Colony Collapse Disorder still a honey bee problem

Just because you don't read and hear about it much anymore, does not mean the honey bees are doing fine.

The American Beekeeping Industry lost about 36 percent of its bee population in the winter of 2007-08, after very similar losses the year before.

It is too early to say what happens during this still ongoing winter. Studies are continuing to find the cause or causes for Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), where the bees mysteriously disappear.

Scientists are working around the clock to find a cure, because honey bees are essential for the way we practice agriculture today in monoculture orchards and fields. Native pollinators are practically non-existent in that kind of environment and honey bees have to be shipped in for pollination.

Some of the most valuable fruits, vegetables, nuts and field crops depend particularly on pollination by honey bees. To name a few, 100 percent of almonds, 90 percent of apples and cultivated blueberries, 48 percent of peaches and 29 percent of oranges rely on honey bees for proper pollination. Honey bees are needed to produce one-third of our food supply, and the beekeeping industry represents a vital component of the United States agriculture worth about $15 billion.

As of July 2008, the University of Georgia is leading in a $4.1 million "Coordinated Agricultural Project" to study CCD over the next four years. UGA leads in a consortium of 19 scientists from 16 institutions working together to reverse the honey bee decline.

A multitude of fields are examined which include the search for honey bees that are genetically resistant to the varroa mite, a sucking mite that does damage to bee colonies. The sublethal effects of insecticides and pesticides that are used in agriculture, as well as the sublethal effects of common beekeeping chemicals, that are used to kill the varroa mites are a large part of the study.

Honey bees find it harder and harder to survive in a world of pollution of all kinds.

A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Virginia finds that air pollution is making it harder for bees and other pollinating insects to find food.

Pollutants such as ozone (smog) and nitrate radicals, formed mostly as a consequence of car exhaust, are binding with the volatile scent molecules given off by flowers, the scientists found. This chemically alters the molecules so that they no longer carry a sweet scent, and do not attract pollinating insects to plants.

Problems with bee survival are not limited to the United States. Large losses are reported from just every part of the globe.

France, Italy, Germany and Slovenia found that the nicotine-based systemic pesticides impaired the bees' navigational and foraging abilities. There they have banned the insecticides that are sold under the name of Poncho, Gaucho and Cruiser, made by Bayer and Syngenta. Seeds are being dressed with the pesticides prior to planting. The pesticide then moves through a plant's vascular system as it grows. Bees pick up the pollen from the plants and the theory is that the pesticide, although not killing the bees does affect their immune system and sensory system.

Hoping to avert a growing catastrophe, the European Parliament has approved the creation of bee "recovery zones" across the continent.

Intended to boost plummeting bee numbers, the measure garnered the support of an overwhelming majority of members when they voted on the measure in late November 2008. The recovery zones will provide places for honey bees to forage that carry a diversity of plants rich in nectar and pollen and are free of pesticides.

Hartmut Jung is an Aiken beekeeper who produces local honey based on ecological principles.