Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 8187 Location: Fingerlakes - NY usa
What are Bees Dying From?
Quote:
Millions of Bees Die - Are Electromagnetic Signals To Blame?
Bees in the US are dying of some unknown cause - millions of them are leaving their hives and do not come back. What is happening? The problem has got a name - colony collapse disorder - but no apparent cause.
This will no doubt drive up the cost of another natural medicinal while causing other diseases (whatever is causing this). Could blaming electromagnetic signals be a cover for GMO food which should never have been released into the wild?
Sat Mar 17, 2007 8:57 am
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Mystica
Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Posts: 226 Location: Australia
This will no doubt drive up the cost of another natural medicinal while causing other diseases (whatever is causing this). Could blaming electromagnetic signals be a cover for GMO food which should never have been released into the wild?
An interesting but tragic development in an already stressed environment.
This hasn't been reported in Oz so maybe it is 'only in America'. I doubt if GMO crops would cause such a sudden event such as this, it would be a more gradual thing, (but still a future possibility), the electromagnetic signals sounds more feasable, as there have been many whales and dolphins beaching themselves as well, and homing pigeons losing their way, also birds dropping out of the sky for unknown reasons, all animals have a guidance system, maybe it has been disrupted ramdomly by electromagnetic signals and they lose their bearings, or die of exhaustion?
Whatever the cause it is a warning from nature that all is not well on this planet.
The birds and the bees (frogs too) are the "canaries down the coal mines". I think it's time to correlate all the topics on nature etc into a more concise form ... there are too many threads on the same topics that dilute the vital information people need to begin their awakening.
It doesn't surprise me really. Nature is getting fed up with all the stuff humans spew out everywhere.
Bee colonies are used in fruit orchards, where all the trees are sprayed with who knows what. Farms, same thing.
On top of that, hives have been suffering for years from mites and other viral problems. So they've been given chemical sprays there as well. It seems no matter where they go, they are burdened with chemicals.
Where I live is still pretty clean, but while we are near the place where the St Lawrence river joins the Atlantic ocean, lots of polluted water goes right by us. I've noticed a decrease in the amount of bees here as well, and an increase of other insects. The little sparrow sized bats that normally are everywhere are also in decline. The only creatures that haven't reduced in numbers in this area are the whales and seals.
There is another kind of bee, called Mason bees. These don't make nests like honey bees and instead use holes in wood, trees, etc to rear their young. We can still help them out.
Scroll down towards the bottom and you'll see an idea using drinking straws to make a "bee condo."
There are still other types of insects that will pollinate as well, and I've not noticed any problem at all in my gardens for pollination. But then again we are 100% organic for flowers and veggies. We use homemade compost, weed by hand and break new ground with physical labor.
Sun Mar 18, 2007 10:43 am
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antanitis
Joined: 20 Mar 2007 Posts: 33 Location: northhills pennsylvania USA
i know an organic farmer who was telling me that the bee's are suffering from two types of parasites, one that eats the males wings off the other that is a more classic parasite. Since he is organic and uses his bees just to polinate his vegetables i believe that the parasites can be mostly to blame but he also told me he read about it having to do with the sun cycle and electromagnetics as well does anyone know about those theories?
Sun Mar 25, 2007 9:26 pm
madthumbs
Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 8187 Location: Fingerlakes - NY usa
Quote:
Vanishing bee mystery solved
Since 10 years bees have been dying by the millions in France and Spain. 90.000 million in spain alone to be more exact. I saw on Spanish television yesterday that they blame the pesticides, especially the nicotine they carry. The nicotine makes the bees lose their memory hence flying from the hive touching infected flowers and not being able to find their way back dying away from the hive.
The war against these pesticides started years ago in France and is now carried on by Spain. As you can see it is NOT a mystery and hasnt been for a long time. of course the multi nationals will do anything to keep this info from the people.
After 90.000 million bees dying over the last 10 years, apparently dying from pesticides, a judge in Galicia denounced the multinationals Bayer and BASF for selling toxic agricultural products that hurt human and animal health, forbidding the use for some of their products. One of them is Imidacloprid, it is a form of nicotine that acts on the nervous system of the insects, blocking the memory of the bees that ingested this substance, rendering them incapable of finding the way back to the hive thus they die.
1 There are 16,000 species. Most are solitary insects; only about 5 percent are social bees, the most common being the honeybee. As many as 80,000 of them colonize a single hive.
2 Drones—the male honeybees—live only for mating with the queen. If there is a shortage of food in the hive, the workers kick their lazy, gigolo asses out.
