America was called the ‘land of milk and honey’ by the old world, yet neither cows nor honeybees are native to the Americas. Surprisingly, it is not the honey from the bees that is so vital to our economy. Pollination by bees adds over 15 billion dollars to our economy (Flores). Around 130 crops need honeybees in order to thrive (Kaplan). In the United States, honeybees produce about 200 million pounds of honey, worth 125 million dollars, and about 3.9 million pounds of beeswax, worth 7 million dollars (Doebler). Beekeeping is a serious business, not only for our economy, but for our food. Around one third of our food depends on pollination, including coffee, green chile, soybeans, apples, berries, squash, almonds, and many others (NRDC). In California alone, the almond slit requires the service of about half the United States bee colonies, around 1.2 million (Flores).
Unfortunately, the bee business isn’t going so well. A new phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has been taking a great toll on our honey bees. During fall 2006, beekeepers in many countries around the world noticed a sudden disappearance of managed honey bee colonies, and for no apparent reason. These hives were formerly healthy, but for some reason bees simply abandoned their hives, often leaving objective the queen and a few caretakers. In February 2007, the syndrome had been named (Kaplan). Congress recognized Colony Collapse Disorder as a threat in 2007 and granted emergency funds to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study honey bee disappearances. The 2008 Farm Bill granted the Department of Agriculture $20 million each year to support bee research and related work (NRDC). Research is underway to try to determine the causes of CCD, and how to prevent it from occurring. Possibilities involve combinations of pesticide exposure, invasive parasitic mites, inadequate food supply, transportation, and many different viruses. As the cause is believed to be from multiple sources, pinpointing them will be difficult. Many viruses are believed to be passed on by the mites, which in of themselves are devastating enough.
At an apiculture conference, a commercial beekeeper cries in front of the audience. In 6 months, he was broke, loosing his house, and his entire beekeeping operation had been wiped out. The cause of his disaster was two little parasites. One, the varroa mite, is described by James Tew, a specialist in beekeeping at Ohio Station University, as the “biggest catastrophe to befall apiculture since its establishment in this country in the 1600s… In only a few years, the varroa mite redesigned nearly 300 years of North American apiculture in ways akin to the dramatic device the boll weevil restructured the cotton-producing industry … in the early 1920s.” Varroa mites are large enough to be seen by the eye. Female varroa mites attach to bees between abdominal segments, feeding on a substance similar to our blood, called hemolmph. When females enter a nursery cell, called a brood cell, the mites lay eggs. The mite nymphs then feed on the developing bees. The mites and bees leave the brood cell together, as adults. The mites cause many birth defects, such as shortened abdomens, deformed wings and legs, or sometimes cause death. Colonies infested with varroa mites that are not treated can survive for about 8-18 months. Scott Camazine, an entomologist at Penn State University, believes that the mites aren’t the main pickle. He says that the mites are simply making viral transmission faster (Doebler).
The other mite feeding on honeybees are tracheal mites. These mites are much smaller than varroa mites and believed to be less dangerous. These parasites live and feed in the bee’s trachea, clogging the airway and limiting respiration. The major effect of this is that bees cannot raise their metabolic rate to keep warm while they fly. Beekeepers frequently place grease patties or menthol chips inside the hives when honey is not being produced to lifeless the spread of tracheal mites.
Many studies trying to determine the cause of CCD are built on a project started for the California almond crops. The explore started as a way to artificially supplement the honeybee’s diets in order to create larger colonies (Flores). As California is a major consumer of honeybee use for pollination, it is not surprising that the first effort to fight CCD have started there.
Entomologist Jeff Pettis, research leader of the ARS Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, is working on several collaborations to try to determine the cause of CCD. One study is looking at the combination of pesticide use and Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV), found in a previous study with university researcher Jay D. Evans, to be strongly associated with CCD. The second experiment will look at the effects of varroa mites and pesticides combined. If these two studies fail, other combinations will be explored. One of the issues with these and other CCD studies is that samples have only been taken after CCD has been reported. Therefore, Pettis has begun his study with three different beekeepers one both healthy and affected hives. Hopefully, the samples will give information to previous signs and causes of CCD (Kaplan). John Adamczyk, the acting research leader for ARS’s Honey Bee Research Unit in Weslaco, Texas, explains the hope for the study: “At the end of the 5-year cycle we’ll have specific recommendations that the beekeeper could use on how to manage bees more efficiently during long-range transport for pollination. We want to be able to transfer that technology to be useful by the waste user” (Flores).
