The Mystery Behind the Missing/Disappearing Bees

If you have been paying attention to the news the last few years, especially as it pertains to agriculture and nature, then you are more than likely at least peripherally aware of the case of the missing bees.  Specifically, in recent years, more and more honey bees have gone missing.  If you understand about how important bees are to pollination and cross pollination, then you can no doubt grasp the significance of this decidedly devastating turn of events.  For quite a long time, no one could even imagine what was going on with the disappearing bees, but the predictions were dire.  This is entirely understandable, considering how important bees and in particular honey bees are to our daily lives.  Of course, it was hard for us to grasp how important they are to our overall ecology until we were in danger of not having them around at all.  As it stands, although a lot more is understood about the logistics behind the missing bees, a whole lot of research is still going on.  After all, this will have potentially tragic effects on both our economy and on our agriculture. 

Over the years, an ever-increasing amount of honey bees have gone missing.  The numbers have been no less than absolutely staggering.  A great many beekeepers have estimated that if things continue on their current course, scientists and researchers may only have about ten years, give or take, in which to find a cure for this problem.  Beyond that point, there may be no honey bees left at all, which would of course bring research to a standstill and preclude the possibility of any more findings.   

This devastating phenomenon has come to be known as Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD.  It is a very unique disorder in nature.  What happens is that the beehive which is affected is left with its queen bee, not even a handful of just hatched adult bees, and more than enough food – but all of the hive's worker bees simply disappear.  Worker bees are, of course, responsible for pollination, making their role as pollinators and food providers for the hive an especially crucial one.   

Within the last two or three years, somewhere around two million honey bee colonies have disappeared due to Colony Collapse Disorder – and, mind you, this is just the number for honey bee colonies in the United States.  However, the problem is affecting bee populations all over the entire world.  Colonies have been wiped out in Switzerland, Germany, Portugal, Spain, the UK, Greece, and Italy.  More than ten million honey bees have gone missing in Taiwan. 

The far reaching effects of this dreadful disorder can hardly be comprehended.  There are so many devastating possibilities here.  For example, agriculture itself will be severely damaged simply due to the lack of any commercial pollination from honey bees.  There are ninety one crops throughout the world which depend on the pollination by honey bee workers.  Clearly, Colony Collapse Disorder poses many threats to us as well as to the honey bee population.  Our ability to produce necessary foods is destroyed.  Some of those crops are used for our health. And even our ability to make clothing will suffer, due to the cotton plant dependence on honey bee pollination.  Without this population, a lack of clothing made of cotton is really the least of our worries.  Can you imagine having to subsist on a diet consisting solely of grains and cereal? 

Naturally, a lot of people are speculating on just what is causing all of these honey bees to vanish so suddenly and so much without warning.  Many causes have been considered.  For example, some people think global warming is to blame, while others lay the blame at the feet of terrorist attacks, power lines, and even cell phone usage.  Of course, all of these particular speculations have been discounted.  Still, researchers and scientists do have a number of other possible causes, all of which they are considering and testing as quickly as they possibly can.  Most of these are at least peripherally associated with the four major and main problems faced by honey bees.  These are pesticides, mites, stress, and viruses.  Then, too, a combination of some or all of those problems could turn out to be the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder. 

The varroa mite is a strong suspect.  It has been plaguing honey bees for well over twenty years.  It is an external parasite, and it has affected the honey bee population in all of North America, not to mention the populations found in the rest of the world.  Ironically, in an attempt to alleviate the problem of these mites, a lot of pesticides have been used in an effort to control their population and stop them from being a threat to honey bees.  However, there is no proof at the present time that mites are the cause of the missing bees that have disappeared due to Colony Collapse Disorder. 

The use of pesticides is ironic because, of course, they are another thing that can negatively affect honey bee populations.  New pesticides, especially, can be extremely toxic to a number of different insects.  Bees are included among them.  This may well be the cause, as some studies have conjectured that the use of these pesticides could lead to polluted pollen.  That would certainly explain why it is that only the pollinating worker bees are disappearing, leaving the queen and the just hatched adults alone in the all but abandoned hive. 

Then, too, a virus may be the cause.  The first signs of CCD started being reported after beekeepers in the United States began importing their bees from Australia.  Those bees were proven to carry a virus.  Studies done on the subject have shown that in about 96% of the hives checked, this virus – the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, or IAPV – was the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder.  Thus, understandably, research on IAPV as a cause is continuing.