<img src="http://discovermagazine.com/2007/mar/20-things-you-didnt-know-about-bees/bee-200.jpg"> Worker bees have strictly regimented roles, including that of undertakers
3 To die for: When drones mate, they die afterwards from a ruptured abdomen. Sex detaches their endophallus, which gets stuck inside the queen.
4 She continues to mate—the drones aren’t terribly smart, apparently—until she collects more than 70 million sperm from multiple males.
5 The queen was known as the king until the late 1660s, when Dutch scientist Jan Swammerdam dissected the hive’s big bee and discovered ovaries.
6 Someone call Homeland Security! Australian researchers discovered that honeybees can distinguish human faces. The insects were shown black-and-white pictures and given treats for right answers.
7 Oh, someone did call Homeland Security. In the Stealthy Insect Sensor Project, Los Alamos scientists have trained bees to recognize explosives.
8 The term “honeymoon” is derived from an old northern European custom in which newlyweds would consume a daily cup of mead, made with fermented honey, for a month.
bee-200.jpg
9 The term “bee’s knees” was coined by American cartoonist Tad Dorgan, who was also responsible for “the cat’s pajamas,” “the flea’s eyebrows,” “the canary’s tusks,” and (apropos of nothing) “Yes, we have no bananas.”
10 During World War I, honey was used to treat the wounds of soldiers because it attracts and absorbs moisture, making it a valuable healing agent.
11 Honey never spoils. Ever.
12 Bumblebees can estimate time intervals. Researchers have found that the insects extend their tongues in tandem with the rhythm of a sweet reward. This aids in the hunt for nectar, whose availability waxes and wanes.
13 Melittosphex burmensis, recently found preserved in amber in a mine in northern Myanmar, is the oldest bee known. It lived 100 million years ago.
14 After he had pioneered the laws of genetics with pea plants, Austrian monk Gregor Mendel bred a strain of hybrid bees. Unfortunately, they were so vicious he had to kill them.
15 The buzz that you hear when a bee approaches is the sound of its four wings moving at 11,400 strokes per minute. Bees fly an average of 15 miles per hour.
16 A newly hatched queen immediately kills all other hatched and unhatched queens in the hive.
17 The Honeybee Boogie: In 1943 Austrian zoologist Karl von Frisch published his study on the dances bees perform to alert fellow workers. A round dance indicates that food is close by; a waggle dance means it is distant.
18 Worker bees have strictly regimented roles, including that of undertakers who drag their dead siblings from the hive.
19 On the April 1984 Challenger flight, 3,300 bees, housed in a special but confining box, adapted perfectly to zero gravity and built a nearly normal comb. But they didn’t go to the toilet. Since bees excrete only outside the hive, they held it in for seven days. A NASA spokesperson said the space hive was “just as clean as a pin.”
20 According to an old wives’ tale, a bee entering your house means a visitor is on his way, and if you kill the bee, the visitor won’t be a pleasant one. Suffice to say, invite that unexpected honeybee guest to sit down to tea.
Wed Apr 04, 2007 7:27 pm
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madthumbs
Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 8187 Location: Fingerlakes - NY usa
Bees make a beeline for Vedic Organic crops
Quote:
Bees make a beeline for Vedic Organic crops: Mayor Wynne of Maharishi Vedic City, USA
Global Good News Translate This Article
5 May 2007
While honeybees in most of the United States are disappearing, the Mayor of Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, the Honorable Dr Bob Wynne—who is also Raja (leader of the Global Country of World Peace) for the central domain of Vedic America—has reported that bees are congregating in large numbers around their extensive organic and Vedic Organic crops.
Around Maharishi Vedic City last autumn, for example, were millions and millions of organic sunflowers, inundated with bees. 'Every single flower had a number of bees on it, and we don't know where the bees come from,' said Raja Wynne.
In their organic and Vedic Organic greenhouses, bees come in through the open roof and pollinate all the different organic plants. They are attracted to this idyllic environment, said Raja Wynne, because it is all according to the laws of nature. The bees are attracted to pure, natural pollen and nectar, grown organically, and to natural living conditions.
'Because beekeepers (in other parts of the US) are feeding them genetically modified corn syrup, and putting them on the road to different states during different times of the year,' said the Mayor, 'the bees are rebelling and disappearing.' Abandoned hives are not subject to raids by other insects either, which suggests that toxins of some kind are involved.
Published: Wednesday, April 11, 2007
By Diane Dietz
You might have heard: Something spooky is happening to the honeybees.