A major issue is the huge outburst of IAPV. Some thought that importation of bees from Australia and China had brought the disease with them, but entomologists Yanping (Judy) Chen and Evans, both also with the ARS Bee Research Laboratory, found otherwise. Chen said that “Our sight shows that, without question, IAPV has been in this country since at least 2002. This work makes it distinct that IAPV is not a recent introduction from Australia” (Kaplan). This however, does not rule out IAPV as a cause of CCD.
American foulbrood a bacterial disease of the honey bee, which is very devastating to bee colonies. The most obvious symptom is a creamy or dark brown glue-like larval remain that can be pulled out in a rope. This test is known as the ‘matchstick test.’ It affects the brood cells, killing bees before they are productive, usually while pupae, and occasionally with larvae. Brood cells may be spotted, showing early signs (de Graaf). Introduction of American foulbrood, or any other foulbrood, can kill off all future generations of honey bees is not spotted and treated immediately. A new drug, tylosin tartrate (TYLAN Soluble), has been approved for use to treat foulbrood (Honey Bees). If treated, colonies can continue to thrive.
A very large study involving pesticides has been conducted. 158 pesticides were tested among the honey bee, the leaf cutting bee, and the alkali bee. The leaf cutting bee is a solitary nesting bee that mainly foraging on alfalfa plants. Nests are built in narrow tube-like cavities, and separate cells are made for each egg and lined with alfalfa. The cell is then plugged with alfalfa leaves, and a new nest is made in the position. The alkali bee is also a solitary, bee that builds nests in soil. This western bee likes alkaline soils near water. The nest is between five and twenty centimeters deep, with many oval cells branching off the main shaft. This bee pollinates mainly alfalfa, onion, clover, celery, and mints. A smaller pesticide study has also been conducted on the bumble bee. Bumble bees are social insects, like honey bees. They get smaller nests, consisting of only 100-500 individuals. They prefer to nest underground, like the alkali bee, and need undisturbed meadows, old barns or woodlots. Bumble bees work harder than honeybees at cooler temperatures. They pollinate a larger variety of plants, but do particularly well on tomatoes and berries. The results were very similar for all species, although certain bees do better than others with different pesticides (Devillers).
Many researchers have found a completely different solution to the problem of CCD, that is, to simply not have honey bee hives. Wild bees, also known as non-honey bees, have been shown to be better pollinators than the honeybee, although it is still unclear as to whether non-native honey bees are negatively effecting wild native bee populations. Studies are conflicting, and great pollination results have occurred when used together, yet the large numbers of honeybees could have a large impact on native species if food supplies are dinky (Paini). Entomologist James Cane has found that a recent native bee, called the Osmia bee, or the Mason bee, is a wonderful pollinator of berries. Cane learned of the bee from bee enthusiast Ron yon der Hellen, who told Cane of the quarter-inch long metallic green bee that had housed itself in his wooden nesting boards that he keeps as housing for leaf cutting bees. Cane borrowed several hundred of these bees and found that they visited as many red raspberry flowers as did honey bees in the same amount of time,, and nearly as many blackberry flowers. While red raspberries and blackberries are self-pollinating, bee visits made berries better. Cane found that red raspberry flowers visited by honey bees or the Osmia bees bore berries that were 30% heavier. The Osmia bee however, always gathered pollen, while honeybees did not. Even better, these bees are resistant to the devastating mites. After 5 years of study, Cane plans to give these emerald-green bees to growers and beekeepers (Wood).
Another study shows that native bees are up to five times more efficient at pollinating sunflowers than honeybees alone. Researchers at the Berkeley and Davis campuses of the University of California found that wild bees play a crucial role in the pollinating process. Sarah Greenleaf, the study’s leader, says that, “Up until now, we have thought that honey bees alone were doing most of the pollination, but now we know that a lot of honey bee pollination happens because of their interaction with wild native bees. This means that wild bees are mighty, much more important that we previously thought.” She and Claire Kremen observed the behavior of honey bees and wild native bees in sunflower fields during two different growing seasons. They found that in fields where wild bees were rare, one honeybee visit produced, on average, three seeds. As the number of wild bees increased, so did the number of seeds produced, up to 15 seeds per visit. To keep their data clean, each flower was bagged before it bloomed, allowed one visit, and then re-bagged until the seeds were produced (Two Bees). The drastic difference shows that native bees are a vital part of the pollination process.
