Honeybee population in free fall; Pennsylvania among worst hit in nation

[yortsed snacilbuper]

We’re on the verge of a major disaster with honeybees.”

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2015/05/16/Honeybee-population-in-free-fall-Pennsylvania-among-worst-hit-in-nation/stories/201505160024

[Hoppy]

1. See? Monsanto products work. You get your money's worth.

[Buzz Clik]

9. Please explain.

[MoonRiver]

14. I'm guessing he just forgot the sarcasm smilie.

[Hoppy]

26. I thought it wasn't needed in this post.

Oh, well.

[MoonRiver]

44. You never know around here.

[MohRokTah]

16. Bayer, NOT Monsanto

Monsanto has a lot to be blamed for, but GMOs have absolutely nothing to do with this.

This is ALL about neonicitinoids.

[cstanleytech]

19. Hey, no clouding the issue with facts this is a doom and gloom thread. nt

[whereisjustice]

21. Groundbreaking study shows that (Monsanto) Roundup causes honeybees to starve

These are among the many shock findings of a recent study published in The Journal of Experimental Biology, which for the first time demonstrates both chronic and acute effects in honeybees exposed to Roundup at real-life levels.

A combined laboratory and field analysis conducted by researchers from the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina found that Roundup exhibits harm at sub-lethal levels, meaning levels that don't necessarily kill bees but that still affect them. Using the Apis mellifera type of honeybee, which is a primary pollinator in most agricultural environments, the team looked at how bees respond to trace levels of Roundup that match what they might find in a real-world foraging situation.

Based on these field-realistic doses, exposed bees were found to have reduced sucrose sensitivity, or a lowered ability to identify and track food. Exposed bees also experienced a drop in learning performance, as well as increased difficulties smelling food and other substances. And in terms of memory retention, exposed bees fared much worse than non-exposed bees, hence the tendency of bees in a colony collapse disorder (CCD) situation not being able to find their way back to the hive.

"We found a reduced sensitivity to sucrose and learning performance for the groups chronically exposed to GLY [glyphosate] concentrations within the range of recommended doses," wrote the authors.

"Altogether, these results imply that GLY at concentrations found in agro-ecosystems due to standard spraying can reduce sensitivity to nectar reward and impair associative learning in honeybees."

Honeybees bring Roundup back to the hive, poisoning all the other bees
Indirect exposure to Roundup was also observed during the analysis, as bees were found to bring tainted nectar back to the hive, poisoning all the other bees in the process. While foraging behavior was not observed to be directly affected by bees' exposure to Roundup, the distribution of Roundup via nectar did have a cumulative effect on the entire hive's ability to function, which includes foraging.

"[W]e speculate that successful forager bees could become a source of constant inflow of nectar with GLY traces that could then be distributed among nest mates, stored in the hive and have long-term negative consequences on colony performance," concluded researchers.

http://www.naturalnews.com/046769_Roundup_honeybees_colony_collapse_disorder.html

