Status of Colony Collapse Disorder

Carl Schroedl

Bees

Cons Pros

Annoying Buzz Succulent Honey and Wax

Painful Sting Essential Pollination

Pros

Cons

Pollination

•Bee pollination is responsible for $15 billion in added crop value

Number of hives needed per acre (4,000 m²) of crop pollination Apples: 1–2

Blueberries: 4Cantaloupe: 2–4Cucumber 1–2Squash: 1Watermelon: 1–3

CCD

•History: CCD-like occurrences have been recorded erratically since the 1800’s. The bee population sustained by beekeepers has halved from 1945 to 2007 and natural populations dwindle.•Symptoms: disappearance or a sharp decrease in the number of adult honey bees present but with a live queen and no dead honey bees in the hive.

Potential Causes of CCD

•Pesticides?•Overcrowded Apiaries?•Migratory Stress?•Genetically Modified Crops?•Varroa destructor / Israel acute paralysis virus ?

Not a Cause of CCD !

•Cellular or Cordless Phones

Now

•Losses due to CCD have so far failed to cause an agricultural crisis•Costs have risen for beekeepers and farmers•The genome of the Western Honey Bee has been recently mapped•Research by US Dept. of Agriculture, U of M’s Bee Lab

What you can do

•Bee aware !•Discourage excessive pesticide application•Plant good nectar sources: red clover, foxglove, bee balm, and joe-pye weed•Contact (state) legislators, support CCD research