Bees Are Dying, Scientists Have Found Out Why

[omicron1]

Three options: Stop using pesticides, include chemicals that kill off this fungus, or include a 'fungal vaccine' of a sort.

Science will find a way.

 

[conmag9]

And here I was, thinking it was my utter hatred for bees, hornets and wasps that had somehow been responsible. Like I became an anti-bee super villain while I sleepwalk or something. Or my rage tapped into some malevolent cosmic force and aimed it at them.

Looks like it's time for a different batch of pesticides. As much as my heart would leap for joy at the thought of never having to deal with bees ever again, I also like things like eating and breathing, so whatever contribution bees make to pollination should be fixed as promptly as possible.


CAPTCHA: Leave me alone
Yes, I wish they would, CAPTCHA. I wish they would.

 

[TwiZtah]

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?

No, but we will lose about 1/3 of all crops.

 

[Mau95]

So basically, the bees are going on strike and abandoning the workforce? Pretty sure we already knew why the bees were suddenly disappearing, but I'm from Europe so maybe the news hadn't reached the other side of the ocean yet. Hope theyll recover .

 

[PuckFuppet]

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

We should probably look in to some sort of artificial pollination machine to replace the bees if and or when they go extinct. And these machines won't friggin' STING people.

Almost impossible, and would only be feasible under very controlled conditions. Bees perform such a vital function that their decline has already affected certain crops, almonds for instance, and despite dozens of experiments and millions (if not billions) spent on alternate pollination methods it was more cost effective for them to import beehives from apiaries. Those hives were almost a total loss also, with 1/9 surviving the pollination cycle and the rest being deemed irrecoverable.

EDIT: As for the idea that "no pesticides will solve it"... it might but the issue is with the amount of training (years of it) that would require to reeducate farm owners around the world, then try to roll that out in an industrial capacity, then address issues with the soil needing to be completely purged and cycled through multiple stages of fertilisation before it is even plausible. Money, money, money.

 

[rbstewart7263]

Stop using PESTICIDES! Plenty of evidence suggest that the benefits of gmos and pesticides are middling at best and nonexistant at worst. We have countries that are producing more without pesticides. Countries that have gone full organic and flourish because of it.

I'm curious to know where you got that information; pesticides improve crop yields. That's one of the reasons organic produce is so expensive: they have lower yields and thus farmers have to charge higher prices for them.

I'm willing to believe the bit about indeterminate results for the benefits of pesticides in terms of health; to date, no solid evidence has been found to determine whether organic or conventional food is safer. What they have found is that the lack or presence of pesticide residue is likely to be a negligible factor next to other factors that are independent of organic vs. conventional methods, like bacteria and mycotoxins that can be present in both types of crops.

The crop yield issue though is definitely in conventional farming's favor. Serious questions have been raised on whether enough food can be grown organically to keep up with demand, and whether most people will be able to afford it.

Of course, this bee problem reveals that there is an issue with certain pesticides, but it should be possible to phase out the culprits and stick to those pesticides which are safer.

oh lords its was a facebook link that showed me the figures and such so ill have to do some browsing for it after I wake so keep posted. If I remember it was a basics on gmos and pesticides explaining what they are and why they arent all they are cracked up to be.

 

[mattttherman3]

Have seen a lot fewer bees this summer than I have in years past, and that is everywhere I have been this summer.

 

[mdqp]

Actually, a new study currently underway will demonstrate how videogames cause the death of the bees, by making them more violent.

On topic: how bad is the situation in the US? In my country, it doesn't seem to be so bad.

 

[Scow2]

The solution is not to ban pesticides as a knee-jerk reaction - Otherwise, our crops and even the bees themselves would be killed by the fungus and bugs the pesticides are killing. The new task is to develop one that bolsters bees against this new parasite, and/or kills the parasite directly.

Chemicals can be used to kill, and they can be used to strengthen.

