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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=5 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:18.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Have You Heard the Buzz?</span></font></b><br>
Honeybees Are Disappearing, and Some Crops Could Be Affected<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Monday,
June 11, 2007; C12</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>America</span></font></st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
honeybees are being attacked by a mysterious killer, and unless someone or
something stops it soon, it could greatly affect what's on your dinner plate.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Honeybees
don't just make honey; they pollinate more than 90 of our tastiest flowering
crops. These plants need pollination to reproduce.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In fact,
one-third of our diet comes from insect-pollinated plants, and the honeybee is
responsible for 80 percent of that pollination, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture says. Even cattle, which feed on alfalfa, depend on bees.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>So if
their decline worsens, we could be "stuck with grains and water" to
eat, said Kevin Hackett, who works with the department's bee and pollination
program.<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'>Now You See Them, Now You Don't</span></font></i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>There
have been widespread bee die-offs before, but this one is especially baffling
and alarming.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>U.S.</span></font></st1:place></st1:country-region>
beekeepers have lost more than a fourth of their 2.4 million honeybee colonies
in recent months -- five times the normal annual loss -- because of what's
being called colony collapse disorder.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>No one
knows what's causing adult bees to abandon their hives suddenly, leaving their
young to die along with the queen and her helpers.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Possible
causes include a fungus, bacteria, virus or chemical sprayed on plants to kill
harmful insects -- or a combination of these factors.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>German
researchers blamed cellphones for messing with bees' ability to find their way
back to their hives. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
bee experts don't buy that explanation, though.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Colony
collapse disorder, first noticed in November, has spread to more than 35 states
as well as <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>, Europe
and <st1:place w:st="on">South America</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>America</span></font></st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
honeybees already were in trouble. Their numbers have been steadily shrinking
because they aren't well-equipped to fight poisons and disease. Mites nearly
wiped them out in the 1990s before chemists figured out how to kill the pesky
parasites.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Can
honeybees bounce back again? "We'll know probably by the end of the
summer," Hackett said.<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'>Keeping Busy as, Well, a Bee</span></font></i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Of the
17,000 known species of bees, honeybees are the workhorses. They pollinate many
types of plants and recruit other bees to help. Their efforts add about $15
billion a year in value to our food supply, a congressional study said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Migratory
honeybees, which are moved from farm to farm to pollinate in fields and
orchards, appear hardest hit by colony collapse. <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State> almonds are just one crop that
needs these bees in order to produce fruit.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Not all
scientists fear a food crisis because of the shrinking bee population, but lots
of researchers are trying to solve the mystery.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"The
problem," said Jeff Pettis, the Department of Agriculture's bee expert,
"is that everyone wants a simple answer. And it may not be a simple
answer."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>-- Associated Press</span></font></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>© 2007 The Washington Post Company<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<!-- end the copyright for the aricles --><!-- start the copyright for the secions --><!-- end the copyright for the secions -->
<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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