Thread: Bees Wiped Out by Cascade of Deadly Events

They are not blaming it on global warming? Hmmm....

Survey: Honeybee colony collapse losses declining
By Genaro C. Armas, Associated Press Writer
Wed Jan 27, 5:44 am ET

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Fewer beekeepers are reporting evidence of a mysterious ailment that had been decimating the U.S. honeybee population.

But losses due to colony collapse disorder remain high enough to keep beekeepers on edge, and longtime stresses on bees such as starvation and poor weather add to the burden.

A survey of beekeepers for the January issue of the Journal of Apicultural Research found that the percentage of operations reporting having lost colonies but without dead bees in the hives — a symptom of colony collapse disorder, or CCD — decreased to 26 percent last winter, compared to 38 percent the previous season and 36 percent the season before that.

Also, the percentage of colonies that died that displayed the CCD symptom was 36 percent last winter, down from 60 percent three winters ago, the survey found.

The earliest reports of CCD date to 2004, and scientists still are trying to find a cause.

"The story is really complicated. We thought we'd have a simple explanation," said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, Pennsylvania's acting state apiarist. "CCD drew our attention, but there are lot of things" affecting the bees.

More than 90 crops, from almonds to tomatoes, rely in large part on bees for pollination.

Richard Adee, who owns one of the largest commercial beekeeping operations in the country, Adee Honey Farms, based in Bruce, S.D., has bees in California now ready to pollinate the almond crop. At peak season, during the summer, he has about 80,000 hives for honey production in the Midwest.

He said that after losing 40 percent of his colonies over the winter of 2008, losses are down to a more expected 12 percent.

"We're not seeing as big a hit," Adee said, "but I still talk to beekeepers who are losing bees."

Bees rely on stored honey to survive the winter. Beekeepers can wrap colony boxes to provide extra warmth or try to provide sugar syrup for food if supplies are light, but they generally don't work with bees in the cold.

That means the winter months can be worrisome for some beekeepers, such as beekeeping hobbyist Tom Jones, of Carlisle.

"I don't know what's going to happen this year, but I'll be anxious to see ... when I go check them," Jones, 66, said before his demonstration at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg earlier this month.

This winter has been particularly brutal, with storms producing record snowfalls and chilling winds in many parts of the country. Freezing temperatures that swept in on an Arctic front from Canada plagued as far south as Florida.

Despite the apparent decline in colony collapse losses, the industry continues to be hit hard — an estimated 29 percent of all U.S. colonies died last winter, about 11 percentage points higher than what beekeepers consider normal, acceptable losses, according to the survey.

Colony collapse was ranked as the eighth most important cause of bee mortality last winter, down from fourth the previous winter.

"Losses are shifting. There are fewer operations with CCD, though they still lost a lot of colonies," said vanEngelsdorp, the lead author on the study. "But other factors are killing bees."

Starvation, typically a top cause of mortality, was first, followed by poor quality queen bees and weather. The percentage of beekeepers citing weather as a leading winter concern jumped from 9 percent to 18 percent.

The study noted many of the top causes of mortality can be countered with better management, such as wrapping colonies over the winter or providing supplemental food.

VanEngelsdorp sees a positive in the results — heightened concern over CCD in recent years has led beekeepers to become more aware of other problems plaguing the buzzing winged insects.

Another offshoot has been more interest in beekeeping as a hobby. Some small beekeepers, like Jones, have enough hives to sell their own honey.

"We're paying attention to research and approved management" techniques, said Lee Miller, president of the Pennsylvania State Beekeepers Association. "We think beekeeping is going to improve, but we don't know how fast."

___

On the Net:

Colony collapse disorder information: http://maarec.psu.edu/ColonyCollapseDisorder.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100127/...ZleWhvbmV5Yg--

Bees in more trouble than ever after bad winter
Garance Burke And Seth Borenstein, Associated Press Writers
Wed Mar 24, 8:05 am ET
MERCED, Calif. – The mysterious 4-year-old crisis of disappearing honeybees is deepening. A quick federal survey indicates a heavy bee die-off this winter, while a new study shows honeybees' pollen and hives laden with pesticides.

Two federal agencies along with regulators in California and Canada are scrambling to figure out what is behind this relatively recent threat, ordering new research on pesticides used in fields and orchards. Federal courts are even weighing in this month, ruling that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overlooked a requirement when allowing a pesticide on the market.

And on Thursday, chemists at a scientific conference in San Francisco will tackle the issue of chemicals and dwindling bees in response to the new study.

Scientists are concerned because of the vital role bees play in our food supply. About one-third of the human diet is from plants that require pollination from honeybees, which means everything from apples to zucchini.

Bees have been declining over decades from various causes. But in 2006 a new concern, "colony collapse disorder," was blamed for large, inexplicable die-offs. The disorder, which causes adult bees to abandon their hives and fly off to die, is likely a combination of many causes, including parasites, viruses, bacteria, poor nutrition and pesticides, experts say.

