[Pollinator] Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in Canada: Do we have a problem?

[Ladadams at aol.com]

Thanks to Peter Kevan for sending this to the NAPPC Listserv. It will appear 
in HiveLights, the magazine of the Canadian Honey Council. 

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in Canada:  
Do we have a problem? 

Peter G. Kevan1, Ernesto Guzman1, Alison Skinner2, and Dennis van Englesdorp3 

1.      Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON 
N1G 2W1. 
2.      Technology Transfer Specialist, Ontario Beekeepers’ Association, 
Orchard Park Office Centre, 5420 Highway 6, Guelph, ON N1H 6J2 
3. Acting State Apiarist for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, 2301 
N Cameron                  St., Harrisburg, PA 17110, USA 
 
Colony Collapse Disorder (also known by several other names) has become a 
plague in throughout the United States.  Major losses in colonies have been 
reported from all states that have reported (_http://maarec.cas.psu.edu_ 
(res://C:\Program%20Files\America%20Online%209.0\resource.dll/(http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/
).) ) as of 26 February, 2007.  In Canada, where winter losses are commonly 
problematic, no instances of CCD have been confirmed, at least so far.  But, 
very recent reports are of suspicious losses having been experienced in Ontario 
and Saskatchewan.  Should Canadian beekeepers be concerned?  Does Canadian 
beekeeping provide insights into CCD?   

Let’s first look at the information that the CCD Working Group in the USA has 
provided (_http://maarec.cas.psu.edu_ 
(res://C:\Program%20Files\America%20Online%209.0\resource.dll/(http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/).) ).   

The symptoms of a CCD collapsed colony are no adult bees and no corpses, 
presence of capped brood, presence of both honey and pollen (bee-bread) stores.  A 
collapsing colony shows too small a workforce for colony maintenance and that 
workforce is made up of young bees, and the bee cluster seems reluctant to 
feed on either stored honey or pollen.  One of the most peculiar of symptoms is 
the lack of robbing behaviour of surviving colonies of colonies that have died 
out. What is going on?  Strange symptoms indeed!   

The CCD Working Group concludes that “stress” is a major contributor to the 
condition, and they itemize a number of stresses that are likely involved.  In 
particular, they mention that migratory beekeeping practices are stressful to 
the bees.  The reasons suggested are confinement and temperature fluctuations 
during transport.  Certainly, added to those reasons are the mechanical 
vibrations and shocks that colonies on trucks experience, which, when protracted 
over several days’ duration would be upsetting to the bees.  Confinement itself 
would cause the air within the hives to become stale, with higher than usual 
levels of Carbon dioxide (CO2) and moisture.  Even moving colonies short 
distances for pollination or honey production is well known to cause the bees to 
become upset, so moves taking days and over thousands of kilometres would be 
expected to be stressful on the bees, as well as on the beekeepers.  

Rapid movement of colonies of bees across the USA may cause “jet-lag”.  Yes, 
bees to sleep and do have regular daily rhythms of activity (just as do 
people) (Kaiser 1988; Sauer et al. 2003, 2004; Zhang et al. 2006), so one can 
suggest that a colony of bees being whipped across two or three time zones in a 
quick move would be subject to some stress. 

Migratory beekeeping involves the packing of large numbers of colonies onto 
the backs of trucks.  There, the colonies are un-naturally close together.  The 
CCD Working Group acknowledges that when the bees cluster on the outsides of 
hives packed as truckloads, mingling of bees between the hives would occur.  
The bees’ defecation on the outside of the hives would increase rates of 
transmission of pathogens.  

That transport in and of itself causes colony death and the CCD Working Group 
reports that 10% to 30% losses are “not uncommon” as a result of moving 
colonies for pollination.  With such losses, migratory beekeepers make splits to 
compensate for the losses.  The Working Group notes that the reuse of equipment 
from hives that have died out is part of the transfer of diseases and 
chemical contaminants and may contribute to the problem.  They also point out that 
making splits changes the age structure of the colonies being split, and results 
in an un-natural age structure of bees in the split itself.  Thus, the ratio 
of young, nurse workers to older foragers becomes imbalanced, further 
stressing the colonies.  

