The enigma that is colony collapse disorder shows no sign of abating,
as nearly 38 percent of honeybee colonies nationwide died last winter,
according to a survey of beekeepers by the industry-backed
Bee Informed Partnership. Losses were 7 percent higher than the previous winter and nearly 9
percent higher than the average over the survey's 13-year
history. Queries went to 4,696 beekeepers managing 319,787 colonies,
the partnership explains in a
news release. The high death rate came as a surprise to
researchers, says Nicole Miller-Struttmann, a biologist at Missouri's
Webster University who is considered to be one of the nation's top bee
experts. "This is shocking because last year's survey showed some recovery, so
many were hopeful that we were starting to reverse this trend," she
says in an email to
Farm Press...
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2 comments:
It could never be because of the huge amounts of poisons we use every year could it?
There is no basis in science or experience to support your assertion. Indeed the past president of the national beekeepers group here in Yuma, Rick Smith talks about how the biggest name on the hit parade of Neonicotinamide products alleged to be the root cause of colony collapse by those who do not really understand the issue, was being sprayed on his hives directly the night it was approved for use in cotton and it was another 10 years before they had any of the mortality issues. The root cause is husbandry issues, which it is a combination of a lot of things, current genetics, Africanization, moving them all over, most importantly, Varroa mites, and so on. “Poisions” as a matter of fact is a small component of the issue. Indeed this mortality happened in spite of heavy reductions / restrictions on these alleged culprits... A bee that has already been abused will succumb quicker to some of these products, but the key is that they are weakened already.
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