[Pollinator] NY Times Article on Beltsville Meeting on CCD

[Ladadams at aol.com]

Disappearing Bees

 LINK WITH PHOTOS:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/science/24bees.html?th&emc=th

By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
 Published: April 24, 2007

 BELTSVILLE, Md., April 23 — What is happening to the bees? 

 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.
 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 Russia or Osama bin 
Laden 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.
The volume of theories “is totally mind-boggling,” said Diana Cox-Foster, an 
entomologist at Pennsylvania State University. With Jeffrey S. Pettis, an 
entomologist from the United States Department of Agriculture, 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.
“Clearly there is an urgency to solve this,” Dr. Cox-Foster said. “We are 
trying to move as quickly as we can.”
 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.
About 60 researchers from North America 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 Guatemala and parts of 
Brazil, are also struggling for answers.
“There are losses around the world that may or not be linked,” Dr. Pettis 
said.
 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.
 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.
 Genetic testing at Columbia University 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 cancer.
 “That is extremely unusual,” Dr. Cox-Foster said.
 Meanwhile, samples were sent to an Agriculture Department laboratory in 
North Carolina this month to screen for 117 chemicals. Particular suspicion falls 
on a pesticide that France banned out of concern that it may have been 
decimating bee colonies. Concern has also mounted among public officials.
 “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.”
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.
 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 California almonds, have 
grown. In October, at about the time that beekeepers were experiencing huge bee 
losses, a study by the National Academy of Sciences questioned whether American 
agriculture was relying too heavily on one type of pollinator, the honeybee.
 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 diet that includes 
artificial supplements, concoctions akin to energy drinks and power bars. In 
several states, suburban sprawl has limited the bees’ natural forage areas.
 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.
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.
 Computers can decipher information from DNA 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 
Houston, giving scientists a huge head start on identifying any unknown 
pathogens in the bee tissue.
 “Otherwise, we would be looking for the needle in the haystack,” Dr. 
Cox-Foster said.

     










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