Sunday, January 18, 2009

Where Are All The Bees


Honey bee (Apis)on Gaillardia. This little honey bee is jammed full of pollen. Overall, I see fewer honey bees these days. I don't know if it is due to colony collapse disorder or not. Some claim that colony collapse disorder is caused by a combination of factors such as changing climate/global warming, pesticides and environmental pollutants. Others look to parasites and diseases. I, for one, wonder if the modern trend of bee keepers taking their hives from farm to farm to provide pollination services is a contributing factor. If it is a pathogen, those mobile bees would spread it nationwide in short order. Only time will tell.

1 comment:

Dr. S. Banerji said...

Restricting systemic insecticides during flowering, and introducing new genetic material in highly inbred colonies are two steps that should keep CCD at bay