[Pollinator] Colony Collapse Disorder featured on CBC radio

[Andrachuk,Heather [Burlington]]

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) morning radio show "The
Current" featured a segment on Colony Collapse Disorder today, Friday,
March 2nd. You can hear the segment (Part 1 of the show) at
www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2007/200703/20070302.html. 
 
Here is the CBC synopsis of the segment:
 
Honey Bee Crisis 

We started this segment with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the
Bumblebee." The frantic pace of his score was meant to replicate a bee's
hyper-kinetic aerial acrobatics. 

Bees have long been associated with diligence and industriousness. And
even though it's not native to North America, both Canada and the United
States rely on honeybees to keep our agricultural sectors afloat, by
pollinating everything from apples and oranges to almonds and
cranberries. 

But lately, U.S. honeybees are either disappearing or dying off at an
alarming rate. Some beekeepers have lost up to 70% of their hives. David
Bradshaw has witnessed the problem first-hand. He's a beekeeper in
Fresno, California. 

Besides being hard workers, honey bees have also built an incredibly
complex social infrastructure. Mark Winston teaches biology at Simon
Fraser University. We heard from him with what he sees when he looks at
a bee hive.


Bees - US Expert 

Beekeepers in the United States have a name for this problem, "Colony
Collapse Disorder." But what they don't know is why it's happening. 

Dennis van Englesdorp is the State Apiarist -- or beekeeper -- with the
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. He's also a member of a working
group of experts trying to figure out what's causing the problem ... and
what to do about it. Dennis van Englesdorp was in Harrisburgh,
Pennsylvania. 


Bees - Canada 

To better understand how "Colony Collapse Disorder" might affect
Canadian bees and beekeepers, we were joined by Alison Skinner. She is
the Technology Transfer Specialist with the Ontario Beekeeper's
Association and she was on the phone from her office in Guelph, Ontario.


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