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The Disappearing Honey Bee

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honey bee

Source: Wikipedia

Barbados Underground have written voluminously about ‘Bees’ of the political variety, but how many of us have taken time to give serious thought to the honey bee? It seems that with progress we have had to sacrifice making the finer observations which nature has to offer mankind. Last week Rudolph Gibson who is our local beekeeper extraordinaire expressed concern about the welfare of his bees which came under threat from the Graeme Hall fire. We have not heard if his bees perished but his mention of bees evoked some wonderful memories of growing-up in the village. It seemed a prophetic occurrence when we received the curt note quoted below in a recent email.

As a boy in school, I learned how important ‘Bees’ are for fertilisation. I have noticed over the years fewer and fewer of them. Is it where I live, has any body else noticed their absence? This year I noticed my mango trees and plants in my garden full of blossoms but no sight of bees. Are we using too much insecticides, is there a disease which is killing them off, or has killed them? – Submitted by Concerned Citizen

Can anyone answer the question posed by the BU family member? They are some who say that changes to the climate and modern-day agricultural practices have combined to cause a decline in bee stock. The farming experts who visit the blog should speak to the importance of pollination by bees to agriculture in Barbados. If there is merit in the argument that the vanishing bees maybe an ominous signal for farmers, what does this bode for agriculture in Barbados? Agriculture has become high on the Barbados agenda given the focus on food security at this time. The current debate reinforces the message which former Deputy Central Bank Governor preached in the nineties – import substitution!

A pity many of our young ones have not had the experience of seeing bees flying around in the ‘grass piece’ or on the ‘gully-hill’. We remember catching the bees and placing them in match boxes and listening to the buzz of the trapped bees. The BU household wish to thank Concerned Citizen for raising this matter, most people don’t even notice these things anymore.

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21 responses to “The Disappearing Honey Bee”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    To our friend Carson Cadogan, we read all of your emails and appreciate the time you take to send us stuff. We receive many emails every day. The sad thing here is not all the members of the BU household write. We would like to develop points about many of the ideas which we get from members of the BU family but we are limited, so bare with us.

    Thanks again for your support!

  2. Green Monkey Avatar
    Green Monkey

    Synergistic effects of pesticides and parasitic fungi and worsening decline of honeybees

    The decline of the honeybee attracted worldwide attention in 2007. Investigations carried out by the Institute of Science in Society implicated a synergistic interaction between the recent widespread use of new pesticides (including Bt toxin from GM crops) and fungal infections [1, 2] (Parasitic Fungus and Honeybee Decline , Parasitic Fungi and Pesticides Act Synergistically to Kill Honeybees?, SiS 35). Sub-lethal levels of neonicotinoid pesticides act synergistically with parasitic fungi in killing insects pests. Fungal spores, widely used as biocontrol agents are applied in sprays and baits, and when delivered in suspension with sub-lethal levels of pesticides are much more effective in killing insects. Equally, Bt biopesticides enhance the killing power of parasitic fungi synergistically. That information was transmitted through a written question to the European Parliament [3].

    Last year’s decline was serious enough and described as “beepocalypse now” by a news report [4]. According to the US Department of Agriculture one mouthful in three of the foods we eat directly or indirectly depend on pollination by honeybees [5] (my emphasis /GM). Most fruit and many vegetables would disappear from our diet along with an immediate shortage of meat due to the loss of forage. This winters’ bee loss was 34 percent, up from the 25 percent the previous year [6].

    The decline is attributed to ‘Colony Collapse Disorder’ (CCD), most likely to be multi-factorial. The main suspects include pesticides, parasites, viruses, radiation from cell phone transmitters [7-9] (Mystery of Disappearing Honeybees, Requiem for the Honeybee, Mobile Phones and Vanishing Bees, SiS 34) and even brood temperature [10]. The impact of sub-lethal levels of pesticides on the immune system of the bee leads to synergistic infection of the bees by fungal parasites. In addition, the behaviour of the bees is frequently modified leading to confusion in foraging and failure to return to the hive.

