pathogens

The Beekeeper

Evidence That Colony Collapse Disorder Is a Disease

May 8, 2008 at 2:40PM By Kim Flottum | comment

Dr. Eric Mussen, from the University Of California, Davis, is one of the researchers involved with figuring out the cause or causes of Colony Collapse Disorder. He’s been quoted extensively because he is the only bee guy in California, if you can believe that. His experience with commercial beekeepers, commercial queen and package producers and commercial fruit and vegetable growers is unequaled in the U.S., a fact his peers recently acknowledged with the presentation of two awards: He was awarded the title Beekeeper of the Year by the California State Beekeepers Association, the largest such group in the U.S., and he was selected the Extension Entomologist of the Year, by the Pacific Branch of Ent. Society Of America. Besides being well respected, he’s a heck of a nice guy.

In his most recent newsletter he talks about one of the mysteries of Colony Collapse Disorder he has heard about ... here are his comments ...

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tags: science, bees, colony collapse disorder, research, virus, pathogens

1.1 Million Bee Colonies Dead This Year ...

May 3, 2008 at 4:10PM By Kim Flottum | comment

The information provided here was generated by a survey conducted by the Apiary Inspectors of America. They took the survey in January and February this year, and in the process, gathered information from 18% of the colonies in the U.S.

The survey found that about 35% of all the colonies in the U.S. died last winter. Of those that died, 71% died of natural causes, 29% from symptoms that are suspect colony collapse disorder. Doing the math that comes to at least 10% of all the bees in the U.S. last year died of Colony Collapse Disorder. I believe that is a significant number of colonies.

Unfortunately, the survey had to be conducted early on to get numbers to congress and the surveyers weren’t able to count the bees still under snow banks in the north. Now that the snow has mostly melted, the losses there have been found to be staggering, but it’s not known yet what proportion, if any, died of CCD. In any event, the losses now are estimated, by my survey this week anyway, to be, instead of 35%, closer to 44% of all the U.S. bees died last winter. Again, doing the math, that comes to 1.1 million colonies, just shy of what’s needed for almond pollination next spring. Hmmmm....

This survey, conducted by the Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA) in collaboration with the USDA-ARS Beltsville Bee Lab was done to not only count dead beehives, but to help determine the distribution of various bee parasites and pathogens. Preliminary results from this survey reveal: ...

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