There seems to be no smoking gun found for the honey bee’s disappearance from their hives. The cell phone connection seems to have fallen by the wayside. Gimleteye and I reported on this subject on April 19, 20 and 23rd. Here is the best more recent article I found on the subject, posted in June, Colony Collapse: Do Massive Bee Die-Offs Mean an End to Our Food System as We Know it?The author says:
"It may sound like urban legend but it's not. A frightening trend of bee colony collapses could lead to everything from a radically transformed diet to an overall wipeout of the world's food supply."
Dewey M. Caron, professor of entomology at the University of Delaware and one of several authorities investigating the issue with the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium's Colony Collapse Disorder Working Group (MAAREC) said: "It is real":
"We surveyed a few states and figured out that half to three-fourths of a million bee colonies have died. This is no urban legend. It is serious." and:
“What is so serious is not only that the bees themselves are dying off without a smoking gun present, but that most people have no idea of the role they play in the food supply at large.”
According to the article, the bee disappearance is not just in the U.S.:
“Regions of Iran are experiencing the same phenomenon, as are countries like Poland, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Germany and more every day, including Latin American and Asia.”
And, speaking of Mangroves:
In a letter to the Editor in the July issue of “Science Magazine” signed by scads of Scientists from throughout the world, they say our Mangroves are in deep trouble, disappearing at an alarming rate. According to the letter (which has 16 footnotes):
“At a meeting of world mangrove experts held last year in Australia, it was unanimously agreed that we face the prospect of a world deprived of the services offered by mangrove ecosystems, perhaps within the next 100 years.”
That would not be a problem for me personally. Do we really care about the future? Anybody? Nah. I think everyone hates the doom and gloom we present here and would rather just go out on their boat and try to catch the fish (that are dwindling) in the seawater (that is at risk) with their young families (that are looking at a future of man-made environmental horrors) because we are a bunch of “here and now” gluttons. Back to the article... The scientists conclude:
“We are greatly concerned that the full implications of mangrove loss for humankind are not fully appreciated. Growing pressures of urban and industrial developments along coastlines, combined with climate change and sea-level rise, urge the need to conserve, protect, and restore tidal wetlands. Effective governance structures, socioeconomic risk policies, and education strategies are needed now to enable societies around the world to reverse the trend of mangrove loss and ensure that future generations enjoy the ecosystem services provided by such valuable natural ecosystems.”
Why do we save ecosysems, can anyone say: New Orleans?
9 comments:
What about the Florida Chamber of Commerce? They might be responsible for Colony Collapse... at the very least we can blame the mangrove problem on them.
Fish hang out within mangrove roots. I have seen this while snorkeling. They are teaming with fish.
I understand much of the honey consumed in the US is now imported.
First I read aboutthe collapse, it coincided with the implementation of the new n improved national EBS emergency broadcast system. our skies are a tangle of microwaves, invisible to us but maybe not to bees. Two years ago they took up residence in a wall of my old house. It took two seasons to eradicate the hive. Now i kind-a regret it.
The environmental record of this nation (and its current administration) may portend many years of neglect on this general issue.
But, I think we need to look hard at examples of nations that are doing the right thing.
An article recently came out about Cuba's "energy revolution" and its "long-term commitment to promoting environmentally friendly fuels."
If Cuba can gain praise from the United Nations Environment Program for its small but significant changes, imagine what the US can do.
It takes commitment from idea to action. Given the enormous energy consumption of this nation, its gonna have to be a big commitment, and its action immediate and imperative.
An issue to keep in mind towards 2008.
methyl parathion is the size of pollen grains which contain the active ingredient. When bees are out in the field, these capsules become attached electrostatically to the pollen-collecting hairs of the insects. When stored in pollen, the slow-release feature of the capsules allows the methyl parathion to be a potential killer for several months. Methyl parathion interferes nerves and brain function. Exposure to very high levels of methyl parathion in air or water may cause death, loss of consciousness, dizziness, confusion, headaches, difficult breathing, chest tightness, wheezing, vomiting, diarrhea, cramps, tremors, blurred vision, and sweating.
WHY NOW LAST ANON? why didn't this always happen to bees, what has changed? I don't get the point.
I'm a bit confused over the Honey Bee causing problems with crops. In recent TV coverage on the same topic it was said that the Honey Bee was introduced to the US from Europe. If that is true how did crops get pollinated before the introduction? Do other insects and birds contribute to the same function?
Honey bees are used to perform mass cross-pollination that occurs on commercially grown vegetables,fruits, berries, nuts and legumes.
Bumble bees and wild bees visit flowers, but there are not enough of them in the wild to provide the mass pollination used for maximum crop production. Honey bee colonies can be moved in and out of fields as desired. American industrial style farming depends on honey bees;
these crops fail without cross pollination.
Good question so i asked a Ph.D in biology:
In general "crops" refers to food cultivated by people whose origins are from all over the world. In each of those areas, there is a native pollinator (such as a kind of bee other than the domesticated honeybee, a fly, a beetle, hummingbird, moth, etc.) whose function has been taken over by honeybees, in part by people breeding those plants so that they are more effectively pollinated by the domesticated (also called European or Italian) honeybees. When these crops are introduced elsewhere, so is the honeybee along with them.
If honeybees are then absent or in low number, there is no other pollinator in the crops' newly adopted land that can do the job as well because natural selection has not adapted them to this plant from elsewhere that has never been present in their evolutionary history.
Occasionally, just as a matter of luck, the flower of a crop plant will resemble closely enough (by sight, smell, and other features) a native plant that a native pollinator may visit it to some slight degree, so not all pollination will necessarily disappear.
Note that some crops, including the major food crops of wheat, maize, and rice, are wind-pollinated, and loss of insect or other animal pollinators will not affect them.
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