Posted on 09/06/2007 3:03:25 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Researchers at Pennsylvania State University, Columbia and other institutions have found a virus that they say contributes to the mysterious collapse of honeybee colonies around the United States.
"Our extensive study suggests that the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus may be a potential cause of Colony Collapse Disorder," said W. Ian Lipkin of Columbia University. The virus was the only likely cause, either alone or with other factors, that they discovered in a three-year study.
"Our next step is to ascertain whether this virus, alone or in concert with other factors such as microbes, toxins and stressors, can induce CCD in healthy bees," Lipkin said.
Phil Pellitteri, a UW-Extension entomologist at UW-Madison, said that the study is "a strong lead."
"Knowing the group out of Penn State, I knew they were evaluating this big database, so this is interesting," Pellitteri said. "They are not saying it is nailed down, but it has a lot more validity than some of the other theories that have not held up. I can see why they are publishing on it, because this virus does look like a pretty suspicious factor."
The disorder has threatened commercial beekeeping operations in the United States that are used to pollinate crops. Between 50 and 90 percent of the commercial honeybee colonies in the United States have been affected, according to the researchers' report, published today in an online version of the journal Science.
The researchers used a rapid genome sequencing technique to catalogue all the microorganisms that honeybees harbor. They identified bacteria, fungi and viruses found in both healthy and CCD colonies, in which adult bees disappear from the hive.
Samples were collected from normal and affected hives around the country. They also tested royal jelly imported from China and apparently healthy hives from Australia in an attempt to find potential sources.
The molecular signs of Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus were found to be associated with CCD. That virus may reflect a lineage of Kashmir bee virus or a new species, the report said.
The virus was found in all four affected operations samples, in two of four royal jelly samples and in the Australian hives. It was not found in the non-CCD samples.
IAPV also has not been found in "feral" bee colonies in the wild, said co-author Diana Cox-Foster of Penn State.
Jeffery Pettis, a co-author with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said the department has been discussing the situation with Australian colleagues, but that no decision has been made about whether to stop importation of packaged bees from Australia.
"It is possible that we had IAPV before we started importing Australian bees," he said.
IAPV was first described in 2004 in Israel, where infected bees presented with shivering wings, progressed to paralysis and then died just outside the hive.
"This research gives us a very good lead to follow, but we do not believe IAPV is acting alone," Pettis said. "Other stressors to the colony are likely involved."
Those stressors could be poor nutrition, pesticide exposure and parasitic mites.
Asked during a teleconference Wednesday whether climate change could be a factor in CCD, Cox-Foster said there does not appear to be a linkage, but that recent droughts could have reduced nectar or pollen or affected its nutritional value, causing stress on honeybees.
The next steps include inducing CCD in healthy bees, determining the global distribution of the virus and the disorder, and studying bees that appear to have resistance to CCD. Researchers also will study whether IAPV affects bees' ability to learn or disorients them, or whether bees might be protecting the colony by not returning to it.
The scientists advised that the best way for beekeepers to protect their colonies is to keep bees as healthy as possible by controlling parasitic mites and using supplemental nutrition.
More information is available at http://www.scienceexpress.org and http://www.eurekaalert.org/bees
This is a very common pattern in modern medical (psuedo) science - confusing cause with effect. The virus is the result of weakned immunity due to toxic pesticide exposure.
(And many times the so called virus is not a virus at all. It is residual proteins due to altered meatabolism, i.e. auto generated toxins.)
To attribute the bee affliction to a virus is medical sophistry. The major benefactor of course are the pharmaceuticals that “fight” the virus.
Your post makes absolute sense and, of course, the pesticide companies want to bury the facts...
The suspected cause may be “Israeli Paralysis Disease” but that apparently didn’t stop the law firm of Klover and KVetch from filing the complaint.
Originally, they thought the bee die-off was thought to be due to alcohol poisoning. The researchers were of the opinion the bees had a drinking problem, because the bees were so fond of stingers. :-)
I used to have one hive of the little wild black bees. They were more trouble than all the others put together.
