Is there a Bee Crisis?

[Pat McCotter]

Alternative Pollinators: Native Bees

Introduction

There are more than 3500 species of solitary bees in North America. Also called pollen bees or native bees, these efficient pollinators often do the lion's share of pollinating crops. Pollen bees have a number of advantages over honeybees as pollinators. Many are active early in the spring, before honeybee colonies reach large size. Pollen bees tend to stay in a crop rather than fly between crops, providing more efficient pollination. Because they fly rapidly, pollen bees can pollinate more plants. Unlike honeybees, the males also pollinate the crop. Pollen bees are usually gentle, with a mild sting, and do not get disoriented in greenhouses. (1)

The drastic decline in feral and domestic honeybees in the last few years, because of decimation by Varroa mites, has made it even more important to conserve and study wild bee populations. Dr. Hachiro Shimanuki, head of the USDA's Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, has charted a 25 percent decline in managed honeybees in the last decade. (2) Although the number of pollen bees has also declined, due to pesticide use and habitat destruction, pollen bees are unaffected by mites and Africanized bees, and many can be managed and used in commercial agriculture.

Often, growers don't realize the amount of pollination that is performed by native bees, and signs of inadequate pollination are often misinterpreted as weather problems or disease. Dr. Suzanne Batra of the USDA's Bee Research Lab in Beltsville, Maryland, conducted a three-year study to discover the natural mix of bees in a West Virginia forest. (3) She found that, of the 1700 bees trapped in the first year of the study, only 34 were honeybees. This means that pollen bees were performing almost all pollination.

Although pollen bees make small amounts of honey, it is not collectable, so the sole purpose of managing them is for pollination. According to Dr. Peter Kevan, "The economic value of pollination, seed set, and fruit formation greatly outweighs that suggested by more conventional indices, such as the value of honey and wax produced by honeybees." (4) In order for an insect to be used as a pollinator, however, it should be easily handled and readily available in large numbers. (5)

[Russell Kanning]

last year it was the birds
if we don't try to kill off all the bugs, we should be alright

[Kat Kanning]

Bee the crisis you want to see in the world.

[dalebert]

Bee the crisis you want to see in the world.

Richard would be proud.

[Pat K]

To Bee or not to Bee, that is the question.............

[KBCraig]

Don't be a buzz kill.

[Russell Kanning]

that stings a little

[Lloyd Danforth]

I Bee confused about all this!

[Pat McCotter]

Bees in Even More Trouble After Bad Winter
Thursday, March 25, 2010
By Garance Burke and Seth Borenstein, Associated Press

Merced, Calif. (AP) - The mysterious 4-year-old crisis of disappearing honeybees is deepening. A quick federal survey indicates a heavy bee die-off this winter, while a new study shows honeybees' pollen and hives laden with pesticides.

Two federal agencies along with regulators in California and Canada are scrambling to figure out what is behind this relatively recent threat, ordering new research on pesticides used in fields and orchards. Federal courts are even weighing in this month, ruling that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overlooked a requirement when allowing a pesticide on the market.

And on Thursday, chemists at a scientific conference in San Francisco will tackle the issue of chemicals and dwindling bees in response to the new study.

Scientists are concerned because of the vital role bees play in our food supply. About one-third of the human diet is from plants that require pollination from honeybees, which means everything from apples to zucchini.

Bees have been declining over decades from various causes. But in 2006 a new concern, "colony collapse disorder," was blamed for large, inexplicable die-offs. The disorder, which causes adult bees to abandon their hives and fly off to die, is likely a combination of many causes, including parasites, viruses, bacteria, poor nutrition and pesticides, experts say.

"It's just gotten so much worse in the past four years," said Jeff Pettis, research leader of the Department of Agriculture's Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md. "We're just not keeping bees alive that long."

This year bees seem to be in bigger trouble than normal after a bad winter, according to an informal survey of commercial bee brokers cited in an internal USDA document. One-third of those surveyed had trouble finding enough hives to pollinate California's blossoming nut trees, which grow the bulk of the world's almonds. A more formal survey will be done in April.

"There were a lot of beekeepers scrambling to fill their orders and that implies that mortality was high," said Penn State University bee researcher Dennis vanEngelsdorp, who worked on the USDA snapshot survey.

