The case of the disappearing buzz....

[PaceAdvantage]

Any theories? On some of your more "out-there" websites, I've read that cell phones and cell towers are to blame:

Vanishing honeybees mystify scientists

POSTED: 9:40 p.m. EDT, April 22, 2007

Go to work, come home.
Go to work -- and vanish without a trace.

Billions of bees have done just that, leaving the crop fields they are supposed to pollinate, and scientists are mystified about why.

rest of the story:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/04/22/vanishing.bees.reut/index.html

[GameTheory]

Any theories? On some of your more "out-there" websites, I've read that cell phones and cell towers are to blame:

Vanishing honeybees mystify scientists

POSTED: 9:40 p.m. EDT, April 22, 2007

Go to work, come home.
Go to work -- and vanish without a trace.

Billions of bees have done just that, leaving the crop fields they are supposed to pollinate, and scientists are mystified about why.

rest of the story:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/04/22/vanishing.bees.reut/index.html

I hope they come back. Einstein said that if the bees disappeared, the human race would be finished in 4 years...

[Dave Schwartz]

There was an article on TV about this just the other day...

Apparently, cell phone signals are confusing the bees. (That is the theory, anyway.) They cannot find their way back to the hive.

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2449968.ece

I did not actually read this article. It was just one I Googled.


Dave

[samyn on the green]

I believe this bee genocide is due to genetic engineering of crops. This is a very serious matter and you may find yourself hungry in the next few years due to this problem we created. Scientists insist on trying to master nature, but nature was the creation of a greater intelligence. Nature has a way of always staying a step ahead of humans. Thats' why horse races are such a unique challenge to master.


People get hurt when they try to take too much of an edge. This is like that capper that thinks he has an edge at the track with a closer. So this bets every closer with the strongest late fig at Keeneland blindly without considering other fundamental factors. We genetically engineer crops in an attempt to get an edge on things like pests, drought and harvest cycles. Taking a short cut on pest control we may have ignored the greater ecosystem. Hard work and sound balance should be the fundamentals of any endeavor, taking an edge is merely a shortcut to the former. We try to take an edge with genetically engineered crops and now it is causing whole ecosystems to collapse.

For example modern corn farming uses a soil bacterium had been inserted into the corn that enabled the plant to produce an agent that is toxic to insect pests. These genetically modified crops may repel pests but they are now killing the bees that pollinate the plants themselves. The bees are dying in mass as these lab altered crops are introduced.

It is time to get back to fundamentals, the signs are there.

[Tom]

*appluase*

This is exactly applicable to global warming.

[JustRalph]

There was an article on TV about this just the other day...

Apparently, cell phone signals are confusing the bees. (That is the theory, anyway.) They cannot find their way back to the hive.

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2449968.ece

I did not actually read this article. It was just one I Googled.


Dave

yeah, the other ten thousand radio signals we are bombarded with every waking minute of our lives didn't hurt them at all...........but cell phone towers do? I think the jury is still out

[DJofSD]

There are plenty of bees in my backyard and I've seen plenty of them while out and about. Just yesterday while going to the local mall, my son and I saw lots of bees visiting the flowers there.

[OTM Al]

The Einstein quote is fake, but bees are very very important to our ecosystem.

[BIG RED]

There was a small article in my Boston paper Sunday about it. This should be looked at seriously, whether it 'out-there' or not. No pollenation no crops, no food no animals, no animals no humans, so it goes.

http://news.bostonherald.com/national/northeast/view.bg?articleid=196111 (http://)

[DJofSD]

Coast-to-coast has been talking about this for months now.

[GameTheory]

Yeah, it is hard to buy the cell-phone thing, unless this is localized to where cell phone concentrations are high. Is it? But if it was affected them I suppose it could reach a critical mass where they suddenly started dying. But if they don't rebound we are in a heap of trouble...

[BillW]

Yeah, it is hard to buy the cell-phone thing, unless this is localized to where cell phone concentrations are high. Is it? But if it was affected them I suppose it could reach a critical mass where they suddenly started dying. But if they don't rebound we are in a heap of trouble...

With radiation from power lines and transmission towers (TV/Radio) so much higher, not to mention cosmic/solar radiation which probably rivals that from a cell tower, it is extremely hard to believe. Maybe the bees are getting into some silage on one of the local farms or similar explanation.

