(Credit: Scott Bauer, USDA/Agricultural Research Services)
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is the name that has been given to the latest, and what seems to be the most serious, die-off of honey bee colonies across the country. It is characterized by, sudden colony death with a lack of adult bees in/in front of the dead-outs.
As of February 2007, many of the beekeepers reporting heavy losses associated with CCD are large commercial migratory beekeepers, some of who have lost 50-90% of their colonies. Surviving colonies are often so weak that they are not viable pollinating or honey producing units.
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for science, Edward O. Wilson writes -“As extinction spreads, some of the lost forms prove to be keystone species, whose disappearance brings down other species and triggers a ripple effect through the demographics of the survivors. The loss of a keystone species is like a drill accidentally striking a power line. It causes lights to go out all over.” The Diversity of Life
Serious stuff- bees are responsible for pollination of our FOOD. Why is the media so sluggish to report on this?? Honey bees are vital to life as we know it and there is virtually NO press. This same phenomena first noted in Pennsylvania has been reported in Germany, Spain and Portugal, the U.K. and Guatemala. It is hard to imagine the TREMENDOUS economic shock this will send around the world from loss of food and a hit economy.
Check out the crops affected: apples, peaches, soybeans, pears, pumpkins, cucumbers, cherries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries, squash and nuts.
The researchers are looking into various things that may have caused this- but not the large use of genetically modified (GM) crops. Hmmm. I am hoping that an independent non-governmental organization comes forward to look into this- hello- Europe? Are you out there to do this service for the world? The GM industry is such a Goliath in the U.S. that I fear little headway can actually be made here.
Additional information can be found here: http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/ColonyCollapseDisorder.html
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