It makes sense if you think about it. The little wonder workers provide a third of our food by pollinating our crops. Honey bees work so hard they drop dead on the job. To make life more difficult for honey bees they are under assault from multiple sources. Entomologists studying the problem of sudden colony collapse syndrome are arriving at the conclusion that environmental stress is compromising the honey bee's immune system making it vulnerable to a wide variety of pathogens. A study at Washington State University shows that honeycombs are impregnated with old pesticide residue which causes bees to have significantly reduced longevity. Another aspect of the study is the impact of a microsporidian, Nosema ceranae. The pathogen attacks the bee's ability to digest food. Necropsies of dead bees from collapsed colonies shows undigested food in their abdomen. The USDA believes the pathogen has been in the United States for at least ten years. It is a tough parasite to kill. Lethal doses of antibiotic (Fumagillin) cause the pathogen level to go up and bees to suffer a type of immune deficiency disorder making them vulnerable to other chemicals and parasites such as Varroa destructor mites. Researchers at Penn State University found unprecedented levels of pesticides used to combat varroa mites in all honeycomb and wax samples, as well as 70 other pesticides and their metabolites in pollen and bees. The death of honey bees in the US is reaching crisis proportions (in the winter of 2008 USDA estimates 36% of hives were lost to colony collapse), posing a severe problem for farmers growing crops dependent on mobile honey bee pollination services. Replacement bees are being imported from Australia and Russia at great expense until science provides specific answers to the problem.
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Honey Bees May Have AIDS
It makes sense if you think about it. The little wonder workers provide a third of our food by pollinating our crops. Honey bees work so hard they drop dead on the job. To make life more difficult for honey bees they are under assault from multiple sources. Entomologists studying the problem of sudden colony collapse syndrome are arriving at the conclusion that environmental stress is compromising the honey bee's immune system making it vulnerable to a wide variety of pathogens. A study at Washington State University shows that honeycombs are impregnated with old pesticide residue which causes bees to have significantly reduced longevity. Another aspect of the study is the impact of a microsporidian, Nosema ceranae. The pathogen attacks the bee's ability to digest food. Necropsies of dead bees from collapsed colonies shows undigested food in their abdomen. The USDA believes the pathogen has been in the United States for at least ten years. It is a tough parasite to kill. Lethal doses of antibiotic (Fumagillin) cause the pathogen level to go up and bees to suffer a type of immune deficiency disorder making them vulnerable to other chemicals and parasites such as Varroa destructor mites. Researchers at Penn State University found unprecedented levels of pesticides used to combat varroa mites in all honeycomb and wax samples, as well as 70 other pesticides and their metabolites in pollen and bees. The death of honey bees in the US is reaching crisis proportions (in the winter of 2008 USDA estimates 36% of hives were lost to colony collapse), posing a severe problem for farmers growing crops dependent on mobile honey bee pollination services. Replacement bees are being imported from Australia and Russia at great expense until science provides specific answers to the problem.