    Organic farming practices that retain more natural habitats and avoid the use of chemical pesticides should provide environments that serve as honeybee sanctuaries from the ravages of CCD. There are scientific studies showing that agricultural landscapes with organic crops are far superior environments for both honey- and bumblebees [11, 12]. It would be prudent to create organic bee sanctuaries as widely and as soon as possible.

    http://www.i-sis.org.uk/honeyBeeOrganicFarming.php

  3. Mighty Mite Avatar
    Mighty Mite

    I read that the spread of the honey bee mite originated from bees from Australia and is now spreadiubng across the world. Apparently some of the honey bees in Australia are now immune to the disease/syndrome carried, so it looks from this perspective that the colonies will collapse temporarily and later recover.

    What agriculturalists are most worried about, besides the shortage of honey, is that these bees pollinate things like citrus, beans and many crops grown for food. Thus the interlinkages may cause the collapse of many types of agricultural crops.

    Hopefully temporarily. It is possible that new bees may be required to be introduced that are immune, if this is true.

    A world without orange juice and citrus? One hopes not.

  4. ROBOT Avatar
    ROBOT

    bees have always been good for barbados ; the caribbean ; the world

    bees do well
    they produce honey
    others come and savour the sweets , destroy and use up the honey leave everything high and dry and then the bees have to work all over again to build back the honey, the dees, i mean others then come and the cycle starts all over again

  5. Busy Bee Avatar
    Busy Bee

    B is for Bees

    D is for Destroyers

  6. hindssight Avatar
    hindssight

    ROBOT // May 7, 2008 at 9:59 am

    bees have always been good for barbados ; the caribbean ; the world

    bees do well
    they produce honey
    others come and savour the sweets , destroy and use up the honey leave everything high and dry and then the bees have to work all over again to build back the honey, the dees, i mean others then come and the cycle starts all over again
    =================================

    A mere confusion of a symbol and the real thing it represents. 😀

    Maybe, just maybe whatever is responsible for the decline of real honey bees in Barbados could not tell the difference and is also responsible for the decline of the red-jacket bees. 😀

  7. Green Monkey Avatar
    Green Monkey

    Survey shows rise in U.S. honey bee deaths

    SAN FRANCISCO – A survey of bee health released Tuesday revealed a grim picture, with 36.1 percent of the nation’s commercially managed hives lost since last year.

    Last year’s survey commissioned by the Apiary Inspectors of America found losses of about 32 percent.

    As beekeepers travel with their hives this spring to pollinate crops around the country, it’s clear the insects are buckling under the weight of new diseases, pesticide drift and old enemies like the parasitic varroa mite, said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, president of the group.

    This is the second year the association has measured colony deaths across the country. This means there aren’t enough numbers to show a trend, but clearly bees are dying at unsustainable levels and the situation is not improving, said vanEngelsdorp, also a bee expert with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

    “For two years in a row, we’ve sustained a substantial loss,” he said. “That’s an astonishing number. Imagine if one out of every three cows, or one out of every three chickens, were dying. That would raise a lot of alarm.”

    The survey included 327 operators who account for 19 percent of the country’s approximately 2.44 million commercially managed bee hives. The data is being prepared for submission to a journal.

    About 29 percent of the deaths were due to Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious disease that causes adult bees to abandon their hives. Beekeepers who saw CCD in their hives were much more likely to have major losses than those who didn’t.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24500059

  8. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Just saw a news item in the USA where they were also discovering large bees dying in the USA.

    Hope this is not a problem for us here just when we in Barbados are planning on increasing agriculture.

  9. Avatar
    Anonymous

    David what’s up with these pictures appearing next to our posts?

    It’s a new feature rolled out by WordPress. We believe they are attempting to match a picture to a commenter to make the thing interesting. We can turn it off if it is bothers the PEOPLE.

  10. Linchh Avatar
    Linchh

    David:

    If I were a bee, maybe I would bumble
    Hovering in my flight, I would stumble
    On many truths that make me humble
    To realise that in these days of high-cost energy
    I could make a mint for my poor bee pee.
    (With apologies to all those who love “poultry”!)

