Bee Die-Off?

[omnicat]

Has anybody heard of it? Been affected by it? Know anything about implications or what areas are affected?

[Madame]

People in the beekeeping forum may know about it. All I know is that something is killing off a very large number of bees throughout the U.S. I don't know about other countries. I'm guessing some kind of parasite that we don't yet know about, but that's just a guess.

[pancho]

I remember reading several years ago the honey bee is not native to North America. I don't know that much about bees but that part stuck in my mind, don't know if it is true or not.

[indypartridge]

It's been labeled "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD). If you google that, you'll find lots of info. It's also been discussed in the beekeeping forum. Here's one thread that discusses it in more detail:
Mystery killer silencing honeybees

[jessepona]

Originally Posted by pancho

I remember reading several years ago the honey bee is not native to North America. I don't know that much about bees but that part stuck in my mind, don't know if it is true or not.

That's right, the two species most commonly used in beekeeping (Apis mellifera and Apis cerana) are not native to N.A.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_bee - is a good article on basic bee info

Jessica

[Jeff54321]

Many people that I have spoken with suspect that one way or another this die off is at the hands of Monsanto. I have no idea whether or not this is true but I can certainly see the very strong possibilty.

[orangehen]

This site says they definitely believe it's some form of pesticide used by farmers....http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.ht...09&segmentID=3

"CURWOOD: There's some suggestions that it could be due to some chemicals that are used on plants. And these chemicals, in fact, have been banned in Europe. What are you finding?

HAYES: Um you know the ultimate answer on that is still out. But yes you're right Steve there is a class of insecticides called neonicotinoids, of which, ah, an active ingredient called imidacloprid has been banned in some countries in Europe because of its association with damaging, ah, pollinators. It has a tendency to, at least in the European data, to have the bees forget how to get home. And so this is one of the components that we're seeing here. And these neonicotinoids and imidacloprid is used pervasively in agriculture in the U.S. Primarily it's a systemic. So it does what it's supposed to do on harmful agricultural pests but it's working its way through the plant up into the flowers and getting into the nectar. Ah, in doses that will not kill a honeybee out right. So the question is what are the chronic long-term 24/7 365 exposures doing to the honeybees and is this a component of the problem?"