September 2, 2010
FeatureWhere Have All the Bees Gone?
In the fall of 2006, etymologists faced a distressing situation: bee colonies were dying off at unprecedented rates. Over the winter of 2006, bee colonies continued to decline, and beekeepers reported losses of between 30 to 90 percent of their hives. Though some die-off is expected to occur over the winter, these rates were still much higher than expected. Scientists were baffled. What was behind this drastic loss of bee colonies? Could anything be done to solve this crisis?
Bees are important pollinators for a number of crops. (Photo credit: Ken Gillespie Photography/Alamy)
The Importance of Bees
Bees do much more than produce honey. In fact, bees are an essential part of the pollination process for more than 100 food crops. These insects are particularly important pollinators for nut, fruit, and vegetable crops. The California almond industry alone requires the importation of more than 50 percent of the entire honeybee population in the United States! Due to their important agricultural role, the loss of bees could potentially decimate crop production and the agricultural industry that depends upon them. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), bees add more than $15 billion in value to a variety of crops they pollinate.
Though the colony loss in late 2006 was astonishing, bee colonies have actually been on the decline since the 1980s. Scientists point to the introduction of new pathogens and pests as explanations for the decline in bee colony health. When a high number of bee colonies are imported to pollinate a crop such as almonds in California, it is quite easy for pathogens and other ailments to pass from one colony to another. Stresses from moving a colony from one place to another has also been implicated in increased colony losses since the 1980s as well.
Colony Collapse Disorder
“Colony Collapse Disorder,” or CCD, is the name scientists have given to the current situation faced by bee colonies. When the initial collapse became apparent in 2006, scientists weren’t quite sure what was behind the disorder. In fact, multiple hypotheses abounded. According to the Agriculture Research Service (ARS) Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, there were four possible explanations. These causes included pathogens, parasites, environmental stresses such as pesticides, and management stresses, such as a lack of proper nutrition sources for the bees.
In 2007, ARS scientists began testing these various hypotheses. In their research (which is on-going), the scientists collected bees from both healthy colonies and CCD-affected colonies. They then screened the collected bees for the presence of both new and known pathogens. The scientists discovered that bees from the colonies affected by CCD had a higher rate of infection by Nosema ceranae, a fungal pathogen. However, this higher rate was not considered statistically significant—meaning that Nosema could not be implicated as the sole explanation for colony decline. Further analysis indicated that bees that had high fungal-pathogen loads combined with infection by several RNA viruses from the Dicistroviridae family was a clear indicator of imminent colony collapse.
An entomologist collects bee samples from colonies affected by colony collapse disorder. (Photo credit: ay Evans/Agricultural Research Service/USDA)
Nosems ceranae infects bees through the fecal-oral route. When bees ingest the fungal pathogen, it embeds itself into the bee’s gut lining. Scientists hypothesize that a greater number of fungal pathogens in the bee’s gut lining compromises the bee’s health, and allows subsequent RNA virus infections to overwhelm the bee, thus killing it.
Though the results are encouraging, scientists are continuing to look for other explanations for the incidence of colony-collapse disorder. In the mean time, they are also looking for ways to boost bees’ immunity to Nosema in the hopes of preventing future colony declines.
Comments
Comment from: carlos
September 5, 2010 04:39 PM [#]
this article was interesting. Also i want to know how the bee gets fungal pathogen
Comment from: Sam
September 17, 2010 06:59 AM [#]
The parasitic mite, Varroa destructor, is currently the most serious threat to beekeeping as infestation of Varroa mite in North America causes annual losses of untreated colonies soaring as high as 50-80% in some areas of the United States. Apistan(R)(aau-fluvalinate) and Check-Mite(R)(coumaphos) strips are the most widely used Varroa controls in the United States and Canada. Mites throughout Europe and North America are evolving resistance to miticides, threatening the bee industry. As a result, there is an urgent need for alternative control strategies that are sustainable, cost-effective and with no mammalian toxicity. We found that the fungal pathogen, Metarhizium anisopliae, was highly pathogenic to Varroa and peak mite mortality occurred 3-4 days after the spores were applied. The mites were still infected with the fungus over 42-day post treatments. Both application methods tested (dusts and strips coated with the fungus), resulted in significant control of mite populations. The fungal treatments were as effective as the miticide, fluvalinate (Apistan(R)), at the end of the 42-day period of the experiment. Optimum mite control could be achieved during times when no brood is being produced, or when brood production is low, such as in the early spring or late fall. The fungus was harmless to the honey bees and did not have any deleterious effects on adult and young bees, or brood, and did not impede colony development. In addition, because workers and drones drift between hives, the adult bees were found to spread the fungus between honey bee colonies in the apiary, a situation that could be beneficial to beekeepers. Overall, the data supports the role of fungal pathogens as key components in an integrated pest management strategy for the control of the Varroa mite
Comment from: Lauren
September 17, 2010 10:18 AM [#]
This article really showed me how bees affect our agricultural system in America. I had no idea how important bees were to our crops!
