One of the most important crop pollinators in the world, honey bees in the United States have been decimated in recent months by a mysterious disease.
Credit: Jon Sullivan/Wikipedia
The almond trees are blooming and the bees are dying, and nobody knows why. All up and down California's vast San Joaquin Valley, nearly 2,500 square kilometres of small nut trees arranged in laser-straight rows are shaking off the cobwebs of winter. They're gearing up once again to produce nearly half a billion kilograms of nuts, worth US$3 billion to the U.S. economy.
The trees cannot produce the bounty on their own, however. They need bees - a million hives worth - trucked in from nearly forty U.S. states to move pollen from one tree to another, fertilising the blooms in the largest managed pollination event on Earth.
But even as the beekeepers reap record fees for renting their hives, their livelihood is now threatened by the largest loss of honey bees in the history of the industry.
Since October 2006, 35 per cent or more of the United States' population of the Western honey bee (Apis mellifera) - billions of individual bees - simply flew from their hive homes and disappeared.
When the almonds were being plucked from the trees late last year, Gene Brandi of Los Banos, California had 2,000 hives, but by late February he had just 1,200 - a loss of 40 per cent.
And Brandi is one of the more fortunate. Across the 24 U.S. states affected by the mysterious phenomenon, losses have ranged up to 90 per cent. "I've had a couple of yards where I've had 200 hives and they're down to 10 hives that are alive," says David Bradshaw of Visalia, about 180 kilometres southeast of Los Banos along California's Route 99.
What's causing the carnage, however, is a total mystery; all that scientists have come up with so far is a new name for the phenomenon - Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) - and a list of symptoms.
In hives hit by CCD, adult workers simply fly away and disappear, leaving a small cluster of workers and the hive's young to fend for themselves. Adding to the mystery, nearby predators, such as the wax moth, are refraining from moving in to pilfer honey and other hive contents from the abandoned hives; in CCD-affected hives the honey remains untouched.
The symptoms are baffling, but one of the emerging hypotheses is that the scourge is underpinned by a collapse of the bees' immune systems. Stressed out by cross-country truck journeys and drought, attacked by viruses and introduced parasites, or whacked out by harmful new pesticides, some researchers believe the bees' natural defences may have simply given way. This opens the door to a host of problems that the bees can normally suppress.
What's surprising is that mysterious declines are nothing new. As far back as 1896, CCD has popped up again and again, only under the monikers: 'fall dwindle' disease, 'May dwindle', 'spring dwindle', 'disappearing disease', and 'autumn collapse'.
Even the current outbreak has possibly been going on undetected for two years, according to the CCD Working Group - a crack group of U.S. researchers from institutes including the Pennsylvania State University and University of Montana, who are trying to unravel the mystery.
What has made the members of the Working Group - as well as conservationists, beekeepers, and farmers - really sit up and notice is the scale of this year's decimation; something in the environment has allowed CCD to reach an unprecedented scale that threatens the very survival of the pollination industry.
"We have never seen a die-off of this magnitude with this weird symptomology," says Maryann Frazier, a bee researcher at Pennsylvania State University. "We've seen bees disappear over time and dwindle away, but not die-off so quickly."
Asian mites and latent viruses
A problem preventing clear identification of CCD is that honey bees are already under threat from manifold foes.
Even without CCD, the number of managed hives in the U.S. has dwindled by nearly 50 per cent since the industry's peak in the 1970s. The main culprit for the die-offs is a tiny Asian mite. Known as Varroa destructor to scientists and the 'vampire mite' to beekeepers, these tiny parasites - circular, crab-like arachnids about the size of a bee's eyeball - have been quietly parasitising the Asiatic honey bee (Apis cerana) in Southeast Asia for millennia.
 |
|
Varroa destructor, a tiny tick-like arachnid, has been wreaking havoc on U.S. honey bees since it was inadvertently introduced from Asia in the 1980s.
Scott Bauer/Wikipedia
|
Some time in the early 1980s, though, the mites hitched a ride to America and hopped on new hosts - spreading like wildfire throughout the defenceless Western honey bee population with the help of migratory beekeepers who obligingly trucked them around the country. The mites suck the vital juices out of both developing and adult bees, and left unchecked can kill a hive within 12 months.
In addition to the damage that the mites do themselves, they also spread viruses. Furthermore, the mites appear to assist the viruses by somehow sabotaging the bees' immune system.
"There's something about a mite feeding on a bee that just knocks its immune system out. [Then] the viruses can take over," says Eric Mussen, a bee researcher at the University of California, Davis.
