[Pollinator] San Francisco Chronicle: Key actor in food supply faces multiple threats

[Kelly Rourke]

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Science-threats-to-bees-and-
colony-collapse-5408443.php

Science, threats to bees and colony collapse disorder
Paul Driessen
Updated 10:58 pm, Wednesday, April 16, 2014

 
Honeybees, like these at a hive in an almond orchard near Turlock
(Stanislaus County), are jeopardized by many factors beyond pesticides.
Scientific assessment of those threats is needed to protect California's
almond industry. Photo: Gosia Wozniacka, Associated Press

Almonds need honeybees for pollination, but bees that do the work face
multiple threats. Properly identifying and addressing the risks is vital for
commercial beekeepers, growers who operate this $4 billion-a-year California
industry, and all who savor honey and almonds.
Beehives have been hit hard in recent years by many problems, including
colony collapse disorder, which occurs when bees in a colony disappear,
leaving behind only a queen and a few workers. Last year, U.S. beekeepers
experienced an average 30 percent overwinter bee loss.
Some blame a new class of pesticides called neonicotinoids and want them
banned. However, a ban would force farmers to use pesticides that are more
toxic to bees.
In Canada's western provinces, almost 20 million acres of 100 percent
neonic-treated canola is pollinated annually by honeybees and leaf-cutter
bees. Both species thrive on the crop, suggesting that neonics do not cause
colony collapse disorder. Honeybee field studies by Canadian universities
and a United Kingdom government bumblebee field study likewise found no
adverse effects from neonics on bees.
Focusing on pesticides also ignores multiple threats that scientists have
identified.
Urban, suburban and agricultural development has reduced natural clover and
flower habitats. Today, commercial bees spend weeks on the road, "feeding on
a single crop, undernourished and overworked," a "60 Minutes" report
observed.
"It takes almost all the commercial bees in the United States" to pollinate
the almond crop, says Colorado beekeeper Lyle Johnston
<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%
2Fopenforum&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Lyle+Johnston%22> . The road trip
is stressful and may include scorching heat that causes drivers to drench
hot, thirsty bees with water at truck washes.
Bees transported from colder states in February and March have insufficient
time to emerge from their heat-conserving winter clusters, and thus may be
more susceptible to stress and disease.
Some beekeepers thus maintain 20,000 to 30,000 hives, each requiring careful
inspection for diseases and parasites.
Bees can come back from California "loaded with mites and every disease you
can think of," notes beekeeper Ed Colby
<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%
2Fopenforum&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Ed+Colby%22> , and killing bugs
on bugs - without harming the bees - is extremely difficult.
The aptly named Varroa destructor mite alone carries at least 19 different
bee viruses and diseases, causing major impacts on bee colonies. Parasitic
phorid flies are another problem.
An intestinal fungus is highly contagious and prevents bees from absorbing
nutrition, resulting in starvation. The tobacco ringspot virus and other
insect, fungal and weather conditions, singly or collectively, could also
explain colony collapse disorder. All have affected numerous colonies.
"Disappearing" disorders have been recorded periodically in different
locales for years. Thankfully, as during past episodes, thus far unexplained
incidents have declined in recent years and, despite all these challenges,
overall U.S. honeybee populations and the number of managed colonies have
held steady for nearly 20 years.
Bayer has built bee health centers in Europe and the United States, and
Monsanto's Beeologics subsidiary is developing technology to fight Varroa
mites.
Correctly identifying the problems and finding comprehensive solutions is
vital for all who love bees, honey and almonds. Science, not politics or
activist pressure, must prevail.
Paul Driessen
<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%
2Fopenforum&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Paul+Driessen%22>  is senior
energy and environment policy analyst for the Committee for a Constructive
Tomorrow
<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%
2Fopenforum&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Committee+for+a+Constructive+Tomo
rrow%22>  ( www.CFACT.org <http://www.cfact.org/> , a 501(c)3 corporation
that does policy work on the environment from a free market perspective).


Kelly Rourke
Program Associate
Pollinator Partnership
423 Washington Street, 5th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111-2339
T: 415-362-1137 
F: 415-362-3070
E: kr at pollinator.org
www.pollinator.org