FEEL THE STING Article by Megan Claflin
Photography by Todd Linder & Elizabeth Olwin
Few people are aware honeybees are responsible for pollinating one-third of the world’s food. But when beekeepers experienced massive losses in 2006, the world took notice.
In six months an estimated 600,000 of the 2.6 million bee colonies in the United States mysteriously died. Similar reports flooded in from Canada, Spain, France, Brazil and other countries. As the number of dead colonies mounted worldwide, scientists and beekeepers suspected a dangerous new perpetrator.
Scientists theorize the massive decline of honeybees is a result of the insects reacting to environmental stress. Parasites, pesticides, pathogens and most recently an unexplained phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder are under investigation.
With honeybees responsible for pollinating over 200 food crops and three-fourths of the world’s flowering plants, agriculturists, beekeepers and consumers are concerned the buzzing bee’s could fall silent before science cracks the case.
In the biting cold of early January, Eric Thompson, owner of Belleville Honey in Burlington, Wash., carefully maneuvers a forklift amongst thousands of beehives. With the temperature below freezing, the bees are lethargically clustered inside each box and give little response as they are transferred onto a waiting trailer. As a migratory beekeeper, Thompson supplies nature’s best pollinators to farmers across the West.
"I feel like we play one of the most important roles in vegetable and fruit production," Thompson said. "We aren’t just this rag-tag group of gypsy beekeepers. Without our work a lot of people would go hungry."
Natural pollinators exist in every ecosystem. But industrial agriculture requires pollination on a massive scale, which wild pollinators can’t handle.
Utilized in 90 crops in the United States, the honeybee’s contribution increased crop yield and the quality of fruits, vegetables and seeds by an estimated $14.6 billion in 2005, according to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
To meet a steady demand, Thompson keeps his bees working year round. Honeybees are tireless workers, and will forage until physically unable and then will leave the hive, never to return, Thompson said.
"In a given season I will lose 25 percent of my bees," Thompson said. "The harder they work, the faster bees die. Plus, they are killed by things like parasites and disease."
Many threats target honeybees. Parasites such as the varroa destructor and tracheal mites feed on bee blood, like ticks on humans. These parasites severely weaken bees and increase susceptibility to infection and disease, Thompson said. In the 1980s an epidemic of varroa destructor mites destroyed thousands of colonies in the United States.
Beekeepers employ a barrage of chemical and natural supplements to prevent, treat and control parasites. However, treatment could be aiding a deadlier culprit.
Today, scientists suspect some chemical pesticides and fertilizers are poisoning pollinators. Certain chemicals are detrimental to bees’ ability to communicate and navigate, according to the USDA. As they nuzzle up to blossoms for pollen they are potentially coating their bodies with toxic chemicals.
"Beeswax is just a sponge for chemicals," Thompson said. "So anything they come in contact with gets stored in the hive with them."
An understanding exists between beekeepers and farmers that no potentially dangerous chemicals will be applied to crops while the bees are pollinating, Thompson said. The USDA requires agricultural chemical manufacturers to print warnings on their labels requiring farmers to avoid use near pollinating bees. However, bees are not easily corralled.
With previous offenses on record, parasites and pesticides are prime suspects for causing bee deaths. But the clues didn’t add up. If common criminals were responsible for the epidemic, what had suddenly increased their potency? Scientists knew the guilty party was still at large.
Dr. Steve Sheppard, a professor of entomology at Washington State University (WSU), has been studying bees for 30 years. He is familiar with the usual suspects responsible for sick hives. However, in early January, Sheppard received desperate calls from local beekeepers searching for answers. Traditional solutions weren’t working.
"There are many things that can kill bees," Sheppard said. "But I had experienced beekeepers, guys who have been doing this for years, telling me that something just wasn’t right."
Seemingly healthy adult honeybees were abruptly disappearing, leaving only the queen and a handful of juvenile bees in the hive. Scientists theorize the adult bees separated and died somewhere away from the hive, because neither new colonies nor clusters of bodies were located. Unlikely to survive alone, the queen and remaining bees quickly died as well, Sheppard said. Scientists named the phenomena Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).
Responding to the growing crisis, the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the USDA’s chief scientific research agency, held a CCD Research Workshop in April 2007. Eighty bee scientists from multiple organizations contributed, according to ARS.
Researchers examining affected hives discovered the bees were not suffering from one ailment, but from dozens. Pesticide poisoning, parasites, diseases, fungi and malnutrition were some of the conditions identified in affected hives, according to ARS reports. Results showed no consistencies between the hives affected with CCD. No two groups of hives were under the influence of the same affliction. The case of CCD remained unsolved.
Finally in Sept. 2007, intensive genetic screening of hives both affected and not affected by CCD revealed a single commonality in the affected hives, according to ARS reports.
A virus, which until now was only present in Israel, was found in 96.1 percent of the CCD hives. The Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV) can be contracted from infected varroa mites. It causes a variety of unusual behaviors including abandonment of the hive, according to ARS, but evidence does not conclude the virus is the cause of CCD.
With conclusive evidence pending, all suspects remain innocent until proven guilty. In the meantime, beekeepers are bringing bees to flowers to prevent a shortage of pollinators.
"Everyone is looking for the silver bullet," Thompson said.
While investigations into bee health expand, Sheppard and a team of WSU entomology students are looking to another victim for answers—the queen bee. The number of infertile queen bees has increased in recent years, Thompson said.
"Typically a queen would last two good years, maybe three," Thompson said, "But now I am replacing the queen every year."
Sheppard said a recent study documented declining genetic diversity in the U.S. commercial honeybee population. However, evidence of a correlation between genetic homogeny and declining bee health is inconclusive.
"I have been suggesting beekeepers use multiple queens from different stocks," Sheppard said. "Not putting all your eggs in one genetic basket."
Research to increase queen fertility began with Shepard and his team collecting queen bees from the majority of U.S. commercial breeders. Each queen was examined and evaluated. Queens producing broods with admirable traits such as superior honey production, good hygienic behaviors or resistance to pathogens were inducted into a breeding program, Sheppard said.
Using a process called grafting, researchers select larvae and transplant it into a queenless colony. Worker bees raise the larvae into a queen. Once queens have matured they are donated to partnering bee farms, including the WSU Research and Extension Center in Mt. Vernon, Wash., in an attempt to increase the number of healthy hives in the state. Sheppard’s team has successfully bred colonies tolerant of parasites and pathogens. The hives require no antibiotic treatments, Sheppard said.
Studies should facilitate the creation of healthier bees better suited for Washington winters, Sheppard said.
"I believe stronger queens could be the answer to a lot of our problems," Sheppard said. "It is about breeding a better bee."
Back in Burlington, Thompson has finished loading his hives. As scientists and beekeepers collaborate, answers to better bee health are discovered and new methods of maintenance developed. But efforts may prove too little too late for beekeepers and their hives.
"The future of the bee industry is in serious peril," Thompson said. "Without good research and funding we are in a serious fight for our way of life."
Megan Claflin studies environmental journalism. This is her first published piece in The Planet.
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