http://jeb.biologists.org/content/early/2014/07/23/jeb.109520.full.pdf

The Journal of Experimental Biology – ACCEPTED AUTHOR MANUSCRIPT
274
Discussion
275
We set out to evaluate the effects of chronic and acute exposures to field-
276
realistic doses of glyphosate (GLY), the main herbicide currently used for
277
weed control in agriculture, on the behaviour of the honeybee
Apis mellifera
.
278
Our results show that both chronic and acute exposure to GLY traces produce
279
sensory sensitivity and c
ognitive deficits on adult honeybees of the worker
280
caste. The concentrations used (within a 0 to 3.7 mg e.a./L range) were based
281
on concentrations recommended for spraying and on those measured in
282
natural environments, from 1.4 to 7.6 mg e.a./L (Goldsborough and Brown,
283
1988; Feng et al., 1990; Giesy et al., 2000), and were shown to be sub-lethal
284
for honeybees. Young adult bees chronically exposed to concentrations of
285
2.5 and 5.0 mg/L of GLY showed reduced sensitivity to sucrose (reward) and
286
impaired acquisition dynamics during elemental associative olfactory
287
learning. This impairment cannot be explained by deterioration of the general
288
state or motor skills of the subjects, since measurements such as survival,
289
food uptake and locomotive activity did not differ between experimental
290
groups. Furthermore, acute exposure to GLY significantly decreased short-
291
term memory retention and negatively affected non-elemental associative
292
learning at foraging ages. Nevertheless, an acute exposure to GLY in a
293
foraging context did not have a detrimental effect on foraging activity and
294
dancing behaviour. Altogether, these results imply that GLY at
295
concentrations that can be found in nature as a result of standard spraying
296
reduce sensitivity to nectar reward and also impair associative learning in
297
honeybees. Since no effect on foraging activity was found, successful forager
298
The Journal of Experimental Biology – ACCEPTED AUTHOR MANUSCRIPT
bees can become a source of inflow of nectar with GLY traces into the hive,
299
which in turn could have long-term negative consequences on colony
300
survival

[MohRokTah]

24. Bulshit debunked "study" posted on naturalnews.

Oddly enough, there was no colony collapse disorder observed in a single hive used for the study of prolonged exposure to glyphosate.

Neonicitoids are the culprit here, not herbicides.

[whereisjustice]

31. Bullshit research or inconvenient to your narrative that Monsanto bears no responsibility?

[MohRokTah]

35. When you post Natural NEws claiming the study showed Glyphosate is responsible for CCD

and there is no such claim in the study?

That's a oad of bullshit right there.

The study used massive amounts of glyphosate and the results showed some diminished capacity, yet there was no CCD. Not a single instance.

The study also did not take into account the possibility of pesticides obtained in the field.

Buildups of chemical pesticides and herbicides in beeswax comb is known, and has been for a long time. Beekeepers rotate out older comb because of this.

The problems with herbicide buildup is NOT one of diminished capacity in the bees, it is the destruction of fungal and other microbial organisms contribute to the manufacture of bee bread by the bees. In fact, it is most likely what was observed was the effect of undernourishment in the brood due to the deleterious effects of herbicides (many more of which exist and enter the hive than just glyphosate) on the microbial organisms that live in a symbiotic relationship with the bees.

[whereisjustice]

37. You are calling the peer reviewed Journal of Exp Biology "bullshit study"? Here it is again

Just because I had the decency to credit an original article for providing the journal paper, doesn't make it bullshit.

However, your over the top response, smells of something worse than that.

It smells like the same strategy climate deniers use to discredit solid research.

Perhaps you can submit your research to the Journal?


bees can become a source of inflow of nectar with GLY traces into the hive,
299
which in turn could have long-term negative consequences on colony
300
survival

http://jeb.biologists.org/content/early/2014/07/23/jeb.109520.full.pdf

The Journal of Experimental Biology – ACCEPTED AUTHOR MANUSCRIPT
© 2013. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd
Running title:
Effects of glyphosate traces on honeybee appetitive behaviour
1
2
3
4
5
Effects of field-realistic doses of glyphosate on
6
honeybee appetitive behaviour
7
8
9
Lucila T. Herbert, Diego E. Vázquez, Andrés Arenas and Walter M. Farina*
10
11
12
Grupo de Estudio de Insectos Sociales. Departamento de Biodiversidad y
13
Biología Experimental, IFIBYNE-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y
14
Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Pabellón II, Ciudad Universitaria
15
(C1428EHA), Buenos Aires, Argentina; e-mail: [e-mail]
16
17
*Corresponding author