 

[shrekfan246]

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

I was originally going to post something along the lines of "Good riddance to bad rubbish", but thinking about it I've got more problems with wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets than honeybees or bumblebees. I may not like bees, but they're at least better than those other flying factories of fear, hatred, and anger.

 

[KOMega]

So the chemicals are making the bees more susceptible to parasites.
hmmmmm. Is it just this one type of parasite or multiple ones?
If we can't get rid of the use of pesticides, is there a way to essentially cure the bees?

A large influx of BEEEEEEEEES ought to assist this situation!

Someone ninja'd another person and myself?
My briefcase full of BEES outta put a stop to that!

 

[BlazeRaider]

I disagree with their conclusions, I still think CCD is the result of Oprah stealing them all to give away to her audiences.

...damn them all, luxuriously showering themselves in bees while the world's crops fail.

 

[Your Fearless Captain]

Didn't this break a few months ago? Also how is the next step unclear? Ban the chemical and that's that. Bees are way more important then all the other crops.

 

[DazBurger]

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

Probably the same the US is doing to hinder pollution.
Call it a scam.

 

[McMullen]

Stop using PESTICIDES! Plenty of evidence suggest that the benefits of gmos and pesticides are middling at best and nonexistant at worst. We have countries that are producing more without pesticides. Countries that have gone full organic and flourish because of it.

I'm curious to know where you got that information; pesticides improve crop yields. That's one of the reasons organic produce is so expensive: they have lower yields and thus farmers have to charge higher prices for them.

I'm willing to believe the bit about indeterminate results for the benefits of pesticides in terms of health; to date, no solid evidence has been found to determine whether organic or conventional food is safer. What they have found is that the lack or presence of pesticide residue is likely to be a negligible factor next to other factors that are independent of organic vs. conventional methods, like bacteria and mycotoxins that can be present in both types of crops.

The crop yield issue though is definitely in conventional farming's favor. Serious questions have been raised on whether enough food can be grown organically to keep up with demand, and whether most people will be able to afford it.

Of course, this bee problem reveals that there is an issue with certain pesticides, but it should be possible to phase out the culprits and stick to those pesticides which are safer.

oh lords its was a facebook link that showed me the figures and such so ill have to do some browsing for it after I wake so keep posted. If I remember it was a basics on gmos and pesticides explaining what they are and why they arent all they are cracked up to be.

Here's an article you might be interested in. As a poster above noted, organic farming does use pesticides (organic pesticides just mean that they weren't produced synthetically), but that they're not necessarily better. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100622175510.htm

What you and many others are committing here is the naturalistic fallacy; the assumption that things that are natural are automatically healthy. It's helpful to remember that the USDA outlaws even some natural pesticides, such as arsenic and strychnine. Also remember that most if not all our food crops haven't been natural for centuries; we bred them for nutritional value, which is itself a crude form of genetic modification.

If you think that this "natural" genetic modification is better than that done in the lab, consider the case where certain tomatoes on an organic farm were found to fare better than their neighbors and were bred selectively. When they were tested, it was found that they produced their own pesticide, a very common defense mechanism in plants. The kicker is that this pesticide produced by an organic tomato in an organic farm was found to be more carcinogenic than the pesticides used on conventional crops.

Be careful about assuming that natural=safe.

 

[rbstewart7263]

Stop using PESTICIDES! Plenty of evidence suggest that the benefits of gmos and pesticides are middling at best and nonexistant at worst. We have countries that are producing more without pesticides. Countries that have gone full organic and flourish because of it.

I'm curious to know where you got that information; pesticides improve crop yields. That's one of the reasons organic produce is so expensive: they have lower yields and thus farmers have to charge higher prices for them.

I'm willing to believe the bit about indeterminate results for the benefits of pesticides in terms of health; to date, no solid evidence has been found to determine whether organic or conventional food is safer. What they have found is that the lack or presence of pesticide residue is likely to be a negligible factor next to other factors that are independent of organic vs. conventional methods, like bacteria and mycotoxins that can be present in both types of crops.

