Consumer Impact of Colony Collapse Disorder By Jerry A. Chenault, Urban Regional Extension Agent, Lawrence County

It is probably old news that honeybees play a vital role in agriculture. And perhaps you know that bees pollinate more than 90 commercial crops in the United States (US). But what you may not know is that an estimated third of the world's food production is directly dependent on honey bee pollination. Our honeybees are in peril. So much so that if current trends continue, we will see a real food price increase and decreased food availability. That's not good news for consumers!

Beyond these factors, even our home fruit and vegetable production may be severely limited in the days ahead! The plants also depend on the pollination of honeybees. Not only are home gardens and commercial crops at stake here, but the food web that supports our wildlife as well. Honey production is only of minor importance compared to the work honeybees perform during pollination.

Here's how this works. Beekeepers who manage bees for pollination load their colonies on 18-wheel trucks and move them from crop to crop around the country. Growers pay the beekeepers for improved pollination. In return, the growers gain much higher yields per acre. Not only that, the fruits, nuts, and vegetables are also bigger and better because of honeybee pollination. It's a system we depend upon.

Besides the current problem of disappearing disease (colony collapse disorder), beekeepers have suffered plenty already in the past 20 or so years. From invading parasitic mites to bacterial diseases, beekeepers have weathered set back after set back. Their cost of production has continued to increase while cheap foreign honey has kept the price of our own honey painfully low. These problems are compounded in the Southeastern US with Africanized bee immigration. Given these concerns, it's easy to see why the number of beekeepers as well as the number of colonies of US bees has continued to decline.

What about the nation's wild (feral) honeybee population? Sadly, the parasites and diseases have decimated our native feral bee populations to an all-time low, while contending with colony collapse disorder (CCD). If you haven't heard, bee colonies affected by CCD can appear healthy as few as three weeks prior to collapse. But then adult bees just disappear from the colonies! This is where the name disappearing disease comes from. The bees leave behind a box full of honey, pollen, capped brood, a queen, and maybe a few workers. To add to the mystery, no dead bees are found in the hive or on the ground outside the colonies! And then every other insect ignores the bee box like a haunted house even though it is full of food. Weird, isn't it?

In the past 50-60 years there have been reports of many colonies of honeybees that have disappeared. In older literature these incidences were labeled as spring dwindling disease, fall dwindling disease, fall collapse, autumn collapse, May disease, or disappearing disease. However, these occurrences do not share the same symptoms as CCD.

Researchers are still confounded by the causes of CCD. The unavailability of dead bees makes the mystery terribly difficult to solve. But at this point most scientists feel like CCD is likely a combination of many stress factors such as diseases, pests, toxins, mismanagement, or lack of genetic diversity, and possibly a compromised honeybee immune system.

So, what can our beekeepers do to help? What can we all do to help? The answers seem evasive. For now all we can do is persevere and maybe take a beginner's course in beekeeping!

References

Calderone, Nicholas W. (May 2, 2007). Bee colony collapse disorder. Cornell University Department of Entomology. Retrieved January 9, 2008.

Coblentz, Bonnie. (April 5, 2007). Bee colony collapse disorder is ag threat. Mississippi Agricultural News. Retrieved January 10, 2008.

Ellis, Jamie. (May 2007). Colony collapse disorder: Why are honey bees disappearing? US/IFAS Extension. Retrieved January 10, 2008.

Tew, James E. (February 2007). Colony collapse disorder: What's going on? Ohio Info Bee. Retrieved January 10, 2008.

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