Please? 7

Comments View as Threaded

1. 

   Sam Wells Posted 9:24 am
   28 Feb 2007

   BeesI think one should dig a little deeper on the subject of the bee ranching industry.
   While it is true the European honey bee is especially subject to mites, the large "factory" bee operations are a lot different from the "Mom and Pop" small honey businesses.  Just like you vegetables, local truck farm stuff is much better than the factory stuff.  Yes, some small operators get the mites but they quickly kill them.  
   Large-scale pollinating bee businesses is where several trailer truack are loaded with hundreds and even thousands of hives.  THIS CAUSES THE MITES TO SPREAD VERY EASILY.  They's work as far as they can, starting in lower Calornia, Texas, and Florida and head north all the way into Canada.
   If the writers has checked, the US and Canada has a policy that bees trucked up there cannot be returned to the US, so they are all gassed and the waste is landfilled.  Yup, they kill all the bees, anyway.  Often the wooden hives are left behind to be burned.  
   Honey production is completely different from the bee pollination services.  Most honey producers do not truck bees anywhere but stay in one place - hopefully away from sources of mites and diseases.  Some honey producers are famous for its bees that graze on wild plants as opposed to factory vegetables, which imparts a remarkable taste to honey.
   Bees to not make or break pollination for vegetables.  You will still have plenty of fruit and vegetables.  What happens is that in our day of perfection, many vegetables appear slightly deformed if not fully pollinated, which is not as robust with vectors such as wasps, hornets, moths, buterflies, wild bees (which do make honey), and the wind.  Plant pollination levels will be slightly lower.  
   Come on, folks, in the old days we didn't even have European bees in the US and I think the residents lived OK.  Down here in the South, "Africanized" bees are much more of a problem than the mites.
   But yeah, if you want to get into pesticides, you might check with a real bee expert, not me.  Is there a relationship between miticide and mites becoming immune to the treatments?  There could well be.  
   Hmm, doesn't sound very organic to me.  /sammie
   
   Onward through the fog

   Permalink

2. 

   Biodiversivist Posted 1:56 am
   01 Mar 2007

   Mites and hymenopteraThese two organisms have been locked into an evolutionary struggle for a long, long time. Different species cope in different ways. Bumble bees and many hornets deal with mites by abandoning their nests annually, sending genes off in queens to hibernate and start fresh in the spring. Honey bees have found ways to hold the mites at bay for more than one season.
   Of course, in our world today, human beings have thrown biodiversity into a blender with pesticides and introductions. Evolutionary selective pressure goes to work only to be smacked down with another more effective pesticide and on it goes. We are on a downward spiral from a biodiversity perspective and will bottom out in the not too distant future if we don't get a handle on this.
   
   In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

   Permalink

3. 

   Ron Steenblik Posted 2:42 am
   01 Mar 2007

   Tom and BioDWhile it is true that the main mite species currently plaguing the U.S. and European honeybees, Varroa destructor, has developed resistance to chemical miticides (particularly Apistan strips), the more fundamental problem is that the Varroa mite is an exotic species, native to Asia. It first appeared in the USA in the late 1980s and has been wrecking havoc ever since. (My father, an amateur beekeeper since he was a teen, has lost at least one hive to them.)
   While some bee species -- such as the Asiatic honeybee, Apis cerana, have co-evolved with the Varroa mite and have developed effective defense mechanisms (e.g., careful grooming) to keep the mite from devastating their colonies, the dominant bee species in the USA, the European honeybee, Apis mellifera, has not.
   Thus mites number among bees' natural parasites, but the Varroa mite is not one of the European honeybee's natural parasites. The NYT article was negligent in not pointing that out. It could also have pointed out that the Varroa mite spreads RNA viruses, such as the Deformed Wing Virus, to bees, and may be a contributing factor to Colony Collapse Disorder.

   Permalink

4. 

   JimM Posted 3:03 am
   02 Mar 2007

   Biodiversity is not deadThe Soviet planned economy never developed miticides.  Bees in the old Soviet Union were infested with varroa and tracheal mites many generations ago.  Some colonies survived, and eventually the general population of honeybees in that area developed natural resistance to those pests.  Several years ago, the USDA began a program to import Russian bees and cross them with the varieties more commonly used in the US, to bring in the mite resistance traits.  This has been somewhat successful, in that mite resistant Italian and (I think) Carniolan bees are now available.  Clearly not all beekeepers have been using those strains.  
   There is no need to mourn for biodiversity yet.  Russian bees developed mite resistance since the 1940s.  
   Personally, I am looking forward to spring, to see how my colony of Russian bees has wintered.  So far, indications are positive.  

   Permalink

5. 

   Delay And Deny Posted 3:50 am
   02 Mar 2007

   More Evidence for Svensmark
   
   I studied under a bee behavior expert at Princeton (James Gould, ethologist).  I remember that he did much work in the idea that bees use UV radiation from the Sun as a means of locating their food supply.   The UV patterns form a "map" in the sky.
   The theory of Hans Svensmark is that variation in cosmic radiation affect cloud cover that is the primary driver of global heating and cooling.
   These variations may also affect UV radiation and the map in the sky that lets bees navigate.  No navigation -- no food.  Bees die.  Svensmark right.
   
   
   
   The Texeme Construct offers international text memetics construction and textcasting services.

   Permalink

6. 

   Roz Cummins Posted 8:28 am
   02 Mar 2007

   Bees & Navigation...I have been wondering about the sun/navigation angle myself. Something that I learned when I interviewed a beekeeper many years ago was that bees take their bearings anew each morning when they emerge from the hive. That's what enables beekeepers to move the hives at the end of the day once the bees are all back inside, which in turns allows them to "rent" the bees (i.e. take them to different fields and different farms.)

   Permalink

7. 

   wiscidea Posted 7:45 am
   09 Mar 2007

   NPR Science FridayThe "case of the disappearing honey bees" was covered on NPR's Science Friday today, March 9, second half hour of the second hour.
   I have not been following this closely, so forgive me for viewing this as new information. I was aware of the mite problem, but I was not aware of the disappearing bees... keepers opening their hives and finding them EMPTY.
   The subject was covered on NPR's Science Friday today, March 9, second half hour of the second hour. Looks like our entire agricultural system is going to hell in a hand basket. It was an interesting and frightening story.
   I was planning on devoting more effort toward planting native plants essential for supporting native pollinators -- keep in mind that the honey bee we all depend on is from Europe -- just because of the mite problem, but the Science Friday program sent my brain into over-drive.
   I encourage everyone with a bit of space, from those with small gardens to those with farms (even if you are not an organic farmer), to learn more about creating habitat for NATIVE pollinators. Not just bees, but other organisms as well.
   A good place to start learning about this is the Wild Farm Alliance website...
   http://www.wildfarmalliance.org/resources/wfapollinatorbr ... ...
   This was brought to my attention by another Grist post and I am grateful for the information... an example of Grist's value to our community!
   Gardening season is almost upon us. So is the time of year when people start thinking about native landscaping. Please consider devoting some effort toward saving our wild pollinators by providing shelter and food.
   [Sorry if this shows up as a duplicate post. I tried entering my comments in another location. I think the subject warrants more discussion by the Grist community. Organic farmers or permaculture people might have advice for creating habitat for native pollinators.]
   
   Forward!

   Permalink