Honey Bee Die-off Mystery Deepens
Pastor Dale Morgan
Honey Bee Die-off Mystery Deepens*
Science Daily — An alarming die-off of honey bees has beekeepers
fighting for commercial survival and crop growers wondering whether bees
will be available to pollinate their crops this spring and summer.
Researchers are scrambling to find answers to what's causing an
affliction recently named Colony Collapse Disorder, which has decimated
commercial beekeeping operations in Pennsylvania and across the country.
"During the last three months of 2006, we began to receive reports from
commercial beekeepers of an alarming number of honey bee colonies dying
in the eastern United States," says Maryann Frazier, apiculture
extension associate in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
"Since the beginning of the year, beekeepers from all over the country
have been reporting unprecedented losses.
"This has become a highly significant yet poorly understood problem that
threatens the pollination industry and the production of commercial
honey in the United States," she says. "Because the number of managed
honey bee colonies is less than half of what it was 25 years ago, states
such as Pennsylvania can ill afford these heavy losses."
A working group of university faculty researchers, state regulatory
officials, cooperative extension educators and industry representatives
is working to identify the cause or causes of Colony Collapse Disorder
and to develop management strategies and recommendations for beekeepers.
Participating organizations include Penn State, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, the agriculture departments in Pennsylvania and Florida,
and Bee Alert Technology Inc., a technology transfer company affiliated
with the University of Montana.
"Preliminary work has identified several likely factors that could be
causing or contributing to CCD," says Dennis vanEngelsdorp, acting state
apiarist with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. "Among them
are mites and associated diseases, some unknown pathogenic disease and
pesticide contamination or poisoning."
Initial studies of dying colonies revealed a large number of disease
organisms present, with no one disease being identified as the culprit,
vanEngelsdorp explains. Ongoing case studies and surveys of beekeepers
experiencing CCD have found a few common management factors, but no
common environmental agents or chemicals have been identified.
The beekeeping industry has been quick to respond to the crisis. The
National Honey Board has pledged $13,000 of emergency funding to the CCD
working group. Other organizations, such as the Florida State Beekeepers
Association, are working with their membership to commit additional funds.
This latest loss of colonies could seriously affect the production of
several important crops that rely on pollination services provided by
commercial beekeepers.
"For instance, the state's $45 million apple crop -- the fourth largest
in the country -- is completely dependent on insects for pollination,
and 90 percent of that pollination comes from honey bees," Frazier says.
"So the value of honey bee pollination to apples is about $40 million."
In total, honey bee pollination contributes about $55 million to the
value of crops in the state. Besides apples, crops that depend at least
in part on honey bee pollination include peaches, soybeans, pears,
pumpkins, cucumbers, cherries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries.
Frazier says to cope with a potential shortage of pollination services,
growers should plan well ahead. "If growers have an existing contract or
relationship with a beekeeper, they should contact that beekeeper as
soon as possible to ascertain if the colonies they are counting on will
be available," she advises. "If growers do not have an existing
arrangement with a beekeeper but are counting on the availability of
honey bees in spring, they should not delay but make contact with a
beekeeper and arrange for pollination services now.
"However, beekeepers overwintering in the north many not know the status
of their colonies until they are able to make early spring inspections,"
she adds. "This should occur in late February or early March but is
dependent on weather conditions. Regardless, there is little doubt that
honey bees are going to be in short supply this spring and possibly into
the summer."
A detailed, up-to-date report on Colony Collapse Disorder can be found
on the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium Web
site at http://maarec.org.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Penn
State/College Of Agricultural Sciences.