[Steve 'StatMan']

More important in the here and now than Global Warming, unless you live on an island that is getting increasingly washed over (saw one on the news a few weeks ago.) Gotta have mass pollenization for plants & food (plants & animals). No food for too long, won't be around to know what the temperature is.

[GameTheory]

With radiation from power lines and transmission towers (TV/Radio) so much higher, not to mention cosmic/solar radiation which probably rivals that from a cell tower, it is extremely hard to believe. Maybe the bees are getting into some silage on one of the local farms or similar explanation.Well, is there something unique to cell phone signals?

[bigmack]

Variety of possible reasons. Best article I've seen is in the Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/business/27bees.html?ex=1330232400&en=3aaa0148837b8977&ei=5088

[toetoe]

Richard Gere as Sommers Bee --- gone all that time.

Linda Eller Bee --- milk-carton status.

George Lazen Bee --- one Bond and off.

Harlan Huckle Bee --- erstwhile no-can-miss prospect/phenom.

Teletub Bee --- that alleged affair with Elmo had to hurt.

Abu Dhab Bee --- feeling dis-Oriented, are we?

Dear Ab Bee --- dissed her sistah, now she's gone. Coinkydink?

Reb Bee --- the mysterious "Sixth Jackson."

The Iraq guy Chalab Bee --- as Harrelson would say, "HE GAWN."

Edward Al Bee --- who's afraid ... aw, fergeddit.

[BillW]

Well, is there something unique to cell phone signals?

I can't imagine what. They would typically carry digital information. While only being intuitively familiar, I would assume very much like an 802.11 wireless WAN signal (some cities have installed city-wide or area-wide wireless for instance). I wouldn't think the higher level format of the transmitted information would be significant. Large microwave repeaters used to span links in lieu of a long fiber run would appear similar also, but be of a much higher level. I'm sure this is a knee jerk explanation arrived at without any investigation. I'm not saying I think it is impossible, but that it would be an extremely lucky guess if it turned out to be the source of the problem.

[Tom]

Global warming. They were all trapped on ice flows and drown. They sholud have left the polar bears alone.

[chickenhead]

cell phones are certainly putting much more power into certain frequency bands that had only background radiation (in most areas) before....if bees happen to be sensitive to those frequencies it could certainly effect them. Would be pretty easy to test I would think...and it really should be localized effect around cell towers mainly.

Where are the MythBusters!?

[kenwoodallpromos]

SInce they hate smoke, and some inside the hive(queens and young) are not disappearing, air polution may be the cause.

[kenwoodallpromos]

"Fluoride and the Mohawks
Cows crawled around the pasture on their bellies, inching along like giant snails. So crippled by bone disease they could not stand up, this was the only way they could graze. Some died kneeling, after giving birth to stunted calves. Others kept on crawling until, no longer able to chew because their teeth had crumbled down to the nerves, they began to starve.

These were the cattle of the Mohawk Indians on the New York-Canadian St. Regis Reservation during the period 1960-75, when fluoride pollution from neighboring aluminum plants devastated the herd and the Mohawks' way of life.

Crops and trees withered, birds and bees fled from this remnant of land the Mohawk still call Akwesasne, "the land where the partridge drums."
"http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/epa/index.html"
EPA limits on fuoride, and EPA approval of Fluoride as pesticide.

[Pace Cap'n]

Interesting puzzle. Cell phones seem an unlikely culprit, as signals are few in rural areas where the bees work, and cell phones have been around for some time now, while apparently the bees have only recently begun to vanish. As Ralph said, radio signals have been in abundant supply for quite some time.

Also of interest that it's not like a portion of ALL the bees are disappearing, but rather an entire colony among many colonies will vamoose. Why one hive and not the one next door?

Another article I read stated that when colony was no longer in existence, the bees from other colonies WOULD NOT raid the hive for their stores of honey. Evidently, under normal conditions, such as a storm causing a hive to be vacant, other bees would be on that hive like a duck on a junebug.

The Times article related the extensive traveling the bees endure while on cross-country commutes to their job sites. Perhaps "jet-lag" or the disruption of their circadian rhythyms may play a part in this malady.

[Secretariat]

We've also had a diminshing of amphibians such as frogs.

It certainly is of great concern. Certainly the effects of ma-made chemicals such as DDT has effected insects and animals before (the effects of DDT on the Bald Eagle going on the endagered species list).

The price of honey will be going up. It is something to investigate, not make light of.

[kenwoodallpromos]

"http://www.fluoridealert.org/NRC-sec2.htm"

See the section the shows level of fluoride in pollinators in polluted areas, as compared with lethal doses!

