Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:46 pm Post subject: Where Are All The Bees Going?
The extent of the mysterious disappearance of our bees is difficult to ascertain as media, beekeepers associations and Government figures per country seem to issue contradictory figures, however, reports indicate that between 25 and 45% of the global population are gone!
The term 'Colony Collapse Disorder' (CCD) was coined in 2006 in the USA, it refers to the disappearance of worker bees from honey bee colonies before the brood has reached adulthood.
However, the disappearance is not limited to hives, as reports indicate that solitary bees are disappearing in the same numbers due to causes unknown.
The fact that bees do not die in the hive, makes it extremely difficult for investigators to determine the causes.
It is known that honey bees forage at distances between 1 to 3 miles from the hive, however, considering the numbers of missing bees, investigators cannot find anywhere near a corresponding number of bee corpses - the plot thickens!
A number of universities and government agencies have formed a “CCD working group” to search for potential causes of the bee disappearance and then to formulate a working plan to mitigate CCD.
It has been estimated that the value of bees to the world economy is around £85 billion!
The bee is responsible for one out of three mouthfuls of food we eat.
The impact upon our already tenuous global economy cannot be underestimated.
In many hives, where the majority of bees have disappeared, scientists have found evidence of almost all known bee viruses in each of the few remaining bees. Some bees have five or six infections at once, as well as being affected by fungi, an indication, experts say, that the bee's immune system may have collapsed.
Another mystery is that other insects and non resident bees do not go near hives once they have suffered CCD, unaffected deserted hives would usually be raided for honey and pollen stores.
Watch the last 2 episodes of Dr Who (series 4) that'll tell you the Bee's are actually going home!
Even so, it's quite strange, i'd personally recommend cloning some Bee's and maybe creating some sort of Super-Bee would solve this problem, so maybe Science can save the day and restore the Bee's! _________________ I give you, the Waffle King
Its is a disaster for mother nature... hopefully bees can make a come back
we were having trouble with the introduced European wasp here in Tasmania so they brought in the bumble bee to kill them off .. the bumble bee also killed of many of our native Australia bees which is terrible for our native plants
_________________ as a babe drinks from its mothers breast so too does man milk mother earth
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