[Pollinator] SF Chronicle: Many causes blamed for honeybee die-off

[Jennifer Tsang]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/01/BUGQ2Q5AAI22.DTL


Many causes blamed for honeybee die-off


Colony collapse disorder could cost $15 billion


George Raine, Chronicle Staff <mailto:graine at sfchronicle.com>  Writer

Friday, June 1, 2007

 
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2007/06/01/BUGQ2Q5AAI22
.DTL&o=0&type=printable> A frame full of pollinating bees is shown at a
watermelon...

(06-01) 04:00 PDT Hilmar, Merced County -- 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 Central Valley congressman said Thursday. 

Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Atwater (Merced County), 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. 

The challenge, Cardoza said, will be to tailor research efforts to return
the most benefit. 

"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. 

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, California's share is $6 billion. 

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 Jesup, Ga. 

And just as honeybees are in decline, the demand for them is increasing
sharply, particularly for almond growers in California, said Paul Wenger of
Modesto, 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. 

"You can see in those two intersecting graphics a real significant problem
for agriculture, a crisis,'' Cardoza said. 

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. 

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. 

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 California, did not produce flowers in which bees
find their required mix of pollens, he said. 

"I am pretty concerned about it this year because, at Davis, 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. 

"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.'' 

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. 

E-mail George Raine at graine at sfchronicle.com. 

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/01/BUGQ2Q5AAI22.DTL

This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

 

 

Jennifer Tsang
Coevolution Institute <http://coevolution.org> 
423 Washington St. 5th Fl.
San Francisco, CA 94111-2339
T: 415.362.1137

F: 415.362.3070

www.nappc.org

www.pollinator.org

 

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