The Journal of Experimental Biology – ACCEPTED AUTHOR MANUSCRIPT
Discussion
275
We set out to evaluate the effects of chronic and acute exposures to field-
276
realistic doses of glyphosate (GLY), the main herbicide currently used for
277
weed control in agriculture, on the behaviour of the honeybee
Apis mellifera
.
278
Our results show that both chronic and acute exposure to GLY traces produce
279
sensory sensitivity and c
ognitive deficits on adult honeybees of the worker
280
caste. The concentrations used (within a 0 to 3.7 mg e.a./L range) were based
281
on concentrations recommended for spraying and on those measured in
282
natural environments, from 1.4 to 7.6 mg e.a./L (Goldsborough and Brown,
283
1988; Feng et al., 1990; Giesy et al., 2000), and were shown to be sub-lethal
284
for honeybees. Young adult bees chronically exposed to concentrations of
285
2.5 and 5.0 mg/L of GLY showed reduced sensitivity to sucrose (reward) and
286
impaired acquisition dynamics during elemental associative olfactory
287
learning. This impairment cannot be explained by deterioration of the general
288
state or motor skills of the subjects, since measurements such as survival,
289
food uptake and locomotive activity did not differ between experimental
290
groups. Furthermore, acute exposure to GLY significantly decreased short-
291
term memory retention and negatively affected non-elemental associative
292
learning at foraging ages. Nevertheless, an acute exposure to GLY in a
293
foraging context did not have a detrimental effect on foraging activity and
294
dancing behaviour. Altogether, these results imply that GLY at
295
concentrations that can be found in nature as a result of standard spraying
296
reduce sensitivity to nectar reward and also impair associative learning in
297
honeybees. Since no effect on foraging activity was found, successful forager
298
The Journal of Experimental Biology – ACCEPTED AUTHOR MANUSCRIPT
bees can become a source of inflow of nectar with GLY traces into the hive,
299
which in turn could have long-term negative consequences on colony
300
survival

[MohRokTah]

38. When you claim that sudy shows Roundup causes CCD, it most certainly IS bullshit.

The study did nothing of the sort.

[whereisjustice]

41. You are making shit up, I never claimed anything of the sort. I do claim that there is credible

research to show Monsanto's products are detrimental to the health of bees. And I published a research paper that indicates Monsanto's products cannot be dismissed as a contributing factor.

And I will also claim, with little fear of contradiction from the scientific community, that the research presents credible evidence that Roundup (A Monsanto product) has a negative impact on the health of bees.

I also claim, without fear of contradiction from scientific community, that, like all broad environmental problems, there is a reasonable certainty that a plurality of factors are contributing to the continued decline of the bee population and that Roundup (perhaps the most pervasive and widespread herbicide chemical formulation in use today) cannot be excluded from having a role in that decline.

If you have a peer reviewed study or your own research which immunizes every one of Monsanto's products from negative health effects on bee populations, please publish it.

Until then, the Monsanto apologists doth protest too much, methinks.

[MohRokTah]

42. This is a thread about CCD.

So what you're saying is you're hijacking he thread to talk about Monsanto instead of CCD.

[whereisjustice]

46. Nonsense. You asserted CCD has nothing to do with Monsanto, I gave you a recent journal article

with real scientists and real field research that showed, unequivocally, that a Monsanto product, Roundup, harms bees. As such, Monsanto's products are as likely as any other contributor.

Why are the bees leaving? Scientists studying the disorder believe a combination of factors could be making bees sick, including pesticide exposure, invasive parasitic mites, an inadequate food supply and a new virus that targets bees' immune systems. More research is essential to determine the exact cause of the bees' distress.
http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/animals/bees.asp

Why It's Happening
There have been many theories about the cause of CCD, but the researchers who are leading the effort to find out why are now focused on these factors:

Increased losses due to the invasive varroa mite (a pest of honey bees).
New or emerging diseases such as Israeli Acute Paralysis virus and the gut parasite Nosema.
Pesticide poisoning through exposure to pesticides applied to crops or for in-hive insect or mite control.
Stress bees experience due to management practices such as transportation to multiple locations across the country for providing pollination services.
Changes to the habitat where bees forage.
Inadequate forage/poor nutrition.
Potential immune-suppressing stress on bees caused by one or a combination of factors identified above.
http://www2.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/colony-collapse-disorder

