<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"> Disorder stings bee population<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"> By Angela Moscaritolo, For the Herald Standard<BR>
09/03/2007<BR>
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Updated 09/04/2007 12:06:04 AM EDT<BR>
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Laurie Davies Adams<BR>
Executive Director<BR>
Coeovlution Institute<BR>
425 Washington Street, 5th Floor<BR>
San Francisco, CA 94111<BR>
415 362 1137 (p)<BR>
415 362 3070 (f)<BR>
LDA@coevolution.org<BR>
www.coevolution.org<BR>
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www.pollinator.org<BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">John O'Laughlin of Dawson examiness bees in one of his hives. O'Laughlin has lost 20 of 48 bee hives to the Colony Collapse Disorder. (Ken Brooks/Herald-Standard)</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><BR>
It's been a bad year for beekeepers, and consumers could still get stung down the road.<BR>
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Honeybee populations have declined by 25 percent in recent months. The Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has left Pennsylvania beekeepers stumped as to why many of their bees seem to have vanished and worried about the effects that the epidemic could have.<BR>
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Over the past beekeeping season, John O'Laughlin of Dawson said he lost about 20 of his 43 honeybee hives.<BR>
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"They're just gone," O'Laughlin said. "The colony is just dead, you don't find anything."<BR>
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And O'Laughlin is not alone.<BR>
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"One of our larger beekeepers lost 2,000 of 3,000 colonies in a month," said Dennis Van Engelsdorp, acting state apiarist.<BR>
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Beekeepers will find a colony completely empty, devoid of even dead bees. They are leaving the hive and dying, said Engelsdorp.<BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">"I haven't seen losses this quickly and this extensively before," Engelsdorp said.<BR>
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If the problem worsens, on top of just honey, Americans may be facing shortages of apples, peaches, berries, soybeans, almonds, avocados and many other crops that honeybees help pollinate. In addition, each colony of honeybees adds about $1,600 to the economy through the produce they help pollinate, according to Bonnie Hal, state apiary inspector.<BR>
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With the cause of CCD unknown, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and senators Barbara Boxer from California and John Thune of South Dakota agreed that the problem is worth researching.<BR>
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They introduced a legislation called the Pollinator Protection Act, which would provide $89 million in federal funds to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to research, protect and maintain America's bee and native pollinator population.<BR>
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Engelsdorp said he believes that CCD is most likely attributed to environmental contaminates, such as pesticides; environmental stresses, such as poor nutrition, or known and unknown pathogens which can infect the bees. The answer can be a combination of these factors, also, Engelsdorp said.<BR>
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Bees become exposed to pesticides when they pick it up on their hair and bring it back to the hive, passing it to each other. Pesticides also can be on pollen which bees feed on, said Robert Noel, a beekeeper in Cumberland, Md.<BR>
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James Armine, professor of entomology at West Virginia University, has been studying the collapse of honeybee populations since 1995. He believes that vorrora and tracheal mites are the main culprits of CCD. These mites are about the size of a grain of pepper and transmit viruses to bees, weakening their immune systems, Amrine said.<BR>
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Engelsdorp said that according to research he has helped conduct, the vorrora and tracheal mite have been ruled out as a cause of CCD. He agreed that other known and unknown pathogens could have a role in the epidemic.<BR>
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Frances Rosensteel of Connellsville, co-chairwoman of the Farm Products Department at the Fayette County Fair, reported there were no honey entries at this year's fair.<BR>
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