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© The Epoch TimesThe upscaling of agriculture might have caused Colony Collapse Disorder in this species.
Since 2006, a number of honey bee colonies in the United States and Europe have reportedly collapsed because of the sudden death of 50 percent or more of their worker bees. Tjeerd Blacquiere, entomologist at Plant Research International and bee keeper, discussed with The Epoch Times the possible causes of this phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).

According to Blacquiere, CCD might be largely due to the upscaling of agriculture. Instead of the smaller, more diverse fruit and vegetable plots that were planted a few decades ago, there are now fields of crops like corn, grain, and rapeseed, which are less nutritious for bees. Bees are weakened from not having enough easy-to-get, high-quality food.

Bees of different ages perform different tasks for the colony. Older bees fly out for honey, while younger bees take care of the brood. Since young bees get more nutritious food, if they are not well fed, they will be considered old bees and will start behaving like old bees.

Therefore, when the crops in their habitat become less nutritious, many bees start behaving like old bees and leave fewer bees taking care of the brood. Since worker bees rarely live for more than two months in the summer, a colony can collapse within a few weeks.

Parasites like the fungus Nosema and the Varroa mite could also be contributing factors to CCD. They are both widespread and can greatly weaken bees. Varroa in particular can carry viruses. Varroa infection is often found to be correlated with bee disappearance.

In the United States, most bee keepers move in early spring to regions in California where almonds are predominantly grown. Almonds are a labor-intensive foodstuff for bees, so they get little nutrition from them, and this lack of nutrition weakens their immune systems. This in turn could cause the young bees to behave like old bees, resulting in fewer bees to take care of the brood. Furthermore, with so many bees living closely together, they might get lost and enter neighboring hives, thereby facilitating transmission of diseases and parasites like Nosema or Varroa.

Many believe that pesticides, in particular neonicotines, can kill bees. But Blacquiere said that large-scale research studies in the U.S., Germany, and France have not shown any correlation between the use of neonicotines and the death of bees, although it was found that bees do not like to pollinate in greenhouses where neonicotines are used.

Blacquiere also commented that he does not know of any research supporting the public opinion that radiation from mobile phone towers have a negative effect on bees.


Comment: Mobile Towers Threatening honey bees in Kerela, India
''In one of his experiments he found that when a mobile phone was kept near a beehive it resulted in collapse of the colony in five to 10 days, with the worker bees failing to return home, leaving the hives with just queens, eggs and hive-bound immature bees''