What causes CCD?
The cause of CCD is under investigation. At this point, almost every conceivable and realistic cause remains a possibility. The leading candidates and a brief explanation of their potential role are listed below. This is not a comprehensive list and the candidates occur in no particular order. It is important to note that this list may change as new information on CCD becomes available. Such changes could result in the addition or exclusion of any of the following potential causes. The author makes no attempt to promote or undermine any one of the following theories.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in720

As for neonics, they many very well be a significant contributor, but the science is hardly done on this issue:
For context on Lu's paper, I contacted Jeff Pettis, a USDA bee researcher who has participated in several papers on the recent decline of honeybee health—including a 2012 study showing that bees exposed to tiny levels of a neonic called imidacloprid were significantly more prone to succumb to the gut pathogen nosema than unexposed bees. Pettis told me that he thought Lu's study "adds to the list" of studies showing that pesticides pose a significant threat to honeybees. But he's not ready to declare a smoking gun—Lu's sample size, 12 treated hives and six controls, is too small, he says, to draw such a conclusion.
http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2014/05/smoking-gun-bee-collapse


Many of the world's top scientists have challenged his research. Dennis vanEngelsdorp called Lu's first study "an embarrassment" while Scott Black, executive director of the bee-hugging Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, characterized it as fatally flawed, both in its design and conclusions.

University of Illinois entomologist May Berenbaum, who chaired the National Academy of Sciences 2007 National Research council study on the Status of Pollinators in North America called it "effectively worthless" to serious researchers. "The experimental design and statistical analysis are just not reliable," she said.

Beekeepers have been skeptical as well. Lu's findings contradicted what they witnessed in the fields. If neonics were a mystery killer, then not using them should translate into healthier bee stocks; but that's not what has happened.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-entine/post_8761_b_6323626.html

"In places where neonicotinoid pesticides have been banned, such as France and Italy, there's no evidence that honeybee populations have rebounded," noted Hannah Nordhaus, beekeeper and author of the bestseller The Beekeepers' Lament.
Dr. Dennis vanEngelsdorp—a University of Maryland entomologist who helps collect and publish the winter death data each spring—says there are three “primary drivers” of honeybee loss: The varroa mite, pesticides and poor nutrition. He doesn’t hesitate when asked to name the largest threat to bees: “I’d get rid of the varroa first.”
http://time.com/3821467/bees-honeybees-environment/

A survey of honey bee colonies revealed no consistent pattern in pesticide levels between healthy and CCD-affected colonies when pollen, bees, and beeswax were tested for the presence of 170 pesticides. The most commonly found pesticide in that study was coumaphos, which is used to treat honey bees for Varroa mites.

The pesticide class neonicotinoids (clothianidin, thiamethoxam, and imidacloprid) has been accused of being the cause of CCD. The neonicotinoids were developed in the mid-1990s in large part because they showed reduced toxicity to honey bees, compared with previously used organophosphate and carbamate insecticides.

In 2008, Germany revoked the registration of the neonicotinoid clothianidin for use on seed corn after an incident that resulted in the die-off of hundreds of nearby honey bees colonies. Investigation into the incident revealed that the die-off was caused by a combination of factors, including the failure to use a polymer seed coating known as a "sticker": weather conditions that resulted in late planting of corn while nearby canola crops were in bloom, attracting honey bees; use of a particular type of air-driven equipment used to sow the seeds, which blew clothianidin-laden dust off the seeds and into the air as the seeds were ejected from the machine into the ground; dry and windy conditions at the time of planting, which blew the dust into the nearby canola fields where honey bees were foraging; and a higher application rate than had been authorized was used to treat for a severe root worm infestation.
http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572

And there is much more where this comes from.

You fail to acknowledge that there is no scientific consensus that Monsanto's products are not a contributor to CCD.

[MohRokTah]

47. Harms bees in massive amounts not found in the field.

They went with a non-lethal amount of exposure, but nothing near as low as would be found in even a very heavily saturated field.

Please, keep your stories straight.