But mites and their viruses have been infecting U.S. honey bees for nearly 30 years. What has experts worried is that CCD kills bees even more efficiently than mites - destroying a healthy colony in a matter of weeks.
your theory plausible but not in the case of our dying bees
Yesterday my huge bush that produces white flowers which attract thousands of honey bees, wasps and butterflies was alive with the sound of the loud buzzing that my husband and I have gotten used to over the years. Today, we awakened to an unusual quiet. The ground under the bush was littered with dead honey bees. Wasps and butterflies do not seem to be affected. Our town has no air pollution, no industry, only 6000 residents, and is a former mining town turned tourist/art colony. We live in Bisbee, AZ in the southeast corner of the state. It is very disturbing to us to see these bees literally dropping out of the bush and our other shrubs and flowers not being visited as much by the bees as well. What's going on? The dead bees I looked at appeared to have a shrivelled, dehydrated appearance. I wondered if they could be victims of the tic mentioned in the article. Any ideas? We had sprayed the bush for a severe aphid infestation with malathion almost 2 years ago, but the affected leaves were limited to one area of the bush and it has been sprayed with water many times since the spraying as well as the cleansing rains that we have had as well. Besides this die-off occurred so suddenly, so abruptly it is quite odd and very mysterious to say the least. Pamela and Ronald Smeberg, Bisbee, AZ. 85603
dying bees
What were the weather conditions for the night before the die-off was notices. Where is the nearest power plant and how does it generate it's power there in Bisbee?
Thanks
Lionel Milberger
A theory
I will refrain from pointing out the fact that you are completely clueless about the biology of living systems and just address your concerns about carbon dioxide levels. It is true that an excessive amount of CO2 will asphyxiate a bee or hive. Although these excessive levels would wipe out every living thing around the hive including the bees and quite possibly you. Second point is that bees do not breath like people. They do not have lungs, but passively diffuse gases through a tubular network in there bodies. Additionally lets take into consideration where these bees are (the honey bees in the article ), they are in agricultural settings with what would be considered an oxygen rich environment. Lastly if you know of a processing plant that is polluting the air with hydrogen sulfide gas or excessive carbon dioxide you need to call the Environmental Protection Agency or your at the very least your state representative. Those to products are considered pollutants. Hydrogen sulfide especially, which is usually recovered for the H2, but CO2 is usually utilized in other industrial applications, primarily methylation. You may want to focus your study a little more.
our honey bees: healthy yesterday, dropping dead today
We do not raise bees, nor are we farmers. We do have a huge bush of the holly variety which produces white flowers that have always attracted thousands of bees. There are so many that the buzzing can be heard in from inside our house. Yesterday it was business as usual, lots of bees, some wasps, and butterflies. Today, the ground and sidewalk underneath this bush is littered with dead honeybees. Most look shrivelled up. There was one that was crawling slowly around for awhile. Could they be victims of this tic-like parasite that is mentioned in the article. We live in Bisbee, Arizona, a town of 6000 people in the southeast corner of the state very near to the Mexico border. We had had a severe case of aphids attack the bush last year and had to spray it with malathion to rid it of the infestation. Could that somehow be killing the bees even though it has been more than one year since we used the malathion? Any ideas, comments, concerns would be appreciated. Pam
so unneccessary
The bee deaths are a mystery but human greed is well-documented. The only reason we have so many pesticides (and gen-crops and hormone injections, and, and, and..) is because the manufacturers of these products convinced the farmers that they NEED them to survive.
Want to make a quick buck? Think of a way to save a farmer some effort or to give him a slight edge over his farmer neighbors. As soon as you sell to one farmer, all the rest will be knocking down your door to give you cash.
Nature be damned.
My bees are dying as I write this
I have a lemon tree which up until yesterday was covered with happy busy bees all over its flowers.
This morning I woke up to find a very sad scene of many dead bees on the ground and many others dying. There are probably only about 10% left still feeding off the flowers. At the speed which they are dying, I suspect there will be none left within a few hours.
They are dying very fast. I've seen a bee die before and that took hours. These bees are not dying naturally. Something is killing them very fast.
A couple of bees even went into the house to die. Extremely unusual behavior.
As for the cause,I do not know which of the theories is the right one, but I tend to agree with Albert Einstien on this one. Once the bees are gone we might find ourselves following in footsteps soon after.
