The Disappearing HoneyBee

Recently while on a flight home from Phoenix I was reading the Southwest Magazine, Spirit, and I came across an article about hoenybees. Did you know that in the course of their short 7 week life, they travel about 37,400 miles gathering nectar to feed their queen. In this short lifetime all they produce is about 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey! Not very much for all that work. The article made me hungry for more information on the plight of the honeybee. I had heard that the dramatic loss of bees was at a critical level. Here's some of what I discovered about why honeybees are disappearing.

Honeybees were brought to North America from Europe in the 1600's. They are bred commercially for their ability to produce honey and polinate crops. There are over 90 differen crops that depend on the honeybee for pollination, including many fruits and nuts. The honeybee population has plummeted by as much as 70% in recent years, and scientists are still trying to figure out why, and what to do about "colony collapse disorder." (CCD)

Many believe that the increase in the use of herbicides and chemicals, which honeybees ingest during pollination may be to blame. Another factor that may contribute to the problem is the increase in atmospheric electromagnetic radiation, from cell phones and wireless communications. The signals given off by such devices may interfere with the bees' ability to navigate. A study in Germany found that bees would not return to their hives when mobile phones were placed nearby.

Global warming is another factor in the decrease in the honeybee population. Global warming may exaggerate the growth rates of pathogens such as mites, viruses and fungi that are know to take their toll on bee colonies.

A recent gathering of biologists yielded no consensus, although they all agreed that a combination of factors is likely to blame for the loss of honeybees. At one time the federal government planned to allocate $80 million to fund research in connection with CCD. I fear that has been cancelled due to budget cuts. This is, however, a critical matter, as farmers depend on bees for pollinization of their crops. Without bees, our food supply is in jeopardy. Hopefully scientists will continue to work on a solution and be able to reverse this devastating trend.