The Bees are disappearing

[The DaveR]

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NY Times article with more details.

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Similar, longer article in The New Yorker last week.

[Josem]

This is actually an issue with my work in Australia, where I work as a Media Officer for a Member of the Australian House of Representatives. A committee that she is a member of is currently investigating the issue (more info online at http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committe...bee/index.htm)

This is an extract from media release I distributed a couple of weeks ago:

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“The honey bee industry faces a number of challenges in the future, including overseas competition, the risk of imported diseases, land planning regulations, and urban sprawl,” xxx said.

“Currently, Australia is the only bee keeping nation in the world without the Varroa Mite. The Varroa Mite, a parasitic mite that attacks honey bees, is expected to enter Australia in the future, and is likely to reduce the commercial and wilde bee populations.”

“Apiarists need to start work now to reduce the likely future impact of the mite to some degree, but no one can protect the wild bee population. This will have a wide ranging effect on other industries such as fruit growers that depend on bee pollination.”

“To help combat this future threat throughout the agricultural economy, Governments need to take action now to encourage the growth of commercial bee populations to compensate for the forecast reduction in wild bee populations. This means rethinking restrictive land use regulations, and calls into question the State Government’s ‘lock up and leave it’ mentality to national parks,” xxx said.

“It is increasingly clear that the Melbourne-focused State Government’s plot to lock up large tracts of land is having a variety of previously unforseen consequences, and it is important that the Bracks Government reverses its current position.”

“A number of bee sites destroyed in the 2003 bushfires have not been replaced, at a time when we need increased bee sites just to maintain the current levels of cross pollination throughout the agricultural sector,” xxxx said.


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[CORed]

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This article was released today, the link works for me? but yes, the gist of it is that a lot of our crops, ecosystem, etc rely on bees to pollinate. I think it quoted albert einstien as saying "if the bees are all gone "man would have only four years of life left".

[/ QUOTE ] snopes

Looks like this quote is false and was invented as political propaganda sometime in the past. Other people point out that whoever said it completely overlooked the role other species play in pollination.

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What a lot of the alarmists seem to forget is that there were no honeybees in the new world before they were imported from Europe (and later from Africa). Somehow all kinds of flowering plants, including some currently used for food (tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, squash and potatoes (corn is wind pollinated)) managed to get pollinated and survive.

Colony collapse disorder, while certainly a problem for beekeepers, is probably not going to lead to a famine any time soon.

[mason55]

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science...ee-virus_N.htm

Now they think the bees might be disappearing due to a previously unknown virus.


This whole thing is in the running for bizarre story of the milenium

[Borodog]

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http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science...ee-virus_N.htm

Now they think the bees might be disappearing due to a previously unknown virus.


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Beepes.

[mason55]

Herpbees?
Gonorrbeea?
HIBee?

[gumpzilla]

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Herpbees?
Gonorrbeea?
HIBee?

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You forgot beebola.

[jzpiano]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science...rss_topstories

Saw this article, thought I would post it in case you haven't seen it

[KotOD]

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http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science...ee-virus_N.htm



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From the article:

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Theories on the cause have ranged from exposure to pollen from genetically modified crops to the impact of electronic waves from cellphone towers. None have panned out.

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Okay, these were the two biggest crackpot theories, and not even considered by anyone serious in the field. I love how they are presented as the usual suspects here.

[depokerstar]

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/f...sion=2007082814

This article is a few weeks old and from Fortune magazine. Much more detail, a good read.