A Parasite Devastates Bees, and Farmers Are Worried

NY Times ^ | May 2, 2005 | IVER PETERSON

[neverdem]

Keith Meyers/The New York Times
New Jersey's state apiarist, Paul A. Raybold checking a hive for mites as Joe Linelho, a beekeeper, helps him.

[Waterleak]

Well, it was a good go at it, but looks like we're all doomed.

[End Times Sentinel]

And while it is normal for a small number of domestic bees to die over the winter, an Asian parasite, the Varroa mite, is blamed for much of the bee death.

 

There were reports of that happening here in PA about 5 years ago.  I remember talking to a bee keeper who estimated his losses at 80%.  Once you hit a certain point, the loss in farm production becomes precipitous.

Owl_Eagle

(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,

 it was probably sarcasm)

 

[Ecthelion]

It's Bush's fault.

This has been going on for a few years. There's always a new mite of some kind or another killing the bees. I have a good friend that's a beekeeper hobbyist up in WA, and he gave up a while back because it was hard for him to keep the few hives he had alive due to the mites.

[ahayes]

When I was growing up in the 80's I remember we used to have lots of wild honeybees visiting flowers in our yard. By the 90's the number had dropped precipitously.

[zek157]

I can count the honeybees I have seen over several years(5-6) in our yard on one hand.

[Texas_Jarhead]

What's the big deal? It's just some foreign parasites killing the bees that American parasites won't.

[b4its2late]

These parasites kinda remind me of liberals.

[evolved_rage]

Tinfoil time...

Doesn't al Qeada raise money selling honey???

[theFIRMbss]

>Well, it was a good go at it, but looks like we're all doomed

Oh great! And I've got
a chipped tooth, and the last girl
I asked out told me

she's "...just too busy
at work work to go out right now."
Now bees are dying

and frogs exploding!
And there's a new Jane Fonda
film opening soon!

Does anyone know
if there's a Vogan spaceship
in thumbing distance?

[neverdem]

FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.

[Cicero]

Varroa mite:

http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/misc/bees/varroa_mite.htm

This is a serious business, because as the article says, a lot of plants rely on bees for pollination.

[Muleteam1]

I recall the Varroa Mite in, I believe, Maryland as early as about 1980. This is an old but significant story affecting agriculture.

Muleteam1

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

a lot of plants rely on bees for pollination.

We should put the illegals to work pollenating plants. Give them a big long stick with a supply of little sticky cotton balls.

[Young Werther]

This was reported in Scientii=fic American awhile back. Honey farmers are having to load up their hives and truck them around the country so that Apples in Washington State, fruits and vegatables in the Imperial Valley of California and ALL crops that require pollination are pollinated.

As Rush would say, "This is series!"

[cogitator]

This is a serious business, because as the article says, a lot of plants rely on bees for pollination.

I'm glad you perceive it as such (as do I).

If there is a further significant decline in the pollinating honeybee population, the prices on many fruits and vegetables could rise a lot. Some things we expect to find in the produce department could flat-out disappear.

It could really bring home the realization that human commerce doesn't exist independently of nature.

[neverdem]

Thanks for the link.

[cogitator]

The Value of Honey Bee Pollination to California

Agriculture Pollination by honey bees is as vital to the production of many crops as water and sunlight. There is no substitute! One third of our daily diet relies on honey bee pollination. Almonds, apples, sweet cherries, plums and prunes are examples of crops that require crosspollination between varieties in order to produce a crop. Bee pollination is necessary for the production of cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, and melons. Twenty-one additional California fruit and nut crops are known to produce larger yields when pollinated by honey bees. These fruit, nut, and vegetable crops were worth $4.4 billion in 2002 - a value approximately 35 times greater than the income generated directly by the beekeeping industry.

The greatest value of honey bee pollination is associated with the production of seeds that will have worldwide distribution. Twenty vegetables, including asparagus, carrots, celery, onions, radishes, and turnips produce seeds only when their flowers have been adequately pollinated. Likewise, seed production of forage crops such as alfalfa, various clovers, trefoil, and vetch, requires many visits by foraging bees. Including the "indirect" value of honey bee pollination (meat, dairy products, vegetables, hay, etc.), honey bees are responsible for nearly half of California's agricultural production (cash receipts for farm marketing), which is currently valued above $30.0 billion. Thus, honey bee pollination is really worth in excess of 400 times the intrinsic earning power of the bees to beekeepers.

[SpinnerWebb]

Can y'all ship some of them mites down here to Texas to help with the Killer bees?

[steve8714]

It's Bush's fault because he reneged on Kyoto so Halliburton could make profits.