"It's just gotten so much worse in the past four years," said Jeff Pettis, research leader of the Department of Agriculture's Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md. "We're just not keeping bees alive that long."

This year bees seem to be in bigger trouble than normal after a bad winter, according to an informal survey of commercial bee brokers cited in an internal USDA document. One-third of those surveyed had trouble finding enough hives to pollinate California's blossoming nut trees, which grow the bulk of the world's almonds. A more formal survey will be done in April.

"There were a lot of beekeepers scrambling to fill their orders and that implies that mortality was high," said Penn State University bee researcher Dennis vanEngelsdorp, who worked on the USDA snapshot survey.

Beekeeper Zac Browning shipped his hives from Idaho to California to pollinate the blossoming almond groves. He got a shock when he checked on them, finding hundreds of the hives empty, abandoned by the worker bees.

The losses were extreme, three times higher than the previous year.

"It wasn't one load or two loads, but every load we were pulling out that was dead. It got extremely depressing to see a third of my livestock gone," Browning said, standing next to stacks of dead bee colonies in a clearing near Merced, at the center of California's fertile San Joaquin Valley.

Among all the stresses to bee health, it's the pesticides that are attracting scrutiny now. A study published Friday in the scientific journal PLOS (Public Library of Science) One found about three out of five pollen and wax samples from 23 states had at least one systemic pesticide — a chemical designed to spread throughout all parts of a plant.

EPA officials said they are aware of problems involving pesticides and bees and the agency is "very seriously concerned."

The pesticides are not a risk to honey sold to consumers, federal officials say. And the pollen that people eat is probably safe because it is usually from remote areas where pesticides are not used, Pettis said. But the PLOS study found 121 different types of pesticides within 887 wax, pollen, bee and hive samples.

"The pollen is not in good shape," said Chris Mullin of Penn State University, lead author.

None of the chemicals themselves were at high enough levels to kill bees, he said, but it was the combination and variety of them that is worrisome.

University of Illinois entomologist May Berenbaum called the results "kind of alarming."

Despite EPA assurances, environmental groups don't think the EPA is doing enough on pesticides.

Bayer Crop Science started petitioning the agency to approve a new pesticide for sale in 2006. After reviewing the company's studies of its effects on bees, the EPA gave Bayer conditional approval to sell the product two years later, but said it had to carry a label warning that it was "potentially toxic to honey bee larvae through residues in pollen and nectar."

The Natural Resources Defense Council sued, saying the agency failed to give the public timely notice for the new pesticide application. In December, a federal judge in New York agreed, banning the pesticide's sale and earlier this month, two more judges upheld the ruling.

"This court decision is obviously very painful for us right now, and for growers who don't have access to that product," said Jack Boyne, an entomologist and spokesman for Bayer Crop Science. "This product quite frankly is not harmful to honeybees."

Boyne said the pesticide was sold for only about a year and most sales were in California, Arizona and Florida. The product is intended to disrupt the mating patterns of insects that threaten citrus, lettuce and grapes, he said.

Berenbaum's research shows pesticides are not the only problem. She said multiple viruses also are attacking the bees, making it tough to propose a single solution.

"Things are still heading downhill," she said.

For Browning, one of the country's largest commercial beekeepers, the latest woes have led to a $1 million loss this year.

"It's just hard to get past this," he said, watching as workers cleaned honey from empty wooden hives Monday. "I'm going to rebuild, but I have plenty of friends who aren't going to make it."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100324/...Vlc2lubW9yZXRy

On the Net: The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Colony Collapse Disorder: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/...SIG=10snuvl9h/

The study in Public Library of Science One: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/...SIG=10tmu14ie/

25,000 bumblebees die, drop from trees in Oregon after pesticide spray
1 day ago[/i]

It's tough to be a bee these days. Oregon officials are investigating why an estimated 25,000 bumblebees have been found dead in a Target parking lot in Wilsonville, Ore., since Saturday. It's the largest-known death of bumblebees ever in the U.S. Reports of bees falling from the 55 blooming linden trees were still coming into the Oregon Department of Agriculture on Wednesday. Initial findings indicate the trees were sprayed Saturday with the insecticide called Safari, which carries a warning on the label not to spray "if bees are visiting the area." "I've never encountered anything quite like it in 30 years in the business," said Dan Hilburn, director of plant programs at the Oregon Agriculture Department.

http://now.msn.com/bumblebees-drop-f...?ocid=ansnowex

Let's stop poisoning the bees.

Insanity - US Approves Bee Death Pesticide as EU Bans It: http://goo.gl/0z8k3

via Organic Consumers Association

Deadly Honeybee Diseases Likely Spreading to Bumblebees

Wild bumblebees worldwide are in trouble, likely contracting deadly diseases from their commercialized honeybee cousins, a new study shows.