The crop yield issue though is definitely in conventional farming's favor. Serious questions have been raised on whether enough food can be grown organically to keep up with demand, and whether most people will be able to afford it.

Of course, this bee problem reveals that there is an issue with certain pesticides, but it should be possible to phase out the culprits and stick to those pesticides which are safer.

oh lords its was a facebook link that showed me the figures and such so ill have to do some browsing for it after I wake so keep posted. If I remember it was a basics on gmos and pesticides explaining what they are and why they arent all they are cracked up to be.

Here's an article you might be interested in. As a poster above noted, organic farming does use pesticides (organic pesticides just mean that they weren't produced synthetically), but that they're not necessarily better. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100622175510.htm

What you and many others are committing here is the naturalistic fallacy; the assumption that things that are natural are automatically healthy. It's helpful to remember that the USDA outlaws even some natural pesticides, such as arsenic and strychnine. Also remember that most if not all our food crops haven't been natural for centuries; we bred them for nutritional value, which is itself a crude form of genetic modification.

If you think that this "natural" genetic modification is better than that done in the lab, consider the case where certain tomatoes on an organic farm were found to fare better than their neighbors and were bred selectively. When they were tested, it was found that they produced their own pesticide, a very common defense mechanism in plants. The kicker is that this pesticide produced by an organic tomato in an organic farm was found to be more carcinogenic than the pesticides used on conventional crops.

Be careful about assuming that natural=safe.

hmm. Thank you. No seriously as in thank you on a number of levels. For educating me,for exposing my bias and for doing it without being a dick. Thank you.

Now as far as to the request for sources or gtfo. Ive got em here! lol http://www.nongmoproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/GMO_Myths_and_Truths_1.31.pdf

at the top left youl see a page finder. Put in 72. youl find this

5.1
Myth:
GM crops increase yield potential
Truth:
GM crops do not increase yield potential ? and in many
cases decrease it.

read on and then you can check the sources at the bottom.

heres another link with a chart showing yields organic vs non though as the above just informed me there apparently are some pesticides used(Ill have to look that up. But according to the studies here the differences can be as low as 3% in favor of non (a negligible number given organics benefits) to 34%. Let be known that with more work and workers organic farms can match and sometimes do better than there counterparts without all the harmful pesticides that slowly kill us and quickly kill our bees and other life.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v485/n7397/full/nature11069.html

 

[gorfias]

Bees are important to all we love. I wrote my Fed. reps about this. We'll see what happens. I challenge y'all to do the same.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

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.

Yeah, ban it so we can use more toxic chemicals, right? You know a lot of the DDT research that "proved" the toxicity was a bunch of crap and chemicals used in its stead, which are still being used, were worse than DDT ever was.
Still in this instance, it would be a smart thing to discontinue the usage of this chemical, but then its not necessarily proven to be the cause, only an aiding factor. Seems that its a parasite that ultimately does the damage and it would also be prudent to investigate why the parasite seems to be rapidly spreading and how to kill it.
There's always the possibility that keeping beehives close together in a farm situation is also to blame since its easier for said parasite to cross between beehives.

 

[SecondPrize]

This is a really bad thing as bees play an important role in our environment. That being said, I can't stop giggling at the word "beepocalypse."

 

[Something Amyss]

Wow, you Americans are only figuring this out now? Europe and Australia figured this out years ago.

We're an anti-intellectual culture. Our Senate science commission contains folks who think evolution is "lies from the put of Hell." We try and pretend everything has two sides, and cry "politics" and "teh bias" when there is near scientific consensus on an issue. Because liberals in their ivory towers mirite?

We should probably look in to some sort of artificial pollination machine to replace the bees if and or when they go extinct. And these machines won't friggin' STING people.

Until it becomes sentient and rises against its creators. Then we're screwed.

Actually, a new study currently underway will demonstrate how videogames cause the death of the bees, by making them more violent.

Video games! My old nemesis!

Didn't this break a few months ago? Also how is the next step unclear? Ban the chemical and that's that. Bees are way more important then all the other crops.

It's more than one chemical.