Honey bees
Kevin Doan
ENVE 010
9/8/2013
Beeez in the trap There are countless species of bugs and insects in the world although few are as important as the honey bee. Honey bees are one of the most important pollinators in the world. Dancing is a form of communication exclusively used by honey bees. Although, bees are not only here to get jiggy. Each year, the bees' pollination work is equivalent to $14 billion dollars in the United States alone. On a global scale, these bees would make around $215 billion dollars. Without Honey Bees, some of our most important crops would take a devastating loss in amount yielded. Unfortunately, it seems as if our ever so important pollinators are disappearing without a trace. A phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD, causes colonies of Honey Bees to evacuate their hives, on a one way trip to death. There are many factors that could have caused this to happen. One of the first culprits were varroa mites. Mature female varroa mites feed mainly on hemolymph, the blood of bees. This would make sense in light of a similar catastrophe between 1987 and 2006 where varroa mites were responsible for a 45% drop in managed bee colonies worldwide. After further investigation It was later determined that these symptoms did not match that of a varroa mite infestation. A fungal parasite called Nosema was also a key suspect investigation. Nosema is a single-celled parasite that wriggles its way into the bees intestinal tract and causes dysentery and ultimately, death. A seemingly viable theory, although, it still did not match the scale that would make sense for CCD. Molecular analysis was performed on suspected affected bees and revealed multiple viral infections of different types, but this also was not responsible for the collapse of colonies.
Country wide surveys in 2007 revealed that no beekeeping management method could be blamed for the CCD. Large commercial beekeepers are at the same level of risk of CCD as a small
ENVE 010
9/8/2013
Beeez in the trap There are countless species of bugs and insects in the world although few are as important as the honey bee. Honey bees are one of the most important pollinators in the world. Dancing is a form of communication exclusively used by honey bees. Although, bees are not only here to get jiggy. Each year, the bees' pollination work is equivalent to $14 billion dollars in the United States alone. On a global scale, these bees would make around $215 billion dollars. Without Honey Bees, some of our most important crops would take a devastating loss in amount yielded. Unfortunately, it seems as if our ever so important pollinators are disappearing without a trace. A phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD, causes colonies of Honey Bees to evacuate their hives, on a one way trip to death. There are many factors that could have caused this to happen. One of the first culprits were varroa mites. Mature female varroa mites feed mainly on hemolymph, the blood of bees. This would make sense in light of a similar catastrophe between 1987 and 2006 where varroa mites were responsible for a 45% drop in managed bee colonies worldwide. After further investigation It was later determined that these symptoms did not match that of a varroa mite infestation. A fungal parasite called Nosema was also a key suspect investigation. Nosema is a single-celled parasite that wriggles its way into the bees intestinal tract and causes dysentery and ultimately, death. A seemingly viable theory, although, it still did not match the scale that would make sense for CCD. Molecular analysis was performed on suspected affected bees and revealed multiple viral infections of different types, but this also was not responsible for the collapse of colonies.
Country wide surveys in 2007 revealed that no beekeeping management method could be blamed for the CCD. Large commercial beekeepers are at the same level of risk of CCD as a small