That's a problem even though bumblebees aren't trucked from farm to farm like honeybees. They provide a significant chunk of the world's pollination of flowers and food, especially greenhouse tomatoes, insect experts said. And the ailments are hurting bumblebees even more, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. "Wild populations of bumblebees appear to be in significant decline across Europe, North America, South America and also in Asia," said study author Mark Brown of the University of London.

He said his study confirmed that a major source of the decline was "the spillover of parasites and pathogens and disease" from managed honeybee hives.

Smaller studies have shown disease going back and forth between the two kinds of bees. Brown said his is the first to look at the problem in a larger country-wide scale and include three diseases and parasites.

The study tracked nearly 750 bees in 26 sites throughout Great Britain. And it also did lab work on captive bees to show disease spread.

What the study shows is that "the spillover for bees is turning into (a) boilover," University of Illinois entomology professor May Berenbaum, who wasn't part of the study, said in an email.

Study co-author Matthias Furst of the University of London said the team's research does not definitely prove the diseases go from honeybees to bumblebees. But the evidence points heavily in that direction because virus levels and infection rates are higher in the honeybees, he said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/scien...blebees-n34026

Stung by Bee Decline, White House Sets Up Pollinator Plan

The White House on Friday announced a federal strategy to reverse a decline in the number of honeybees and other pollinators in the United States — a threat that affects billions of dollars' worth of crops. President Barack Obama directed federal agencies to use research, land management, education and public/private partnerships to advance honeybee and other pollinator health and habitats. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Agriculture Department will lead a multi-agency task force to develop a pollinator health strategy and action plan within six months. As part of the plan, the USDA announced $8 million in funding for farmers and ranchers in five Midwest states who establish new habitats for honeybee populations. But some environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth, said the beekeeper-in-chief should have taken action against neonicotinoids, a class of pesticides chemically similar to nicotine that has been linked to bee deaths.

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/envir...r-plan-n137086

More than 40 percent of bee hives died in past year
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer - 5 hrs ago

WASHINGTON — More than two out of five American honeybee colonies died in the past year, and surprisingly the worst die-off was in the summer, according to a federal survey.

Since April 2014, beekeepers lost 42.1 percent of their colonies, the second highest loss rate in nine years, according to an annual survey conducted by a bee partnership that includes the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"What we're seeing with this bee problem is just a loud signal that there's some bad things happening with our agro-ecosystems," said study co-author Keith Delaplane at the University of Georgia. "We just happen to notice it with the honeybee because they are so easy to count."

But it's not quite as dire as it sounds. That's because after a colony dies, beekeepers then split their surviving colonies, start new ones, and the numbers go back up again, said Delaplane and study co-author Dennis vanEngelsdorp of the University of Maryland.

What shocked the entomologists is that is the first time they've noticed bees dying more in the summer than the winter, said vanEngelsdorp said. The survey found beekeepers lost 27.4 percent of their colonies this summer. That's up from 19.8 percent the previous summer.

Seeing massive colony losses in summer is like seeing "a higher rate of flu deaths in the summer than winter," vanEngelsdorp said. "You just don't expect colonies to die at this rate in the summer."

Oklahoma, Illinois, Iowa, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Maine and Wisconsin all saw more than 60 percent of their hives die since April 2014, according to the survey.

"Most of the major commercial beekeepers get a dark panicked look in their eyes when they discuss these losses and what it means to their businesses," said Pennsylvania State University entomology professor Diana Cox-Foster. She wasn't part of the study, but praised it.

Delaplane and vanEngelsdorp said a combination of mites, poor nutrition and pesticides are to blame for the bee deaths. USDA bee scientist Jeff Pettis said last summer's large die-off included unusual queen loss and seemed worse in colonies that moved more.

Dick Rogers, chief beekeeper for pesticide-maker Bayer, said the loss figure is "not unusual at all" and said the survey shows an end result of more colonies now than before: 2.74 million hives in 2015, up from 2.64 million in 2014.

That doesn't mean bee health is improving or stable, vanEngelsdorp said. After they lose colonies, beekeepers are splitting their surviving hives to recover their losses, pushing the bees to their limits, Delaplane said.



http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/sur...id=ansnewsap11

According to beekeeper Dave Schuit, who produces honey in Elmwood, Canada, he and his farm lost about 37 million bees (about 600 hives) once GMO corn started to get planted in the nearby area. “Once the corn started to get planted our bees died by the millions,” Schuit said.*

He and other beekeepers are blaming neonicotinoids, or “neonics” for the death of many of their bees. Although Europe has eliminated the use of neonicotinoid class of pesticides from its market, the USDA still hasn’t banned the chemical presently produced by Bayer CropScience Inc.

http://www.ewao.com/a/1-37-million-b...eir-gmo-crops/