Bad News, Bees

Honeybee hives in U.S. seeing continued decline, survey says

Posted at 7:17 AM on 07 May 2008

Honeybee populations in the United States continued their decline last year, according to a survey of bee health by the Apiary Inspectors of America; U.S. commercial beekeepers saw the loss of 36 percent more hives than last year. "For two years in a row, we've sustained a substantial loss," said Dennis van Engelsdorp of AIA. "That's an astonishing number. Imagine if one out of every three cows, or one out of every three chickens, were dying. That would raise a lot of alarm." According to the survey, some 29 percent of the bee decline was caused by Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious and devastating phenomenon that causes adult bees to abandon their hives. On Tuesday, Pennsylvania's agriculture secretary announced a $20,000 boost to CCD research at Pennsylvania State University. Earlier this year, ice-cream maker Haagen-Daz also made quite a buzz when it pledged $250,000 in CCD research funds to Penn State and the University of California at Davis. Bees typically pollinate about $14 billion worth of U.S. crops a year.

source: Associated Press

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Comments: (10 comments)

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Bad news for the honeybee, but Carpenter Bees...

Their population must be on the rise because we are under attack in Northern Virginia. They are aggressive and are eating our deck and many of our neighbors decks. We live near a nature preserve and a stream so there are plenty of other places for them to go. We thought the 6 bird nests in the area would help, but no joy. Anyone know how to keep them away naturally?

by organicfred at 8:14 AM on 07 May 2008

"No joy," alas!

The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders squeezes the Eastern Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa virginica) as a kind of afterthought into the article on the closely related California Carpenter Bee (X. californica). Presumably this bit on the life cycle applies to the ECB as well as the CCB:

<<
Female [cherchez la femme!] chews tunnel as deep as a foot into dry wood of dead trees, or lumber, or wood of houses. [Bird nests are not their thing, apparently.] Female makes linear series of unlined cells and provisions each with pollen and nectar before laying 1 egg in each. Cells are divided by disklike partition built of cemented wood chips. Adults emerge in late summer, each waiting in line toward end of tunnel for its turn to leave.
>>

If you ask me, it sounds like a job for Sigourney Weaver. Failing that, you had better just quietly pack up and escape while you can.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 9:26 AM on 07 May 2008

So it's not just me...

organicfred, I have also noticed the large number carpenter bees in Northern VA this year, more than I remember. Painted wood is supposed to deter them, but I have one drilling into some pressure treated lumber I have set aside for a project. I'm hoping that woodpeckers will balance things outby eating more larvae than usual this year.

by rraimo at 9:50 AM on 07 May 2008

I keep asking people...

Does Colony Collapse Disorder affect hives that are not moved around in trucks, or is the problem limited to the commercial type of hive that is hired to pollinate a field and then leave?

Or is anyone tracking the non-commercial hives? It seems like a key bit of information.

by Martha Hagood at 6:43 PM on 07 May 2008

Both.

"From 1971 to 2006, there was a dramatic reduction in the number of feral (wild) honeybees in the US (now almost absent);[11] and a significant, though somewhat gradual decline in the number of colonies maintained by beekeepers."

From Wiki, with sources (Watanabe, M.. "Pollination worries rise as honey bees decline.", Science, vol. 265, 1994-08-26, p. 1170.)

by yamisamre at 1:27 AM on 08 May 2008

Don't see any here at all

Here in Northern Illinois, there just aren't any honeybees. We've got bumblebees everywhere, and a big colony of mason bees in our yard (we're one of the few houses in the neighboorhood that doesn't get chemlawn, so they love our yard), and the occasional sweat bee (the little green ones).
Thankfully, no carpenter bees.
Of course, having grown up in NY where honeybees are (or were) very plentiful, it always amazes me hearing people say they've only been stung by bees once or twice - and often they mean wasps. I can't say I miss the honeybees at all.

by banana republican at 6:00 AM on 08 May 2008

^^^Oh, maybe not now...

Well, my ignorant friend, you may not miss the honeybees(and other pollinators) now, but you will when you can't buy fruits or vegetables at your local grocery store. Or get honey for your sore throat. Or bee pollen for your health. As for the "mystery", well at least according to the preliminary findings I've read about the causes lie primarily with the shear number of stressors present in the environment which are impacting this wondrous animal. Unfortunately, one of those stressors includes herbicides and pesticides, which are used by the millions of pounds by farmers worldwide. Considering the sheer amount of profit which would be impacted if this causative factor were reduced, or ideally, eliminated, I wouldn't look towards the former or the latter as a possible solution. By the way, all those chemicals which are used to assist in the growth of food crops also end up in our HUMAN environment. Endocrine disruptors, nervous-system disruptors, we all are ingesting them with each bite we take of mass-produced agri-business idustrial food. Mangia!

The mellotron is your friend.

by archigeek at 8:27 AM on 08 May 2008

Bee Worthy...

The carpenter bees are coming! Eehhh. Geesh. Are you serious? Try living with Africanized bees. You would care less about some stupid bee that evolved to eat wood. Aren't those called termites anyway? Yes - the bees, the frogs, the polar bears are all coming my way. What'cha gonna do? Sit around and grope all day about it or actually do something?

by Dragon at 3:13 PM on 08 May 2008

LiNk?

Is Toxic Pollen from, Genetically Modified Crops, killing our bees? That is what they were designed to do....

Imagine, designer crops. "Have you seen the new Monsanto Squash? It matches perfectly with my bt-toxin corn. I can't wait for the new round-up-ready summer line." WHY WAIT, get yours today. Genetically Twisted Food products are in 70% of processed food already in a supermarket near you. Learn More!

http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/May99/Butterflies.bp ...

by FreBird at 5:23 AM on 09 May 2008

Quit Cryin' About Non-Native Insects

Honey bees are native to Africa and Europe ONLY. I realize that white people brought them to the Americas and that they help pollinate the non-native crops that they also brought, but they definitely don't belong here. So good riddance, now we get to see more of what the U.S. looks like without artificial interference.

by Wolverine at 3:40 PM on 09 May 2008

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