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effect of colony collapse disorder
implications of decline in bees worldwide
colony collapse disorder causes and effect
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Despite stepped up effort to discover why honey bees are disappearing, current research still has no definitive answers. The disappearing of honeybees, known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), is a severe dilemma that is threatening the health of honeybees and economic stability of commercial beekeeping and pollination operations in the United States. The disorder as described in older literature have been called spring dwindle disease, fall dwindle disease, autumn collapse, May disease, and disappearing disease (Ellis). Honey bees are arguably the insect that are most important to the human food chain. The reason why it matters if honey bees disappear is because “they are the principal pollinators of hundreds of fruits, vegetables, flowers, …show more content…
Honey bees are a vital part of our agricultural system (Krupke). The worth of bee pollination is overwhelming. “… The increased value of both bees and the crops they pollinate have all added to the importance of protecting bees from pesticides” (Krupke). Bees becomes impatient when searching for field crops to produce pollen, including field corn and soybeans. Bees shouldn’t be near field corn or soybeans because of the pesticides being used on them can harm bees. Alexei Barrionuevo notes that’s “one such group of compounds is called neonicotinoids, commonly used pesticide that are used to treat corn and other seeds against pests.” Beekeepers made up a syndrome “mad bee disease” because this chemical cause them to be disoriented and escape from their hives, dominating them to demise because of exposure to the cold. French government banned the pesticide in 1999 for use on sunflowers, and later for corn, despite protests by the German chemical giant Bayer which has said its internal research showed the pesticide was not toxic to bees (Barrionuevo). The pesticide, neonicotinoids, is believe to be the primary reason behind the disappearing of honey bees. No researches has shown that it is the only cause for CCD. Alexei Barrionuevo notes that “these chemicals are not being used anymore... And sorting …show more content…
Honey bees would not disappear entirely, but the cost of honey bees pollination services would rise, and those increase costs would ultimately be passed on to consumers through high food costs (“Honey Bees”). If bees happens to become extinct, “…it would be a catastrophic for agriculture, as we know it, and we certainly suffer grievously, but we would survive” (Moisset). Bees are reaching their tipping point because they are expected to perform in an increasingly inhospitable world… The prospect of human starvation in the absence of bees is remote, but crops declines in the most nutritious- and arguably, most interesting- parts of our diet like fruits, vegetables, and alfalfa hay for meat and dairy production, are possible
How global warming started is an issue that may or may not be preventative. This is affecting the world in so many ways and is another cause of the disappearance of honey bees all around the world. Due to the climate increase bees have failed to migrate to cooler areas resulting in bee territories shrinking by nearly two hundred miles in Europe and North America. Having this drastic loss of active bees will kill the crops that were in the areas that were failed to migrate to. According to Rader, climate change affects pollinator-dependent crop production Since seventy-five percent of the leading global food crops are produced from insect pollinator there will be a huge food shortage overtime. (1). In the image, Disappearing Bees, Natural Grocers demonstrated what a modern grocery store will look like in a few decades if the honey bees do take their plight. Without pollination the world will not develop fruits and vegetables as we have now. Most of the produce section is stripped away leaving potatoes, oranges, turnips, and a few others. The world will not have access to apples, all of the berries, lemons, cucumbers and so much more. (Natural Grocers 1). The global temperature change may be due to humans even though there is no proven result of that. There is proof that humans are killing off the bees with man-made chemicals inputting into crops such as GMOs and other preservatives. Pohorecka claims that seeds coated with clothianidin and imidacloprid are displeasing to the honey bees. There are negative effects using clothianidin. It is nice to know that so that people will stop using it in their crops. However, some other additives are resulting in reducing the risk of bees being exposed to toxic effects of the insecticidal dusts during maize sowing by seeding