[BillW]

Where are the MythBusters!?

They already tested the silage theory! :lol:

[GameTheory]

The ducks here in Colorado have been dying this winter as well -- their feathers have been much thinner than normal and were not protecting them from the cold. No one knows why. Strange stuff -- are there any NEW toxins around?

Sec, the price of honey will be the least of our problems if the bees disappear...

[Tom]

Well, I'm hearing a lot about it today. There is a lot of cncern around here for the apple tress coming to bloom soon. Had a 30 minute interview with some bee-experts/nature cop or something on the local news leader.

The theory being pushed around is that ethanol and hybrid exhausts might be killing off the bees. :rolleyes:

[GameTheory]

The most sensible theory I've heard so far is that it is just the spring freeze this year -- it got hot early, the bees came out, then it got real cold again and knocked them out...

[skate]

well, it's 500/1 that the Times goes out, before the bees goes out.

[melman]

I don't think anyone knows the answer just to many questions. How about this theory, greedy beekeepers crossbreeding.


It is being called "Colony collapse disorder" (CCD) and it's being blamed on one or more of the following: the Vampire Mite, greedy crossbreeding beekeepers, air quality, chemical pollutants, viruses, a fungus, poor bee nutrition. Scientists have not pinpointed the problem yet.

From the US: "If honeybees ceased to exist, two-thirds of the citrus, all of the watermelons, the blueberries, strawberries, pecans and beans would disappear," said Jerry Hayes, apiary inspection chief with the state's Division of Plant Industry. More than 50 percent of the bees in California, critical to the success of the Golden State's almond crop, have died during the past six months. Frantic growers there have sent out the call around the world, including Florida, for hives.

From Italy: Italian bees are been killed off by the millions and environmentalists and honey producers warned today this was a sign of a worrisome turn for the environment.
The National Beekeepers' Association UNAAPI said the country was witnessing a silent "slaughter of bees" and that Italian honey production would plummet by at least 50% this year.

From Canada: Bee producers say 40 per cent of their bees have been killed by the mite this years. They say honey production will be significantly down this year, and especially bad in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick

[melman]

Here is another report on the bee problem.




By Bernie Mitchell
4 April 2007 -- Pick whichever name you like but at the end of the day honey bees are dying out at a horrendously fast rate in the US.

While it's been called Fall Dwindle Disease by some, others are referring to it as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). The essential point is that in 24 US states bees are dying.

CCD is the latest, and most serious, die-off of honey bee colonies across the US. It is characterized by, sudden colony death with a lack of adult bees in front of the dead-outs. Honey and bee bread are usually present and there is often evidence of recent brood rearing.

http://www.farmnews.co.nz/news/2007/apr/9911.shtml

[kenwoodallpromos]

http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-PEST/2005/July/Day-15/p13982.htm

[Zaf]

Frankly, I think this is why they are upset.

Z

[wonatthewire1]

from the news today...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070502/ap_on_sc/honeybee_die_off

There are a couple paragraphs at the end discussing other times when something similar has happened. Interesting story.

[Tom]

Headline news here today - our apple crop is in jeopardy.
Locals are buzzing about it.
Some broke out in hives.
Honey of a problem around here.
Many will feel the sting.

[Pace Cap'n]

Here is the link to a really looong and extensively annontated article on the bee problem......

www.gnn.tv/articles/3063/Please_Lord_not_the_bees (http://www.gnn.tv/articles/3063/Please_Lord_not_the_bees)

[DJofSD]

Interesting article and not really that long.

I had been thinking already about two questions: what about other pollinators and what about other methods to pollinate. The comment about the Q-tips partially answered that 2nd question. Still not any help with the first. What about hornets, wasps, hummingbirds, etc?

[Pace Cap'n]

Interesting article and not really that long.

I meant long to a bee.

[DJofSD]

OK, to a bee. What about a louse? (http://www.worldburnsclub.com/poems/translations/552.htm)

[Pace Cap'n]

OK, to a bee. What about a louse? (http://www.worldburnsclub.com/poems/translations/552.htm)

Having clicked on the link in your tagline, I no longer care to have any discussion with you.

[DJofSD]

Having clicked on the link in your tagline, I no longer care to have any discussion with you.

What's the matter with you? No sense of humor? :D

[Steve 'StatMan']

What's the matter with you? No sense of humor? :D

Well, now I had to read it and fell for it.

Although copying that link might come in handy someday.