Bees are dissappearing

What will happen to our food supply if we can't find a solution

Bees are disappearing at an alarming rate, particularly in the United States and Germany. California and Texas have been hit particularly hard by the sudden disappearance of bees, but dozens of other states are reporting major losses as well. And when you consider bees are big business as well as a critical part of the food chain, that vanishing act is no laughing matter.

In 2006, American beekeepers had to import bees for the first time in 80 years. A farmer now pays more for pollination than he does for fertilizer, water, or labor. How much of that cost can he pass on to consumers before pricing himself out of business? Are you willing to pay $25 a pound for almonds?

• bees are essential for pollinating over 90 varieties of vegetables and fruits, including apples, avocados, blueberries, and cherries;
• pollination increases the yield and quality of crops by approximately $15 billion annually; and
• California's almond industry alone contributes $2 billion to the local economy, and depends on 1.4 million bees, which are brought in from all over the United States.

Bees stimulate the food supply as well as the economy. So what's the cause of colony collapse? Suspicions are pointed in several different directions, including cell phone transmissions and agricultural pesticides, some of which are known to be poisonous to bees. But if these two factors are responsible, why are the deaths not a global phenomenon? The bee collapse began in isolated pockets before progressing rapidly around the nation.

Swallowtail Butterflies Larvae which were exposed to higher maize pollen densities consumed more pollen and had a lower survival rate.

Effects of exposure to maize pollen of event Bt176 (cultivar “Navares”) on the larvae of the European common swallowtail (Papilio machaon L.) were studied in the laboratory. First instar larvae were exposed to different pollen densities applied to leaf disks of Pastinaca sativa L. for 48 h. Pollen densities applied in this study were in the range recorded from the field. Larvae which were exposed to higher Bt maize pollen densities consumed more pollen and had a lower survival rate. The LD50 with regard to larvae surviving to adulthood was 13.72 pollen grains consumed by first-instar larva. Uptake of Bt maize pollen led to a reduced plant consumption, to a lower body weight, and to a longer development time of larvae. Effects on pupal weight and duration of the pupal period were present but less pronounced and smaller than effects on larvae. Larvae having consumed Bt-maize pollen as first instars had a lower body weight as adult females and smaller forewings as adult males. We conclude that possible effects of Bt maize on European butterflies and moths must be evaluated more rigorously before Bt maize should be cultivated over large areas. A study of the Bavarian State Research Centre for Agriculture, Institute of Plant Protection, Lange Point 10, D-85354 Freising, Germany and the Institute of Environmental Sciences, University Zurich, Received 10 March 2005;  accepted 31 October 2005.  Available online 22 December 2005. The study was concerned about the effects of Bt176

Meanwhile in Brazil scientists are trying to protect their bees from bacterial diseases without harming humans.

The sulfonamides are stable chemotherapeutics used against the bacterial disease affecting bees, known as American foulbrood (Bacillus larvae), so their residues could appear in the honey of treated bees. Their presence at a concentration above the limit value is a potential hazard to human health. Brazilian authorities have included in the National regulatory monitoring program, the control of the three most widely used sulfonamides in honey production, i.e., sulfathiazole, sulfamethazine and sulfadimethoxine. A method for the determination of residual sulfonamides in honey, using sulfapyridine as an internal standard has been developed, optimized and validated. Some changes were implemented on current available methodologies for the analysis of sulfonamides in honey in order to adopt such procedures to Brazilian honey samples. Sulfonamides were extracted from honey with dichloromethane after dissolution with 30% sodium chloride, and cleaned up with solid phase extraction on Florisil columns. The eluate was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection. The limit of detection was determined at 3 μg kg−1, 4 μg kg−1 and 5 μg kg−1 for sulfathiazole, sulfamethazine and sulfadimethoxine, respectively with average recoveries of 61.0% for sulfathiazole; 94.5% for sulfamethazine and 86.0% for sulfadimethoxine at the 100 μg kg−1 level. As the final step of validation procedure, the analysts were submitted to a blind spiked sample prepared by the quality assurance officer which results were successfully obtained regarding recovery and deviations.

Microbioticos Laboratories, Av. Santa Isabel 2120, Campinas, SP, 13084-471, Brazil
Received 20 May 2004;  revised 22 February 2008;  accepted 25 February 2008.  Available online 29 February 2008.

Exposure to alarm pheromone elicits increases in oxidative metabolism in Apis mellifera.

The following quantitative results are reported:

Thomas E. Rinderer2 and Walter C. Rothenbuhler
Academic Faculties of Genetics and Entomology The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA
Received 11 July 1968.  Available online 15 December 2004.

*1 This investigation was supported in part by Public Health Service research grant A105459-05 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

2 The data presented in this paper constitute part of a thesis submitted by the senior

Previous Page | Next Page

About Us