Although migratory beekeepers seem to have suffered badly, reports of CCD are 
not confined to their operations.  

Other stresses noted by the CCD Working Group are overcrowded apiaries, 
nutritional stress, drought and contaminated water, use of antibiotics and chemical 
pesticides (within and outside the hive) and, of course, mite parasitosis.    

Overcrowded apiaries are commonly part of migratory beekeeping, especially 
for pollination services.  The “staging apiaries” where hundreds of hives are 
placed cheek-by-jowl are not healthy for the bees.  Often there is not enough 
food within the flight ranges of the foragers, robbing is commonplace (and 
would lead to disease transmission), and hives weaken despite the efforts of the 
beekeepers to provide food (pollen or pollen substitute and syrup).    

Nutritional stress is not really addressed by the Working Group, but several 
points are worth mentioning.  Honeybee colonies used for pollination services 
on large monocultures, such as almonds, blueberries, alfalfa are placed in 
environments where little or no food choice is available to them.  It is known 
that a diverse diet of a mixture of pollens from different plant sources is 
beneficial to bees, and the same would be true for nectar (Schmidt et al. 1987, 
1995).  Thus, nutritional imbalance could explain, in part, some of the observed 
symptoms.  Moreover, the situation for almonds is complicated by the 
potential toxicity of pollen and nectar from almond flowers (Kevan and Ebert 2005), 
especially perhaps in large quantity and for prolonged durations. 

Pollen or pollen substitutes fed to the colonies, although not generally used 
by the beekeepers surveyed by the CCD Working Group, may offer some relief to 
migratory beekeeping and the potential problems that could result from 
prolonged use of colonies on a single crop, but care must be taken.  Pollen can be a 
route for transmission of diseases, so only properly treated and sterilized 
pollen should be used.  Pollen substitutes that use soy flour as the main 
source of protein are not as well accepted, nor as nutritious, as pollen 
substitutes that avoid the use of soy flour (Saffari et al. 2004).  Some soy flours seem 
to contain anti-feedant compounds that detract from their palatability to 
honeybees.      

The problems that mite parasitosis pose to beekeeping are the same in Canada 
as in the USA.  Varroa infestations have lethal consequences, and must be kept 
in check.  Although varroa is recognized as the major problem, tracheal mites 
are still very much around.  Their presence in the breathing tubes of 
honeybees has been proven to cause respiratory distress (Harrison et al. 2001; 
Skinner 2000). Associated with varroa infestations is a complex of viral infections 
(Kevan et al. 2006).  The report of the CCD Working Group includes information 
on the incidences of various diseases in samples that they examined, but it 
is too early to conclude cause and effect.   

The Working Group also considered pesticide contamination, notably the 
neonicotinoids (which includes imidacloprid, notorious for its implications in “mad 
bee disease” (also a colony decline condition), clothianiden, and 
thiamethoxam).  In general, these insecticides are well known to be highly toxic to 
honeybees, to be highly persistent in the environment, and translocatable in plants 
and into pollen and nectar.  These compounds are becoming increasingly widely 
used, sometimes on crops for which honeybees are used for pollination.  They 
are inadequately tested for their hazards to pollinators, even honeybees.  
Sub-lethal effects of imidacloprid include impairment of memory, and inability to 
remember (Decourtye et al. 2004); both important to bees that need to forage 
far from home and find their way back!   

Then, what about the chemical and antibiotic cocktails that beekeepers 
themselves are using in their hives?  A chemical pesticide is a poison and the trick 
in the use of poisons is to differentially kill the pest while not killing 
the host.  That is the basis for pharmacology and administering the right dose.  
Too much, and the host becomes debilitated, at the least, and may even die, 
along with the pest.  ‘The operation was successful, but the patient died!’   

The autopsies made by members of the CCD Working Group revealed a number of 
anomalies and infections, but the data are too preliminary to allow for 
conclusions about symptoms, effects, and causes.     