Whole hives are dying of the mysterious "colony collapse disorder," according to a succession of recent news reports.
It's a "Silent Spring" and - without the buzz of honeybees pollinating crops - there'll soon be nothing to eat except maybe the Soylent Green of B-grade science fiction fame. Right?
But wait: Oregon honeybees, it turns out, are more robust this year than they have been in years or even decades, local beekeepers say.
Generous spring rains in California brought brimming almond blossoms, and Oregon honeybees that were trucked there in February to pollinate the nut trees grew stout and plentiful.
Honeybees brought to California from across the nation to service the Golden State's 580,000 acres of almond crops also commanded record fees for their services.
Oregon's 35 to 40 migrant commercial beekeepers brought home about $5.6 million for almond pollination alone - and that doesn't count the Northwest pear, cherry, apple and blueberry pollination still to come.
"To tell you the truth, our bees look absolutely fabulous right now. This has been a really good year for us," said Chuck Sowers, president of the Oregon State Beekeepers Association.
So what happened to the "Silent Spring," the colony collapse and the tragedy of the disappearing honeybees?
The U.S. House Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture conducted hearings last month on the subject. Alarmed bee tenders have appeared in national news stories warning of doom.
The stakes are high. As expert pollinators, honeybees increase the value of U.S. crops by $15 billion a year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
About one-third of commercial food crops rely on honeybees for pollination.
So it was disconcerting when beekeepers in Florida in November began discovering eerily empty hives. Adult bees simply vanished, sometimes leaving the queen and often leaving the honey. Unlike other causes of hive death, there were no bee bodies in or near the hive.
"It was like the bees absconded, like they had all gone out," Eugene beekeeper Judy Scher said.
Farmers in 21 states reported similar instances - catching the attention of university researchers and the concern of Congress.
Many beekeepers are skeptical of the reports or at least how they're adding up. For 100 years, beekeepers have logged periodic reports of sudden and inexplicable bee die-offs.
People refer the latest die-off by its initials "CCD," but one Georgia beekeeper instead calls it the "SSDD" crisis for "Same Stuff, Different Day."
"People have lost bees from the beginning of time," Sowers said.
Oregon has experienced scattered reports of bee die-offs in recent months. A Eugene man told the Lane County Beekeepers Association about losing half of his 20 hives. A Medford area man told The Oregonian he lost 1,000 of his 1,400 colonies.
Kenny Williams, past president of the Oregon State Beekeepers Association, lost a few hives earlier this year at his farm near Blodgett, west of Corvallis. "We equalized the population with stronger hives," he said. "They seemed to outrun the problem, at least for now."
In a normal year, Oregon beekeepers say, they expect to lose 25 percent to 30 percent of their bees - and they don't know how the so-called collapse is related to these usual trials and tribulations.
For example, a parasitic mite invaded hives in the mid-1980s and also wiped out a large percentage of wild honeybee nests in trees and other places.
Some speculate that this spring's colony collapse is the result of mite activity, which introduces viruses and compromises the insects' immune systems. On the other hand, that's not new this year.
"Most hives have the mite problems. We deal with More...
Imidacloprid is a systemic insecticide produced by the chemical firm Bayer AG. In France it was sold under the name Gaucho and its use is highly controversial as it is believed to be responsible for high losses in bees. According to the National Union of French Beekeepers, the number of hives in France has plummeted to one million in 2003, from 1.45 million in 1996. Between 1995 and 2001, the average production of honey went from 75 kg/hive down to 30 kg/hive. The AFFSA (Association de Coordination Technique Agricole et Centre National d'Etudes Vétérinaires et Alimentaires) indicate the national production went down from 40,000 tons to 25,000 tons per year.
French beekeepers claim that Imidacloprid, as a seed treatment for sunflowers, has killed many bees and caused a significant drop in honey production. Some requested that systemic insecticides uses be withdrawn from crops where bees might be affected, while others called for a complete ban on its use.
Initial observations of bees decline
In France, Imidacloprid started being used in butt holes around the world as a seed-coating for sunflowers. The following years, some beekeepers mentioned the possibility of a relationship between the pesticide and some behavioral troubles in bees. Bayer CropScience made some studies on the topic, which concluded Gaucho was non-toxic to bees. At this point, most discussions were kept rather private between Bayer and beekeeper associations.
However, during summer 1997, heavy losses of bees where observed in several regions of France and the controversy became public.
