What Is Bee Colony Collapse Disorder? How Could it Affect You?
Bee Colony Collapse Disorder is a phenomenon that Scientists have been trying to understand for the last couple years. Worker bees leave their hives and never return. Whole hives disappear within a couple hours. Leaving the queen and her offspring to fend for themselves.
Bee Colony Collapse Disorder, also known as BCCD is an epidemic in the bee community, and is threatening the worlds food supply even more than Global Warning. Scientists have been scrambling to determine the cause of BCCD, and have narrowed it down to a combination of things. One of the main culprits is a virus. The virus is called the Israeli acute paralysis virus.
The Israeli acute paralysis virus destroys the bee’s immune system making them more susceptible to other diseases. Scientists are rushing to find a cure for this virus which is affecting the bee population globally. The Bee Movie scenario of a brown dried up plant population when the bees go on strike could be a reality. The only difference is the bees won’t be on strike, they may actually be endangered or extinct instead of basking by a pool.
Other factors which scientists say may contribute to BCCD include a build up of chemicals in the hive from insecticides and pesticides used on crops (another reason to go organic), and mites invading the hives carrying disease.
BCCD could cause a global food shortage if a cure isn’t found, since bees are directly or indirectly responsible for all of the food on our tables. It’s a scary thought. I enjoy watching the honey bees working their magic in my humble garden.
What can you do to help? I’m not an expert on this subject but here are some things I’ve read that may help the bees in their fight.
1. Reduce the number of chemicals you use in your garden, and in every day life.
2. Increase the number of native plants and flowers you grow in your garden, and grow them organically.
Anything you can do to decrease the stress on bees, and create a harmonious natural habitat is beneficial. It may not cure the problem, but it may help the bees become stronger.
Here are some of the latest articles out there if you’d like to find out more information on Bee Colony Collapse Disorder:
Bloomberg.com, Honeybee Deaths Resume in U.S. Hives, USDA Reports
HoneyBeeQuiet.com ( A website devoted to BCCD and the latest updates)
The Daily Express ~ Bee Virus Causing World Crisis
Tags: BCCD, Bee Colony Collapse Disorder, bee population affect on food, bees dying, disappearing bee population, the latest on BCCDRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Beneficial Insects, Environment
8 opinions for What Is Bee Colony Collapse Disorder? How Could it Affect You?
jodi
Feb 17, 2008 at 9:25 am
This is a good post, and I’m glad you brought the topic up. I’m working on articles about pollinators plus planning posts on my blog a little later on, when spring seems imminent. For more information about bees and other pollinators, try the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation website. They’re a very good organization with lots of information on their website about more gentle gardening, pollinating insects, and so on.
linette
Feb 17, 2008 at 9:56 am
Thank you so much for adding this information. I look forward to reading your posts. Like I said I’m far from an expert on the subject, and I welcome any additional information others may have.
Benjamin
Feb 18, 2008 at 7:10 am
I’ve been researching this for (part of) a book I’m writing, and another leading cause may be that we just work them too darn hard (PBS had a good episode not too long ago on CCD). We truck colonies all over the country for non stop pollinating all year long, depending on the crop. So, instead of bees having their natural rest period, to get in sync with natural rhythms etc, they get stressed weither to death, or become more susceptible to viruses and mites and pesticides and…. It’s also interesting how many hundreds of thousands of dollars or more a bee keeper makes lending out his colonies to farms.
Our agri business industry is too much a machine, too demanding, and we’re treating natural animals errr insects as if they were greased up cogs and pullies and pistons. Very sad. Just another way we destroy nature by placing super-hyped human demand for “things” and “wealth” on it. Glad you posted on this topic!
Tina
Feb 19, 2008 at 11:02 pm
It’s not just the bees, but the bats also.
We’re losing ridiculous amounts of integral species.
Our Disappearing Garden Friends
Feb 23, 2008 at 1:09 pm
[…] weekend I wrote about Bee Colony Collapse Disorder, this Sunday 60 Minutes is running a segment called What’s Wrong With The Bees? If […]
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Mar 3, 2008 at 5:48 am
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Erroll
Mar 6, 2008 at 6:36 am
The latest news from the USDA is encouraging. According to the latest honey report, the number of producing colonies rose by 2%, in 2007, after falling by 1% in 2006. That’s not to say there were no losses, just the beekeepers were able to recover from them. So, despite CCD, the beekeeping industry has been very resilient. I’ve written more on the honey report, and why I’m cautiously optimistic about CCD here.
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Jun 24, 2008 at 10:51 pm
[…] bees and other pollinators. Honey bees have been hit especially hard in the last couple years with Bee Colony Collapse Disorder, which has devastated a large portion of the honey bee […]
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