[Pollinator] Plight of bees worsens this winter and scientists spot stew of pesticides in pollen, hives

[Laurel Hopwood]

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/wire/sns-ap-us-food-and-farm-disappearing-bees,0,7333497,full.story
Plight of bees worsens this winter and scientists spot stew of 
pesticides in pollen, hives
By AP writers Garance Burke and Seth Borenstein
March 24, 2010

MERCED, Calif. (AP) - The mysterious 4-year-old crisis of 
disappearing honeybees is deepening. A quick federal survey indicates 
a heavy bee die-off this winter, while a new study shows honeybees' 
pollen and hives laden with pesticides.

Two federal agencies along with regulators in California and Canada 
are scrambling to figure out what is behind this relatively recent 
threat, ordering new research on pesticides used in fields and 
orchards. Federal courts are even weighing in this month, ruling that 
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overlooked a requirement 
when allowing a pesticide on the market.

And on Thursday, chemists at a scientific conference in San Francisco 
will tackle the issue of chemicals and dwindling bees in response to 
the new study.

Scientists are concerned because of the vital role bees play in our 
food supply. About one-third of the human diet is from plants that 
require pollination from honeybees, which means everything from 
apples to zucchini.

Bees have been declining over decades from various causes. But in 
2006 a new concern, "colony collapse disorder," was blamed for large, 
inexplicable die-offs. The disorder, which causes adult bees to 
abandon their hives and fly off to die, is likely a combination of 
many causes, including parasites, viruses, bacteria, poor nutrition 
and pesticides, experts say.

"It's just gotten so much worse in the past four years," said Jeff 
Pettis, research leader of the Department of Agriculture's Bee 
Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md. "We're just not keeping bees 
alive that long."

This year bees seem to be in bigger trouble than normal after a bad 
winter, according to an informal survey of commercial bee brokers 
cited in an internal USDA document. One-third of those surveyed had 
trouble finding enough hives to pollinate California's blossoming nut 
trees, which grow the bulk of the world's almonds. A more formal 
survey will be done in April.

"There were a lot of beekeepers scrambling to fill their orders and 
that implies that mortality was high," said Penn State University bee 
researcher Dennis vanEngelsdorp, who worked on the USDA snapshot 
survey.

Beekeeper Zac Browning shipped his hives from Idaho to California to 
pollinate the blossoming almond groves. He got a shock when he 
checked on them, finding hundreds of the hives empty, abandoned by 
the worker bees.

The losses were extreme, three times higher than the previous year.

"It wasn't one load or two loads, but every load we were pulling out 
that was dead. It got extremely depressing to see a third of my 
livestock gone," Browning said, standing next to stacks of dead bee 
colonies in a clearing near Merced, at the center of California's 
fertile San Joaquin Valley.

Among all the stresses to bee health, it's the pesticides that are 
attracting scrutiny now. A study published Friday in the scientific 
journal PLOS (Public Library of Science) One found about three out of 
five pollen and wax samples from 23 states had at least one systemic 
pesticide - a chemical designed to spread throughout all parts of a 
plant.

EPA officials said they are aware of problems involving pesticides 
and bees and the agency is "very seriously concerned."

The pesticides are not a risk to honey sold to consumers, federal 
officials say. And the pollen that people eat is probably safe 
because it is usually from remote areas where pesticides are not 
used, Pettis said. But the PLOS study found 121 different types of 
pesticides within 887 wax, pollen, bee and hive samples.

"The pollen is not in good shape," said Chris Mullin of Penn State 
University, lead author.

None of the chemicals themselves were at high enough levels to kill 
bees, he said, but it was the combination and variety of them that is 
worrisome.

University of Illinois entomologist May Berenbaum called the results 
"kind of alarming."

Despite EPA assurances, environmental groups don't think the EPA is 
doing enough on pesticides.

Bayer Crop Science started petitioning the agency to approve a new 
pesticide for sale in 2006. After reviewing the company's studies of 
its effects on bees, the EPA gave Bayer conditional approval to sell 
the product two years later, but said it had to carry a label warning 
that it was "potentially toxic to honey bee larvae through residues 
in pollen and nectar."

The Natural Resources Defense Council sued, saying the agency failed 
to give the public timely notice for the new pesticide application. 
In December, a federal judge in New York agreed, banning the 
pesticide's sale and earlier this month, two more judges upheld the 
ruling.

"This court decision is obviously very painful for us right now, and 
for growers who don't have access to that product," said Jack Boyne, 
an entomologist and spokesman for Bayer Crop Science. "This product 
quite frankly is not harmful to honeybees."

Boyne said the pesticide was sold for only about a year and most 
sales were in California, Arizona and Florida. The product is 
intended to disrupt the mating patterns of insects that threaten 
citrus, lettuce and grapes, he said.

Berenbaum's research shows pesticides are not the only problem. She 
said multiple viruses also are attacking the bees, making it tough to 
propose a single solution.

"Things are still heading downhill," she said.

For Browning, one of the country's largest commercial beekeepers, the 
latest woes have led to a $1 million loss this year.

"It's just hard to get past this," he said, watching as workers 
cleaned honey from empty wooden hives Monday. "I'm going to rebuild, 
but I have plenty of friends who aren't going to make it."