Native bees are shown to be the most significant crop pollinators in a recent eye of watermelon crops. This study showed that native bees alone are sufficient to pollinate the watermelon. The study involved 46 species of wild bees, and showed that native bees, given proper habitat, could replace the honey bee if needed. Natural habitat must be provided, open soil for soil-dwelling species, and year round food supply must be available within 0.3 kilometers, although further distances may suffice (Winfree).
Native bees are a possible, and currently the best, solution to the problem of CCD. To benefit native bees to live around your home, farm, or orchard, plant native plants. Native plants will thrive without much care and native bees are already well suited to them. Use diversity in color, shape, and flowering times to attract many species to make permanent homes. Not all bees like the same colors or the same shape flowers, so be sure to get a variety. Avoid pesticides, or read the Devillers study to determine what would be safest to use, and when. Positive pesticides can only be used safely on different parts of plants; however there are a few pesticides which have been shown to be completely fine for the studied bees. Nesting sites are a must, so leave so open ground undisturbed, and believe making nesting boxes (NRDC). All these things combined can relieve a farm or orchard save money by not renting out honeybees, and as CCD becomes more of an utter, these prices may rise.
Although native bees seem to be a solution to the CCD problem, other issues arise. Most wild bees are solitary, making transportation to large crops like the California almonds nearly impossible. If you of honeybees stopped in the United States, the millions of dollars received from honey and beeswax would no longer exist. These products would need to be imported, and prices would rise drastically. As CCD affects the world, these products may someday be completely eliminated if we do not get a handle on CCD. Also, the different native bees have other diseases they are susceptible to, and share many of the same diseases with honeybees.
Colony Collapse Disorder is a serious quandary effecting beekeepers, farmers, and consumers. If we cannot get a handle on what is causing this, the world may topple into a greater depression, and food prices will soar. To combat this, we need to stop abusing our honey bees and relieve native bees to take residence near farms and orchards. Pesticide use needs to be cut down, aged in safer ways, or altogether eliminated. Mass transportation of hives over hundreds of miles needs to be stopped, as this likely causes great stress to the honeybees, making them more susceptible to disease.
de Graaf, D. C., “Diagnosis of American Foulbrood in Honey Bees: a Synthesis and Proposed Analytical Protocols.” Letters in Applied Microbiology 43.6 (Dec. 2006): 583-590. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM. 27 Oct. 2008 .
Devillers, J., “Comparative toxicity and hazards of pesticides to Apis and non- Apis bees. A chemometrical contemplate.” SAR & QSAR in Environmental Research 14.5/6 (Oct. 2003): 389-403. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. [University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM. 1 Nov. 2008 .
Doebler, Stefanie A. "The Rise and Fall of the Honeybee." Bioscience 50.9 (Sep. 2000): 738. Environment Complete. EBSCO. University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM. 3 Nov. 2008 .
Flores, Alfredo. "Improving Honey Bee Health." Agricultural Research 56.2 (Feb. 2008): 7-7. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM. 27 Oct. 2008 http://libproxy.unm.edu/login? url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=a9h&AN=28748594&site=ehost-live.
Honey Bees Get a New Antibiotic." Agricultural Research 54.7 (July 2006): 23-23. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM. 28 Oct. 2008 .
Kaplan, J. Kim. "A Complex Buzz." Agricultural Research 56.5 (May 2008): 8-11. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM. 28 Oct. 2008 .
NRDC: Honeybees and Colony Collapse Disorder. Sept. 2008. National Resources Defense Council. 2 Nov. 2008
Paini, D. R. "Impact of the introduced honey bee (Apis mellifera) (Hymenoptera: Apidae) on native bees: A review." Austral Ecology 29.4 (Aug. 2004): 399-407. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM. 14 Nov. 2008 .
"Two Bees Better Than One." Science & Children 44.3 (Nov. 2006): 8-9. Education Research Complete. EBSCO. University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM.]. 14 Nov. 2008 http://libproxy.unm.edu/login? url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=ehh&AN=22885757&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Wood, Marcia. “Wonderful Wild Bees. (Cover story).” Agricultural Research 56.2 (Feb. 2008): 4-6. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM. 14 Nov. 2008 .
Winfree, Rachael, et al. “Native bees provide insurance against ongoing honey bee losses.” Ecology Letters
10.11 (Nov. 2007): 1105-1113. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. University Libraries, Albuquerque, NM. 14 Nov. 2008 .
Filed under Farmers Insurance by on Mar 13th, 2011. Comment. 
