[Pollinator] AGRICULTURE: Bee deaths increase over last year -- survey

[Ladadams at aol.com]

Forwarded by Hilda Diaz-Soltero

 AGRICULTURE: Bee deaths increase over last year -- survey         
(Wednesday, May 7, 2008)                                          
A new survey released yesterday showed a grim picture of bee      
health, with 36.1 percent of the country's commercially managed   
hives lost since last year.                                       
The survey conducted last year by the Apiary Inspectors of America
found losses of about 32 percent. About 29 percent of the bee     
deaths were due to colony collapse disorder, a disease that       
mysteriously causes adult bees to abandon their hives.            
Dennis van Engelsdorp, president of Apiary Inspectors of America, 
said that as beekeepers travel with their hives this spring to    
pollinate crops around the country, they are finding that insects 
are buckling under the weight of new diseases, pesticide drift and
old enemies such as the parasitic varroa mite.                    
Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff announced the     
state would pour an additional $20,400 into research to look for  
the causes of the disease (Juliana Barbassa, Associated Press, May
7). -- KJH                                                        



Laurie Davies Adams
Executive Director
Pollinator Partnership
425 Washington Street, 5th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111
415 362 1137 (p)
415 362 3070 (f)
LDA at pollinator.org
www.pollinator.org
www.nappc.org

National Pollinator Week is June 22-28, 2008. Create or attend an event in 
your state. Visit www.pollinator.org National Pollinator Week for complete 
details.

Join the Pollinator Partnership working to protect agriculture and ecosystems 
- visit www.pollinator.org



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