Mystery Disease continues in 2009 as bees disappear from US
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Pastor Dale Morgan
Mar 29, 2010, 3:08:14 PM3/29/10
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Plagues, Pestilences and Diseases
Mystery Disease continues in 2009 as bees disappear from US
* From correspondents in Maryland
* From: AFP
* March 30, 2010 12:05AM
THE decline in the US bee population, first observed in 2006, is continuing, a phenomenon that still baffles researchers and beekeepers.
Data from the US Department of Agriculture showed a 29 per cent drop in beehives in 2009, following a 36 per cent decline in 2008 and a 32 per cent fall in 2007.
This affected not only honey production but around $15 billion worth of crops that depended on bees for pollination.
Scientists call the phenomenon "colony collapse disorder", and it has led to the disappearance of millions of adult bees and beehives and occurred elsewhere in the world, including in Europe.
Researchers have looked at viruses, parasites, insecticides, malnutrition and other environmental factors but have been unable to pinpoint a specific cause for the population decline.
The rough winter in many parts of the United States will likely accentuate the problem, Jeff Pettis, lead researcher at Department of Agriculture's Bee Research Laboratory in Maryland, said.
Winter figures will be published in April.
But preliminary estimates already indicated losses of 30 to 50 per cent, president of the American Beekeeping Federation David Mendes said.
"There are a lot of beekeepers who are in trouble," he said.
"Under normal condition you have 10 per cent winter losses ... this year there are 30, 40 to 50 per cent losses."
He said the phenomenon probably resulted from a combination of factors but that the increased use of pesticides appeared to be a major cause.
"I don't put my bees in Florida because the last couple of years there has been tremendous increase in pesticide use in the orange crop to fight a disease," he said.
"It's a bacterium and the only way to control this disease is to use pesticide ... a few years ago they did not use any pesticide at all."
Research conducted in 23 US states and Canada and published in the Public Library of Science journal found 121 different pesticides in 887 samples of bees, wax, pollen and other elements of hives, lending credence to the notion of pesticides as a key problem.
Mr Pettis said the finding of pesticide residue was "troubling".
Mystery Disease continues in 2009 as bees disappear from US
* From correspondents in Maryland
* From: AFP
* March 30, 2010 12:05AM
THE decline in the US bee population, first observed in 2006, is continuing, a phenomenon that still baffles researchers and beekeepers.
Data from the US Department of Agriculture showed a 29 per cent drop in beehives in 2009, following a 36 per cent decline in 2008 and a 32 per cent fall in 2007.
This affected not only honey production but around $15 billion worth of crops that depended on bees for pollination.
Scientists call the phenomenon "colony collapse disorder", and it has led to the disappearance of millions of adult bees and beehives and occurred elsewhere in the world, including in Europe.
Researchers have looked at viruses, parasites, insecticides, malnutrition and other environmental factors but have been unable to pinpoint a specific cause for the population decline.
The rough winter in many parts of the United States will likely accentuate the problem, Jeff Pettis, lead researcher at Department of Agriculture's Bee Research Laboratory in Maryland, said.
Winter figures will be published in April.
But preliminary estimates already indicated losses of 30 to 50 per cent, president of the American Beekeeping Federation David Mendes said.
"There are a lot of beekeepers who are in trouble," he said.
"Under normal condition you have 10 per cent winter losses ... this year there are 30, 40 to 50 per cent losses."
He said the phenomenon probably resulted from a combination of factors but that the increased use of pesticides appeared to be a major cause.
"I don't put my bees in Florida because the last couple of years there has been tremendous increase in pesticide use in the orange crop to fight a disease," he said.
"It's a bacterium and the only way to control this disease is to use pesticide ... a few years ago they did not use any pesticide at all."
Research conducted in 23 US states and Canada and published in the Public Library of Science journal found 121 different pesticides in 887 samples of bees, wax, pollen and other elements of hives, lending credence to the notion of pesticides as a key problem.
Mr Pettis said the finding of pesticide residue was "troubling".
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