Honeybee populations in rapid decline

 

"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."
Albert Einstein

Since 2005 scientists have been reporting a fast growing and serious problem. Known as "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD) this mysterious phenomenon results in the complete disappearance of entire hives and is potentially a calamity not only for the bee population but also for agriculture as a whole.

CCD has impacted the whole of Europe although Germany and the US have been particularly hard hit with a reported 25 percent drop in bee populations throughout Germany. In some areas there is speculation that the decline may be as high as 80 percent. While in the USA bee keepers on the West coast have reported losses of up to 60 percent and the East coast has faired even worse with losses of up to 70 percent of their stock.

It isn't clear yet what has caused such a dramatic reduction in honeybee populations. The preferred explanation to date has been chemical residue from crop treatment and the introduction of commercial GM farming interfering with the bee's sensitive "navigation systems". An alternative theory recently proposed is that electro-magnetic radiation from mobile phone masts are harming the bee's navigation system.

To read more about collapsing bee colonies:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/16/ccd_research/
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,473166,00.html
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_5351675

 


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