Nivi Lifshitz,
Woodland Hills CA.
additional thoughts about bees and the air
WHAT I KNOW:
1. In Robertson County we have the following emission sources:
a. 5+ amine gas plants, permitted to process about 1,000+ MMSCF/Day of produced natural gas. The gas streams have about 5% CO2 along with considerable amounts of H2S. Emissions to the air include most of this CO2 (some 50+ MMSCF/Day of C02), a bunch of H2S or SO2 (if incinerated), various VOC’s (such as benzene, toluene, & xylene, etc) and some NOX’s & CO from combustion sources at the plants.
b. There are many compressor stations, glycol dehydrators (which are not at the gas plants), various treating equipment at hundreds of gas well sites, including scavengers, all emitting to the air, toxins such as CH4, NOX’s, VOC’s, CO, etc and other unknown compounds.
c. All of the above is emitted through stacks typically no more than 20 ft. tall. One is known to be 68 ft. high.
d. There are two (2) power plants, one is coal fired. Others are planned. These power plants emit very large unidentified quantities of CO2 along with NOX’s, VOC’s, mercury, and many other toxins. The exact quantity of CO2 emissions from these power plants are not required to be reported to the state regulatory agencies such as the TCEQ (Texas Commission of Environmental Quality) and the RRC (Texas Railroad Commission). These agencies have no interest or concern for CO2 emissions.
e. CO2 is a green house gas. CO2 is considerably heavier than air. CO2 is not routinely included in the emission modeling from these sources. It can act as a large quantity ‘carrier gas’ for other toxins which are simultaneously emitted. Under certain wind and weather conditions, CO2 as the ‘carrier gas’ can move to the ground and gather in low places and move and flow “like a river”. Experience with lowered O2 show that it is prevalent at night or early in the morning when the wind is light to calm and the air temperature is on the cool side. The condition is not constant or consistent and it is dependent on many wind, weather, and geographical conditions.
f. CO2 and other toxins are soluble in water. Fog & dew could be a factor in the movement and accumulation of these gasses and it probably complicates prediction and measurement of emissions.
g. So called ‘standard air’ contains 20.9% O2, about 78% N2, and 1% of all other kinds of stuff (including CO2). Locally, (near large emission sources) O2 content in the air can be lowered if CO2 has excessively accumulated. If the CO2 is a ‘carrier gas’ stream, other toxins may abound.
h. Typical ‘safe’ worker conditions (OSHA) are unsatisfactory when O2 in the air is at or below 19.5%. This condition is for healthy adults in the workplace. I have found no O2 standards for residents which include children, babies, and sick people.
i. What could be done?
i. Lab studies on bees could be conducted to observe when abnormal bee activity is observed as the O2 content of their air is lowered. In other words, how low is too low? It is clear that at some reduced level, suffocation and death will occur.
ii. Further studies could include probably other toxins which might be present in the air such as H2S, some selected VOC’s, NOX’s, etc.
iii. Bee autopsies on sick, dead and healthy bees to measure blood O2 content. (if that is possible) In other words, look for signs of suffocation. Autopsies should also include the search for other toxins which are either known or expected to be present.
iv. Explore the possibility of bees ingesting toxins and CO2 as a part of water intake from dew droplets, etc. (CO2 alone, is not a toxin)
Further discussion is obviously invited.
Lionel Milberger
I like to refer to research paper
I was suprised, astonished and embarrased when I read your text about the gas and other toxin emissions of the power plants around your residence area. Something new and radical have to be done to reject or decrease the emissions you told.
I found a research paper named "Changes in the behaviour of honey-bees following their recovery from anaesthesia" that supports your thoughts about 02 -theory and maybe CO2 - theory. This researh paper is derived from 1950. If you like to go trough the paper you can find it in the internet. http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/27/3/302.pdf
God save the Honey-bee Queen.
Raino Pietarinen
look for technical paper
My computer cannot call up the web site which you mentioned. Any other suggestion how I can get the techical paper?
LJM
Calling up the web site
I'd like to propose that you recall up the web site after having Adobe Reader 7.0 in your computer. The paper is headlined by Changes in the Behaviour of Honey-Bees Following Their Recovery from Anasthesia By C. R. Ribbands, Bee Research Department Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpendem. The file opens allmost in my computer by Adobe Reader 7.0.
I found the paper by using "CO2 and bees" as a search index in Google Search. I hope you'll get the paper out. Unfortunately, the file doesn't refer to any scientific publication to had possibly been published in the 1950s.
Raino Pietarinen