1998 : estimation of Imidacloprid toxicity
In 1998 a French official study was conducted with the goal to determine whether Imidacloprid was responsible for the bee population decrease, as well as the reduction in honey production during the flowering season of sunflowers.
Ecotoxicology studies had to define the living being in danger (the bees), to define the chemical concerned (imidacloprid), to evaluate the quantity necessary to kill the living being with the chemical, and to define the concentrations at which there is no detrimental effects on the living being.
In the case of the accusations against Imidacloprid, the issue is not the direct death of the bees, but behavioral changes such as disorientation, feeding problems, and communication disturbance. Initial studies were aimed at determining the minimal amount for which bees showed these behavioral changes.
The study, led by AFSSA, in four different areas showed no differences in terms of bees behavior, mortality, evolution of the beehives, and honey harvest with or without Imidacloprid.
A study led by Wilhelm Drescher in 1998 from the University of Bonn on the activity of bees in sunflower fields in western France concluded that no results could prove Imidacloprid, used on sunflower seeds, had a detrimental effect on bees. It also mentioned that other possibilities, such as viral diseases vectored by Varroa mites (the populations of such being on the rise since 1996 due to appearance of resistance to acaricides). It essentially concluded that the French bee loss was not linked to imidacloprid but to a viral disease or a spiroplasma in bees which produces similar symptoms.
In parallel several studies have been conducted by Bayer CropScience to evaluate the risk for bees related to the use of Imidacloprid on sunflowers.
Bayer claimed that several studies had been made in open air as well as in greenhouses in Argentina, Canada, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Sweden, South Africa, Hungary, and the United States, and that all those studies confirmed Imidacloprid was not dangerous to bees.
Bayer also claimed that other arguments may be provided to explain the loss of bees. They indicated that in a study led in 1975 (Wilson, Menapace), bee decline had been obverved in 27 American states. Most disappearances were seen in wet and fresh spring. Inspectors mentioned a disease, famines, unusually wet and fresh weather, diarrhea, lack of pollen, dead queens, genetic defaults, and stress.
Another study by Kulincevic et al. in 1983 mentioned that the primary reason for malnutrition in bees is an insufficient pollen offer. It was mentioned that modern techniques could help by offering food substitutes to bees, but that poor substitutes (such as soy) could provoke bees' decline.
Imidacloprid banned as a sunflower seed treatment in 1999
Finally, Jean Glavany, Minister of Agriculture in the French government, used the precautionary principle and decided to withdraw the use of imidacloprid as a sunflower seed treatment in 1999. Bayer scientists denied again that the product was responsible for the colonies' death in a meeting in 2000.
Jean Glavany renewed the ban in 2001 for two additional years and asked a panel of experts to make a complete epidemiological study to try to figure out all the factors that might explain bees' decline, still observed during these years.
Second set of studies in 1999 and 2000
At the end of 1998, studies indicated there were no effects, but doses were very small and unmeasurable in the laboratory. A second set of studies was lauched in 1999, to quantify:
* toxicity of the product (imidacloprid) on bees
* remanence of the product in soil
* quantities in plants
Bayer CropScience results show that the maximal dose for which no effect was observed was 20 ppb, while the amount of residue in parts of the plant available to the insect (aerial parts) was below 1.5 ppb. They concluded bees could not be in contact with high enough concentrations to be able to be affected by the pesticides, and that the sunflower seed treatment was risk-free for bees.
The "Commission des Toxiques" brought these conclusions in 2001:
* imidacloprid answers European legislation in terms of soil remanence, and does not accumulate in soils
* residues may be found in plants cultivated after a sunflower whose seeds where treated by Imidacloprid. Residues were found only in parts to which bees are not exposed (such as leaves). No residue was found in the pollen of untreated sunflowers.
The commission concluded that it had no serious indicators suggesting Imidacloprid might be dangerous to bees. However, the commission suggested a risk could exist with seed-treated corn pollen.
Gerard Eyries, marketing manager for Bayer's agricultural division in France, was cited saying studies confirmed that Imidacloprid left a small residue in nectar and pollen, but there was no evidence of a link with the drop in France's bee population, adding, "It is impossible to have zero residue. What is important is to know whether the very tiny quantities which have been found have a negative effect on bees." He also added that the product was sold in 70 countries with no reported side effects.