The beekeepers knew they had to figure out what was going on. Something interesting about the land where the hives would be is that farmers used to grow many different things on their farm such as corn and sunflowers. Now it’s more common for a farmer to just have sunflowers or just have corn on their land. The farmers began to spray their crops with a deadly chemical against the pests. The pesticide is bad for the bee because it can mess with their nervous system or immune system. Pesticides lead to dead bees which lead to a drop in the population of bees. This was a main point of the film to see what happened with pesticides and what happened without
To most, the honeybee can be an annoying insect that has a powerful sting. Yet, the honeybee is so much more than just another insect. The honeybee is arguably the most vital component in the development of our food crops. With roughly 90 percent of our food crops dependent on the pollination of our honeybees, our food system, agricultural development, and diet rest on the work and well being of these buzzing insects. Unfortunately, since 2006 there has been a major decline in the population of honeybees, and has gotten progressively worse because of colony collapse disorder. The first reported increase of CCD was documented in November 2006 in Florida. By February 2007, several states began reporting major losses associated with CCD, ranging from 30% to 90%. A little over a half decade later in 2012 the attention paid towards CCD has grown substantially with more research being done as CCD continues to get worse. The main culprit for CCD, as research has suggested, is the use of pesticides on our food crops. With major corporations such as Bayer making millions and millions of dollars in profit each year in the distribution of pesticides, it is no wonder that nothing is being done to stop this practice despite evidence linking the use of pesticides and the drastic deterioration of the health of honeybees. With the continuation of the use of deadly pesticides and the vital role bees play in the pollination and development of our food crops, both the environment and our economy will be effected directly and face the potential for catastrophic results.
Over time, many bees have been disappearing and their population has been decreasing drastically. These ubiquitous species are mostly known to produce honey, however they do much more than that. Bees are an essential part of the environment and play a huge role in agriculture. They pollinate flowers and about ⅓ of the food we eat depends on bee pollination. Not only humans depend on bees too, but animals do too,and we depend on most of those animals. The pesticides used on flowers and other factors that have contributed to the decrease in the population of bees need to be stopped before this problem goes too far out of reach. This decrease can only be described as Colony Collapse Disorder and it will have severe consequences if it is not controlled.
The best action the public can take to improve honey bee survival is not to use pesticides indiscriminately. In particular, the public should avoid applying pesticides during mid-day hours, when honey bees are most likely to be out foraging for nectar and pollen on flowering plants. In addition, the public can plant pollinator-friendly plants—plants that are good sources of nectar and pollen such as red clover, foxglove, bee balm, joe-pye weed, and other native plants.
If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.
Lawrence, Timothy, and Walter S. Sheppard. "Neonicotinoid Pesticides and Honey Bees." Cru.cahe.wsu.edu. Washington State University, Nov. 2013. Web.
There are hundreds of thousands bee keepers in the United States alone. Without honeybees, the beekeepers will eventually lose their jobs because there will no longer be honey for them to sell. Also, no more pollination of different crops mean hundreds of businesses will have to be shut down due to no produce to sell. Over twenty-four million dollars comes from bee pollinators and straight into the United States economy but “…honey bees account for more than fifteen billion dollars through their vital role in keeping fruits, nuts, and vegetables in our diets” (Fact Sheet: The Economic Challenge Posed by Declining Pollinator Populations par 3). Food and money are the two things in this world that truly help us survive. Without both, humans will no longer be able to sustain
The collapse of the honey bee population is an issue that is rarely talked about, and few realize the effect it has on each of us personally. In America the honey bee is responsible for pollinating almost every food that is seen in the grocery store. The population of this interesting insect has been on a decline for over a decade. According to United States Department of Agriculture, “The total number of managed honey bee colonies has decreased from 5 million in the 1940s to only 2.5 million today”. The debate is not if the honey bees are truly disappearing, there is enough evidence to be found that there is a decline in total population. The true question is why are the hives collapsing? Scientist have devoted many hours trying to find the one true cause, no clear answer has presented itself. Amongst the beekeeping community three major reasons for the collapse of the honey bee are the most accepted, which are pest and diseases, the use of poisons such as herbicides and pesticides, and lastly the human impact such as bad beekeeping practices and urbanization.
