Bees

[chaperon2005]

where are all bees going and why

[padanarm]

According to the Daily Mail it's cos there's loads of them foreign bees coming over here and taking our pollen.

[factor-fiction]

Lol, padanarm, although there may be some truth in it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollinator_declin e

This article in the Independent suggested mobile phones may be a big factor http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/natur e/are-mobile-phones-wiping-out-our-bees-444768 .html

More likely, though, is that it's due to a parasite:
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2009/06/04/be e.killing.parasite.genome.sequenced

[padanarm]

Useful links, factor30.

It is a serious problem, perhaps more worrying than the current fave swine flu. Bees don't just pollinate flowers they play a vital role in pollinating food plants. If the number of bees is in serious decline then will ouragriculture industry survive? Image no fruit, veg or cereals.

No one has an accepted explanation for the so-called Colony Collapse Disorder, but it's likely to be a mixture of the Nosema microbe, the Varroa mite and something else that hasn't yet been identified.

[1ARMEDBANDIT]

I blame the weather... The sun hasn`t been out for three years and the flowers are few and far between. The jet stream is at a low point and have been for years now, has anyone counted the bee population in northern France?
Perhaps they`ve all been blown down there?

[LazyGun]

Down in France too, - or at least Normandy, according to some contacts I have there.

[chaperon2005]

Thanks for the answers I know their down in americia so is it worldwide.
And whats being done about it?

[padanarm]

BBC Four has an interesting documentary on this very subject tomorrow night - Who Killed the Honey Bee?

[chaperon2005]

will watch the program tomorrow. just for observation the wasp population at least in the uk is also massively reduced. As I have a phobia about wasps not personaloly upset but would like to know the reasons and implecations.

[factor-fiction]

The Co-op have got their Plan Bee:

http://www.co-operative.coop/ethicsinaction/ta keaction/planbee/

http://www.co-operative.coop/ethicsinaction/ta keaction/planbee/what-The-Co-operative-is-doin g-for-bees/

[padanarm]

chaperon2005, wasps aren't involved in pollination, they tend to eat little beasties such as flies n stuff.

Bees and wasps are Good Things.

[rov1200]

To stir a hornets nest some say its all down to GM. That's the problem, you upset nature in one direction and it has a diverse reaction in another.

[factor-fiction]

I'm surprised no-one has blamed CO₂emissions / global warming.

[rov1200]

Don't just take my word for it:

http://greenbio.checkbiotech.org/news/gm_crops _implicated_honeybee_colony_collapse_disorder

[rov1200]

GM crops implicated in honeybee colony collapse disorder
Monday, January 12, 2009
By Patty Donovan


As the disappearance of honeybees continues, researchers are trying desperately to discover the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). General concensus at this point is that there is more than once cause and the latest culprit may be genetically modified crops. This is one area of research being neglected as mainstream scientists insist GM crops are safe.

[jake-the-peg]

I find it hard to credit the GM argument because I don't think a significan amount of European agriculture is yet under GM cultivation.