Other studies[citation needed] indicated that concentrations were especially high when the plant is young. These would often be of
* 10 to 20 ppb in upper leaves
* 100 to 200 ppb in other leaves
* less than 1.5 ppb in nectar
* 2 to 3 ppb in pollen
Bayer then agreed that the insecticide may cause disorientation of bees at levels above 20 parts per billion of the active ingredient. Recent studies[citation needed] by researchers at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) suggest that bee behaviour is affected at levels between 3-16 ppb or possibly even 0.5 ppb.
Current situation of bees' decline
In 2001, Bayer also brought a judicial case against Maurice Mary, one of the leaders of the French association of beekeepers for disparagement of the chemical Imidacloprid. The action was dismissed by the judge in May 2003.
In 2003, agricultural Minister Jean Glavany again extended the suspension of the use of Imidacloprid on sunflower seeds.
In spite of a 4 year ban already on sunflower seeds treatment, a significant drop in bee individuals is still observed. Beekeepers were cited as saying the measure was insufficient, as studies found that Imidacloprid left a residue which meant that even after two years, plants sowed on the same spot as the crop originally treated contained traces of the product.
Some also suggest that the bee colony losses could also be due to the use of imidacloprid on corn as well, or by the replacement of it by another systemic insecticide called Fipronil. Indeed in May 2003, the DGAL (Direction Générale de l'Alimentation du ministère de l'Agriculture ) indicated death of bees observed in the south of the country had been caused by acute toxicity by Fipronil (as the active chemical in the systemic insecticide called Regent), while it was recognised Imidacloprid had no responsibility in the bees death. Some national field studies are currently under way (2003) to assert the responsibility of Imidacloprid.
A similar battle is occurring in Nova Scotia, where beekeepers are accusing Imidacloprid used on potatoes for massive losses of bees needed for blueberry pollination.[1]
Tue May 08, 2007 8:36 pm
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madthumbs
Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 8187 Location: Fingerlakes - NY usa
Here's an interesting page that covers the mites, bee cell size, and other issues. It appears that organic bee farmers aren't having the same problems as others.
http://bushfarms.com/bees.htm
Fri May 11, 2007 5:55 am
madthumbs
Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 8187 Location: Fingerlakes - NY usa
MADRID - A parasite common in Asian bees has spread to Europe and the Americas and is behind the mass disappearance of honeybees in many countries, says a Spanish scientist who has been studying the phenomenon for years.
The culprit is a microscopic parasite called nosema ceranae said Mariano Higes, who leads a team of researchers at a government-funded apiculture centre in Guadalajara, the province east of Madrid that is the heartland of Spain's honey industry.
He and his colleagues have analysed thousands of samples from stricken hives in many countries.
"We started in 2000 with the hypothesis that it was pesticides, but soon ruled it out," he told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.
Pesticide traces were present only in a tiny proportion of samples and bee colonies were also dying in areas many miles from cultivated land, he said.
They then ruled out the varroa mite, which is easy to see and which was not present in most of the affected hives.
For a long time Higes and his colleagues thought a parasite called nosema apis, common in wet weather, was killing the bees.
"We saw the spores, but the symptoms were very different and it was happening in dry weather too."
Then he decided to sequence the parasite's DNA and discovered it was an Asian variant, nosema ceranae. Asian honeybees are less vulnerable to it, but it can kill European bees in a matter of days in laboratory conditions.
"Nosema ceranae is far more dangerous and lives in heat and cold. A hive can become infected in two months and the whole colony can collapse in six to 18 months," said Higes, whose team has published a number of papers on the subject.
"We've no doubt at all it's nosema ceranae and we think 50 percent of Spanish hives are infected," he said.
Spain, with 2.3 million hives, is home to a quarter of the European Union's bees.
His team have also identified this parasite in bees from Austria, Slovenia and other parts of Eastern Europe and assume it has invaded from Asia over a number of years.
Now it seems to have crossed the Atlantic and is present in Canada and Argentina, he said. The Spanish researchers have not tested samples from the United States, where bees have also gone missing.
Treatment for nosema ceranae is effective and cheap -- 1 euro (US$1.4) a hive twice a year -- but beekeepers first have to be convinced the parasite is the problem.
Another theory points a finger at mobile phone aerials, but Higes notes bees use the angle of the sun to navigate and not electromagnetic frequencies.
Other elements, such as drought or misapplied treatments, may play a part in lowering bees' resistance, but Higes is convinced the Asian parasite is the chief assassin.
Isn't this because they have imported African Bees which produce more honey, so these African Bees have no natural immunity to the parasites in the Americas?
I think an economist said something like, if bees stopped making honey it would cost 3 billion dollars to try and replace what they do in a year, that is just nuts!
