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I love bees and honey, I hope it isn't true. Kill off the wasps instead!

recent news article i read somewhere said that Mobile phones signals could be a cause of why the bees are dying. apparently the signals could be interfering with the bees ablity to navigate so that they are unable to find their way back to the hive.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/16/ccd_research/

That's probably the case for a lot of animals and insects too.

Scrat;599435 wrote: Walter Haefeker, the German beekeeping official, speculates that "besides a number of other factors," the fact that genetically modified, insect-resistant plants are now used in 40 percent of cornfields in the United States could be playing a role. The figure is much lower in Germany -- only 0.06 percent -- and most of that occurs in the eastern states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg. Haefeker recently sent a researcher at the CCD Working Group some data from a bee study that he has long felt shows a possible connection between genetic engineering and diseases in bees.

The study in question is a small research project conducted at the University of Jena from 2001 to 2004. The researchers examined the effects of pollen from a genetically modified maize variant called "Bt corn" on bees. A gene from a soil bacterium had been inserted into the corn that enabled the plant to produce an agent that is toxic to insect pests. The study concluded that there was no evidence of a "toxic effect of Bt corn on healthy honeybee populations." But when, by sheer chance, the bees used in the experiments were infested with a parasite, something eerie happened. According to the Jena study, a "significantly stronger decline in the number of bees" occurred among the insects that had been fed a highly concentrated Bt poison feed.

According to Hans-Hinrich Kaatz, a professor at the University of Halle in eastern Germany and the director of the study, the bacterial toxin in the genetically modified corn may have "altered the surface of the bee's intestines, sufficiently weakening the bees to allow the parasites to gain entry -- or perhaps it was the other way around. We don't know."

Of course, the concentration of the toxin was ten times higher in the experiments than in normal Bt corn pollen. In addition, the bee feed was administered over a relatively lengthy six-week period.

Kaatz would have preferred to continue studying the phenomenon but lacked the necessary funding. "Those who have the money are not interested in this sort of research," says the professor, "and those who are interested don't have the money."

http://www.spiegel.de/international...,473166,00.html


Hm.

Bill Maher's commentary covered this Friday night. I believe he also stated that Albert Einstein said when the bees leave, mankind would have a mere 4 years left.

Heaven help us, because if the cell towers are driving the bees away, I don't see anything changing. Any who have teens know they can't seem to live without them. I don't get it. I'd throw my phone away if I had to constantly answer a text or ring. Short of cells being banned, I don't see a change coming. Scary to think about.

I'm sort of a an entomologist "wannabe" and have always loved bees. I've noticed a major decline int he population here in North Carolina. Seems the main culprit has been a nasty species of mite that infests the bees and the colonies killing them off. They are beginning to recover though...

Stitchmom;600031 wrote:

Heaven help us, because if the cell towers are driving the bees awaythinking:


I do not think it's anything to do with this. If it was, it would be virtually a world-wide issue, which it isn't.

zinkyusa;600081 wrote: I'm sort of a an entomologist "wannabe" and have always loved bees. I've noticed a major decline int he population here in North Carolina. Seems the main culprit has been a nasty species of mite that infests the bees and the colonies killing them off. They are beginning to recover though...D


If you mean the varroa mite, then the only reason that the European honey bee still exists in any quantity is because of human intervention and treatment. They cannot "recover".

Bill Sikes;600085 wrote: If you mean the varroa mite, then the only reason that the European honey bee still exists in any quantity is because of human intervention and treatment. They cannot "recover".


Yes, that is the culprit and the NCDA&CS has been treating for the little buggers for several years. I meant "recovery" of the population size for the Honey Bee's rather than in the medical sense.

zinkyusa;600096 wrote: Yes, that is the culprit and the NCDA&CS has been treating for the little buggers for several years.


What's the accepted treatment in the 'States? Some methods used in the UK are here:

http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushma ... tment.html



I can remember the days (not so long ago) when none of this was necessary.

Bill Sikes;600121 wrote: What's the accepted treatment in the 'States? Some methods used in the UK are here:

http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushma ... tment.html



I can remember the days (not so long ago) when none of this was necessary.


Here is what North Carolina State University has been trying:

http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:OpD ... cd=3&gl=us

Looks similar, although I didn't see the use of pheremone traps by NCSU as listed in your link..

Did anyone read that the problem exists elsewhere? When I first heard about it I searched around and read it was also being noticed in Germany and a few other European countries; and then I read it was also happening in Taiwan!

Available Jones;608735 wrote: Did anyone read that the problem exists elsewhere? When I first heard about it I searched around and read it was also being noticed in Germany and a few other European countries; and then I read it was also happening in Taiwan!


Yes.