[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.

[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.