Why are Honeybees Disappearing?
Wednesday May 14, 2008
Honeybee colonies are dying or disappearing in record numbers, with potentially devastating effects on agriculture and food supplies. What is causing the dramatic decline of honeybee populations in the U.S. and elsewhere, and what is being done to solve the problem?
Photo courtesy of Getty Images
Comments
Another reason to panic: Honey Bees are dying!
a) HB populations fluctuate naturally in tandem with their parasites: viruses, fungi & certain wasps.
b)HBs are exotic species, not native to NA. Before they were importd here, there were naturally occurring pollinators in greater numbers, now suppressed by the outside competition. Their numbers will increase as HBs decrease. That’s probably desirable.
One theory has it that bio-pesticides are causing honeybees to lose the ability to find their way back to the hive. Any truth to this?
Your article said “may” or “maybe” too many times to be journalistic. I appreciate your bringing the subject to light, but ‘ol boy with the first comment is right. Maybe you should write an article about graphing a species niche. Ill give you a hint: it goes up and down.
Arvind is such a Hindu
News flash JIMBO… the honeybees are not only dying they are DISAPPEARING. As in, the bodies cannot be found. So it is NOT just a regular “up and down” as you so clearly hypothesized. And FOR THE RECORD, EVERYTHING in science is explained with “may” and “maybe”. A theory is an educated guess that has been tested enough to be THOUGHT to be true. The theory of relativity is just a THEORY but that does not mean it is false. Take a science class before you state your uneducated opinions and if you want to see it in a picture, which might help you understand, go see M. Night’s new movie, The Happening. Thanks!
I laughed when I read some of the first articles about this topic, stating that the bees were actually disappearing (gotta be aliens, then, right?) Try taping a bee to a rock and throwing it out 150 ft into a meadow. Think you can find it later?
Better example for perspective: According to Wikipedia, a hive contains a max of 40,000 bees. If all died simultaneously, but spread evenly over only one sq. mi. there would be one little carcass every 64 sq ft- an 8 x 8 ft space- pretty tough to spot ‘em in the weeds.