[whereisjustice]

48. You cleared Monsanto of responsiblity, aka you made some shit up. I called you out

a credible Journal article showing Roundup harms bees, gave you the scientifically accepted view that there are likely a combination of factors given that the real cause is still unknown, and numerous credible and diverse references that support.

I also provided valuable references from bee and eco friendly sources that dispute your assertion that Bayer is the smoking gun.

You don't know shit, do you. It would have been better to just thank me for the recent scientifically reviewed information on the subject.

On the other hand, I'm sure Monsanto would happily agree with your assertions.

[MohRokTah]

49. You blamed Monsanto instead of the real culprit, Bayer, and I pointed that shit out.

Your study has nothing to do with CCD and only demonstrates that in massive amounts, glyphosate will deteriorate functions in bees.

It has nothing to do with reality.

[whereisjustice]

53. Monsanto -> "Effects of **field-realistic doses** of glyphosate on honeybee appetitive behaviour."

You are being transparently deceitful. It is repugnant. You are attributing things to me that I never said and you cannot support your statements with scientific consensus..

J Exp Biol. 2014 Oct 1;217(Pt 19):3457-64. doi: 10.1242/jeb.109520. Epub 2014 Jul 25.
Effects of field-realistic doses of glyphosate on honeybee appetitive behaviour.
Herbert LT1, Vázquez DE1, Arenas A1, Farina WM2.
Author information
Abstract

Glyphosate (GLY) is a broad-spectrum herbicide used for weed control. The sub-lethal impact of GLY on non-target organisms such as insect pollinators has not yet been evaluated. Apis mellifera is the main pollinator in agricultural environments and is a well-known model for behavioural research. Honeybees are also accurate biosensors of environmental pollutants and their appetitive behavioural response is a suitable tool with which to test sub-lethal effects of agrochemicals. We studied the effects of field-realistic doses of GLY on honeybees exposed chronically or acutely to the herbicide. We focused on sucrose sensitivity, elemental and non-elemental associative olfactory conditioning of the proboscis extension response (PER), and foraging-related behaviour. We found a reduced sensitivity to sucrose and learning performance for the groups chronically exposed to GLY concentrations within the range of recommended doses. When olfactory PER conditioning was performed with sucrose reward with the same GLY concentrations (acute exposure), elemental learning and short-term memory retention decreased significantly compared with controls. Non-elemental associative learning was also impaired by an acute exposure to GLY traces. Altogether, these results imply that GLY at concentrations found in agro-ecosystems as a result of standard spraying can reduce sensitivity to nectar reward and impair associative learning in honeybees. However, no effect on foraging-related behaviour was found. Therefore, we speculate that successful forager bees could become a source of constant inflow of nectar with GLY traces that could then be distributed among nestmates, stored in the hive and have long-term negative consequences on colony performance.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25063858

The significance is that this could be a factor in CCD. Emphasis mine.

A new study shows that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, can disrupt learning behaviors in honeybees and severely impair long-term colony performance.

Glyphosate is commonly used in conjunction with genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, which have been engineered in a lab to survive massive applications of the herbicide. The most common herbicide-tolerant GMOs grown in the United States include corn, soy, and alfalfa. GMOs were first allowed into the food chain in the late 1990s.

With the ability to blanket their fields in glyphosate, many US farmers have abandoned hand-weeding and controlled applications of the herbicide altogether. This has lead to a 527 million pound increase in the use of the chemical over the past decade.

Glyphosate's toxicity is compounded by its persistence in the environment. Many studies show that glyphosate remains, chemically unchanged in the environment, for periods of up to a year.

Recent research suggests that even when glyphosate binds to soil particles, it will cyclically "desorb" or lose its attraction to soil and become active again. A study by the US Geological Survey found glyphosate in nearly 70% of rivers and streams they tested in the Midwest.

The scientists who conducted the new study used field-realistic levels of glyphosate, similar to what honeybees may encounter on a farm growing GMOs. They found that learning behavior and short-term memory retention decreased significantly compared with the control groups.

