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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/science/24bees.html?_r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>April 24, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<h1><nyt_headline version="1.0" type=" "><b><font size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:24.0pt'>Bees Vanish, and Scientists Race for Reasons <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></nyt_headline></h1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><nyt_byline version="1.0" type=" "></nyt_byline>By <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/alexei_barrionuevo/index.html?inline=nyt-per"
title="More Articles by Alexei Barrionuevo">ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><nyt_text></nyt_text>BELTSVILLE,
Md., April 23 — What is happening to the bees?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>More than
a quarter of the country’s 2.4 million bee colonies have been lost
— tens of billions of bees, according to an estimate from the Apiary
Inspectors of America, a national group that tracks beekeeping. So far, no one
can say what is causing the bees to become disoriented and fail to return to
their hives. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>As with
any great mystery, a number of theories have been posed, and many seem to
researchers to be more science fiction than science. People have blamed
genetically modified crops, cellular phone towers and high-voltage transmission
lines for the disappearances. Or was it a secret plot by <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> or <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/osama_bin_laden/index.html?inline=nyt-per"
title="More articles about Osama bin Laden.">Osama bin Laden</a> to bring down
American agriculture? Or, as some blogs have asserted, the rapture of the bees,
in which God recalled them to heaven? Researchers have heard it all.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
volume of theories “is totally mind-boggling,” said Diana
Cox-Foster, an entomologist at <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/p/pennsylvania_state_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org"
title="More articles about Pennsylvania State University">Pennsylvania State
University</a>. With Jeffrey S. Pettis, an entomologist from the <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/agriculture_department/index.html?inline=nyt-org"
title="More articles about the U.S. Agriculture Department.">United States
Department of Agriculture</a>, Dr. Cox-Foster is leading a team of researchers
who are trying to find answers to explain “colony collapse
disorder,” the name given for the disappearing bee syndrome.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“Clearly
there is an urgency to solve this,” Dr. Cox-Foster said. “We are
trying to move as quickly as we can.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Dr.
Cox-Foster and fellow scientists who are here at a two-day meeting to discuss
early findings and future plans with government officials have been focusing on
the most likely suspects: a virus, a fungus or a pesticide.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>About 60
researchers from <st1:place w:st="on">North America</st1:place> sifted the
possibilities at the meeting today. Some expressed concern about the speed at
which adult bees are disappearing from their hives; some colonies have
collapsed in as little as two days. Others noted that countries in Europe, as
well as <st1:country-region w:st="on">Guatemala</st1:country-region> and parts
of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Brazil</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
are also struggling for answers.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“There
are losses around the world that may or not be linked,” Dr. Pettis said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
investigation is now entering a critical phase. The researchers have collected
samples in several states and have begun doing bee autopsies and genetic
analysis. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>So far,
known enemies of the bee world, like the varroa mite, on their own at least, do
not appear to be responsible for the unusually high losses. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Genetic
testing at <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/columbia_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org"
title="More articles about Columbia University.">Columbia University</a> has
revealed the presence of multiple micro-organisms in bees from hives or
colonies that are in decline, suggesting that something is weakening their
immune system. The researchers have found some fungi in the affected bees that
are found in humans whose immune systems have been suppressed by the Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome or <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/cancer/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier"
title="Recent and archival health news about cancer.">cancer</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“That
is extremely unusual,” Dr. Cox-Foster said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Meanwhile,
samples were sent to an Agriculture Department laboratory in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">North Carolina</st1:place></st1:State> this month to screen for 117
chemicals. Particular suspicion falls on a pesticide that <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">France</st1:place></st1:country-region> banned
out of concern that it may have been decimating bee colonies. Concern has also
mounted among public officials. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“There
are so many of our crops that require pollinators,” said Representative
Dennis Cardoza, a California Democrat whose district includes that
state’s central agricultural valley, and who presided last month at a
Congressional hearing on the bee issue. “We need an urgent call to arms
to try to ascertain what is really going on here with the bees, and bring as
much science as we possibly can to bear on the problem.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>So far,
