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<h1><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:normal'>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/01/BUGQ2Q5AAI22.DTL<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<h1><b><font size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:24.0pt'>Many
causes blamed for honeybee die-off<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<h2><b><font size=5 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:18.0pt'>Colony
collapse disorder could cost $15 billion<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h2>
<p class=byline><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><a href="mailto:graine@sfchronicle.com">George Raine, Chronicle Staff
Writer</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=date><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Friday,
June 1, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2007/06/01/BUGQ2Q5AAI22.DTL&o=0&type=printable"><span
style='text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=64 height=64 id="_x0000_i1025"
src="cid:image001.gif@01C7A42D.ACF83620" vspace=1
alt="A frame full of pollinating bees is shown at a watermelon..."></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><span
id=articlebody>(06-01) 04:00 PDT Hilmar, Merced County</span></font></b></strong>
-- Ateam of entomologists and other scientists studying the alarming die-off of
honeybees across the country is expected to report that there are multiple
causes of the deaths, called colony collapse disorder. The finding compounds a
crisis for growers of crops dependent on pollination, a <st1:place w:st="on">Central
Valley</st1:place> congressman said Thursday. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Rep.
Dennis Cardoza, D-Atwater (<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Merced</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>), said he has seen
portions of the report being prepared for the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
to be released later this month. He said it lays out several possible causes,
including parasites and a lack of genetic diversity. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
challenge, Cardoza said, will be to tailor research efforts to return the most
benefit. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"Most
likely it is a combination of factors,'' Cardoza said on the edge of a
watermelon field outside Hilmar, where working honeybees had performed their
morning pollination duties Thursday. "When you look at multiple factors it
really complicates the research,'' he said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Cardoza
gathered reporters, beekeepers, farmers and a UC Davis Extension apiculturist
for an update on colony collapse disorder, a phenomenon that threatens
pollination-dependent vegetable, nut and fruit crops with a value to growers of
$15 billion. Of that total, <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>'s
share is $6 billion. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Losses
have been reported in more than 30 states, with some beekeepers reporting very
few losses and others saying their colonies have been devastated. Nationally,
the estimate is that 25 percent of the 2.4 million honeybee colonies nationwide
are affected, said Troy Fore, executive director of the American Beekeeping
Federation in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Jesup</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">Ga.</st1:State></st1:place> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>And just
as honeybees are in decline, the demand for them is increasing sharply,
particularly for almond growers in <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State>,
said Paul Wenger of <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Modesto</st1:place></st1:City>,
a grower of almonds and walnuts. He said almonds are planted on about 650,000
acres in the state today and that figure will shortly rise to as many as
800,000 acres. Almond growers require at least two hives per acre for
pollination, but would like four. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"You
can see in those two intersecting graphics a real significant problem for
agriculture, a crisis,'' Cardoza said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Beekeeper
Gene Brandi of Los Banos told Cardoza that he lost 40 percent of his bees to
colony collapse disorder this year -- and $60,000 he would have otherwise
collected renting honeybees to almond growers. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The team
of scientists now completing the report and recommendations for the USDA's
Agriculture Research Service is expected to conclude that there are many
potential causes of colony collapse, including parasites, mites and diseases;
known or unknown pathogens; poor nutrition and stress; lack of genetic
diversity; and a combination of several factors. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>If there
is not a common thread, such as a pathogen seen in many of the affected colonies,
Professor Eric Mussen of UC Davis said he is convinced that a nutritional
deficit helps explain how the honeybees were weakened by the smorgasbord of
potential causes of death. That is because dry conditions, certainly in <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>, did not
produce flowers in which bees find their required mix of pollens, he said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"I
am pretty concerned about it this year because, at <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Davis</st1:place></st1:City>, in January we only had 0.17 of an inch
of rain and we should have had 4 inches. The early mustard -- we never got
it,'' Mussen said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"In
many situations the bees were weakened by not being able to get a nice mix of
nutrients that they needed from the pollens, and I think that weakened them,''
he said. "Under those circumstances you can take all the other (causes),
and there are plenty of them, and combine them together and down go the bees.''
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Rep.
Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., introduced a bill in March that would give the USDA $50
million over five years to study colony collapse, but Cardoza, a fiscally conservative
Democrat whose district includes Stockton, Merced and Modesto, said that is too
costly and he prefers to narrow the research target. He said conversations are
taking place about a possible emergency appropriation and also additional
research money for colony collapse added to the farm bill that is expected to
be considered in September. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-style:italic'>E-mail George Raine at <a
href="mailto:graine@sfchronicle.com">graine@sfchronicle.com</a>.</span></font></i>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</span>
<p id=url><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/01/BUGQ2Q5AAI22.DTL<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p id=pageno><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>This
article appeared on page <strong><b><font face="Times New Roman">C - 1</font></b></strong>
of the San Francisco Chronicle<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<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 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:
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