And since bees don't die immediately when exposed to glyphosate, they bring the chemical back to the hive, where larvae come into contact with it.

This means new bees will likely have lower overall foraging rates, which could have long-term negative consequences on colony performance. In fact, it could lead to the disappearance of the colony altogether.

http://gmwatch.org/index.php/news/archive/2014/15710-new-study-shows-honeybees-harmed-by-herbicide-used-on-gmo-crops

[MohRokTah]

54. Most certainly NOT "field realistic" eom

[whereisjustice]

56. Did you ask the authors and Journal of Exp. Biology to retract their statement? You can email them

with your claims and research. Or would you like me to send them your silly, unprofessional remarks for comment?

[MohRokTah]

57. Being worked on. eom

[DirtyHippyBastard]

32. This is the real danger in GMO crops

For the second year in a row, a farmer near my residence (in Fayette County, PA) is planting Monsanto GMO soybeans on a scale of double what he planted them last year, so last years crop must have been successful.
First the acreage to be planted is sprayed with a dose of Roundup to kill all vegetation. The ground is not tilled, and the GMO seeds are planted without mowing or any removal of the dead vegetation. When the new growth of soybeans reaches about 6 inches tall, another coating of Roundup is sprayed over the field just in case any weeds have sprouted (this spraying seems to be particularly unnecessary from my observations, and probably occurs just as the plants are beginning to flower, making them attractive to the few remaining wild bees).
This farmer also used to have several blocks of beehives. During the last 5 years the hives have slowly disappeared from his property. They are now all gone.
When the beans are harvested they are used as food for the farmers dairy cattle, and thereby enter our food supply.
But Monsanto says it is all safe, and I am sure they would not lie to us.

[whereisjustice]

34. White House ag policy is driven by Monsanto, so yes, I'm sure they all have our best interests at

heart, if you happen to be an institutional investor in Monsanto.

[whereisjustice]

23. Bee Research Goes to the Wolves (Monsanto)...

It is extremely difficult to get accurate information when the biotechnology industry is aligned against you. For example, Beelogics, a company whose primary goal is to control colony collapse disorder, has just been bought by Monsanto. That means any research from Beelogics may now be compromised. Monsanto develops GMO corn and soybeans that develop their own pesticides. If these also contribute to colony collapse, we may never hear of it.

Even more frightening, government agencies always seem to side with industry. In Illinois, organic beekeeper Terry Ingram had accumulated fifteen years of research supporting his belief that Monsanto’s Roundup Ready crops cause CCD. But when he asked the Illinois Department of Agriculture to test one of his honeycombs for chemical contamination, since the bees wouldn’t touch it, the agency refused to test for chemicals but instead tested for foulbrood, a disease that affects bee larvae, and subsequently confiscated his bees, beehives, and equipment, and destroyed his fifteen years of research. Ingram calls it a subterfuge to destroy all incriminating evidence against Monsanto.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/05/08/what-biotech-company-blamed-for-bee-collapse-just-bought-leading-bee-research-firm.aspx

Bee Research Goes to the Wolves...

Beeologics says their mission is to become the "guardian of bee health worldwide," and states they are dedicated to "restoring bee health and protecting the future of insect pollination" with its primary goal to control the colony collapse disorder and Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) infection crises." Monsanto bought the company in September 2011, just months before Poland announced it would ban growing of Monsanto's genetically modified (GM) MON810 maize, noting, poignantly, that "pollen of this strain could have a harmful effect on bees.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/05/08/what-biotech-company-blamed-for-bee-collapse-just-bought-leading-bee-research-firm.aspx

[MohRokTah]

25. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

OMFG, you're linking to that LONG debunked bit of bullshit from Terry Ingram????

The MORON had his hives DESTROYED because they were all INFESTED with American Foul Brood. The SOB has NEVER been capable of raising a single hive to survive in the winter.

Not a single beekeeper in Illinois who knows anything about the moron will have anything to do with him.

He's a tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theorist who tells bad lies.