colony collapse disorder has been found in 27 states, according to Bee Alert
Technology Inc., a company monitoring the problem. A recent survey of 13 states
by the Apiary Inspectors of America showed that 26 percent of beekeepers had
lost half of their bee colonies between September and March. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Honeybees
are arguably the insects that are most important to the human food chain. They
are the principal pollinators of hundreds of fruits, vegetables, flowers and
nuts. The number of bee colonies has been declining since the 1940s, even as
the crops that rely on them, such as <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>
almonds, have grown. In October, at about the time that beekeepers were
experiencing huge bee losses, a study by the <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_academy_of_sciences/index.html?inline=nyt-org"
title="More articles about National Academy of Sciences">National Academy of
Sciences</a> questioned whether American agriculture was relying too heavily on
one type of pollinator, the honeybee. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Bee
colonies have been under stress in recent years as more beekeepers have
resorted to crisscrossing the country with 18-wheel trucks full of bees in
search of pollination work. These bees may suffer from a <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/diet/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier"
title="Recent and archival health news about diet and nutrition.">diet</a> that
includes artificial supplements, concoctions akin to energy drinks and power
bars. In several states, suburban sprawl has limited the bees’ natural
forage areas. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>So far,
the researchers have discounted the possibility that poor diet alone could be
responsible for the widespread losses. They have also set aside for now the
possibility that the cause could be bees feeding from a commonly used
genetically modified crop, Bt corn, because the symptoms typically associated
with toxins, such as blood poisoning, are not showing up in the affected bees.
But researchers emphasized today that feeding supplements produced from
genetically modified crops, such as high-fructose corn syrup, need to be
studied.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
scientists say that definitive answers for the colony collapses could be months
away. But recent advances in biology and genetic sequencing are speeding the
search. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Computers
can decipher information from <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/geneticsandheredity/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier"
title="Recent and archival health news about genetics and heredity.">DNA</a>
and match pieces of genetic code with particular organisms. Luckily, a project
to sequence some 11,000 genes of the honeybee was completed late last year at
Baylor College of Medicine in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Houston</st1:place></st1:City>,
giving scientists a huge head start on identifying any unknown pathogens in the
bee tissue. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“Otherwise,
we would be looking for the needle in the haystack,” Dr. Cox-Foster said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Large bee
losses are not unheard of. They have been reported at several points in the
past century. But researchers think they are dealing with something new —
or at least with something previously unidentified. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“There
could be a number of factors that are weakening the bees or speeding up things
that shorten their lives,” said Dr. W. Steve Sheppard, a professor of
entomology at <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/w/washington_state_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org"
title="More articles about Washington State University">Washington State
University</a>. “The answer may already be with us.” <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Scientists
first learned of the bee disappearances in November, when David Hackenberg, a <st1:State
w:st="on">Pennsylvania</st1:State> beekeeper, told Dr. Cox-Foster that more
than 50 percent of his bee colonies had collapsed in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Florida</st1:place></st1:State>, where he had taken them for the
winter. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Dr.
Cox-Foster, a 20-year veteran of studying bees, soon teamed with Dennis
vanEngelsdorp, the <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Pennsylvania</st1:place></st1:State>
apiary inspector, to look into the losses.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In
December, she approached W. Ian Lipkin, director of the Greene Infectious
Disease Laboratory at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Columbia</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, about doing
genetic sequencing of tissue from bees in the colonies that experienced losses.
The laboratory uses a recently developed technique for reading and amplifying
short sequences of DNA that has revolutionized the science. Dr. Lipkin, who
typically works on human diseases, agreed to do the analysis, despite not
knowing who would ultimately pay for it. His laboratory is known for its work
in finding the <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/westnilevirus/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier"
title="Recent and archival health news about West Nile virus.">West Nile</a>
disease in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Dr.
Cox-Foster ultimately sent samples of bee tissue to researchers at <st1:City
w:st="on">Columbia</st1:City>, to the Agriculture Department laboratory in <st1:State
w:st="on">Maryland</st1:State>, and to Gene Robinson, an entomologist at the <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/university_of_illinois/index.html?inline=nyt-org"
title="More articles about University of Illinois">University of Illinois</a>.
Fortuitously, she had frozen bee samples from healthy colonies dating to 2004
to use for comparison. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>After
receiving the first bee samples from Dr. Cox-Foster on March 6, Dr.
