Mystery bee deaths accelerate

[rashore]

wait a minute!.... there were no bees in the Americas before importation??

... when i said i wonder if Bee reduction is part of a plan.. i mean.. is control of bee population/distribution a way for food MONOPOLISTS to gain tighter control on food production? just wondering..

Well, the Americas do have a few thousand native species of bees... Honey bees just aren't one of them. Nice little article on North American bees- http://bugguide.net/node/view/475348

[danielost]

wait a minute!.... there were no bees in the Americas before importation??

... when i said i wonder if Bee reduction is part of a plan.. i mean.. is control of bee population/distribution a way for food MONOPOLISTS to gain tighter control on food production? just wondering..

No' honey bees. There were bumblebees.

And that would be in north america, south america had a type of honeybee.

[Sundew]

So it’s the domesticated bee that was carried around, both Americas had their wild bees before Europeans came, I think.

Now, the tobacco is effective natural insecticide, or I thought so. Sometimes I soak a cigarette in water and spray it on my finer plants to protect them from vermin. It works. Only now I wonder if that’s the tobacco or god knows what stuck on tobacco that kills insects.

(That brings me to old smokers conspiracy, they say people didn’t use to die from smoking while they were smoking naturally grown tobacco, like they do now when we inhale all sorts of chemicals... writing this inspires me to stop smoking but I will resist the urge to live long.)

I believe the active ingredient of tobacco when used as an insecticide is nicotine sulfate. It is extremely toxic, not only to insects but humans also. It is just one of many toxins inhaled when smoking. Formerly available as a pesticide, I don't think you can buy it anymore, but that doesn't stop people from making their own.

[danielost]

There were and are, many bee species in the Americas before the honeybee was introduced, its just that they are more efficient pollinators of European and African plants our main food crops, brought by Europeans as they colonized the world. They also produce honey in collectable quantity. Bumblebees, wood-boring bees, leaf-cutter bees, metallic green bees, stingless bees and others are found throughout North and South America but were not deemed to work as well as the honeybee. Bumblebees are efficient pollinators in some cases; I have two species of Tabebuia tree from South America in my yard and they produce copious amounts of seeds and are pollinated almost exclusively be bumblebees.

It may be that we increasingly have to rely on these other species to do the work of the honeybee until a cure is found. The bad news is that the Africanized honeybees have replaced many of the native bees in South and Central America. So we may be forced to use the AHB for pollination instead. They are aggressive, attack in mass, are difficult to work with and being just another variety of the domesticated honeybee are likely subject to some of the same health problems as well.

Wild bees won't be able to step into the shoes of the farmed bees. Bees, collect nector from one type of flower at a time. That is why they can sell specilty honeys.

[awest]

Actually the toxins in tobacco based insecticides biodegrade in sunlight, meaning it is only toxic for a short time. If properly used at the right times it is highly effective with little to no exposure to the honeybees. I will agree that nicotine is most certainly a toxin, it is on the lower end of the spectrum compared to the other additives in mass produced cigarettes. And in those ciggerattes they actually added more nicotine to make it more addictive.

Edited March 31, 2013 by awest

[questionmark]

Wild bees won't be able to step into the shoes of the farmed bees. Bees, collect nector from one type of flower at a time. That is why they can sell specilty honeys.

Not quite, as a specialty honey producer I can safely deny that: You have to collect the honey right after the bloom time and make sure that there is no other blooming plant in the area else you end up with adulterated specialty honey. And that ends up being an economic disaster: 99% thyme gets you 35 Euros a pound from the pharmaceutical industry, 90%-99% thyme gets you 35 Euros a kilo (a little over 2 pounds) from the cough drops manufacturers and anything below that gets you 5 Euros a pound or a season gone to hell.

[Silver Surfer]

wow this has humanity all written over it as for the person who said lets protect the companies and who cares if the bees die or certain food how ignorant and dumb to say the least can you be.

This comment would be true if Hilander comment wasn't totally dripping with sarcasm...

[Lava_Lady]

This is a scarier than the Mayan calendar, asteroid threats, and all the wackadoo 'end of the world' prophesies put together because it's real and happening now.

[danielost]

The environmentalist should be happy. The none native bees are dieing off.

[Malaria_Kidd]

It is good to see there are now 2 votes of 5 stars. I clicked off number 1. This is the sad state of our union in the States. In 2007 Earth Files with Linda Howe reported on the CCD Colony Colapse Disorder of the honeybee's decline.

I sent her an e-mail reporting that my logger neighbor did not see "wild bee trees" any more in the Fall of 1999. She get's a lot of mail so she may have missed reading it the two other times I sent it to her. Busy as a bee she was for her not to add a few more years to the decline sometimes blamed on Big Agra Chem's neo-nickinitoides! If that is the proper spelling.....

[lightly]

There were and are, many bee species in the Americas before the honeybee was introduced, its just that they are more efficient pollinators of European and African plants our main food crops, brought by Europeans as they colonized the world. They also produce honey in collectable quantity. Bumblebees, wood-boring bees, leaf-cutter bees, metallic green bees, stingless bees and others are found throughout North and South America but were not deemed to work as well as the honeybee. Bumblebees are efficient pollinators in some cases; I have two species of Tabebuia tree from South America in my yard and they produce copious amounts of seeds and are pollinated almost exclusively be bumblebees.