Revived, from New York:
With the Saturday Night Live sketches and appearances giving Hillary Clinton’s campaign a much needed boost in March, it’s been announced that the next round of debates between Clinton and Sen. Obama will be moderated by Mary Catherine Gallagher, Beldar Conehead and the Spartan Cheerleaders.
In fact, when Hillary Clinton drops out of the race, she’s been asked to join the cast of “Saturday Night Live.” She’ll be one of the “Not Ready for Presidential Players.”
With the SNL bump in the polls, talk has begun of Clinton and Barack Obama running together as president and vice president. The main stream media keeps referring to this solution as the “Dream Impress.” Or as the conservatives call it, the “Nightmare Scenario.”
The state of New York fined the personal corporation of Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken $25,000 for not carrying workers’ compensation insurance for almost three years. Franken responded, “That may have been a clerical error made by me, Al Franken.”
In an attempt to bolster her foreign policy credentials, Hillary Clinton claimed that when she went to Bosnia in 1996 she was the first president’s wife to enter a war zone since Eleanor Roosevelt…Not counting her marriage. Then her claims that the bolt was “harrowing” and “hazardous” was rebuked by comic Sinbad, who said that the scariest allotment of the USO trip was deciding where to eat. Huh-uh. If you’ve got Sinbad contradicting your foreign policy experience, maybe it’s time to pack it in. Yet Clinton asserted she remembered “landing under sniper fire.” If by “sniper fire” she meant “small child with poem.” Frankly, the tale never really made sense. If it was that dangerous, why would President Clinton send his wife and daughter there? Okay, Hillary, we can understand, but Chelsea? Finally, Clinton stated she “misspoke.” You know how you can tell when Hillary is mis-speaking? Her lips are moving.
Sen. Clinton bluntly challenged Barack Obama to agree to new primaries in Michigan and Florida saying it was “wrong, and frankly un-American” not to seat delegates at the Democratic National Convention who succor her.
There’s a video clip making the rounds on the internet of Hillary being interviewed in 1992 for “60 Minutes” where she says “voters are tired of people who lie to them.” (yawns) Yes. Yes we are.
The IRS spent $43 million to let taxpayers know they have a rebate coming. Your rebate might have been bigger but the IRS wasted $43 million dollars to let you know it was coming.
The Green scene:
A vast array of pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones, have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans across the county so when the police advance knocking, please don’t flush your stash down the toilet.
Officials for the Catholic Church say pollution, mind-damaging drugs and genetic experiments are now the fresh sins to guard against. Well, I guess we did such a bang-up job on the old sins, it was time to introduce some new ones.
Outside Seattle, Washington, three multi-million dollar homes were burned down by eco-terrorists who left a stamp mocking the builders’ claims that the mansions were environmentally friendly. With friends-of-the-earth like this, who needs enemies? But I can see their point, because nothing’s more eco-friendly than arson.
Conservation groups filed suit against the Department of the Interior for failing to list polar bears as threatened because of the loss of Arctic sea ice. Great, so now the polar bears have lawyers. After those suits were filed, Artic seals filed a counter suit because the last thing they need are more polar bears.
Glamour magazine consulted a “panel of experts” and came up with the best small ways to go green. And they tell you how in all 250 tree-killing pages of their April instruct.
The Mayor of the city of Seattle signed an executive order to stop the city from buying bottled water. Great, as if the city wasn’t loopy enough from all that coffee, they’re gonna start drinking water filled with drugs.
A Unusual York Position of Confusion:
New York Governor Elliot Spitzer had to resign his office because of a scandal absorbing a prostitution ring. It wasn’t all bad news for Spitzer. He got a nice fruit basket from Sen. Larry Craig as a thank-you for getting all the late night comedians off his back.
At his first press conference after Spitzer announced his resignation, Lt. Gov. Paterson was asked if he had ever been with a prostitute. He responded, “Only with lobbyists.” Immediately prostitutes everywhere sued him for slander. Paterson is legally blind. As opposed to Spitzer, who is morally blind. Paterson wasn’t installed as governor of Recent York for 24 hours when he admitted to several extra-marital affairs but a spokesman for the Governor, Ross Geller, reminded reporters, “They were on a break!” Then Paterson admitted in a TV interview that he used cocaine and marijuana in his youth. Is it me, or is anyone else getting nostalgic for the good old days when only alcoholics ran for office?
There are reports that Ashley Dupre, the prostitute reportedly hired by ex-New York Governor, Eliot Spitzer, has received million dollar offers from Hustler and Penthouse to pose for them. And based on her income, Forbes is also making an offer.
