Catching Up - April 23, 2009 - Bee Speaking

Tonight I went to the Missouri Botanical Garden to see Dr. May Berenbaum discuss Colony Collapse Disorder as part of The Global Garden Speaker Series. Colony Collapse Disorder is the mysterious disappearance of honeybees. It was first reported in 2006 by a beekeeper who checked on his bees that were wintering in Florida. Inexplicably several of his colonies were gone with no evidence of what occurred. The worker bees simply vanished leaving behind the nurses and the queens to starve. The interesting part is that there are no dead bees found outside of the colony which is usually the case in a pesticide kill or disease. Since I first heard about Colony Collapse Disorder on NPR a year or so ago I've been very interested in the latest and greatest research. See, honeybees pollinate over 100 of our agricultural crops that we rely on for food. Their work is estimated to be worth about $15B (yes, billion) a year. Without honeybees we will not have any fruits or nuts and many vegetables to eat. Honeybees also indirectly benefit the dairy and beef industries by pollinating the alfalfa those animals eat. So, without honeybees, we humans are in a world of hurt.

Of course I've noticed the lack of honeybees in my garden. Seems like honeybees were much more prevalent when I was a kid. Turns out that honeybee colonies have been on the decline since mid-to-late century. According to Dr. Berenbaum, much of the decline started occuring in the late 1980's to early 1990's. At this time the government allowed honeybees to be imported into the States. With those imports came a new set of diseases, mainly viral, that have led to colony deaths. Also making matters worse are the African Killer Bees. Dr. Berenbaum said that all of the Killer Bees found in this hemisphere originated from one farmer in South America who wanted a more tropical bee to pollinate his fields. Unfortunately he chose a very aggressive bee that has spread rapidly. Our Western Honeybees cannot compete.

Of particular interest were several things: 1) We have not diversified our portfolio when it comes to pollinators. We basically rely on the Western Honeybee. Natural pollinators do play some role but not the $15B role honeybees play in crop pollination. 2) We know remarkably very little about these little guys. Very little research has been conducted. The honeybee genome was sequenced in 2007. 3) Of the research conducted so far on CCD, the results do not conclusively point to one single factor. Pesticides seem to be playing a part, but do not provide the entire answer. We know the newest set of pesticides in the neonicotinoid family do cause memory loss in honeybees but we had been using these pesticides for a while before CCD was diagnosed. Also, France outlawed this class of pesticides to prevent further decline but they have still experienced colony loss. Interestingly enough, honeybees have a very small set of genes (~45) that contribute to toxin removal. Humans have over 400! So, it seems that pesticides accumulate and exacerbate each other but it's not the entire answer. 4) A new virus has been discovered that is impacting bee populations - Israel Acute Paralysis Virus. As you can guess from the description, it causes paralysis in bees who then die outside of the hive. While research has found evidence of IAPV in many tested CCD hives, it also does not entirely explain the cause of CCD. 5) Since the honeybee genome has been sequenced, Dr. Berenbaum stated there has been research into the immune system and toxin cleansing genes. They are trying to figure out the switches for these genes and also to see if there is some genetic marker for CCD. Unfortunately those studies are also inconclusive at this time because the results came back indicating that the most significant variance was found not in the immune or toxin-cleansing genes but in a whole slew of genes that "we don't know what they do." Sigh...The presentation was absolutely fascinating and well-attended.

I should note that several theories about CCD were also very briefly discussed. Bees disappearing because of cellphone use - disproven. Bees disappearing because of genetically modified corn - disproven (corn relies on wind to pollinate, not bees; also, if GM corn were the cause, then Illinois should have reported CCD because 80% of the corn planted in IL is GM but, to date, IL has reported no loss of bee colonies to CCD). Bee rapture, that is, the disappearance of bees because this is the start of the Rapture - well, I suppose it cannot be disproven but how would you scientifically prove it? Sorry - no science = no proof = not a conclusion.

So, what do I think? Well, I kinda like the idea that Diana Cox-Foster and Dennis vanEngelsdorp presented in the April 2009 edition of Scientific American ("Saving the Honeybee"). Their research supports the information Dr. Berenbaum presented in her speech - that is, that pesticides and new viral infections alone do not completely explain the phenomenon. However, they also mentioned that our agricultural practices may be contributing to the honeybee's demise. Our vast expanses of single crop fields may not be providing the variety of food sources for honeybees (Dr. Berenbaum did mention our farming practices in relation to native pollinators). So, perhaps we are starving the honeybees with our monocultural agricultural practices and our neatly manicured suburban lawns with uninteresting flowers for bees. That stress may be triggering decreased immune resistance, or maybe decreased ability to cleanse toxins from the body, which are then leading to CCD. The article also mentions that studies need to be performed on honeybees and their reaction to travelling around the country to pollinate crops (did you know that every portable honeybee colony in the USA needs to go to California every year to pollinate the almond crop??!!). More work needs to be done and we need to find an answer soon.

So, what can you do? Stop using pesticides on your lawn! Start planting native flowers attractive to honeybees and native pollinators! Read up on CCD and understand the current research! Be skeptical when others try to convince you it's bee rapture or cellphone use or whatever! Write to your congressperson about funding research for CCD! Especially if your congressperson is a Republican. The Republicans pointed to a $1M allocation for CCD research in the latest stimulus package as evidence of pork! Dear Mr. or Ms. Republican Congressperson - Without honeybees we may have no pork...or veggies...or fruits...or beef...to eat. Bet you won't think it's PORK then! Support the Xerces Society!

SAVE THE BEES - SAVE THE CHEERLEADER - SAVE US HUMANS!!