FYI, here's an article from the April /Scientific American/ about the
Colony Collapse Disorder of honeybees:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=saving-the-honeybeeUnfortunately, the causes seem to be "surprisingly complex," as the
article puts it. This is a rundown on the research and the various
explanations proposed (abduction by aliens? - heh, heh), but there's
still no single 'smoking gun,' apparently.
One thing that was rather disgusting was how new bee viruses entered the
U.S. from Australia in 2005, when the Bush administration lifted the ban
on honeybee importation after intense lobbying from the almond industry.
And I'm sorry to see that the fungicide chlorothalonil, which I use
occasionally, has been implicated in recent studies (if I understand
correctly, it's still
being studied). Note that they found 170 different
chemicals in pollen, with some individual samples containing as many as
35. But even this isn't the 'smoking gun' (healthy colonies have high
levels of chemicals, too).
It doesn't seem to be any one thing, so there probably won't be a simple
fix. Frankly, the impression I get from the article is that we're
torturing honeybees to death, considering all the viruses and other
ailments they're suffering from. At any rate, I don't want to start a
debate about CCD, but I thought the article might be of interest here.
Bees are vital for fruit-growing, after all, so this research is
important for all of us.
Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)
--
I don't necessarily agree with everything I say. - Marshall McLuhan
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