“No bees, no honey; no work, no money.” Bees are becoming an endangered species due to colony collapse disorder, a colony no longer existing due to a combination of deadly factors. Bees are very important in our lives from making food cheaper to making honey-added in many medicines, foods, and other products. There are a few steps we can take in order to save our honeybees.
Colony Collapse Disorder is a dead colony with no adult bees and a live queen with immature bees still present (United States Department of Agriculture, 2015). The bee decline is in part because of the invasive species that bees cannot naturally adapt to (Tirado, 2014). Varroa mites are a big problem for bees right now. Bee colonies die within 1 to 2 years when infested with varroa mites; they attach themselves to bees and are transported from colony to colony (The University of Georgia, 2015). These mites attach themselves to the inside of a bee’s body and
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,
It is not unusual for bees to die or colonies to be lost, but the nature and extent reported in the year 2006 was alarming. Statistics gathered in the United States alone show that 50-90% of the bees have been lost so far, due to this scientific phenomenon (Cox-Foster et al., 2007, p. 284). Honeybees play a very major role in the pollination of plants and therefore these huge losses have become a serious concern. There are many reasons that have been floated and acclaimed to be behind CCD and they include pesticides, parasites, electromagnetic radiation, malnutrition, climatic changes, and urban sprawl, among many others.... ...
Think for a moment of a world without bees; a world without our buzzing friend. They might look like they barely do much to help our ecosystem. However, bees are a vital part of our agriculture and this makes it vital that we keep them around. The bee population decline in recent years is troubling for both us and our little friends. As their friends, we must do all we can in order to ensure their survival which in turn will ensure our own.
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.
What can we actively take part in to stop the collapse of bee colonies? Bees are such a vital part of our everyday agriculture production, however, colonies are diminishing before our eyes. Colony Collapse Disorder is a massive decrease of bees in hives and it is greatly affecting our crops because bees are not distributing the necessary amount of pollen to crops in order for them to grow the maximum, most nutritious produce possible. There are many solutions that may help CCD, such as banning neonics, urban beekeeping, and interbreeding honey bees with African killer bees. The most effective way to decrease CCD is by interbreeding honey bees with a stronger specie of bees labeled African killer bees.
“If the bee disappeared off the face of the Earth, man would only have four years left to live.” This statement questionably from the brilliant scientist Albert Einstein may evidently be right. In my class we were asked to pick an issue to research about, so I chose colony collapse disorder because I believe this an overlooked epidemic. UDSA reported “Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is a serious problem threatening the health of honey bees and the economic stability of commercial beekeeping and pollination operations in the United States. Despite a number of claims in the general and scientific media, a cause or causes of CCD have not been identified by researchers.”
All around the world honeybees are vanishing at an alarming rate, according to the documentary Vanishing of the Honeybees. This film features two commercial bee keepers and their fight to preserve their bee numbers. David Hackenburg was the first commercial bee keeper to go public the bee population was decreasing. Approximately two billions bees have vanished and nobody knows the reason why. Honeybees are used all across America to help pollinate monoculture crops like broccoli, watermelon, cherries, and other produce. Without the honeybees the price for fresh and local produce would be too much money. According, to this film commercial bee keeper’s help fifteen billion dollars of food get pollinated by commercial
The worldwide eradication of honey bees may not be too far away. The reasons the honey bees are dying are linked to a number of things. The most common causes are linked to industrial agriculture, parasites/pathogens, and climate change, according to the article entitled “The Bees in Decline” on GreenPeace’s website, SOS-bees.org. However, bee-killing pesticides pose the highest risk to the pollinators (the Bees). Honey bees are not the only form of pollinators.
A curious phenomenon known as "Colony Collapse Disorder" or "CCD", began appearing in 2006 when beekeepers noticed an average of 60% decline in their colonies(1). This decline has since leveled off at approximately 30% annually, which is still significantly higher than the 15% that is common when a hive is infected with mites or a common pathogen(2). The term CCD officially refers to the spectacle where honeybees are abandoning there hives in large volumes, only leaving the queen, young, and the large stores of honey and pollen(2). It is as if the mature male bees go out for the day and simply never return home. This occurrence has the potential to have a very negative impact on the environment and even society if not solved. Four broad categories
The USDA Agricultural Research Service characterizes Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) as a loss of anywhere from 30-90% of the adult bees in a hive leaving behind an active queen and immature bees which quickly die off without the workers. To date no single cause has been identified as causing CCD. Scientists have been studying pathogens, parasites and other stresses as possible sources along with the idea that a mix of things together is the problem. Current research has focused on the few areas which have been identified as a common thread in the different outbreaks. The first is a pathogen like the parasitic mite Varroa destructor or a fungus called Nosema that infects bees, the second is pesticide build-up from treating the bees or the
High declines in adult bee numbers in some colonies have been reported and this decline is known as colony collapse disorder6. These declines are higher than normal and can go unnoticed by bee keepers because the bees do not generally die in the nest, so the decrease is not immediately obvious. The problem addressed in this paper will be the decline of bees and the effects this decline has on the environment. The solutions proposed for this problem are increasing research, managing farming and spreading awareness. It is important to conserve the bee populations before the problem of decreasing pollinator numbers becomes too great to fix.
What do you get when you combine a lady, honey bees and passion? The sweetness of life! Gunn Baustad is one of only three female beekeepers in her Swedish area. She is an advocate for natural and ethical living who uses entrepreneurship as a tool, a self-made entrepreneur. Even more fascinating, she just started to learn about bees recently, but her passion leads her to use an innovative beehive called Flow.
However, bees have encountered a problem called colony collapse disorder, which means most of the worker bees in a colony disappeared. This essay is going to explain the importance of bees, discuss the consequences of the problem of decreasing number of bees. Main content Earth is beautified by the bees. They are one of the vital roles in sustaining the planet's ecosystem. For example, bees and flowering plants live together in symbiosis and co-evolved with each other together.
Bees are also the main reason why many flowers have a food source as well. Meaning that bees are a big role in the ecosystem because it makes them diverse. Throughout the years many bees have been disappearing. This scientific term has been known as colony collapse disorder. Colony collapse disorder is the disappearance of bee workers
Some examples of crops that require pollination are cherries, almonds, cucumber, pears, and apples. This essential ecosystem service also provides and increases biodiversity. While pollinators benefit themselves they also benefit the plant by transporting its pollen allowing the plant to reproduce.
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.