Toxic pesticides also play a large role in the ever-decreasing number of bees. Farmers spray their crops with harmful toxins such as neonicotinoids, substances banned in numerous countries such as England, France, Germany, and Switzerland, are sprayed onto crops (You Asked: Are the Honeybees Still Disappearing?). While humans are unaffected by these chemicals, they prove to be deadly to both insects and bees, and these pesticides are still legal in the United States. The disappearance of bees can also be linked to the loss of habitat, which causes nutritional issues....
On the contrary, President Obama “unveiled a plan aimed at stopping the rapid decline in bee and butterfly populations” (“On May 19”). His plans are to reduce the death rate of bees which in turn will help out the agricultural production. He also plans to clear land in order to give the bees a bigger environment in which to repopulation and will ensure that no bees are harmed in the process (“On May 19”). The president sees the devastation that the decline could cause and is trying to combat the issue. The European Union has banned three pesticides in order to combat the decline but “have fallen short of providing adequate safeguards for the re-propagation of bee colonies”(“Bee research”). Governments are taking notice of the problem ahead yet still we are until to achieve the full support of all
LaJeunesse, S.. Common crop pesticides kill honeybee larvae in the hive. Penn State | News. 27 January 2014.
How about fruits, vegetables, coffee, even shampoo or lotion? Our livestock depend on bee-pollinated plants like grain. Poorly pollinated plants produce fewer fruits and seeds leading to higher prices (New Agriculturist, n.d.). Some crops are entirely dependent on pollinators such as almonds and others are 90 percent dependent like blueberries and cherries (ABF, 2015). Bees give us honey and we use this honey in food, shampoo, and moisturizers (Mercola, 2015). Bees pollinate 70 out of our 100 major crops; that includes apples, cucumbers, pumpkins, and many more. Our bees are dying at the highest rates ever recorded: 42 percent of the United States bee colonies collapsed in 2015 (NRDC, 2015). 50 to 80 percent of the worlds food supply is directly affected by honeybee pollination (Pennsylvania Apiculture Inc., 2011). Reduced crop pollination will make food more expensive and can even make some crops harder to grow successfully (Worland,
In Europe and even in China honeybee populations are decreasing. This has an impact on everyone in the market. It effects how they food gets to the dinner table and how much it cost to put it there. Fresh produces will eventually end up being fresh produce from across the ocean or fresh produce made in a lab. It wasn’t until October 2006 when Hackenburg came public about his bees vanishing that anybody noticed that the bees were dispersing, but still scientist can’t prove the exact cause to CCD. In America nothing has really been done yet to help the honeybees. Other countries, like Europe did at least tried to maintain the current population of honeybees by amending a law that prohibited certain types of pesticides that many be harmful to honeybees. The most important thing that could be done to protect the honeybees is stop using pesticides that are harmful to important creatures like honeybees. Just like Europe did, put a ban on harmful chemicals to honeybees, until the honeybees numbers start to increase. Another logical way to help the honeybee population is to give a tax credit to people who decide to become bee keepers since bees are very important to the US economic
Over the past decade bee populations have been dropping drastically. A 40% loss of honeybees happened in the U.S. and U.K. lose 45% of its commercial honeybee since 2010. This is a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in which worker bees from a beehive abruptly disappear in a short time. These data are definitely not meaningless since bees are a crucial part of the reproductive cycle of many foods. The impact bees have on the agriculture and the environment is far more crucial than we may think. Crops rely on bees to assist their reproduction and bring them life. Bees are renowned in facilitating pollination for most plant life, including over 100 different vegetable and fruit crops. Without bees, there would be a huge decrease in pollination, which later result in reduce in plant growth and food supplies. On the other hand, without the pollination progressed with the assistance from bees, the types of flowers According to Dr. Albert Einstein, “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination…no more men”. That’s why bees’ extinction affects people more than we ever think, and could even forebode the doom day of human race.