(no subject)
Einstein said that if all of the earth's honeybees disappeared tomorrow, humans would have four years left on the planet.
Excerpt from the Gainesville Sun:
A mysterious disorder is causing honeybees to disappear from their hives, threatening the pollination of crops from almonds to watermelons.
Called colony collapse disorder, the malady is believed to compromise the immune systems of honeybees. The insects apparently flee their hives, become disoriented and die.The disorder adds to a long list of challenges facing beekeepers, from cheap foreign honey to vampirelike mites. Beekeeper David Hackenberg was one of the first to report the disorder. He said he brought 400 hives to Dade City from Maine in October. The next month, he returned to find empty hives.The bees had even abandoned their unhatched brood.
"Bees don't just go and leave their young," he said. "It just makes you speechless."
The impact of the disorder goes well beyond beekeepers.
About one-third of crops depends on honeybee pollination, said Jamie Ellis, an assistant entomology professor at the University of Florida's honeybee research lab."The agriculture industry is built on the backs of honeybees," he said. Bees pollinate alfalfa and other crops fed to livestock, he said, so the loss of bees has the potential to disrupt the entire food supply.
The disorder has been documented in 24 states. Hayes said something is apparently causing bees to become disoriented and lose their way. The behavior is similar to the effects of the pesticide imidacloprid. France banned the use of the pesticide in 1999 because of concerns about its effect on bees.
Full text here: http://tinyurl.com/2nobcg
Excerpt from the Gainesville Sun:
A mysterious disorder is causing honeybees to disappear from their hives, threatening the pollination of crops from almonds to watermelons.
Called colony collapse disorder, the malady is believed to compromise the immune systems of honeybees. The insects apparently flee their hives, become disoriented and die.The disorder adds to a long list of challenges facing beekeepers, from cheap foreign honey to vampirelike mites. Beekeeper David Hackenberg was one of the first to report the disorder. He said he brought 400 hives to Dade City from Maine in October. The next month, he returned to find empty hives.The bees had even abandoned their unhatched brood.
"Bees don't just go and leave their young," he said. "It just makes you speechless."
The impact of the disorder goes well beyond beekeepers.
About one-third of crops depends on honeybee pollination, said Jamie Ellis, an assistant entomology professor at the University of Florida's honeybee research lab."The agriculture industry is built on the backs of honeybees," he said. Bees pollinate alfalfa and other crops fed to livestock, he said, so the loss of bees has the potential to disrupt the entire food supply.
The disorder has been documented in 24 states. Hayes said something is apparently causing bees to become disoriented and lose their way. The behavior is similar to the effects of the pesticide imidacloprid. France banned the use of the pesticide in 1999 because of concerns about its effect on bees.
Full text here: http://tinyurl.com/2nobcg