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To: chessplayer

The problem so far is mostly with commercial pollinators and, even then, not really pinned down. For example, lots of CCD was reported in almond pollination colonies, but none in the 60,000+ blueberry pollinators who came to Maine. But some of those operations reported it when they were in Florida.

So far, no crop has suffered from lack of pollinators.

As noted by others, massive honeybee losses are not unusual in recent history. Some causes have been ID but many have no explanation other than a name, like Disappearing Disease. In each case, the honeybee population came back. They can double or quadruple the number of colonies every year. If there were no honeybee pests, we would be up to our armpits in honeybees.

Also, “native pollinators” like Mason bees are not the answer to honeybee loss. They are Solitary bees and the numbers needed for many corps are just not there. Consider that one hive of honeybees has a summer population of 50,000+. Mason Bees are being used for cherry pollination in Washington/Oregon, but it is difficult to say that they are the only pollinator, since there can be honeybees in the area.

The best guess to date for CCD is a new strain of Nosema, a gut disease. Symptoms found in Europe mirror CCD symptoms in the US. If so, there are treatments for it.

There are casualties in this mess, but they are isolated and not found in every operation. Many commercial operations are fine. The ones that are not make the headlines, and some of those had losses blamed on CCD when it was really their practices, which tend to muddy the water and makes it difficult to pin down CCD.

So you can reduce your panic level and start the breath more deeply. The world, as we know it, is not coming to an end.


20 posted on 02/08/2008 5:44:51 AM PST by KeyWest (Help stamp out taglines!)
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To: KeyWest

I’ve heard the polar bear isn’t in any danger either.


23 posted on 02/08/2008 2:19:19 PM PST by B4Ranch (("Life is a food chain; if you're not at the top, you're on the menu." ))
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