On November 12th, 2006, a Pennsylvania beekeeper, Dave Hackenberg, was startled when he discovered only thirty of his 400 honeybee hives alive and well. The hives, placed in a Florida field to help pollinate crops, were all active and healthy just weeks earlier.
Something mysterious happened to 370 hives; there were no bees, alive or dead. The hives were silent and empty. The beekeeper, from Lewisburg, in eastern Pennsylvania, who had transported bees up and down the east coast for over 40 years never saw anything quite like it.
Hackenburg reported the mystery to researchers and scientists back in Pennsylvania at the entomology offices of Penn State. A short time later, similar reports began to surface about the strange disappearance of the honey bees and abandoned hives.
Hackenburg's grim discovery is generally credited as the first sign of an unknown and fatal phenomenon, soon dubbed, Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD.
The losses were enormous; within a year many beekeepers reported losses of 70 percent or more of their hives; some were wiped out completely. Larry Curtis and his son, Greg, of Union City, in western Pennsylvania, lost nearly everyone of their 1,000 hives, and the family business was wiped out. The economic horizon quickly darkened for many agricultural products which depend on the bees for pollination, such as: pumpkins and squash, strawberries and blueberries, broccoli and carrots, almonds and apples. Honeybees are vital for agriculture and are responsible for an estimated $15 billion in agricultural production.
The CCD outbreak was just the latest in a string of misfortune for the honeybees, which are not native to North America. In 1984, the tracheal mites, a parasite, entered the United States and began to cause problems for the beekeepers. However, beekeepers were able to control the problems with some relatively inexpensive and common treatments. Life became more complicated and expensive when the deadly and more ferocious Varroa mite entered the country in 1987 . The mite attacks the bee's immune system. Between 17 percent and 40 percent of the beehives in the United States were soon lost as the Varroa mite spread.
As control methods began to become effective, the mites simply develop a resistance to the products used. The honeybee hive losses were particularly huge during the winters of 1995-96 and 2000-01. With the sudden and mysterious appearance of CCD, honeybee fatalities worsened considerably. Research organizations, both private and public soon began to investigate the new, more deadly killer.
One of the first research discoveries confounded many experts. Autopsies performed on dead bees, showed a complete breakdown in their immune system which led to multiple infections and an inability to ward off any types of parasites or mites. Whatever was happening to the bees, left results never seen before by researchers. To date researchers have been unable to pinpoint a specific scientific conclusion on CCD. But there are several intriguing clues. One culprit could be deadly virus imported into the United States called the Israeli acute paralysis or IAPV; most agree that IAPV is somehow related to CCD, but not the total answer. Researchers are also looking at other culprits such as a type of insecticide, neonicotinoids, which could have a significant role in honeybee deaths. The use of numerous products using the compound has been banned in France and Germany when it was connected to devastating bee kills in those countries.
The neonicotinoids are a manufactured form of nicotine, a substance deadly to many insects. To date, no direct link between the insecticide and CCD has been discovered, although researchers believe it could be a factor in conjunction with other chemicals used in agriculture.
Other common pesticides also appear to have a harmful effect on the bees, including some of those used in the home flower and vegetable gardens to control weeds and other garden pests. Large quantities of these compounds have also been found during autopsies of bees. Other areas of research include the possible role of some genetically modified crops and other environmental factors, including global warming; the role of mites, as well as, the possible emergence of an unknown virus. CCD appears to be currently confined to commercial honeybee hives. However, as the National Academy of Sciences recently reported, there is an alarming decline in native American bee populations, as well as all pollinating insects, including feral honeybees.
Honeybees, were brought to the New World by the early colonists and were important to the survival of many of the early settlements. Eventually, the non-native honeybee, established it's role in the importance of food production within American agriculture. The importance and the roles of native bee populations was largely overlooked until recently. Compared to the honeybees, science knows very little about the native species of bees in North America. The bumblebee and the mason bee, for example, are also very good pollinators for domesticated crops and natural food crops for wildlife. While not producing honey, native species are increasingly used in orchards and greenhouses to aid in pollination.
There are an estimated four thousand known species of native bees, unfortunately some of which could already be extinct. According to the Academies of Science report and other research organizations, the decline in our native population appears to be connected with the use of some pesticides, dwindling habitat areas for nesting and reproduction, a lack of nutrition due to the lack of once abundant native flowers, the introduction of some parasites and other unknown factors.
The population of pollinators continues to decline creating nationwide concerns about food security and production. Little hard core evidence remains elusive, although researchers are honing in on a combination of factors to help solve the riddle of the missing pollinators. More ongoing information can be found at the Web sites for the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium or MAAREC, and the National Academies, regarding pollinators declines. Both sites contain additional information about how individuals, organizations and communities can help improve the lot of our vanishing pollinators, both native and non-native.