Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder

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We recently discussed news from the EU on banning neonicotinoid pesticides in order to stem the so called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) among honey bees. Bug Girl has an important guest post on the phenomenon of CCD by bee expert Doug Yanega. This is a must read not only for those interested in bees and CCD, but skepticism and science reporting in general, as Yanega places the current discussion in a strong historical context and provides a valuable critique of much of the reporting on CCD. Go read Honey bees, CCD, and the Elephant in the Room.


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9 thoughts on “Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder

  1. I actually learned about the decline of honey bees in one of my college science classes. I had no idea that honey bees were in so much trouble. This report has a lot of good information in it that I think others need to know about because of all the important environmental role honey bees play in our world.

  2. I know of one cause for the death of millions of honey bees during the almond pollination period in California. I have witnessed hundreds of bees splattered on my windshield the past several years on heavily travelled Hwy 5 while passing through (? miles) of almond orchards thick with hives on both sides of the freeway. This must be significant.
    100 bees for every car, truck, motorhome.
    Suppose 100 autos (car, truck, motorhome) pass through each hour
    100 bees x 100 autos x 2 directions = 20,000 bees / hour x (?) hrs / day. you do the math: if 6 hrs = 120,000. if 10 days = 1,200,000. I personally believe this example is much too conservative. The dead bees on the windshield are real. The traffic is real. Drive it some time. Very easy to prove. Of course, sadly there is NO cure.

  3. Could Carbon Dioxide be killing the bees??? I noticed a dead bee clinging to my (outside) bedroom screen. Today, another attached to it..i presume to absorb the warmth radiating from the room (not dead yet). I’ll see if our carbon dioxide does him/her in. Any research been done on this idea??

  4. The decline in the bee population coincides with the increase in noise levels from motorcycles. The motorcycle hobby has become very popular, and riders remove the mufflers on them. They ride in fair weather when bees are going to be pollinating. The noise is extreme and it’s certainly not a natural sound. Could this be a component in making the bees confused and unable to find their way back to their hives?

  5. Don, I don’t know, and actually I doubt it, but I’d love for the damn motorcycles to make less noise anyway!

  6. I have read several articles about the honey bee decline, however, I have hives on my property and I also have horses. I can see where there is a daily decline in the bee population because they are drowning themselves in my horses water tank. Each and every day the tank is covered and surrounded by bees – many that meet their demise in the water. I also live within 1/2 mile of at least 3 lakes and within a mile of some larger lakes – so water is of abundance, yet each and everyday my horses fight the bees for a drink. They (the bees) are not mysteriously flying away to never return. They are traveling within a 1000 feet and dying in the water tank. I have no idea why they are so attracted to the tank but they are.

  7. bonjour,
    il est évident que les insecticides aient un effet sur les insectes en particulier les abeilles.
    la nature exact de leur disparition est du aux champs electromagnetiques.
    je vais vous raconter mon histoire.
    je partais en voyage en l’etranger ,et les journaux annoncer la nouvelles de la venue de la 3g,et croyez moi le jour meme 3000 ruches se sont videes.verifiez par vous meme l’implantation de la 3g et les problemes de ces zones .il est evident que les frequences pertubent la vision des abeilles,
    il ne faux pas oublier le spectre de vision de l’abeille,karl von fisch l’a bien demontrer et leur sens de l’orientation a l’aide du soleil,nos scientifiques oublient que la lumiere est de nature ondulatoire ,d’ou l’interaction avec les frequences de la 3g , d’ou une perte de l’orientation.
    les verres anti uv des grands batiments reflechissent les uv ,,,dans ce cadre la ,meme en prescence d’antenne les abeilles retrouvent leurs ruches.deux equations s’offre a nous pour y remedier, simple dont personne n’a encore penser.
    nous reagissons comme les abeilles,il ya le syndrome des micro ondes ,penser a vos soldats en irak afganistan. ils ont le cerveau cuit..
    ce n’ait que simplement une equation,en trouvant la bonne frerquence, il arrive que les abeilles meurent tous mourir au meme endroit,attires par cette lumiere.l’interaction des rayons x et la lumiere du soleil nous donnent la meme chose

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