-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: April 15, 2007 12:32:23 AM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Not Bee-ing There
Bees are essential for the pollination of agricultural crops &
plants in general.
Hives left 'like Mary Celeste'
as bees mysteriously vanish
RAYMOND HAINEY
The Scotsman, April 14, 2007
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=572652007
Honey bees are suffering major declines in countries around the
world in a mystery which threatens the future of ecosystems which
are crucial to farming.
The unexplained reduction in numbers, which some beekeepers blame
on emissions from mobile-phone masts, is bad news for agriculture
because of bees' role in pollination.
Experts say thousands have vanished in Scotland, and there are
reports of the mysterious disappearance of entire hives in
countries including the United States, Spain, Italy, Poland,
Greece, Portugal and France.
Some beekeepers in the US have reported losses of up to 95 per cent
of their bees, while commercial keepers in 22 states have reported
the loss of tens of thousands.
US beekeepers now lose about 25 per cent of their bees each winter,
compared to just 5-10 per cent 35 years ago.
Nigel Hurst, the editor of the Scottish Beekeeper magazine, said:
"One or two people here have lost colonies. More and more, we are
hearing about unexplained losses.
"A good one-third of the food we eat is affected in some way by the
bee population. The quote that's normally given is from Einstein,
who said, 'If all the honey bees were wiped out, mankind would
follow in about four years'."
Beekeepers across the UK have found hives deserted by bee colonies,
even though there is no obvious reason, such as disease.
Mr Hurst said: "There's all kinds of guesswork going on - a lot of
money is being spent in America to try and find out exactly what
the problem is."
Janice Furness, the secretary of the Fife branch of the Scottish
Beekeepers' Association, said: "We have had some cases - we've been
calling it the Mary Celeste syndrome. A hive seems fine, then the
next week it is empty and there are no more dead bees inside than
you would normally expect. They have left behind developing broods
and eggs. It is totally against all their instincts to do that."
Ms Furness said bees sometimes left their hives in the autumn and
moved elsewhere, but that mass abandonments early in the year were
extremely unusual.
She added: "If they do something like this in February, there's no
chance of setting up a new colony - it's mass suicide."
She said one beekeeper in her area had lost 12 out of 15 hives for
no apparent reason.
Ms Furness added: "One of my beekeeping friends is convinced it has
something to do with telephone masts. Bees are very sensitive to
radiation from these things."
Ms Furness added that the government needed to put more money into
research.
She said: "I don't think that they realise how important bees are.
About 80 per cent of pollination is through honey bees. If anything
affects that, it could be very serious."
In Spain, thousands of colonies are said to have been lost, and up
to 40 per cent of Swiss bees are reported to have disappeared or
died. Heavy losses have also been confirmed in Portugal, Italy and
Greece.
A spokeswoman for agriculture ministry DEFRA said it was aware of
situations in the US and that its own National Bee Unit was in
touch with experts around the world to share in research in an
effort to prevent a major problem in the UK.
A spokeswoman for the Executive added: "We would be more than happy
to meet the Beekeepers' Association if they think there is
information to share."
ENVIRONMENT HIT BY DROP IN NUMBERS
Honey bees are the primary pollinating insect in large parts of the
world, including Britain and North America.
Pollination is critical to successful commercial orchard and field-
crop production, endangered species protection, urban gardening,
ecological restoration, and forage production for the dairy and
beef industries. Growers of apples, almonds, cherries, cucumbers
and many other crops depend on bee pollinators, managed and wild,
to produce fertile seeds and full-bodied fruit.
The depopulation of bees could have a huge impact on the
environment, which is reliant on the insects for pollination. If
taken to the extreme, crops, fodder -- and therefore livestock --
could die off if there are no pollinating insects left.
The economic value of crops grown commercially in the UK that
benefit from bee pollination is estimated at around £120-£200
million annually. The value of honey production in the UK ranges
from £10-£30 million a year.
See what's free at AOL.com.
www.ctrl.org
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