four years. “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man,” said Albert Einstein.
Others would say four years is alarmist and that man would find other food sources, but the fact remains that the disappearance of bees is potentially devastating to agriculture and most plant life.
Reports that bee populations are declining at rates of up to 80 percent in areas of the U.S. and Europe should set alarm bells ringing and demand immediate action on behalf of environmental organizations.
“Bee numbers on parts of the east coast and in Texas have fallen by more than 70 percent, while California has seen colonies drop by 30 to 60 percent. Approximately 40 percent of my 2,000 colonies are currently dead and this is the greatest winter colony mortality I have ever experienced in my 30 years of beekeeping,” apiarist Gene Brandi, from the California State Beekeepers Association, told Congress.
Scientists are stumped as to what is causing the decline, ruling out parasites but leaning towards some kind of new toxin or chemical used in agriculture as being responsible. Experts believe that the large-scale use of genetically modified plants in the US could be a factor.
Bee populations throughout Germany have simultaneously dropped 25 percent and up to 80 percent in some areas. Poland, Switzerland and Spain are reporting similar declines. Studies have shown that bees are not dying in the hive; something is causing them to lose their sense of orientation so that they cannot return to the hive. Depleted hives are not being raided for their honey by other insects, which normally happen when bees naturally die in the winter, meaning that there must be some kind of poisonous toxin is driving them away.
Scientists have found evidence of almost all known bee viruses in the few surviving bees found in the hives after most have disappeared. Some had five or six infections at the same time and were infested with fungi, a sign that the insects’ immune system may have collapsed.
A study at the University of Jena from 2001 to 2004 showed that toxins from a genetically modified maize variant designed to repel insects, when combined with a parasite, resulted in a significantly stronger decline in the number of bees than normal.
According to Hans-Hinrich Kaatz, a professor at the University of Halle in eastern Germany, and the director of the study, the bacterial toxin in the genetically modified corn may have altered the surface of the bee’s intestines, sufficiently weakening the bees to allow the parasites to gain entry. Or maybe it was the other way around.
The hyperbole surrounding man-made global warming is swallowing up all the attention while real dangers like the rapid die-off of bee populations and its link to GM food is largely shunned by governments and activist foundations.
Making bees all but extinct would be a swift and plausibly deniable method of enacting global population reduction.
Possible solutions
With honey bee colonies mysteriously dying at alarming rates across the United States the national July 10 “holiday” known as “Don’t Step on a Bee Day,” designed to prevent barefoot summer fun seekers from getting stung, has taken on new importance. The Buzz Bakery in Alexandria, Virginia, is donating proceeds from the sales of its bee-themed sweets—like its bee-shaped sugar cookies, honey ice cream, and dark chocolate-honey truffles to researching the causes and solutions of the honey bee crisis.
My family owns a bee removal business, and we try to save the honeybees if at all possible. First the technicians visually assess the situation locating where exactly the bees are living, taking into consideration construction issues. Then they determine the best course of action with the approval of the person in charge. They can do live extractions of bees where feasible or eradicate them if it is too damaging to property or economically too costly. They employ environmentally friendly insecticides that are safe for people, animals and the environment. Safety of persons and property is our first consideration in deciding on any treatment type. If it is necessary to remove combs they do so after getting permission from the person in charge. They make every attempt to repair and replace material removed to allow access to combs. They treat the affected area with longer term insecticides and seal to prevent reinfestation. They only kill bees when there is absolutely no other option.