  11. Eddie- Wild bees Avatar
    Eddie- Wild bees

    You mentioned the “dissapearing honey bee”. Does anyone remember what we call “wild bees” The ones that used to live in old houses and trees and give yuo a good stinging.I have not been seeing these for years.
    I wonder what has become of them.

  12. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    There is apparently some evidence that radio waves from cell phones affect the bees from finding thier hives;resulting in them dieing in large numbers.

  13. Sundowner Avatar
    Sundowner

    We used to have plenty around here in St Joseph, but rarely see them now, except if you walk Cattlewash beach, all over the sand……

  14. Keltruth Corp. Avatar
    Keltruth Corp.

    Yes, America has the same problem with the loss of bees. Private money is being spent on research to find the cause.

    Bees are very susceptible to pesticides, so this may be the cause. I was surprised to see cell phone transmitters on the list of damaging factors for hives. In Miami, most schools have cell phone transmitters!

    The big question is: If the bees are dieing, are we OK?

  15. Green Monkey Avatar
    Green Monkey

    Simple experiment with dramatic results

    Researchers at Landau University in Germany designed a simple experiment for students on the Environmental Science course [3]. Eight mini-hives, each with approximately 8 000 bees were set up for the experiment. Four of them were equipped with a DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication)-station at the bottom of the hive, and the other four without the DECT-station served as controls.

    At the entrance of each hive, a transparent plastic tube enabled the experimenters to watch the marked bees entering and leaving the hive, so they can be counted and their time of return after release recorded for a period of 45 minutes.

    The experimenters also studied building behaviour by measuring the area of the honeycomb and its weight.

    In the course of the experiment, three colonies exposed to mobile phone radiation and one non-exposed control colony broke down. The total weights of the honeycombs in all colonies, including those at the time of breakdown were compared. The controls weighed 1 326g, while those exposed to the DECT-stations weighed only 1 045g, a difference of 21 percent. The total area of the honeycomb in the controls was 2 500, compared to just 2050 in the exposed hives.

    But it was the number of returning bees and their returning times that were vastly different. For two control hives, 16 out of 25 bees returned in 45 minutes. For the two microwave-exposed hives, however, no bees at all returned to one hive, and only six returned to the other.

    http://www.i-sis.org.uk/MobilePhonesVanishingBees.php

  16. Inquiring Housewife Avatar
    Inquiring Housewife

    Maybe if the bees could light on the concrete that we are forever putting in place of the natural foliage we would get honey. The poor bees need to modify their needs and come again….

  17. Bitter Avatar
    Bitter

    4 seems like a really small number to draw an conclusion, especially when one of the control also broke down… If they did it with a bit more statistical rigor it might be interesting

  18. Keltruth Corp. Avatar
    Keltruth Corp.

    I was happy to see a swarm of bees here in my Miami backyard yesterday!

  19. Asiba-The Buffalo Soldier Avatar
    Asiba-The Buffalo Soldier

    I believe this statement

    There is apparently some evidence that radio waves from cell phones affect the bees from finding thier hives;resulting in them dieing in large numbers.

    I beleive that cell-phones and cell phones towers are dangerous. Every time I use one , I get a pain in my hand -a kinda of burning which feels like it is in the bone

    I do not use a cell regulary and I did not intend to buy one in any case. A friend thought that I should have a phone and gave me one

    I am not a fan of cell phones. A ten dollar card usually lasts me 8 weeks or more

  20. honey beekeeping products tools Avatar
    honey beekeeping products tools

    its good to give attention on the disappearing the honey bees.Very little persons pay attention on it thanks for sharing it

  21. Lisa Yearwood Avatar
    Lisa Yearwood

    Where we live in St. Joseph, we have a lot of honey bees. It would be interesting to know if this is one of the few places left that has an ecosystem that can sustain the honeybee. We also have those tiny snakes and the red footed turtle. There must be other places in Barbados that has wild bees? Please let us know if you have wild bees in your area, it would be good to keep track of.

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