School Daze:
A California court has ruled that children schooled at home must have a state-certified teacher point to. This ruling challenges parents’ legal right to teach their own children at home. This could force thousands of families to abandon home schooling. Well, good luck in public school, kids. Hope you like gang violence!
In New Haven, Connecticut, an honor student was stripped of his title as class vice president, barred from attending an honors student dinner and suspended for a day after buying a bag of Skittles from a classmate violating a school ban on candy sales as share of its wellness policy. Wow, Spitzer got off easy.
Nightmare on Wall Street:
After becoming technically bankrupted last week, Wall Street firm Bear Sterns was bought by JP Morgan Chase for only $2 a share. Bear Stern knew things were going terrible when the Federal Reserve Bank refused to take their collect call.
There are a couple of videos making the rounds which show MSNBC money guru Jim Cramer supporting his school-mate, Eliot Spitzer, and then advising a stock holder to withhold his Bear Sterns stock. Jim, you may want to trade in your Ouija board for a newer model.
The price of popcorn will soon be going up at movie theaters as supplies decrease because farmers are not planting as distinguished popcorn and are switching to more profitable crops that can be converted into biofuels. Man, if they invent a car that runs on Milk Duds, I can kiss movie night good-bye.
Mideast Round-up:
Swiss media and politicians expressed outrage when the country’s foreign minister, an outspoken supporter of women’s rights, wore a headscarf in a new meeting with Iran’s president in Tehran. The Swiss threatened all out-neutrality and are mobilizing their caricature artists.
Osama Bin Laden has released another message. This time it is an audio recording and it was posted on the internet. And is available for download on Allah-Tunes. Bin Laden voiced exasperate over the political cartoons about Mohammad that were published in Europe. He said revenge would be taken for these cartoons. They will be dropping anvils on the infidels enthusiastic. So we’re guessing FOX-TV’s new sit-com, “Two and a Half Muhammads” isn’t going to sit too well with them either. He then accused Pope Benedict XVI of helping in a “new Crusade” against Islam. Because if it wasn’t for the Pope stirring things up, Islam would be totally mellow.
Novel Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the nation’s only Hispanic governor, is endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for president, while New York’s Governor, David Paterson is endorsing Hugh Hefner.
Philadelphia officials ruled that the owner of Geno’s, the city’s famous cheese steak eatery, did not discriminate when he posted signs asking customers to place their orders in English. The lone dissenting vote was ignored when that commissioner couldn’t explain how people who couldn’t speak English to order would be intimidated by a sign posted in English.
Italy’s most prominent Muslim commentator, who has long spoken out against Islamic fanaticism, converted to Roman Catholicism during a special Easter ceremony officiated by the Pope himself. The journalist garnered praise and congratulations from many friends, colleagues and family members along with the traditional death threats from Muslims.
Syria is continuing to crack down on Internet use, monitoring citizens who link to the Web. They are also jailing bloggers who criticize the government and blocking YouTube and other Web sites deemed harmful to state security. Especially angered by this? Damascus Girl.
The Transportation Security Administration is investigating an accidental discharge of a gun in the cockpit of a US Airways Denver to Charlotte flight. In the mean time, US Airways has announced that it is suspending its “On Your Mark, Collect Set, Land!” campaign until the investigation is complete.
A liberal blogger has begun mocking Republican presidential candidate John McCain for his false teeth, deciding they make him glimpse old. Of course, McCain’s teeth were smashed out by North Vietnamese tormentors, so it’s really not a fair statement. But, people, is this what it’s come to? Making fun of McCain’s false teeth when there are more important things to discuss, like Hillary’s pant suits?
It turns out that during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq three Democratic Congressmen went on a junket to there that was secretly financed by Saddam Hussein’s intelligence agency. The Congressmen said they were unaware of Hussein’s involvement but they did get suspicious while boarding the plane because they were asked if their seating was “torture or no torture.” Man, if only the Kurds were able to quandary up enough money to get Congress nice fruit baskets, they might have stood a chance. But not for nothing, but the “Saddam paid for my Trip to Iraq and all I got was this lousy T-shirt” that the Congressmen wore should have been a tip-off. This all calls to mind the “Booze Cruise to Deutschland” that Adolph Hitler chartered just before World War Two.
Herb Peterson, inventor of the Egg McMuffin, died at the age of 89. His family has requested donations be made to charity in lieu of fries.
Filed under Farmers Insurance by on Dec 17th, 2010. Comment.