Beekeeper Zac Browning shipped his hives from Idaho to California to pollinate the blossoming almond groves. He got a shock when he checked on them, finding hundreds of the hives empty, abandoned by the worker bees.

The losses were extreme, three times higher than the previous year.

"It wasn't one load or two loads, but every load we were pulling out that was dead. It got extremely depressing to see a third of my livestock gone," Browning said, standing next to stacks of dead bee colonies in a clearing near Merced, at the center of California's fertile San Joaquin Valley.

Among all the stresses to bee health, it's the pesticides that are attracting scrutiny now. A study published Friday in the scientific journal PLOS (Public Library of Science) One found about three out of five pollen and wax samples from 23 states had at least one systemic pesticide -- a chemical designed to spread throughout all parts of a plant.

EPA officials said they are aware of problems involving pesticides and bees and the agency is "very seriously concerned."

The pesticides are not a risk to honey sold to consumers, federal officials say. And the pollen that people eat is probably safe because it is usually from remote areas where pesticides are not used, Pettis said. But the PLOS study found 121 different types of pesticides within 887 wax, pollen, bee and hive samples.

"The pollen is not in good shape," said Chris Mullin of Penn State University, lead author.

None of the chemicals themselves were at high enough levels to kill bees, he said, but it was the combination and variety of them that is worrisome.

University of Illinois entomologist May Berenbaum called the results "kind of alarming."

Despite EPA assurances, environmental groups don't think the EPA is doing enough on pesticides.

Bayer Crop Science started petitioning the agency to approve a new pesticide for sale in 2006. After reviewing the company's studies of its effects on bees, the EPA gave Bayer conditional approval to sell the product two years later, but said it had to carry a label warning that it was "potentially toxic to honey bee larvae through residues in pollen and nectar."

The Natural Resources Defense Council sued, saying the agency failed to give the public timely notice for the new pesticide application. In December, a federal judge in New York agreed, banning the pesticide's sale and earlier this month, two more judges upheld the ruling.

"This court decision is obviously very painful for us right now, and for growers who don't have access to that product," said Jack Boyne, an entomologist and spokesman for Bayer Crop Science. "This product quite frankly is not harmful to honeybees."

Boyne said the pesticide was sold for only about a year and most sales were in California, Arizona and Florida. The product is intended to disrupt the mating patterns of insects that threaten citrus, lettuce and grapes, he said.

Berenbaum's research shows pesticides are not the only problem. She said multiple viruses also are attacking the bees, making it tough to propose a single solution.

"Things are still heading downhill," she said.

For Browning, one of the country's largest commercial beekeepers, the latest woes have led to a $1 million loss this year.

"It's just hard to get past this," he said, watching as workers cleaned honey from empty wooden hives Monday. "I'm going to rebuild, but I have plenty of friends who aren't going to make it."

[Pat McCotter]

NYC Health Officials Decide to Allow Beekeeping
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
By Staff, Associated Press

New York (AP) - Beekeepers in New York City no longer have to keep the honey of their labors a secret.

The city's Board of Health decided Tuesday to allow beekeeping in the city after a long ban.

Some New Yorkers have secretly tended beehives on rooftops and in backyard gardens for years in defiance of city regulations.

The health code had placed honeybees in the same category as other creatures that are deemed too dangerous or venomous for city life, including hyenas and venomous snakes.

[Russell Kanning]

maybe they should stop spraying stuff that is meant to kill ..... on food

well we have survived the bee scare from 2 years ago
the birds were all gone last summer
i am getting msmedia rumblings that the bats are all goin 2 die this summer

maybe the obama can save us

[AntonLee]

does NYC really have a policy on hyenas?

[MaineShark]

does NYC really have a policy on hyenas?

It's NYC.  They probably have a policy on polar bears and penguins.  "Just in case."

Joe

[CJS]

does NYC really have a policy on hyenas?

Yes , from what i understand ... they get badges and guns ... the especially hostile ones get to be prosecutors .

[MaineShark]

does NYC really have a policy on hyenas?

Yes , from what i understand ... they get badges and guns ... the especially hostile ones get to be prosecutors .

Hyenas, not badgers.

Badgers?  We don't need no steeenkin' badgers!

Joe