Where Have All the Honeybees Gone?

If you have noticed an increase in the cost of produce these days, there a few factors involved. Transportation costs are up, and the physical amount of produce has been affected by the declining populations of the honeybees. Honeybees help fertilize many of the fresh products that we enjoy. There are several theories as to why the honeybee decline is happening, and if it will continue in the years to come.
The horticultural industry is trying desperately to find out what can be done about this before the bee becomes extinct like the dinosaurs.

Currently, the disease called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has wreaked havoc in many parts of Europe, and now 20 states in the U.S in 2006-2007. This disease is responsible for about 90% of the deaths of our English bee hives. Importation of honeybee’s from Australia in 2004 may have been where the disease got started in the U.S., as outbreaks reported soon after that import.

CCD makes the honeybees lose their ability to find their way home, thus leaving the queens and a few worker bees behind, as well as the honey and pollen.

In essence, the hive starves to death without the workers to forage for food and bring it back to the hive. What researchers have found is that there is no single factor that causes CCD. They have looked at diseases that are currently present in the U.S, the types and qualities of food sources that the bees are feeding on, bee management practices, lack of genetic diversity, and pesticides that are used in bee production.

Neither use of pesticides, or genetically modified crops have been found to be the culprit. It is feared that a combination of factors may be responsible.

Other factors that may influence the resistance of our bees can be mites, as they have gained resistance to mitacides that are currently used in hives. It may also have to do with nutrition or environment. If the bees can’t provide enough food, then the hive can’t reproduce its workers.

New diseases can contribute, as well as the misuse or overuse of pesticides. Environmental factors such as habitat loss can also be a part of this scenario. Some experts believe that systemic pesticides can reside in some flower pollen, of which bees use as food sources, and thus disrupting their homing abilities.

Many of these, which produce seed, are shown to have pesticides that coat seed surfaces and then appear in the nectar of the flowers. There are still too many variables to point to one factor to why they are in decline.
A couple of things that we can do to protect our local hives would be to limit our use of systemic pesticides and to be conservative when using pesticides on food crops.

As gardeners we can plant bee friendly plants in our garden to attract them, and to provide good bee food sources such as goldenrod and clovers and then allowing open spaces for these types of flowers to flourish.

Bring the bees! If we all do a little, I am sure it will help save the bees!

Happy Gardening!

Kellie Smith, September Song Nursery, Toutle WA
www.septembersong.net
or 360-274-8853