The Buzz on Colony Collapse Disorder
© 2007 Wendy Dager
Bees are dying. That’s pretty much the only thing upon which scientists fully agree when it comes to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the term used to describe the devastation of honeybee colonies across the United States and in other countries such as England, Germany, Portugal and Switzerland.
Most recent map documenting CCD throughout the U.S. Reprinted with permission of Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk,
Bee Alert Technology, Inc, http://beealert.info.Colony Collapse Disorder occurs when worker bees abruptly abandon a beehive. This is not a new phenomenon—CCD was recorded as early as 1971—however, it has achieved unusually high proportions, leading to extensive investigation by scientists. Some of the causes were thought to be mites, pesticides, malnutrition, bacteria, genetically modified crops (see “Roundup-Resistant Bentgrass—Friend or Frankenweed,” http://www.ssseeds.com/leaf-let/roundup-resistantbentgrass.htm), global climate change and even cellular telephone towers.
While most experts now say that cellular towers, or the phones themselves—which some theorized interfered with bees’ natural radar—have been ruled out as a factor in CCD, they are still trying to determine if the root cause is a known or unknown disease, the widespread use of pesticides, global warming, or, perhaps, a combination of factors. The number of collapsed colonies is estimated to be in the neighborhood of one million out of the nation’s 2.4 million, but the actual number may be higher because some honeybee farmers have been reluctant to go on record with news of their colonies’ demise. When CCD began to spread, professional beekeepers were worried that public knowledge of their difficulties would affect their livelihoods. According to researchers, however, more beekeepers, desperate for assistance, are coming forward so that scientists can find the source of CCD, in order to ultimately find a cure. Without one, the potential for disaster is enormous. The CCD story—and its many rumored causes—has been greatly publicized via the Internet and other media sources, but does not seem to be of consequence to laypersons. This apathy may be due to the fact that the general public does not recognize the distinct connection between field and grocery store. Bees pollinate eighty percent of fruit, vegetable and seed crops, a $12 billion dollar industry, but incalculably valuable in terms of the world’s food supply.
At the time this Leaf-let went to press, researchers at Penn State, the USDA and Columbia University had just issued a press release stating they’d found that there was a correlation between Colony Collapse Disorder and the Israeli acute paralysis virus, originating in Australia. Read future editions of the award-winning Leaf-let for updates on this critical environmental issue.
—The Leaf-let thanks Joe Glassy of Lupine Logic Inc., for his assistance. Lupine Logic, Inc. (http://www.lupinelogic.com/) provides the RichPoint (GPS) geo-location/multimedia database and software that stores some CCD field data.
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