Mysterious disappearance of US bees creating a buzz

Yahoo News ^ | Apr. 6, 2007 | Jean-Louis Santini

[Young Werther]

They are now a part of the Borg Collective!

Beam me up Data!

[Alia]

I wonder instead if perhaps the newer "non-seedling-reproducible" types of plants are lacking a essential ingredient(s) which are required in bee chemistry for bees to return to the hive and do what bees do.

Without a "mission" (so to speak) are the bees losing their way and dying elsewhere?

I'm thinking along the lines of "viagra" in the broadest sense of thought. Obviously, viagra supplies a chemical to the male organism which bypasses a existent problem. Without the viagra -- no "can do".

[Alia]

Thank you!

(Yep, I'm slow this morning.)

[Thermalseeker]

What is most puzzling is that the vast majority of them are just plain gone.

It's not that unusual for some of them to split off and go make another hive somewhere nearby. You've got to rob the honey and keep them busy so they don't do that. Keeping them busy keeps them from being agressive, too. Capturing the queen helps, also. My neighbor's let a couple of their hives go last year and some bees turned up in my wisteria vines. They made a comb, but didn't survive the summer. Some others wound up in a hollow tree in another neigbor's yard across the road, but none were more than a half mile from the original hives. The fact that they are just disappearing and not showing up elsewhere is very strange, especially when they're not finding dead bees.

[Conspiracy Guy]

We need guest worker bees to do the jobs that American bees just won’t do.

[spectre]

I wonder if those nasty Red Wasp Hornets will disappear as well?

sw

[theFIRMbss]

>Shifting of the earth’s magnetic field?

The Chinese took them.
HKS killed them. Drunken
Mexicans hit them.

Giuliani ate
them. They left to get away
from Katie Couric.

Tom Cruise made them join
Scientology and now
they're too cool to buzz . . .

(I apologize
if I missed someone's tin foil,
this was off the cuff . . .)

[Alia]

True, but I'm not necessarily against GM produce. Up around the locales I used to live were liberals using human waste as fertilizer. At least in the GM environment, stands a better chance against terrorism and/or filthy, unhealth practices in producing produce.

But then again, perhaps Monsanto plans to announce their newest R&D commodity for sale.

[RockinRight]

That sounds more like simply that most stores were selling hybridized seeds that don’t breed “true” from the seeds they produce.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

snipped: Neonicotinoids are classified by the EPA as both toxicity class II and class III agents and are labeled with the signal word "Warning" or "Caution." Because the neonicotinoids block a specific neuron pathway that is more abundant in insects than warm-blooded animals, these insecticides are more selectively toxic to insects than mammals. The most available toxicity data of the neonicotinoids is with imidacloprid. These data indicate that it is less toxic when absorbed by the skin or when inhaled compared to ingestion. It causes minor eye reddening, but is non-irritating to the skin. Signs of toxicity in rats include lethargy, respiratory disturbances, decreased movement, staggering gait, occasional trembling, and spasms. There are no accounts of human poisoning, but signs and symptoms of poisoning would be expected to be those similar for rats. A chronic toxicity study showed that rats fed up to 1,800 ppm resulted in a No Observable Effect Level (NOEL) of 100 ppm. The EPA categorizes imidacloprid as a "Group E" (no evidence of carcinogenicity). In animals and humans, imidacloprid is quickly and almost completely absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, and eliminated via urine and feces within 48 hours. Of the neonicotinoids, imidacloprid is the most toxic to birds and fish. Both imidacloprid and thiamethoxam are highly toxic to honeybees. Mammalian toxicities for neonicotinoid pesticides registered in Florida are shown in Table 1 . Table 2 lists the toxicities to wildlife by the common name of the neonicotinoid pesticide. Table 3 provides a cross listing of many of the trade names that these products are registered and sold by in Florida. Pesticide Toxicity Profile: Neonicotinoid Pesticides http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/PI117

[RockinRight]

There are still a lot of “wild” flowers though, things like clover and such, as well as fruit tree flowers, which for the most part are the same varieties they’ve always grown. Something else might be at work here. Also ornamentals.

[Alia]

You are right. And I hadn't thought about ornamentals (which I do not care for - I like my land to "produce").

Some folks plant ornamentals to keep rodents away and reduce "mess". Could an ingredient in the ornamentals be contributing negatively to loss in bee colonies? I wonder.

[Alia]

Yes, and there was a huge “liberal” political movement behind this.

[altura]

Invest in tinfoil.

[Sacajaweau]

I agree with the possibility of agri-terrorism. IIRC, there was something about the Middle East and honey at one time and I thought it was associated with Usama.

[MaryFromMichigan]

Bee afraid.
Bee very afraid.

[Vigilanteman]

I think you may be on to part of the problem. Another part is habitat. Remember the clover lawns of the 50's and early 60's-- they were the rule?

Somewhere, home owners got sold on the uniform green grass lawn which requires constant maintenance, care and tons of lawn chemicals to remain uniform.

I've gone the other way, encourgaging clover growth and actually get quite a few bees in my yard to the point that I've thought about putting out a hive.

But that isn't the whole solution either-- bee habitat has not disappeared at near the rate at which bees have disappeared. The loss of honey bees is a genuine crisis, it deserves a lot more attention than the manufactured global warming crisis. My grandfather was an etymologist. He's been gone nearly 20 years now but I do remember him warning of a potential crisis if we don't train new people to enter the field.

[pillut48]

And they can take the fire ants with them too!! Ouch! :-(