[Pollinator] Santa Fe New Mexican: The case of the missing bees

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The case of the missing bees

Brent Edelen installs new queen bees in a Deming bee yard, one of 14 he keeps 
in the area. Many of his hives are coming up empty, below left. Edelensays 
30,000 bees were lost in one of the 10 hives at one location. He estimates he 
lost 14 of 40 colonies at the site, losing millions of bees. Photo by Clyde 
Mueller/The New Mexican


By Phaedra Haywood | The New Mexican
April 29, 2007


The nation’s main pollinators are rapidly disappearing, and no one knows for 
sure why As spring unfurls, honeybees are expected to be rousing themselves 
from their winter dormancy and going about their busy work of collecting flower 
nectar to make into honey, pollinating crops in the process. But large numbers 
of bees simply aren't showing up for work this year.
 In early visits to hives, beekeepers in 27 states have reported empty boxes 
without so much as a bee body left to run tests on. As of this writing, New 
Mexico was not on the map of states considered affected by the problem. But a 
report from a beekeeper at a Southern New Mexico bee yard indicates maybe it 
should be.
 The problem of AWOL honeybees -- which has been dubbed Colony Collapse 
Disorder -- has prompted a congressional hearing and concern among beekeepers and 
produce growers about the ramifications of massive losses of the nation's main 
pollinator of crops.


Kevin Hackett, a program leader with the United States Department of 
Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, said the agency plans to spend $9 million 
studying bees this year, half of it on Colony Collapse Disorder.
 Hard data about the extent of the problem is spotty. But, according to 
researchers at the USDA, as many as 25 percent of the country's 2.5 million bee 
colonies have disappeared or been killed off by the phenomenon.
 As scientists and others scramble to determine the cause of the problem, 
speculation -- some of it wild -- abounds. The most recent theory, according a 
story Thursday in the Los Angeles Times, quoted a "highly preliminary" 
University of California, San Francisco study that links the disorder to a 
single-celled fungal parasite called Nosema ceranae.
 Nosema and other viruses have been found in some of the bee bodies that were 
left behind in abandoned colonies across the country. Hackett said the 
prevalence of viruses might indicate that the bees are suffering from some sort of 
immune-system suppression.
 Some apiary-industry insiders speculate that bees could be stressed to their 
breaking point by being trucked about in big rigs and fed sugar water. "They 
are locked up in hives moving thousands of miles across the country. They 
can't take cleansing flights. You interrupt the sociality of the colony." Hackett 
said. "It's a combination of factors, a 'perfect storm' kind of situation." 
But, he pointed out, some nonmigratory beekeepers are also experiencing the 
disorder.
 Others blame overuse and lax regulation of pesticides. Some suspect a virus 
or bacteria carried by varroa mites, which have been causing declines in bee 
populations for more than a decade. Cell-phones signals also are being blamed 
for confusing bees to the point that they can't find their way home. Others 
claim the dwindling pollinator population is a sure sign of the apocalypse.
 Contact PhaedraHaywood at 986-3004 or phaywood at sfnewmexican.com.




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