If you've watched Dr Who recently, you may have caught references to questions asking where all the honey bees are going. They didn't make it up just for the programme...
Apparently they have been disappearing while away from the hive, making it very difficult for anyone to work out what has happened to them. It is a major worry, as bees account for a very large part of the pollination process and I dread to think of the knock on impact this may have from crop failures and beyond.
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is a recently-observed but little-understood phenomenon in which worker bees from a colony or hive abruptly disappear, and the colony dies. It may be due to stress, or viruses, or a combination of both, or other causes.
... or other causes ... DALEKS! Captain John! The bees, they are flying through dimensional rifts to go get Rose and bring her back ... bastards! :-)
I was still living in California when CCD started to make the headlines there. The state agriculture industry is taking it *very* seriously, because if the bees die, so do they. There were even reports of hive-napping in areas with serious bee shortages.
I was talking to our area Bee inspector yesterday (he was checking some colonies on a satellite apiary on the farm, and checked mine as well while he was around) He's added me to the list of beekeepers DEFRA are putting together in the NorthWest for disease alerts and similar. As for CCD well it was mentioned in passing that The importation of Queens has been discontinued from Europe and the Mainland US (Hawaii is still an acceptable source) for breeding purposes, Bee semen is also banned from the US and EU.
When a colony is under stress it tends to swarm and to continue to throw casts (small swarms with a virgin queen) this is a survival mechanism which leaves the old, sub optimal and infected behind - so the colony collapses. The prime swarm and most of the casts have a low survival probability as whatever disease is likely to be carried with them.
However from the species pov it's a better survival chance than staying put.
CCD is particularly devastating to the US bees as virtually all commercial beekeeping there is commercial (and so less time can be spent on any given hive/colony) and migratory with bees being shipped into California for the almond crop from all over the US. The vast concentration of bee colonies means that the infection which triggers CCD can be spread widely - across several states in a single season which is far faster than it would spread naturally
Ah, the problem is unfortunately widespread! Czech beekeepers lost most of their hives to a disease. It is sad now, we were used to watching the bees on the fruit trees in blossom and listening their humming.Now you can see mostly the flies who substitute, but not adequately, of course. It is causing a secondary problem here too - with pollinating the plants and following terciary problems with a harvest. Very unsettling!
It's also been a long, damp, winter which means the colonies of huney bees have consumed all the stores laid down for the winter and are weakened, I'm giving supplementary feeding right now to build them back up ready for the main honey flow over the next three months. I'll ne going through them this weekendand getting the apiary straight for the summer.
Bumble bees have also suffered from the length of the winter - more from the delay in flowering than the cold (bumble bees can fly in temperatures which would ground honey bees) and hence thelack of available food.
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... or other causes ...
DALEKS! Captain John! The bees, they are flying through dimensional rifts to go get Rose and bring her back ... bastards! :-)
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When a colony is under stress it tends to swarm and to continue to throw casts (small swarms with a virgin queen) this is a survival mechanism which leaves the old, sub optimal and infected behind - so the colony collapses. The prime swarm and most of the casts have a low survival probability as whatever disease is likely to be carried with them.
However from the species pov it's a better survival chance than staying put.
CCD is particularly devastating to the US bees as virtually all commercial beekeeping there is commercial (and so less time can be spent on any given hive/colony) and migratory with bees being shipped into California for the almond crop from all over the US. The vast concentration of bee colonies means that the infection which triggers CCD can be spread widely - across several states in a single season which is far faster than it would spread naturally
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It is causing a secondary problem here too - with pollinating the plants and following terciary problems with a harvest.
Very unsettling!
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Pooh Bear will be disappointed...
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http://www.bumblebeeconservationtrust.co.uk/bumblebees_in_crisis.htm
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Bumble bees have also suffered from the length of the winter - more from the delay in flowering than the cold (bumble bees can fly in temperatures which would ground honey bees) and hence thelack of available food.
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Oops sorry I meant honey!
Pooh.