It’s been a while since we’ve had anything on the problem of Colony Collapse Disorder, which has been causing bee colonies to die off in the US and some European countries. There’s been a lot of speculation as to its cause, everything from fungus to viruses to cell phones, but no definitive cause (or treatment) has been found.

The latest clue to the problem is the identification of a virus now called Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV). The virus was discovered by researchers at Hebrew University - I would imagine having somewhat complicated feelings about naming the virus which may be killing off honeybees after yourself.

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Sufferers of celiac disease may cheer (you know who you are!), but the rest of us will be sad… predictions are that climate change will reduce wheat harvests. While a certain amount of warming helps crops, too much kills them, and the side effects of climate change - extreme precipitation (or the lack thereof), flooding - are also bad for crops.

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Salon has one-upped most writers about Colony Collapse Disorder in the bee world by actually gathering a group of bee experts and talking with them about what’s going on, rather than just pointlessly speculating and calling for tin-foil hats (which makes me think, so far I haven’t run across any “Mars needs bees” theories pointing the finger at alien-apiary abduction).

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Even if it is a fungus that’s killing off the bees, we won’t be seeing an immediate turn-around in the declining bee population. And the bees remain in the news. Links are at the bottom.

More people are speculating about the loss of the bees, including Mark Morford in an article that’s appealingly titled “Apocalypse Of The Honeybees”… how could I resist such a thing?

Honeybees have died back before, and the unusual thing about this time may simply be that we’re better connected to one another now so we can tell when it’s happening globally.

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Last word. Boing Boing reports that Harper’s Weekly Review published an article, um, reviewing the Colony Collapse Disorder issue and pointing out that:

“Grapes, which self-pollinate, and olives, which are pollinated by the wind, will not be affected by the bees’ disappearance; Christians pointed out that the Book of Revelation predicts that a famine sparing grapes and olives will precede the apocalypse.”

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Okay, lame title, but I’m running out of clever things to say about bees dying off. I’m hoping that this will be my last post on “Colony Collapse Disorder” in the world of bees.

Colony Collapse Disorder, as I’ve previously reported, is the name given to the mysterious disappearance of bee colonies. One day everything is fine and the next - no bees! Poor bees. Why is this apocalyptic if you’re not a bee? Because bees play an important part in our food supply - it’s not just the honey, it’s the pollination. Without bees, may of our food crops won’t be pollinated and will not fruit properly. We won’t starve but we also will miss a lot of foods we currently eat.
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Remember the recent post about So Much for the Killer Bees? Here’s a followup.

The problem seems to be worse than previously reported; beekeepers are reporting up to 70 percent losses in Texas and the east coast, and 30 to 60 percent losses on the west coast. The bees just fly off and never come home.

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Florida tells us the solution to the fish famine: “Put little fish in the waters and let them multiply”.

Why not just leave it “Let there be light?”.

Via: Dire forecasts and our reactions to them: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

The Internets have been all a-twitter recently over a report that suggests that over-fishing and pollution will destroy the oceans’ stocks of fish.

The report is based on studies of historical data, and its authors say that a pattern of losing biodiversity leading to ecosystem collapse is apparent in the data. Based on this pattern they predict that by 2048, no commercially fished wild species will survive. They say that 29% of commercial fish species have been lost since 1950 (can any older seafood lovers confirm that you can’t get some fish anymore?).

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