What’s the Buzz with Bees:

and why are they disappearing

Many things we eat, are thanks to the bee.

• The bees pollinate the flowers of, fruit trees, berries, give us honey and much more.

The Usefulness of the Honey Bee

Many farmers have been shipping millions of bees into their fields to gain a better yield from their crops.

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Some Crops Pollinated by BeesAlfalfa Apple Almonds Blueberry

Broccoli Cabbage Cherry Dill

Fennel Eggplant Garlic Leek

Macadamia Mustard Onion Peach

Pumpkin Raspberry strawberry Oranges

Pears Tangerine Tea watermelon

Artichoke Cantaloupe Celery Kale

What bee keepers have noticed

• the rapid decline of the bee population have had their keepers playing catch up and importing bees from other countries.

Decline of honey bees now a global phenomenon, says United

Nations

Millions of bees are disappearing in just days. One bee keeper put his hives out for the blueberry pollination and checked on them three days later, over half of his colony was missing, not even bodies on the ground.

What is going on?

• It was first thought that cell phones were interrupting the bees navigation system. Now we know that is not true

• There are many theories about why, but all we know is that Bees all around the world are disappearing from hives in alarming numbers.

• So what is going on with our honey bees?

We know: Bees are sick, but the virus/fungus is only

part of the problem

We don't know: What portion of bees this is affecting

• Whether the virus-fungus mix is what's killing all the bees that are affected, as well as what the underlying cause is, are still largely unknown.

We know: Pesticides are not helping the bees

The damage

• Millions of crops depend on the bees pollination

• This may become a common site once all of the bees are gone

There is some good news

• Many scientists think that the problem has hit its peak

• discovery of a parasite Nosema ceranae that appears to at least be partly responsible for the disorder.

• The microsporidian Nosema is a fungus-related microbe that produces spores that bees consume when they forage. Infection spreads from their digestive tract to other tissues. Within weeks, colonies are either wiped out or lose much of their strength.

Scientists are trying to determine the source of Colony

Collapse Disorder.

But they have not been able to come up with anything for sure

• All they know for sure is that the bees are dying at an alarming rate and this has got to stop before we all go the way of the bee.