by Francis Jock

Created on: December 06, 2007   Last Updated: March 03, 2010

Will there be any honey bees in the orchards and gardens of America in the coming spring? Honey bees are crucial for pollination and the production of most of our fruit, flowers, and vegetables that we depend upon for nourishment. And yet, they have been mysteriously disappearing for some time, a phenomena referred to as colony collapse disorder. Research scientists are beginning to understand why, but here are a few important reasons that haven't received much scientific interest.

Recently, I spoke with a beekeeper friend about the disappearance of these wonders of nature. We discussed the honey bee disappearance theories and speculation for the cause of honey bee colony collapse disorder for a time, and agreed on one thing. The simplest and most obvious explanation is probably also the correct one. In this case the mysterious, or not so mysterious, disappearance and collapse of bee colonies, it would seem that the reason is the result of human action.

Recently Public Broadcasting did an excellent examination of this problem although it seems that most folks didn't get the message, or have yet to figure it out. Here's the simplest, most plausible explanation that rationally explains what we have done to destroy the best insect friends we have. It goes like this:

A few years ago, there was such a demand for honey bees to support the pollination needs of farmers, that commercial beekeepers took to trucking their bee colonies all over the country for profit. As a result, bee keeping has taken on an entirely new and unnatural process, one that has severely impacted the life cycle of the bees. Naturally, the honey bees and their captive hives travel around helping out wherever they are needed, as bees do. Of course, honey bees, like any other creature forced to travel for a living, have become stressed out from all the traveling and the frequent changes in their environment. However, the honey bees have survived for the most part, at least until they encountered other types of bees carrying an unknown virus.

The traveling honey bee service was successful, but not enough to meet the demands of farmers. So, the commercial honey bee keepers and farmers of the nation began importing a strain of honey bees from Australia in order to fill the gap. These honey bees aren't much different from the native honey bees of the Americas, so it was thought that they would fit right in without any problems.

But, alas, there is one problem that comes along with these guest honey

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