It may be that we increasingly have to rely on these other species to do the work of the honeybee until a cure is found. The bad news is that the Africanized honeybees have replaced many of the native bees in South and Central America. So we may be forced to use the AHB for pollination instead. They are aggressive, attack in mass, are difficult to work with and being just another variety of the domesticated honeybee are likely subject to some of the same health problems as well.

Thanks a lot Sundew, (& awest,rashore,danielost) very educational! I knew there had to be bees in the Americas prior to 'colonization' ... didn't know honey bees are an import.

[lightly]

Thanks a lot Sundew, (& awest,rashore,danielost) very educational! I knew there had to be bees in the Americas prior to 'colonization' ... didn't know honey bees are an import.

(or i forgot lol ... you'll see.)

[Sundew]

Wild bees won't be able to step into the shoes of the farmed bees. Bees, collect nector from one type of flower at a time. That is why they can sell specilty honeys.

It is true they are not a good replacement, however if it come to the point where all or most domesticated European honeybees have been killed off, it's either rely on native bees, Africanized honeybees or humans to hand pollinate our crops at a huge rise in cost of our produce. They already do this in some parts of Asia where the bees have been exterminated for crops like pears and apples. Can't remember if it was Japan or China, but there was a television documentary about the Colony Collapse Disease and humans in this area of Asia are now doing what bees have done naturally for thousands of years in order to produce fruit crops. It is labor intensive and drives up the costs of the fruit.

And while the loss of honey would be tragic, much more serious to our food supply is the loss of many now common items in our grocery stores: apples, pears, peaches, melons, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, almonds, mangos and many other edible fruits, nuts and vegetables pollinated by bees. You also need bees to produce seeds for next years crops of broccoli, lettuce and other salad greens, cabbage, herbs, onions, etc. Unless you want the plant based part of your diet consisting only of wind pollinated crops like wheat, rice and corn, we must save the bees.

[NiteMarcher]

It smells heavily like "Mansanto".....

[AsteroidX]

You wont stop it unless you replace the ones that dont care enough to stop destroying the honey bees.

[Mistydawn]

Or just replace the humans for the everything.

Lets face it without us, within a few years the natural order of things would come about and Earth would be an amazing place, balanced and harmonious.

[Just Dave]

Very bad news. I wonder if, rather than a mystery.. there is a plan?

Tunnel vision plan... spray more poison or fertilizers on the ground to make best of products/food, on the other hand they are destroying the same exact ecosystem that is making food avaible at the first place...

[Just Dave]

Or just replace the humans for the everything.

Lets face it without us, within a few years the natural order of things would come about and Earth would be an amazing place, balanced and harmonious.

That would be a nice sight to see ... but until we the virus are here only destruction,pollution, industralization, death... everything just so we can live... I hope there is an end to this..natural or unnatural as long as it is end.

Since many people live in big cities they most likely forgot the air, sight, positive vibes from a forest growing in spring, with warm sun and everything to go along... same goes for mountains or seas... It is just simply breathtaking even we you see that forest everyday, it is something special at this time. You should be in one to experience that..

[Mistydawn]

That would be a nice sight to see ... but until we the virus are here only destruction,pollution, industralization, death... everything just so we can live... I hope there is an end to this..natural or unnatural as long as it is end.

Since many people live in big cities they most likely forgot the air, sight, positive vibes from a forest growing in spring, with warm sun and everything to go along... same goes for mountains or seas... It is just simply breathtaking even we you see that forest everyday, it is something special at this time. You should be in one to experience that..

Tesla, you gave me a moment of tears..

Your summary of how breathtaking the natural world truely is, makes me feel quite desolate.

I moved to the city because of finances 5 years ago and I long with fervour to feel, smell, touch and see the world especially in the wee dawn hours..not quite the same tramping the streets and gazing into gardens.. though even there, the wee birds and small mammals that survive give me an ache to my stomach, how awesome and strong they are to survive in the face of concrete and man's bureaucracy.

[Just Dave]

Tesla, you gave me a moment of tears..

Your summary of how breathtaking the natural world truely is, makes me feel quite desolate.

I moved to the city because of finances 5 years ago and I long with fervour to feel, smell, touch and see the world especially in the wee dawn hours..not quite the same tramping the streets and gazing into gardens.. though even there, the wee birds and small mammals that survive give me an ache to my stomach, how awesome and strong they are to survive in the face of concrete and man's bureaucracy.

The beauty of our planet seen through words . I agree with you i see same picture as i enter city where i work.. Still local animal life has adapted to harsh enviroment they must live in. Unfortunaly there is ever growing concrete jungle than natural one.. as we are spreading even more. People of now are so entangled in to their daily lives they dont see it anymore or respect it.. when you enter in to natural world everything is peacefull,chilled there and there are no noises,cars,bright street lights,sirens, and so on..

Nature truly is beautiful...if felt and seen properly.