Comment from: Ben
September 17, 2010 11:57 AM [#]
this was an intresting article that I enjoyed. It came to my attention when i saw the bees decline rapidly. Interesting.
Comment from: chris
September 18, 2010 02:30 PM [#]
How long does it take for a bee to die after it has used its stinger?
Comment from: Alishah
September 21, 2010 06:01 PM [#]
I really enjoyed this article and thought of what will we do if we hadn't had bees for honey, pollinating flowers,etc....
Comment from: sofia
September 28, 2010 06:42 AM [#]
this is so interesting to read and i would like to see more
Comment from: JESSICA
October 1, 2010 08:03 AM [#]
I ALMOST DIED FROM A BEE STING
Comment from: Sabreena
October 5, 2010 05:07 AM [#]
I never knew how bees were so important to our plants.Now I know why everyone is asking were all the bees went.I really enjoyed this article.Now I know why we have to have bees so we can have honey and more flowers..
Comment from: tyler
October 5, 2010 05:08 AM [#]
i understand now why bees are so important
Comment from: brendon
October 5, 2010 05:10 AM [#]
i under stand y we need bees now
Comment from: johnathon
October 5, 2010 05:13 AM [#]
this rite here showed me that bees are important for pollinating to are flowers and bees make honey
Comment from: kimberly
October 5, 2010 05:14 AM [#]
i really never liked bees but now that they are gone i feel really bad about it because with out the bees we wont have any honey to eat with our food
Comment from: Natalie
October 5, 2010 05:16 AM [#]
This was an interesting article i think bees are a important part of the life cycle and we would not have honey without them
Comment from: johnathon
October 5, 2010 05:17 AM [#]
i understand bees give are flowers pollen and helps them grow and then they make honey and we wait for it then take there honey
Comment from: Anonymous
October 5, 2010 06:47 AM [#]
i had no idea that bees were particularly important to our nuts fruits and vegetable corps
Comment from: ksolow
October 5, 2010 06:50 AM [#]
well were has all the bees gone . if 5o percent is in america were are the rest living
Comment from: Alexxis
October 5, 2010 06:50 AM [#]
if there wasn't any bees i would be happy because they wouldn't sting me. but we need bees too because they produce honey and the collect pollin. so even if you don't like bees, you still better be happy that we got them around because if we didn't, we wouldn't have honey or pollin.
Comment from: aaron
November 15, 2010 06:24 AM [#]
This story is real interesting because it says like why the bees have moved and when and where they did.
Comment from: Alexus
November 15, 2010 06:31 AM [#]
bees are very important because they produce honey and collect pollin. they might sting you but we need them for things we need.
Comment from: Richard
January 9, 2011 10:27 AM [#]
I'm from Victoria, Texas and the bees I had last spring in 2009 have disappeared in 2010 along with all of the various flying insects such as wasps and hornets. I'm finding it very hard to believe the researchers about the mites since its affecting wasps and such. I'm sticking to the cell phone theory along with WiFi and the like. Bottom line, mankind is killing our planet.
Comment from: Jack
March 28, 2011 05:01 PM [#]
How come we can not breed more bees to replace the lost bees. Can we even do that? Wilds I see them in trees old building.The bees;the nice ones that came from some other place can we get more? Jack