Bees Are Dying, Scientists Have Found Out Why

[Lauren Admire]

Bees Are Dying, Scientists Have Found Out Why

Scientists have finally identified what's causing the mass die-off of bees in North America, and it's worse than we thought.

Since 2006, bees in North America have been dying by the tens of millions from Colony Collapse Disorder; a phenomenon in which all the worker bees abruptly abandon the beehive, leaving only a queen and a few worker bees behind. Scientists have struggled to pinpoint a single cause of the disorder, identifying malnutrition, pesticides and habitat loss as potential suspects. However, scientists at the University of Maryland and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have found that CCD is caused by a combination of factors.

When the team collected pollen from beehives in seven major crops and measured the type and concentration of pesticides within the samples, what they found was a hodgepodge of chemicals. These chemicals, found in widely-use fungicides previously believed to be harmless to bees, increase a bee's susceptibility to Nosema cerenae, a parasite that has been linked to CCD. Bees in colonies with high concentrations of those chemicals were three times as likely to be infected by Nosema.

It's unclear what, if anything, can be done to stop this impending beepocalypse, but it needs to be fixed - and soon.

Source: PLOS ONE [http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0070182#authcontrib]

Image: Flickr [http://www.flickr.com/photos/99287245@N00/1039780128/in/photolist-2zT9pA-2zT9w3-2zTEg5-2LtnFZ-2Y8FHr-47soHQ-4bhbZi-4n2122-4oJdUB-4qYXXr-4tkFmn-4v42dr-4vewMr-4viA5U-4BfeAb-4FMq69-4QzRrD-4QzRGM-4QzRPi-4QzSHD-4QE4D7-4QE4YU-4SwBCP-4SAQ2j-4TVf8k-4Xugsg-4XukRx-4Xup1Z-4ZbWRk-54qgVH-54KSmY-56pCYt-58ykH8-5a373m-5a37jC-5d5E3r-5fw6jX-5madKK-5tah2k-5uLLHN-5vurqp-5P9i52-63WLeb-67wggE-6g1sRQ-6g1vaL-6nA7Pv-6tRXan-6wQWkc-6wQYJF-6wQZ4r]

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[Agayek]

Huh. Yea, bees going extinct would be bad. Wonder what they'll do to stop it.

 

[grey_space]

Ya for science! we found out what was killing all the bees!

Turns out it was science!

...........ahem.

 

[Saulkar]

Been keeping tabs on this for the past few months, it is nothing new to me but is still just as disturbing. The EU has already taken steps against certain pesticides that independent studies show to be unsustainably decimating bee populations across the continent.

 

[idarkphoenixi]

Yeah, this is pretty serious. Bee's don't just make delicious honey, they pollinate pretty much everything for us.

 

[Dr.Awkward]

It's likely we will take the same route as we did with DDT and ban it. Of course, then that means chemical companies have to find another fungicide that works, and then we'll find out how bad it is for another species within the next few decades.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Damn, it is worst then we thought.

We're going to have to ask people to be environmentally conscious.

 

[Riobux]

And as you know, CCD leads to a bee version of the Helvetica Scenario.

 

[Mistilteinn]

Obligatory "NOT THE BEES!" clip?


In all seriousness, I'm glad to know they finally figured this stuff out. When I first heard of this back when people started talking about this, I thought "Eh, so what?" Then I realized just how much shit can go wrong when you lose pollinators, and that's pretty damn terrifying.

 

[AndrewC]

A large influx of BEEEEEEEEES ought to assist this situation!

 

[viranimus]

Chemicals.. Is that surprising in the least?

Actually to me it sort of is, because I was personally thinking a lot of it had to do with how obsessive we are about pristeenly kept lawns and we have to go out and shave it the second we even dare see anything resembling a flower in the grass.

Id say the two go hand in hand really because the struggle for their environment forces them to have to work harder and take more risks which in turn does expose them to more chemically treated things.

 

[Sneezeguard]

I remember hearing from somewhere that if all the bees died out then almost all life would die out in 6 years.

Hopefully the beepocalypse can be prevented and the damage reversed but as far as apocalypse's go it's a fairly disappointing one.

I mean you've got none of the cool action of a robot apocalypse or zombie apocalypse or the mystery of a mayan apocalypse.

Who would want to watch a bee apocalypse?

 

[Mr Companion]

Well that is at least better than it being based on mobile signals like some thought. Heavens knows nobody would stop using mobile phones but at least farmers can stop using certain pesticides. The situation is solveable.

 

[MCerberus]

I don't think it's likely ensuring biodiversity and curbing mass pesticide use is going to get much political traction right now in the US.

 

[shirkbot]

"Scientists have struggled to pinpoint a single cause of the disorder, identifying malnutrition, pesticides and habitat loss as potential suspects. However, scientists at the University of Maryland and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have found that CCD is caused by a combination of factors."

I would like to congratulate said scientists on discovering the source of every human problem ever: Lots of things. But in all seriousness this is sad/distressing. I'm somewhat curious if there's a way to attack the parasite, since it's unlikely the US is going to ban multiple pest/fungicides simultaneously.

It's likely we will take the same route as we did with DDT and ban it. Of course, then that means chemical companies have to find another fungicide that works, and then we'll find out how bad it is for another species within the next few decades.

Hopefully they don't 100% ban everything as with DDT or we'll have a lot of other problems to deal with. Bedbugs are a prime example of what happens when you just stop using things altogether, rather than strictly controlling/regulating them.

 

[DaxStrife]

Nice to see some decent science news on this site, putting it several steps above other news outlets like Fox News. (ZING!)

 

[Nurb]

Good luck getting enough people to care about bees. We're screwed

 

[Foolery]

One of the chemicals they're talking about is Neonicotinoids, a known neurotoxin to insects. Not gonna lie, as someone who keeps bees, this kind of ridiculousness pisses me off. You have an insecticide that's been around for 50 years, and it takes you this long to declare that it's affecting the bees?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neonicotinoid

I would like to congratulate said scientists on discovering the source of every human problem ever: Lots of things. But in all seriousness this is sad/distressing. I'm somewhat curious if there's a way to attack the parasite, since it's unlikely the US is going to ban multiple pest/fungicides simultaneously.

Well, the natural solution to protect bees from parasites is start identifying bees and queens with excellent hygienic traits and raise more hives from them. There are bees that are able to clean off parasites from themselves. A lot of beekeeping is about selective breeding.

 

[Smiley Face]

I remember when Doctor Who found that the reason bee's were disappearing was because they were really aliens and they were leaving earth due to it's impending doom. Good times.

Truthfully, that's still what my money is on. I think all this pesticide nonsense is just something they've concocted to keep us distracted.

Just like global warming! ;P

The sad thing is that's probably what a lot of people are going to say. Hopefully enough countries manage to handle it soon. My guess is that American politics being what they are, the US won't be one of them - but hopefully that won't have too much of an impact on us here in Canada if we decide to tackle it.

 

[Scarim Coral]

So I guess we should try our best NOT to killed a lone bee when entering our home or in out area?

What is the reasons in the whole "no more bees mean doom for us all"? Yes I know bees make honey and most importantly collect pollent from plant to plant helping them grow but is there more to it than that?