Posted on 04/24/2007 8:24:42 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Go to work, come home.
Go to work -- and vanish without a trace.
Billions of bees have done just that, leaving the crop fields they are supposed to pollinate, and scientists are mystified about why.
The phenomenon was noticed late last year in the United States, where honeybees are used to pollinate $15 billion worth of fruits, nuts and other crops annually. Disappearing bees also have been reported in Europe and Brazil.
Commercial beekeepers would set their bees near a crop field as usual and come back in two or three weeks to find the hives bereft of foraging worker bees, with only the queen and the immature insects remaining. The worker bees that survived were often too weak to perform their tasks.
If the bees were dying of pesticide poisoning or freezing, their bodies would be expected to lie around the hive. And if they were absconding because of some threat -- which they have been known to do -- they wouldn't leave without the queen.
Since about one-third of the U.S. diet depends on pollination and most of that is performed by honeybees, this constitutes a serious problem, says Jeff Pettis of the U.S. Agricultural Research Service.
"They're the heavy lifters of agriculture," Mr. Pettis said of honeybees. "And the reason they are is they're so mobile, and we can rear them in large numbers and move them to a crop when it's blooming."
Mr. Pettis and other analysts have gathered outside Washington for a two-day workshop that started yesterday to pool their knowledge and come up with a plan to combat what they call colony collapse disorder.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Albert Einstein on bees:
“If honey bees become extinct, human society will follow in four years.”
No need to worry or for government involvement. Free Market will fix it.
Who is John Galt?
See Galt's Gulch
That was before we had China. [sarc]
I had noticed the honeybees dropping off in numbers a few years ago.
I don’t know what to do about, but I think it is a symptom of something to be concerned about.
I’m no biologist, but if it happened in California, I would suspect union organizers. Immigrant activists if they’re Mexican bees. Or maybe some state Nectar for Pupae and Larvae program is sapping them of their work ethic.
Clearly the bee colonies have absorbed the lessons of the socialists ... The worker bees stopped working because of the high taxes on nectar. And invasive alien species came in to their territory and did the pollination for 1/2 price. And the worker bees were hounded from their labors by the queen bee claiming that it was discrimination to have one group outside working and another group stuck in the hive always pregnant. So the workers stayed home while the queen tried to collect honey. Expect the collapse of bee civilization soon.
I’m sure this will become another excuse to blame man.
Mark my words, soon enough the lefties will blame global warming.
I guess we need Mexican Bees - to do the job American bees don’t want to do ...
That cartoon is now stupid AND old. Moron author thinks folks that are smart enough to create alloys would be too stupid or lazy to farm.
Yes, it is true. The good news is the bees are not realy dead. They have all faked their own deaths and are down in the Beehamas partying with Elvis.
Seriously, it is a problem. There have been declines in bee population before, however, and I think this is probably linked to a natural sun-related cycle.
So don’t panic. Just be a smart FReeper, stock up on beans and bullets... and Charley Mike.
Bees went to Mexico to fill jobs left vacant by illegals coming here.
Same here. When I was a kid I would see honeybees everywhere. Now I live out in the country and I can't recall seeing one for quite a while. Bumblebees (but not many). Wasps. Yellowjackets, but not a lot of honey bees.
They have been outsourced to India.
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