I think we’ll find down the road that the real cause of “colony collapse disorder” in bees is a huge increase (as in orders of magnitude increase) in the number of contacts or opportunities for transmission of disease in the developed world over the past few decades combined with the introduction of a variety of infectious diseases and parasites into the bee population.
Ya, every time a bee has sex with a flower they are having sex with all the other bees that flower has had sex with.
This is interesting because it also provides an explanation for the decline in Bumble Bee populations which have a much different life cycle than honey bees.
Rand,
This is old news. The New York Times reported this discovery, with along with the key role U.S. Army bio-warfare scientists had with the research, over a year and a half ago. I wonder why Fox News finally got around to reporting it.
[[[Research at the University of California, San Francisco, had already identified the fungus as part of the problem. And several RNA-based viruses had been detected as well. But the Army/Montana team, using a new software system developed by the military for analyzing proteins, uncovered a new DNA-based virus, and established a linkage to the fungus, called N. ceranae. ]]]
But don’t fear the environmentalists have already identified the link between it and climate change 🙂
24 Oct 2011: Report
A Rise in Fungal Diseases is
Taking Growing Toll on Wildlife
[[[Fungal disease also appears to play a key role in colony-collapse disorder, the recent and sudden dieoff of North American bees: Scientists posit that the bees are weakened and killed by multiple factors, including a one-two punch from a virus and a fungal parasite.]]]
Oops, I assumed Rand had checked the date before linking to it. But in any case the NY Times article on how the discovery was made via teamwork between the U.S. Army and the University is far more interesting.
Here is a more recent (2012) possible explaination, a parasitic fly that normally plagues native bumble bees.
Most people have no idea how important bees are — not only as part of the ecosystem, but as livestock. Healthy bees are vital — vital — to crop production in the United States and around the world. “Many food crops are heavily dependent on bees for pollination. About a third of our diet comes from vegetables, fruits, nuts and forage plants that are insect-pollinated and bees provide about 80 percent of the pollination. Without bees and beekeepers to move colonies, U.S. food production would decline and costs would skyrocket.” Source
Concerning the generation of animals akin to them, as hornets and wasps, the facts in all cases are similar to a certain extent, but are devoid of the extraordinary features which characterize bees; this we should expect, for they have nothing divine about them as the bees have.
Aristotle, On The Generation of Animals III.761a2
Bruce,
Yes, bees are critically important to many many crops, which is why they will travel with humans to the stars being a key feature of any major space settlement.
I HATE SPACE BEES! In zero-G you can’t run, you can’t hide, and your only hope is that they will get sucked out of the airlock faster than you will.
Too right. The bees we have in America today are “aliens”, after all. They were brought to the New World by the first settlers, just as they will be carried along via starship or stargate by the pioneers of Nova Terra
I think we’ll find down the road that the real cause of “colony collapse disorder” in bees is a huge increase (as in orders of magnitude increase) in the number of contacts or opportunities for transmission of disease in the developed world over the past few decades combined with the introduction of a variety of infectious diseases and parasites into the bee population.
Ya, every time a bee has sex with a flower they are having sex with all the other bees that flower has had sex with.
The date on the article is October 2010.
D’oh!
I don’t know if there’s been any update.
Here’s a more recent article blaming parasites for turning bees into zombies.
Rongalt,
This is interesting because it also provides an explanation for the decline in Bumble Bee populations which have a much different life cycle than honey bees.
Rand,
This is old news. The New York Times reported this discovery, with along with the key role U.S. Army bio-warfare scientists had with the research, over a year and a half ago. I wonder why Fox News finally got around to reporting it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/science/07bees.html
[[[Research at the University of California, San Francisco, had already identified the fungus as part of the problem. And several RNA-based viruses had been detected as well. But the Army/Montana team, using a new software system developed by the military for analyzing proteins, uncovered a new DNA-based virus, and established a linkage to the fungus, called N. ceranae. ]]]
But don’t fear the environmentalists have already identified the link between it and climate change 🙂
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/a_rise_in_fungal_diseases_is_taking_growing_toll_on_wildlife/2457/
24 Oct 2011: Report
A Rise in Fungal Diseases is
Taking Growing Toll on Wildlife
[[[Fungal disease also appears to play a key role in colony-collapse disorder, the recent and sudden dieoff of North American bees: Scientists posit that the bees are weakened and killed by multiple factors, including a one-two punch from a virus and a fungal parasite.]]]
Oops, I assumed Rand had checked the date before linking to it. But in any case the NY Times article on how the discovery was made via teamwork between the U.S. Army and the University is far more interesting.
Here is a more recent (2012) possible explaination, a parasitic fly that normally plagues native bumble bees.
Most people have no idea how important bees are — not only as part of the ecosystem, but as livestock. Healthy bees are vital — vital — to crop production in the United States and around the world. “Many food crops are heavily dependent on bees for pollination. About a third of our diet comes from vegetables, fruits, nuts and forage plants that are insect-pollinated and bees provide about 80 percent of the pollination. Without bees and beekeepers to move colonies, U.S. food production would decline and costs would skyrocket.” Source
In short, no bees = hungry people. Support your local bee!
Concerning the generation of animals akin to them, as hornets and wasps, the facts in all cases are similar to a certain extent, but are devoid of the extraordinary features which characterize bees; this we should expect, for they have nothing divine about them as the bees have.
Aristotle, On The Generation of Animals III.761a2
Bruce,
Yes, bees are critically important to many many crops, which is why they will travel with humans to the stars being a key feature of any major space settlement.
I HATE SPACE BEES! In zero-G you can’t run, you can’t hide, and your only hope is that they will get sucked out of the airlock faster than you will.
Too right. The bees we have in America today are “aliens”, after all. They were brought to the New World by the first settlers, just as they will be carried along via starship or stargate by the pioneers of Nova Terra