[whereisjustice]

28. I gave you a peer reviewed paper showing roundup as disruptive to bees, you provided what?

And I provided information on Poland's decision to ban Monsanto's GMO corn due to concerns about impact on bees.

If you have recent peer reviewed study that contradicts the research paper I gave you, then publish it.

Moron, tin foil hat, conspiracy, etc all taken out of the right wing guide to deflecting meaningful discussion about corporate responsibility for environmental degradation.

[MohRokTah]

29. Yet not a single colony in the study suffered from Colony Collapse disorder.

The amount of glyphosate was enormous, too. Far more than bees are exposed to in the field.

As far as buildups go, no beekeeper worth their salt lets a frame go unreplaced for more than two or three years, total. There's a lot more out there than glyphosate and it all builds up in the wax over time. The biggest problems are with pesticides.

Point your anger at Bayer on this one. It's the neonicitinoids killing off colonies.

[whereisjustice]

33. You are incapable of understanding that Roundup has been shown to adversely affect

the health of bees. You are also incapable of understanding that an unhealthy hive is susceptable to other diseases.

And you seem unable to understand that a cocktail of round up and other chemicals may result in a combination more damaging than any one on their own.

If you have peer reviewed research that disputes the 2014 report I provided, please provide it.

As far as I can tell, the research has not been retracted, no apology from the authors has been given.

Until then, it is foolish to dismiss roundup as a possible contributor to the problem.

[MohRokTah]

36. You are incapable of understanding that Roundup has not been linked to CCD while neonicitinoids HAVE

[daleanime]

2. kick, kick, kick....

[Cirque du So-What]

3. A couple of weeks ago

honeybees took up residence inside some of my lawn furniture, gaining access at the open ends of the steel frames. This, to me, seems unusual, and since honeybees have taken such a beating lately, I am reluctant to evict them. I live in an urban area, which makes me wonder if urban bees stand a better chance of survival, as they're not exposed to agricultural chemicals.

[GreatGazoo]

51. if you have a good pollen source they may stay

clover, flowers, flowering trees. Good luck!

[onehandle]

4. Stupid bees need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps...

...says a Congressional teabagger, probably.

[cwydro]

5. The farm property where I live most of the time

has no honeybees this year.

Unbelievable. Usually you could hear the buzz just walking around - there used to be so many of them.

Now all the clover I leave for them is just sitting there, with nary a bee to be seen.

We've owned this property since the 80's and it is usually covered in bees. I'm very upset about this.

I never use any pesticides at all, but we're surrounded by other properties that may well do so - not to mention all the chicken farms.

[navarth]

6. Personally this scares the living shit out of me

If the bees disappear, we disappear. I'd much rather see Soylent Corporation disappear. (Soylent = Monsanto)

[packman]

7. O.K.-Here's a conspiracy theory

Kill all (or at least a lot) of the honeybees, grocery prices - especially those dependent on pollination -- raises thru the roof. And someone, some corporation will make a fortune.

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[foo_bar]

27. so without bees, all that's left is the Trader Joe's produce section?

*shudder*

It's a good conspiracy theory, but I think they're working on Roundup Ready bees with a terminator gene so you have to come back for more bees. They'd be the only game in town, because Big Farmer could start using 10x the pesticides thus wiping out any remaining freelance bees.

[whereisjustice]

8. corporate action is killing bees just like it kills the middle class, Monsanto will probably sell

them a patented, genetically modified bee resistant to the more poisonous chemicals needed to kill the weeds made more resistant by its genetically modified crops and stronger herbicides and pesticides.

That's the real cycle of life they need to teach in biology.

[Buzz Clik]

10. Did you read the article from the OP?

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. kick

[alcina]

12. It's not just honey bees

The above article mentions "other pollinators," but in fact those other pollinators are responsible for much more of our native crop yield and are also much more threatened. As noted in a recent article in Wired magazine,

Honey bees will be fine. They are a globally distributed, domesticated animal. Apis mellifera will not go extinct, and the species is not remotely threatened with extinction.

