Posts Tagged: colony collaspe disorder

Bees were busy in 2008

California bees got busy last year, producing 35 percent more honey than they did in 2007, according to an article in the Sacramento Bee over the weekend. The bee story cited USDA figures.

Despite the good news, the nation's beekeepers aren't out of the woods. Cases of what has been called Colony Collaspe Disorder are still reported, "but in most cases, here (in California), things are better," the story quoted UC Davis entomologist Eric Mussen.

Researchers are still trying to figure out what caused bees to abandon hives en masse two years ago, when honey production fell to its lowest point in 20 years.

Another factor that boosted honey production in 2008 was a strong market for honey - with the price up 37 percent to $1.41 a pound in California. The market likely drove some beekeepers to focus on honey production rather than hiring their hives out to farmers to pollinate crops, wrote Bee reporter Jim Downing.

Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey

Without a trace

The case of the missing workers has frustrated investigators for years. There are no dead bodies and few clues; a "disease" is suspected, but can't be pinpointed. How can the culprit be foiled when there is no evidence of wrongdoing?

Entomologists all over the world are trying to figure out what, if anything, is going down in honey bee hives. The story has been widely publicized and made headlines again yesterday when the BBC News published an article and video focused on what has been called Colony Collaspe Disorder. The story notes that even that term is stirring controversy.

An Australian scientist interviewed for the article said that assigning a name without nailing down a syndrome is distracting.

"It's misleading in the fact that the general public and beekeepers and now even researchers are under the impression that we've got some mysterious disorder here in our bees," he was quoted. "And so researchers around the world are running round trying to find the cause of the disorder - and there's absolutely no proof that there's a disorder there."

The story included a video featuring UC Davis entomologist Eric Mussen. He provided information about what is perhaps one component of the problem plaguing bees, the varoa mite.

He said the mite is quite large compared to the honey bee.

"It would be sort of like having something the size of a softball running around on your body," Mussen said.

Excellent word picture.

Worker bees congregate on a hive.

The plight of the honey bee

The headline, a play on the famous orchestral piece "The Flight of the Bumblebee," comes from the Web site tothecenter.com, which carried a rundown this week on the oft-publicized colony collapse disorder, a mysterious ailment that is severely curtailing the country's honey bee population.

The story appears as UC Davis news service distributes a news release about a new $125,000 contribution from Häagen-Dazs to help honey bees. Half of the money will be used to create a one-half acre Honey Bee Haven on the campus, the release says. Häagen-Dazs and UC Davis will determine how the balance of the gift can best be used to benefit honey bees.

Landscape architects will want to take note. The design of the new bee haven is at the center of a competition. The winning design team will see their ideas implemented at UC Davis and will receive recognition on the Häagen-Dazs commemorative plaque in the garden. Best of all, the winner will receive a free year's supply of Häagen-Dazs ice cream.

Information on the design competition may be requested from Melissa Borel at mjborel@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-6642.

Bee dangling from guara blossom.

2008 almond crop looking good

California's approximately 6,000 almond growers are expected to harvest a record 1.5 billion pounds of the healthful tree nuts in 2008, according to a Bakersfield Californian article citing USDA statistics. It will be the third consecutive record crop.

The news comes even as almond farmers fret about colony collaspe disorder of bees and dwindling water supplies.

Reporter Jeff Nachtigal spoke to UC Cooperative Extension entomology farm advisor David Haviland, who speculated on possible causes of CCD, including bacterial infection, viruses or man-made problems.

“The bottom line is no one knows what’s causing it,” Haviland was quoted.

But the bees did their job in almond orchards this year, taking advantage of a near-perfect pollination window in late February, mild spring weather and a fair summer.

The health of bee colonies for next season’s pollination period won’t be known until late winter when bees come out of hibernation, Nachtigal paraphrased Haviland.

Bee hives in almond orchard.

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