Pollination in action!

By doing this foraging, they carry out a very large proportion of all the insect pollination needed by plants and flowers to reproduce (up to 80% of all insect pollination is by honey bees). Over 100 crops are pollinated by bees, including fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. It is estimated that honey bees are is responsible for one third of all the food we eat.

So the honey bee is an incredibly important part of the natural food chain. But it recently has seen a serious decline in numbers, most notably in North America. Up to one third of honey bees have mysteriously disappeared, in a phenomenon dubbed colony collapse disorder (or CCD).

It is not known exactly what is causing these losses, but ironically some of this decline is probably caused by is the relentless transportation of bees around the country to pollinate crops.

Beehives being transported for pollination

Sharing bees in an effort to boost crop production is big business today. Many farmers and growers are totally dependent on commercial bee farmers bringing in large numbers of colonies to pollinate their crops. These bees are left for a few weeks, and then transported on to the next orchard or plantation. This process continues throughout much of the season, with bees being transported thousands of miles every year.

Such intensive production methods are increasingly coming under scrutiny, both in terms of the monoculture and its effect on the local environment, but also in terms of the stress placed on the bees.

Scientists are now studying the full effects this regular transport has had on the bees. Many are worried that the stress might leave them open to infection and disease. It certainly does seem to have coincided with the massive drop in bee numbers. And recent research suggests that a likely cause of CCD is a combination of the varroa mite (a parasitic mite that infests bee colonies) and nosema (a disease caused by a parasite in the bee gut). Bees are much more prone to both of these problems when subject to stress.

The full causes of CCD are not yet known, and maybe never will be. But it is likely that the industrialization of agriculture is at least partly to blame. No reports of CCD have yet been recorded among natural beekeepers, and this tells a tale in itself.

Pollination image courtesy Gustavo

Watch it and see what you think – and don’t forget to leave a comment below!

So, what are the symptoms and causes of colony collapse disorder? The main symptom of CCD is simply no or a low number of adult honey bees present but with a live queen and no dead honey bees in the hive. Often there is still honey in the hive, and immature bees (brood) are present.

Symptoms of Colony Collapse Disorder

1. An almost overnight disappearance of virtually all the worker bees – within a few days, previously thriving well established colonies lose almost all of its adult bees. Unlike other diseases or infestations, there are no dead bees to be found. They simply leave the hive and never come back.
2. The queen and a small number of very young bees, just hatched, remain and these tend the queen. You know they are young as they are light colored and still fuzzy.
3. Lots of honey and pollen still in the hive, and also a lot of brood left behind.

Normally when a colony dies or is abandoned, scavengers (like ants, small hive beetles, and wax moths) very quickly come in and steal the honey, dead bees, or pollen that has been left behind. But with CCD, the anecdotal evidence is that this does not seem to happen. Other creatures stay away from the hive. No-one knows why, but it does suggest that they somehow instinctively sense that it is contaminated and so stay clear.

Causes of Colony Collapse Disorder

Causes are largely still unknown, but there are several main suspects. There is one theory that cell phone masts may be scrambling bees’ navigational systems. While this has not been completely ruled out, recent research has failed to find any evidence of a link. Most experts believe the cause of colony collapse disorder is more likely to be related to parasites (particularly Varroa and Tracheal mites), disease (especially Nosema) or pesticides.

Each individual beekeeping parasite and disease, while often damaging, is not thought to be sufficient to cause colony collapse disorder. In colonies affected by CCD, scientists found some evidence of infestation or infection, but no more so than in colonies without CCD.

More attention is now turning to chemicals. An analysis by Penn State researchers of beehive wax has shown very high levels of pesticides used by beekeepers in the hives to combat Varroa mites – particularly fluvalinate and coumapho.

The researchers also found lower levels of 70 other pesticides, not used by beekeepers but by farmers on agricultural crops. These were also present in pollen and in the bees themselves.

And particularly worrying is the interaction between these different chemicals. For example, initial research has found that some combinations of fungicides and insecticides can be a 100 times more toxic than any of the chemicals individually.

Whether these pesticides are a contributory factor to CCD is still unclear, but they are definitely stressors. One theory is that the combination of pesticides with the other existing stressors (parasites and disease) together cause the perfect storm, and hence colony collapse disorder.

Whatever the cause, CCD is a serious threat both to bees and to our food supply. The one positive is the increased public awareness of the crucial role that bees play. Hobby beekeeping has never been so popular, which can only be good – the more people who start beekeeping, the better the chance of survival for the honey bee.

So, yet another good reason to get out there, and start beekeeping.