Lipkin’s team amplified the genetic material and started sequencing to
separate virus, fungus and parasite DNA from bee DNA. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“This
is like C.S.I. for agriculture,” Dr. Lipkin said. “It is
painstaking, gumshoe detective work.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Dr.
Lipkin sent his first set of results to Dr. Cox-Foster, showing that several
unknown micro-organisms were present in the bees from collapsing colonies.
Meanwhile, Mr. vanEngelsdorp and researchers at the Agriculture Department lab
here began an autopsy of bees from collapsing colonies in <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State>,
<st1:State w:st="on">Florida</st1:State>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Georgia</st1:country-region>
and <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Pennsylvania</st1:place></st1:State>
to search for any known bee pathogens.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>At the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Illinois</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>, using knowledge gained from
the sequencing of the bee genome, Dr. Robinson’s team will try to find
which genes in the collapsing colonies are particularly active, perhaps
indicating stress from exposure to a toxin or pathogen. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
national research team also quietly began a parallel study in January, financed
in part by the National Honey Board, to further determine if something
pathogenic could be causing colonies to collapse. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Mr.
Hackenberg, the beekeeper, agreed to take his empty bee boxes and other
equipment to Food Technology Service, a company in Mulberry, <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Fla.</st1:place></st1:State>, that uses gamma rays to kill bacteria
on medical equipment and some fruits. In early results, the irradiated bee
boxes seem to have shown a return to health for colonies repopulated with
Australian bees. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“This
supports the idea that there is a pathogen there,” Dr. Cox-Foster said.
“It would be hard to explain the irradiation getting rid of a
chemical.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Still,
some environmental substances remain suspicious. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Chris
Mullin, a <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Pennsylvania</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType>
professor and insect toxicologist, recently sent a set of samples to a federal
laboratory in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Raleigh</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">N.C.</st1:State></st1:place>, that will screen for 117 chemicals. Of
greatest interest are the “systemic” chemicals that are able to
pass through a plant’s circulatory system and move to the new leaves or
the flowers, where they would come in contact with bees.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>One such
group of compounds is called neonicotinoids, commonly used pesticides that are
used to treat corn and other seeds against pests. One of the neonicotinoids,
imidacloprid, is commonly used in Europe and the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> to treat seeds, to
protect residential foundations against termites and to help keep golf courses
and home lawns green.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In the
late 1990s, French beekeepers reported large losses of their bees and
complained about the use of imidacloprid, sold under the brand name Gaucho. The
chemical, while not killing the bees outright, was causing them to be
disoriented and stay away from their hives, leading them to die of exposure to
the cold, French researchers later found. The beekeepers labeled the syndrome
“mad bee disease.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
French government banned the pesticide in 1999 for use on sunflowers, and later
for corn, despite protests by the German chemical giant Bayer, which has said its
internal research showed the pesticide was not toxic to bees. Subsequent
studies by independent French researchers have disagreed with Bayer. Alison
Chalmers, an eco-toxicologist for Bayer CropScience, said at the meeting today
that bee colonies had not recovered in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">France</st1:place></st1:country-region> as beekeepers had expected.
“These chemicals are not being used anymore,” she said of
imidacloprid, “so they certainly were not the only cause.” <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Among the
pesticides being tested in the American bee investigation, the neonicotinoids group
“is the number-one suspect,” Dr. Mullin said. He hoped results of
the toxicology screening will be ready within a month.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<nyt_update_bottom></nyt_update_bottom>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#004000" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#004000'>Jennifer Tsang<br>
<a href="http://coevolution.org">Coevolution Institute</a><br>
<st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">423 Washington St.</st1:address></st1:Street>
5th Fl.<br>
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">CA</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94111-2339</st1:PostalCode></st1:place><br>
T: 415.362.1137</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#004000" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#004000'>F: 415.362.3070</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#004000" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#004000'><a
href="http://www.nappc.org">www.nappc.org</a></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#004000" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#004000'><a
href="http://www.pollinator.org">www.pollinator.org</a></span></font><font
color="#004000"><span style='color:#004000'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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