Taiwan's bee farmers are feeling the sting of lost business and possible crop danger after millions of the honey-making, plant-pollinating insects vanished during volatile weather, media and experts said on Thursday.
Over the past two months, farmers in three parts of Taiwan have reported most of their bees gone, the Chinese-language United Daily News reported. Taiwan's TVBS television station said about 10 million bees had vanished in Taiwan.
A beekeeper on Taiwan's northeastern coast reported 6 million insects missing "for no reason", and one in the south said 80 of his 200 bee boxes had been emptied, the paper said.
Beekeepers usually let their bees out of boxes to pollinate plants and the insects normally make their way back to their owners. However, many of the bees have not returned over the past couple of months.
A tiny mite that has devastated mainland honeybee populations showed up in Honolulu hives for the first time this month and has now been confirmed in bee colonies across Oahu.
The infestation by varroa mites has led the state to ask beekeepers to restrict transport of bees around the islands. There are concerns it could threaten the Big Island's thriving queen bee export industry, which has so far tested free of the mites.
"This is going to be for us a nightmare," said Michael Kliks, head of the Hawaii Beekeepers' Association and owner of Manoa Honey Co. "When I saw that mite I knew exactly what it was. I knew exactly what it meant and I fell to my knees and almost began to weep because it's inexpressible what that sea change is for us in Hawaii."
The parasites are blamed for destroying more than half of some mainland beekeepers' hives and wiping out most wild honeybees there.
WAYCROSS, Ga. - Dozens of residents evacuated their homes for several hours early Wednesday after a wildfire jumped a road and spread toward two small communities.
|
| ©NOAA
|
| Smoke from the Georgia fire can be seen by satellite as it travels out over the Atlantic and is blown back toward Florida.
|
When a group of swans began circling a church spire, villagers' bemusement soon turned to concern.
|
| ©
|
| A nature charity thinks a mobile phone mast could be interrupting the Bewick's swans' navigational senses
|
Michelle Roberts
APWed, 25 Apr 2007 11:04 UTC
EAGLE PASS, Texas - Search teams worked their way through wreckage-strewn neighborhoods in this border town Wednesday after a tornado killed at least 10 people and destroyed two schools and more than 20 homes.
WAYCROSS, Ga. - Dozens of residents evacuated their homes for several hours early Wednesday after a wildfire jumped a road and spread toward two small communities.
A 4.5 earthquake rocked The Geysers geothermal field Tuesday afternoon.
APWed, 25 Apr 2007 01:47 UTC
DENVER - A spring storm brought a strange brew of tornadoes, heavy snow, rain and hail to Colorado on Tuesday, damaging buildings and forcing schools and highways to close and stranding buses carrying dozens of schoolchildren.
The same system also brought flooding, tornadoes and high winds to many parts of the Plains. Storms overturned several mobile homes in Texas.
Only A Federal Challenge Can stop The April 29, 2007 Delisting
On March 29, 2007, the Department of the Interior removed federal protection for Yellowstone's grizzly bears under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). On April 29th this 'de-listing' will take effect. Only a challenge in federal court can stop this final ruling.
Recently the International Panel on Climate Change issued a report predicting an alarming array of impacts of climate change around the globe, including drought, floods, lower crop yields, threatened food security, wildfire and ocean acidification. It seems that no living thing in this web of life we are a part of will be unaffected by climate change.