All in all, it seems that a broad suite of stresses is taking its toll on US 
honeybees.  Are various combinations of stresses resulting in a set of similar 
symptoms across the country?  Stress in general increases human 
susceptibility to illness, and the same idea applies to honeybees.  Stressed, their 
capacity to ward of primary infections of the well-known suite of larval and adult 
diseases (Morse and Nowogrodski (editors) 2000) is reduced.  Moreover, stressed, 
their capacity to fight secondary infections, such as of viruses associated 
with varroa (Kevan et al. 2006) is lessened.  Stress, immunocompromization, and 
unusually serious infections by common pathogens and/or otherwise and usually 
benign organisms, seem to have combined to produce this devastating 
condition, CCD.   

Although there is no presently confirmed evidence for the same condition’s 
occurrence in Canada, complacency is not recommended.  In Canada, we can be 
proud that Canadian beekeeping seems to be a gentler practice than in the USA, 
especially when it comes to the major commercial operations there.  Canadian 
beekeepers, by and large, seem to use fewer chemical and antibiotic control agents 
against pests and diseases than do their US counter parts, and those that are 
used are applied more conservatively.  Migratory beekeeping for pollination 
services is not so much a part of commercial beekeeping in Canada as it is in 
the USA, and where it is practised in Canada, the moves are shorter and fewer.  
Nevertheless, vigilance is required.  Beekeeping in Canada and the USA share 
too many similarities for Canadians to dismiss the problem out of hand.  Some 
reports of higher than expected winter losses are now coming to the attention 
of the industry, and CCD can not be eliminated as being involved. 

In Canada, we may be lucky.  We may not.  Whatever happens this spring as 
Canadian beekeepers open their hives, an international effort can work to the 
benefit of beekeeping continentally.  It seems that the industry in the USA will 
require a major influx of support and funding to rebuild. If Canadian 
beekeepers do not encounter CCD, the differences between the two countries may provide 
insights that could help understand, solve, and prevent repetition of the 
problem.  If Canadian beekeepers do encounter CCD, then there is advanced warning 
from neighbours to the south, and collaboration will be the order of the day. 


References 

Decourtye A., Devillers J., Cluzeau S., Charreton M., Pham-Delegue M. H. 
2004. Effects of imidacloprid and deltamethrin on associative learning in 
honeybees under semi-field and laboratory conditions. Ecotoxicology and Environmental 
Safety 57: 410 - 419. 

Harrison J.F., Camazine S., Marden J.H., Kirkton, S. D., Rozo A., Yang X. 
2001. Mite not make it home: Tracheal mites reduce the safety margin for oxygen 
delivery of flying honeybees. Journal of Experimental Biology 204: 805 - 814.  

Kaiser, W. 1988.  Busy bees need rest, too – Behavioral and 
electromyographical sleep signs in honeybees.  Journal of Comparative Physiology A 163: 
565-584. 

Kevan P.G., Ebert T. 2005. Can almond nectar & pollen poison honey bees? 
American Bee Journal 145: 507-509. 

Kevan P. G., Hannan M. A., Ostiguy N., Guzman, E. 2006. A summary of the 
Varroa-virus disease complex in honeybees.  American Bee Journal 146: 694 - 697. 




Morse R. A., Nowogrodzki R. (editors). 2000. Honey bee pests, predators, and 
diseases. Comstock Pub., Cornell University Press, 2nd ed. 474 p. 

Saffari, A. M., Kevan, P. G., Atkinson, J. L. 2004. A promising pollen 
substitute for honey bees. 
American Bee Journal144: 230 - 231. Also see:  
www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/articles/A%20promising%20pollen%20substitute.htm  

(Complete text of the article is attached to this email) 
 
Laurie Davies Adams
Executive Director
Coevolution Institute
423 Washington St. 5th
San Francisco, CA 94111
415 362 1137
LDA at coevolution.org
_http://www.coevolution.org/_ (http://www.coevolution.org/) 
_http://www.pollinator.org/_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 
_http://www.nappc.org/_ (http://www.nappc.org/) 

Bee Ready for National Pollinator Week:  June 24-30, 2007.  Contact us 
for more information at www.pollinator.org 

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