Why the Honeybees are Dying

Scientists have done autopsies on bees from hives where all the bees have died or "gone missing." They have found that the bees are suffering from all types of ailments.

Here are some theories as to what is causing them to die off:

Radiation

Cell phone usage may or may not be linked to brain cancer, but it certainly messed with bees. With the growing number of cell phones being used and wireless communication towers, there has been an increase it the atmospheric electromagnetic radiation. Scientists think that this increased radiation interfere with the bees natural ability to navigate back to their hives. A small study at Germany’s Landau University found that bees would not return to their hives when cell phones were placed nearby. Further research is currently underway in the U.S. to determine the extent of such radiation-related phenomena on bees and other insect populations.

Chemicals

Herbicides and pesticides are used in crops to keep unwanted pests out, however they are also harming the bees by weakening their immune system which in turn makes them more susceptible to stress and parasites. Genetically modified food might also be a culprit. It has been shown that modified crop's pollen does not hold as much nutritional value for the bees as unmodified crops.

Mites and Viruses

Beekeepers have been dealing with "vampire mites" or Varroa destructor to scientists, an Asian mite that have been plaguing bees in Southeast Asia for years.

The Asian mite appeared in the US some time in the early 1980s, the mites spread through US honey bee populations quickly. Scientists think trucking bees across the country, to help pollinate crops, helped the mite spread so quickly among the defenseless bees. The mites suck the vital juices out of both developing and adult bees, and left unchecked can kill a hive within 12 months.

The mites not only cause damage to the bees and hives, but also help spread viruses. In addition, the mites help the viruses by somehow weakening the immune system.

"There's something about a mite feeding on a bee that just knocks its immune system out. [Then] the viruses can take over," says Eric Mussen, a bee researcher at the University of California, Davis.

However, mites are only a small piece of the puzzle, seeing as how beekeepers have been dealing with all kinds of mites for over 30 years.

Stressed Out

Scientists have found that bees deal with a great deal of stress which may be attacking, or weakening their immune systems.

How could a tiny honey bee be stressed? Their lives are actually filled with stress. A typical year for a hive might be made up of around five cross-country truck trips, chasing crops to pollinate and clover fields to make honey in. Transporting bees from place to place and in trucks where they can get "banged up" is a high stressor for the bees.

Some of the beekeepers can lose up to 10% of their queens during one cross country trip. In addition to transportation stress, many beekeepers say their crops have experienced other stressors such as drought, overcrowding, or famine.

However, stress alone will not kill a bee or hive.

Global Warming

Biologists also think that global warming maybe causing a higher growth rate of pathogens that harm bees. (viruses, mites, fungi etc). Unusual weather changes and fluctuating temperatures that we have seen in recent years may also be causing problems for hives that are used to consistent weather patterns.

Diet

Scientists are even looking into the bees diet as a cause for their mysterious deaths and disappearances. With more and more development across the nation there has been a decline in natural habitat (acres of clovers and flowers.) With natural habitat gone, bees are spending week after week on the road, feeding on a single crop, undernourished and overworked.

Deformed Wing Virus (DWV)

Symptoms include damaged appendages, particularly stubby, useless wings, shortened, rounded abdomens, miscoloring and paralysis. Symptomatic bees have severely reduced life-span (less than 48 hours usually) and are typically expelled from the hive.

It is passed between adult bees and to their developing brood by a parasitic mite called Varroa mites when it feeds. However, research published in the July issue of the Journal of General Virology suggests that the virus does not replicate in Varroa, highlighting the need for further investigation.

Deformed wing virus has been linked to the collapse of honey bee colonies in Britain. In recent years the prevalence of the virus has increased globally in colonies infested with Varroa.

All of these factors lead to what scientists are calling:

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)

In hives, or colonies that have CCD adult workers fly away and never return, leaving a small amount of workers and the hive's young to fend for themselves. What is even odder, is that once hives have failed or died out predators such as the wax moth do not touch the hive. Usually predators try to pilfer honey or other parts of the hive, but it is as if they know something was wrong with it and that is why the bees are gone.

 

Many of the bees are not only dying off, but just not returning to the hive. Scientists think it could be because they get lost and can not find their way back or because they know they are "infected" and do not want to risk infecting the entire hive.

Hives that have been abandoned often still have larvae in them, and it is not normal for bees to leave their hives when they contain larvae.

 

"We have never seen a die-off of this magnitude with this weird symptomology," says Maryann Frazier, a bee researcher at Pennsylvania State University. "We've seen bees disappear over time and dwindle away, but not die-off so quickly."

Scientists believe all the factors of stress, mites, pesticides and herbicides, cause CCD. All the factors together is just too much for the bees to handle.

With the an alarming rate of bees dying each year, many beekeepers fear they will go out of business in the next coming years, and who know what that will do to not only prices, but also the quality of our fruits and vegetables.

 

What can you do to help?

Haagen-Daz Ice Cream has created a website called, Help the Honey Bees, and also a new flavor, Vanilla Honey Bee. When purchased a portion of the profits will go to honey bee and sustainable research programs at Pennsylvania State University and the University of California at Davis.

Haagen-Daz has set about $250,000 towards research.

 

Burt's Bees a personal care company that uses natural products have also put in an effort to help the bees. When you purchase their special edition CCD Beeswax Lip Balm 5% of the proceeds will be donated to Burt's Bee's partner, The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign and its Honeybee Health Improvement Project.