Made more honey . . . but lots more trouble.
Now I've got Italian/Caucasian hybrids that are so gentle that I sometimes don't bother to suit up, just grab my smoker. Got 18 pounds off the hive in the main honeyflow this spring.
I'd rather have less honey and less trouble!
Thanks for the ping!
My Dad was PSU class of 1940—very proud of his connection with the Nittany Lion sculpture at PSU. Dad told me this past week that the Great Depression was still in full swing when he graduated. He said he was one of only two engineering grads who had a job at graduation. He retired at age 80 after working for the same employer for 59 years (and fighting in the Battle of the Bulge in WWII).
JoePa was gracious enough to send him a congratulatory video and say (in 1999) that he hoped to break Dad’s employment/retirement record.
Dad’s only gripe now is that his Social Security is so high, he’s billed extra for his Medicare.
BTW, my hubby is an entomologist w/ PSU ties. He knew of this research result before the MSM started attributing the bee dieoff to global warming. The MSM has been ignoring the evidence for a long time.
I’m undecided on this. My 100% organic garden (for 15 years now) has seen the bee population plummet as well, so while pesticide use may well be a factor, those of us that grow food & flowers the “old fashioned” way have had this lack-o-bees problem, as well.
I was actually stung this summer and welcomed it...though that was the end of yet another pollinator. Damn!
One thing we all can do is to make sure we’re planting things that bring in the “Good Bugs” to organically kill off the “Bad Bugs.”
I always have a row of this annual flower/herb mix in my garden. I encourage everyone that reads this and gardens to give it a try, as well. :) The key is to make your garden, no matter how small, a HAVEN for the good bugs, the birds and the bees. They’ll do a lot of the work for you, and you won’t need to use any chemicals. :)
Diana’s Beneficial Bug Mix
Calendula (Pot Marigold)
Dill
Fennel
Cilantro
Blue Bachelor Buttons
Orange Cosmos
Take a standard seed pack of each and mix it all together in a bowl. Direct seed in your garden when your soil is workable in the spring. The weather can still be cool, as long as your soil has warmed sufficiently for germination. Or, start in 4-packs indoors under lights or in your greenhouse and set the plugs out when they’re 6-8 weeks along. (You can also grow this mix in large pots, but make sure those pots are in or at the edges of your garden.)
It’s also lovely and makes a pretty, fragrant bouquet for the kitchen table. :)
*GROAN* ;)
Wasn't there another article posted a few months ago, concerning French hives having the same problem?
IIRC, it mentioned a Far East Asian bee virus, that Asian bees were acclimated to, but that was deadly to Western bees in vitro. The culprit was very closely related, genetically, to a virus Western bees are pretty much immune to.
We don't keep bees, but we do have apple blossoms & clovers, and a growing shortage of pollinators.
A co-worker told me today of these angry, evil wasps that are killing honey bees at an alarming rate...they bite the heads off of the drones then bust their way in and kill the Queen.
We are NOT amused!
I’ll see if I can get details from him, or find an article.
Too funny! I was just thinking about bees today. There are virtually none where I live. Some kind of little scary looking things and a few small bumbles. We saw a few more honeybees this year because a customer put a hive in a farmer’s field about a mile from the store. Last year I saw 2-3, and about the same the year before.
When I was growing up, there were clover pathes everywhere and you had to be careful where you stepped. Now, there’s hardly any clover, either.
The same customer has an uncle who maintains lots of hives—40 or more. He lost half.
Customer checked on the hive close to the store today—said they were fine. Last year he was making sugar water in tanker amounts becasue it stayed warm so long. The bees were still active and there was nothing for them to eat.
Thanks for pinging me and I’ll try the garden row. Maybe bugs are like deer, tho. Regional! I’ll let you know.
Hadn’t heard that one.
Thanks.
Also, the bees have a severe allergy problem, they get hives. :-)
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