Colony Collapse Disorder

[morphball]

Honey Bees are dying off in disturbingly large numbers around the world. Some of it is due to a mite, but the reality is no one can fidure out why.

Albert Einstein (I think) has been quoted as saying without bees, mankind has four years left. Is this a dire situation, or is this nothing really to worry about? Any insect or agriculture guys on here who are familiar with this issue?

[arahant]

Nothing to worry about.
Nothing to see here.
Please return to your homes.

[Hopey]

From wikipedia:

[ QUOTE ]

Possible effects
The phenomenon is particularly important for crops such as the almond growing in California, where honey bees are the predominant pollinator and the crop value in 2006 was US$1.5 billion. In 2000, the total U.S. crop value that was wholly dependent on the honey bee pollination was estimated to exceed US$15 billion.[67]

Honey bees are not native to the Americas, therefore their necessity as pollinators in the US is limited to strictly agricultural/ornamental uses, as no native plants require honey bee pollination, except where concentrated in monoculture situations - where the pollination need is so great at bloom time that pollinators must be concentrated beyond the capacity of native bees (with current technology).

They are responsible for pollination of approximately one third of the United States' crop species, including such species as: almonds, peaches, soybeans, apples, pears, cherries, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, watermelons cantaloupes, cucumbers and strawberries. Many but not all of these plants can be (and often are) pollinated by other insects in small holdings in the U.S., including other kinds of bees, but typically not on a commercial scale. While some farmers of a few kinds of native crops do bring in honey bees to help pollinate, none specifically need them, and when honey bees are absent from a region, there is a presumption that native pollinators may reclaim the niche, typically being better adapted to serve those plants (assuming that the plants normally occur in that specific area).

However, even though on a per-individual basis, many other species are actually more efficient at pollinating, on the 30% of crop types where honey bees are used, most native pollinators cannot be mass-utilized as easily or as effectively as honey bees - in many instances they will not visit the plants at all. Beehives can be moved from crop to crop as needed, and the bees will visit many plants in large numbers, compensating via sheer numbers for what they lack in efficiency. The commercial viability of these crops is therefore strongly tied to the beekeeping industry.


[/ QUOTE ]

So it sounds like it will suck for growers of certain agricultural crops, but it won't be the end of civilization as we know it. After all, before Europeans colonized the Americas, honeybees didn't exist here.

[whatnow1080]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070426100117.htm

[whiskeytown]

[ QUOTE ]
Honey Bees are dying off in disturbingly large numbers around the world. Some of it is due to a mite, but the reality is no one can fidure out why.

Albert Einstein (I think) has been quoted as saying without bees, mankind has four years left. Is this a dire situation, or is this nothing really to worry about? Any insect or agriculture guys on here who are familiar with this issue?

[/ QUOTE ]

when I posted about it in this forum about 4 weeks ago it turned into a lovefest for frankenfood - good luck

rb

[samsonite2100]

Can we not have a half-hearted thread on this every other day? That stupid Einstein quote gets quoted in every googleable article on the subject because journalists are lazy, and then people get worried and post about it.

As far as what I've read it jibes with Hopey's assessment, although I think the economic ramifications would be pretty severe and far reaching.

[latefordinner]

I think that the answer to "why are the bees actually disappearing" could be more dire than "what will the effects of the bee disappearance be"

[CORed]

Einstein was a physicist, not a biologist. That said, colony collapse syndrome is certainly a problem, but it is probably not the end of the world. It's very unlikely that honeybees are about to become extinct. Also, honeybees are not the only pollinators. North and South America got along quite well without them until they were introduced a few hundred years ago. That said, a lot of our food crops are pollinated by honeybees, including legumes (soybeans, other beens and peas, alfalfa) are bee pollinated, as are most fruit trees. What ever it is that is killing honeybees, very likely some are resistant to it, and, since honeybees reproduce incredibly fast, it won't take that long to get the population back up.