Anyone noticed that bees getting rare?

[Skybird]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...473166,00.html

There has been a growing ammount or reports in the german medias about the phenomenon of bees dissappearing. I live close to an institute where they are also busy with research on bees, it is a state-run agriculture research facility, and I am there several times a year and visit and observe their bee hive, I have some interest in these animals. I talked to the people working there, of course, and maybe - maybe - start to keep bees myself, of time I have more than enough. The numbers they are telling are scaring. In some regions in Europe, 90% of the former bee population have dissapeared. Bees make up for the lion share (some estimate up to 85%) of pollination in nature - other insects never could be able to compensate for that share, if bees should get out of that job. The effects of the missing pollination are already noticable in european agriculture, and declining harvests of certain types of fruits.

If eventually a worst case scenario takes place and bees really die out or get reduced beyond a certain critical level, mankind will be faced with a very very serious crisis threatening the survival of hundreds of millions.

And if it is because of the spreading of genetical manipulated plants, than we really have deserved it.

Those people and scientists in that institute are extremely worried. It's an old quote, but there is frightening much truth in it:

"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man." Einstein

Ironical, that the food-related survival of the most dangerous predator on earth - depends on such a small animal like a honey-bee.

[SUBMAN1]

This is a very bad thing. Mass starvation is possible here.

-S

[TteFAboB]

Not mine. You wouldn't believe the amount of **** I eat everyday. I can live off it. I'd only need to adapt to other flavours of it. Bacteria's, insect's, vulture's. When these ran out of carcasses to digest, then my survival would be at stake.

Is it the Black Plague of our time? Will we have to open our doors to third-world imports? What if they start loosing their bees aswell?

[Skybird]

Situation in the US: worse than Germany:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/bu...rssnyt&emc=rss

A Cornell University study has estimated that honeybees annually pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in the United States, mostly fruits, vegetables and nuts. “Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee to pollinate that food,” said Zac Browning, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation.
The bee losses are ranging from 30 to 60 percent on the West Coast, with some beekeepers on the East Coast and in Texas reporting losses of more than 70 percent; beekeepers consider a loss of up to 20 percent in the offseason to be normal.

Even the Russians take note of it, calling it a "national tragedy":

http://english.pravda.ru/world/ameri...7-honey_bees-0

[STEED]

I will say this much wasps are getting bigger and more of them. As for the poor old bee I didn't see many last summer.

[Heibges]

It's like the plot of a Gunther Grass novel.

My father, god bless his soul, was a beekeeper and very interested in organic gardening, so I know this news would have greatly disturbed him.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by STEED

I will say this much wasps are getting bigger and more of them.

You mean one of these? These beasts are not measured in millimeteres, but several centimetres.

Twenty years ago everyone was fretting over the so called 'killer bees'.
Another disaster diverted.

[Heibges]

Originally Posted by waste gate

Twenty years ago everyone was fretting over the so called 'killer bees'.
Another disaster diverted.

Killer Bees...

and Fire Ants!

I remember hearing Leonard Nimoy talk about it on "In Search Of", one Saturday afternoon 25 years ago or so.

[STEED]

Originally Posted by Skybird

You mean one of these? These beasts are not measured in millimeteres, but several centimetres.

Not as big as those armoured killing machines. I remember a documentary about those Hornets four of them massacred a whole bee hive.

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by waste gate

Twenty years ago everyone was fretting over the so called 'killer bees'.
Another disaster diverted.

Killer bees apparently make some decent honey, so they are not all bad!

-S

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by STEED

Not as big as those armoured killing machines. I remember a documentary about those Hornets four of them massacred a whole bee hive.

Yes. It was me linking it, maybe two years ago.

[Letum]

The good thing about the bee problem is that because a healthy population of bees makes economical sense for people, the capitalist machine will ensure a healthy population is maintained (at least until they find a cheaper artificial bee).

If this was some kind of moth that was dieing out then there would be precious little money and motivation to save it.

[ASWnut101]

Hey, we aren't called Capitalists for nothing!


BTW, DOW jones industry stock went up over 170 points yestarday!

[tycho102]

Originally Posted by Letum

The good thing about the bee problem is that because a healthy population of bees makes economical sense for people, the capitalist machine will ensure a healthy population is maintained (at least until they find a cheaper artificial bee).

There are two issues with that.

One is that the US is using some kind of pesticide which either damages a bee's UV sensors, or some other navigational aid, which makes it difficult for the bee to navigate back to the hive. It's a known problem and most of Europe has banned the specific pesticide because of this issue.

Second is the African bees and some other non-native species that have been introduced, which interfere with pollenating bees. This issue has been growing significantly just the past decade, same as fire ants.



The pesticide needs to be banned, and I don't know what we're going to do with the non-native species. Fire ants and these African bees will need a selective predator to control -- much less annhilate -- or we will need to genetically modify the two species to be "beneficial".