Posted on 12/28/2006 9:00:01 AM PST by B-Chan
Fort Meade beekeeper David Adams is facing a mysterious plight shared by his counterparts in Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and elsewhere: Their bee colonies are being decimated at an alarming rate, and the cause is unknown. Starting in mid-August, Adams lost a third of his 900 hives within the course of a few weeks. The seemingly healthy colonies just disappeared, he said, echoing reports from beekeepers across the country.
"It's become a serious problem for beekeepers, myself included," said Adams of Adams Honey & Pollination. "We're on the ropes."
The phenomenon, termed "Fall Dwindle Disease," is discussed in a preliminary report published last week by researchers in Pennsylvania and Florida.
Seven commercial beekeepers interviewed for the report claimed hive losses ranging from 30 percent to 90 percent, and one beekeeper said he expected just nine of his 1,200 colonies to survive the winter.
"Many beekeepers are openly wondering if the industry can survive," states the report, compiled by researchers from Pennsylvania State University and the Florida and Pennsylvania departments of agriculture.
"There are serious concerns that losses are so great that there will not be enough bees to rebuild colony numbers in order (to) service the pollination needs and to maintain economic viability in these beekeeping operations," it said.
In addition to honey producers, fall dwindle poses a serious threat to a $15 billion pollination industry that supports the nation's fruit, nut and vegetable crops each year.
Without honeybee pollination, the food supply could decrease by a third, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture, causing significant harm to citrus and blueberry production and virtually eliminating watermelons, cucumbers and squash.
Jerry Bromenshenk, a researcher from the University of Montana, examines a hive afflicted with "fall dwindle" near Brewster.
Although bee experts have identified several possible culprits, a prevailing theory has yet to emerge on the source of fall dwindle.
University of Florida professor Jamie Ellis said the disease might be the work of varroa mites, a pest of honeybees that transmit viruses.
Then again, fall dwindle might also be connected to bacteria, weather patterns, chemical buildup in honeycombs or stress from being transported for commercial pollination, Ellis said.
"It's a hodgepodge of factors that every few years seems to kill bees," said Ellis, an associate professor of entomology at UF. "It does seem to come in cycles, and it certainly seems to be getting worse."
Fall dwindle can be likened to what has been called Disappearing Disease, a condition first reported in 1915, according to Ohio State University professor James E. Tew. The characteristics varied in each case, save for one similarity: A mysterious absence of adult bees in afflicted hives.
Because of its elusive, fleeting nature and loosely-connected symptoms, experts have no solution for fall dwindle. But a new effort has begun to study the condition.
Jerry Bromenshenk, a research professor at the University of Montana, visited an apiary in Bradley, near Mulberry, and other sites Thursday to collect data on afflicted hives.
Using experimental technology, he and colleagues plan to use audio samples, chemical analysis and beekeeper surveys to help find a link in fall dwindle cases and perhaps uncover their origin.
"It's really a head-scratcher as to what it is," said Bromenshenk, who has been noted for his work using bees to detect land mines and toxic chemicals. "We're doing detective work at the moment. Lots and lots of candidates, but no answers yet."
They could have had the hive that caused a huge hole in my front yard!
Dang global warming. Has anyone called Algore?
Citrus production.... hmmmm. Are the Florida growers using any kinds of other pesticides that might be affecting the bees?
C'mon. This one's obvious. It's all Bush's fault. These bees refuse to live in a nation that refuses to sign Kyoto.
"Fall Dwindle"...what a name!
Obviously, the bees' jobs have been outsourced to Mexican killer bees, and they've migrated in search of work.
}:-)4
Maybe their genetic material simply breaks down after a few colonies are produced, like a time clock running out. Only the original "main" strain can keep up the production of new colonies............
GREAT tagline! Howling over here!!
My grandfather in PA lost all his bees and all his stuff in the orchards and fields is 100% pesticide free (and looks like it - hope you like bugs with your apples).
I blame it on the Africanized "Killer" bees - doing work that American bees just won't do. /sarc
No corpses; bees have probably flown the coop.
This die-off cycle has apparently been noticably going on for nearly 100 years. Hence the archaic-sounding name. It's quaint and very turn of the century - the 19th century! ;-)
THE BEES ARE LEAVING - OMG - Do you suppose they know something we don't? Could be TEOTHPAWKI (The End Of The Honey Pot As We Know It)!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Yes. A statue of bees was found with the inscription "So long, and thanks for all the pollen".
LOL! Ya gotta love the occasional obscure Douglas Adams reference (may he rest in peace)...
To bee, or not to bee: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.
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