A question about bees.?

Question

I recently heard from a co-worker that the global population of bees has decreased by a whopping 40% in recent years. That there is a connection between the bee decrease and cellphone towers, something about it disorients the bees or makes them dizzy or something. Furthermore that Einstein forcasted that if the bee population were to become extinct that a mere four years later mankind would die off because we need bees to pollinate plantlife. To me this is very alarming. So my question is: Is that true?

Answer 1

Yes it is true, but not for the reasons you stated. Honeybees are becoming more rare every year due to the Trach mite, Sarasota mites, wax moths,and foul brood disease.

Pollutants made by man, and other environmental problems have made them die out. There are orchards in Florida and California that are barren due to no pollination. That is why beekeepers lease out their hives now to farms to help pollinate the crops. I was a beekeeper, but it got so expensive to keep them healthy,and the hard work involved I don't do it anymore. I hope to get back in it one day though, because it is a fascinating hobby.

Answer 2

I have also read that honey bees are dieing out world wide and that the die off is so sudden and wide spread that no one really knows why it is happening. Some say mites and viruses, some say polutants and pesticides. But these things wouldn't affect all populations simultaneously, worldwide like it is happening. It is a mystery. As far as the food population, pollination happens in various ways - bees are just very efficient and effective. Without honey bees, plants will still be polinated but just not as completely as it is now so crops will be less plentiful.

I was also wondering if people from other parts of the world are hearing about this as well.

Answer 3

TRUE - I'm assuming you're talking about honey bees. I've been a beekeeper now for 6 years and have had to deal with this problem.  Honeybees have been in serious decline everywhere in North America in recent years.

There are a couple of key issues here, none of them have anything to do with cell phone towers (I and my beekeeper friends live near cell towers and it doesn't kill them off).

The main reason for the decrease is due to 2 different types of parasitic mites. One mite (varroa) attaches itself to the external bodies of bees and sucks the life out of them. The other type of mite (called "trachael mites") lives inside of bees, and also feeds on them. Both types of parasites eventually kill the bees they attack if left unchecked. If enough of these parasites exist within a bee hive, they can reduce the hive population significantly to the point where the hive can no longer thrive. Though they have been around for awhile, these parasites began to seriously threaten bee hives in North America in the mid 1980's.

SIDEBAR:  These mites have not yet reached Hawaii, and so are not a threat there (at least, last I heard).

Since then, the problem has become increasingly worse, resulting in the near elimination of "wild" bees. To be sure, some bee populations do exist in the wild, but once they become infected with one or both of these mites, they usually do not live for very long.

The effect of these mites on honey production in the USA and elsewhere has been dramatic. Beekeepers have been challenged to find ways to reduce the impact of these mites on their hives, and some of those efforts are not good. Some beekeepers place Apistan strips, impregnated with a miticide, directly into their beehives. This isn't a very good solution since the miticide leeches into the beeswax in the hive, which in turn comes into contact with the honey.

There are other solutions that work better and do not pose any health risks to people, like applying powdered sugar and even measured amounts of a certain type of acid - like formic acid or Oxalic acid. Additional solutions include the use of different species of bees having grooming habits that tend to remove varroa or are more resistant to both types of mites. Another solution is to apply pre-formatted frames in a hive where each cell is smaller than the usual standard on most frames.

Today, most honeybees are kept by beekeepers, which means (and this is perhaps the biggest effect from this disease) that beekeepers must now bring their hives to orchards to ensure the pollination of key crops - like almonds and various fruits. There are additional varieties of bees who act as pollinators, however, it is unknown if they would be able to effectively pollinate all of our crops if honeybee populations continue to decline.

Hope this answers your question.