The bees you should be concerned about are the 3,999 other bee species living in North America, most of which are solitary, stingless, ground-nesting bees you’ve never heard of.


http://www.wired.com/2015/04/youre-worrying-wrong-bees/

[Greybnk48]

13. I think fracking is in part to blame.

The fumes and vapors in the air are toxic too. That AND neonicotinoids. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/04/30/3653252/fracking-air-pollution-downwind/

[FLPanhandle]

15. We are going to start our own hive

It's tough to even order them now, sold out.

[MohRokTah]

17. Always sold out this late in the season.

You should always place your bee orders in the winter. Places that sell bees plan for the number of orders they are sure they will sel.

[FLPanhandle]

20. Thanks

We will have to start the hive next year then.

[MohRokTah]

22. Check around for beeks in your area. There are usualy clubs.

You might be able to get somebody to do a split for you and let you buy a nuc.

Nucs are a great way to start, much better than packages. You ma have to let the ladies raise their own queen from brood, but a good beek would make sure you have unhatched eggs and newly hatched larvae on at least one of the frames they sell you in a nuc.

[FLPanhandle]

39. Thanks again!

If I get it setup I'll post an update

[sweetapogee]

40. if you really want

to start a hive, you might check with a local bee keeper. He or she might be able to point you in the direction to find someone willing to do a split. We are doing a split in the near future. BTW we are in Pennsylvania and our bees are doing well. I just came in from observing some of our bees returning with pollen all over their legs.

[denbot]

45. Find a bee club in your area and they will point to the individuals that rescue hives.

I had a wild hive settle in a RV stove/reefer unit in my yard. I call a local natural bee keeping club and a member helped extract the wild colony and move it into a Langstroth hive I put together.


You can either buy a completed hive kit, or save a bit of money and put it together yourself. There are wild colonies setting up house holds where they are not wanted, and are destroyed if nobody rescues them. We did not want our little guests harmed, and we are glad that we decided to host them about three years ago.

Our girls have been humming along ever since.

I may raid them for honey when I get home later this week.

[GreatGazoo]

52. We had a good swarm at one farm on Friday, ~10,000

They formed a cloud 25 feet tall before settling on this tree branch. I have not been back since to see if they left but there was talk about getting a professional Keeper to come and capture the swarm to start a new hive for us or to deliver to another (organic) farm that needs bees. Capturing swarms is out of my league. We had rain on Friday night so I hope the swarm made it. This is at a farm that has been organic for 10+ years. Our neighbors are an eco-friendly horse rescue guy who hosts a program that combines incarcerated children with 40 to 65 abused, neglected and injured horses, and a couple inactive (unsprayed) orchards.



Wish I could send them to you.

[ancianita]

18. Watch from 12:25 forward. It is an answer and mobilizing fungal compounds of decomposing wood can

work.

[whereisjustice]

30. With Monsanto in the White House representing the chemical food industry, we may have to rely

on Europe, S. America and others for the necessary research to solve this problem.

[nilesobek]

50. IMO there is only circumstantial evidence of a man made cause.

I was looking at a global map of bee colony die offs and noticed that third world nations, who cannot afford all our fancy sprays, are having none or far less die offs than Europe and America.

This is at least ancillary proof that we are overspraying our environment with toxic chemicals.

We can only change this individually by refusing to spray our property. I am surrounded by cookie cutter house developments that spray their properties relentlessly. The neighbor even accidentally sprayed one of my trees.

They are a real ignorant, arrogant set of people too lazy to pull their own weeds, spouting redneck jingoisms...they could care less about the bees, they just want to do things the easy way.

[whereisjustice]

55. However, like global warming, there may be man-made differential factors that don't point to a

single source. For example, recent research is shows things like Roundup can disrupt bee health, it may not kill them immediately and they bring it back to hive where is can spread, causing further disruption. When combined with other factors like pesticides and diseases the stress can impact the entire colony.

Other factors like use of corn syrup as supplemental feed for bees, medicines used to treat hives, etc are also under investigation.