Bees.

"90% of the feral (wild) bee population in the United States has died out"

That is a hard core number. That is a scary number and it surprises me why this hasn't been everywhere on the news.

Any grade 8 science teacher will tell you how powerful bees are to the ecozones of the world. They are the primary pollunater of the world, and vegitation in general owes it's existence to either the bee itself or the flowers it helps spread.

I imagine if this continues in the U.S., a large part of it's economy will shift to make up for the loss of food caused by CCD(Colony Collapse Disorder). i do hope they find out what is causing it soon.

More here

wow i never really thought about the importance of bees especially when im smashin them with a fly swatter when they fly into my house, maybe next time ill be a lil more friendly

Hmmm... I never really learnt why Bees are important to the ecosystem besides the pollinisation of plants... but theirs always substitutes for bees... they scare the hell outta me lol.

My first guess in why this happens is because bee have yet to evolve a stinger appropriate to todays enviroment...
Bees have their stinger ripped out (due to barbs) when ever they sting a mammel (and birds i beleive), now since theres alot more mammels and birds around since their last evolutionary change, they're somewhat lacking since mammels are dominent now.

Are you saying that at one point in evolution it was a smart move to only have suicide as defence? or did i get it wrong?

the stinger might not have been at the peak of its evolution, and still not like most if not all living things

No, Im saying that they are most likely to have evolved the current stinger at a time when birds and mammels weren't dominent... As bees only die have their stinger ripped out if they sting a mammel or bird.
And the evolution theory goes that they adapt the their surroundings, since now mammels are the most present in the bees surroundings, they need to evolve or face extinction.
Also, They may not be becomming extint, there may be a species of bee we dont know, and due to natural selection, the common "suicide" species are becomming extinct, while others are rising.

i gotta question... bee's polinate... but wut do wasps and hornets do???

Wasps do pollinate, and I believe hornet is a species of wasp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornet

They work like carriers, as they goto get the nector from a flower, pollen goes on to them, then as it moves on to another flower to gather nector, we have pollination... So even ants and birds can pollinate, just not as often.

The wasp family does not lose their stinger, and that is one of the things they do well! I speak as someone stung often. (They like my sweet nature:) or maybe I just get in their way.)

Too bad it's not the wasps and hornets suffering a decline.

I don't really think that individual bee stings account for sudden colony death.

there aren't many substitutes for bees that do the job as effectively.

Bees, ants and hornets are specialized species of wasps. Yes ants.


Bees, unlike others in the wasp family, pollinate in colonies. Unless Hornets start picking up after the bees....it's pretty grim.

The bees that die don't reproduce. it's unimportant what happens to them progernatively

Dante.....bees and other such insects live in colonies the pollinate flowering plants and trees. In such colonies each has a queen that does all the egg laying.....the gatherers and soldiers have nothing to do with the procreation of others....and there are still plenty of feral bees in New England judging by how many times I've found nests the hard way

Well, now we know who's responsible for this.

Maybe it was a data annomaly that caused this?, The way they usually find out populations is by checking in one small (On comparason with the country) area, and working an estimate for the country.
So, maybe only in this area they dropped by 90%?

This is all true. It's also what i just said in not so many words. Also, nothing you quoted contradicts that... sooo....yeah...that's....that's a thing.



That's crazy. I wonder why New England is spared the bee drought.



Maybe...but I recall on the News that this is nothing new. There has been a steady decline. Also, there is a definite decline in honey production..so unless the bee keepers have gone all oil company on us to jack up the price of honey...

Personally i think the population is down because of the weird weather patterns in North America. In southern Ontario we had a record late winter.

This thread interested me enough to do a little research

Many wild and domestic bees are killed when they visit flowers by bugs that eat the bees and by birds. . Insecticides used on blooming plants can kill large numbers of bees, both by direct poisoning and by contamination of their food supply. (Maybe this contamination is brought back to the Colony?)
Massive agricultural pest spraying kills a lot of feral and domesticated bees.

Many feral bees living in the wild areas, away from agricultural spraying, are poisoned in massive spray programs designed to kill mosquitoes, gypsy moths, or other pest insects.

But what really knocked out the Feral Bee population was the "vampire mite."
“According to the new report, the vampire mite (Varroa mites) helped wipe out the nation's wild honeybees in the late 1990s. Then it started ravaging commercial colonies.” More @ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6299480

I’m thinking a combination of pesticides/contaminates and the mite infestation put a serious crimp in the Bee’s ability to thrive/survive and may have contributed to the Colony Collapse Disorder.

Bees still play a critical part in pollinating Human food crops and contract pollination has overtaken the role of honey production for beekeepers in many countries. Honey bee keepers have become migratory so that bees can be concentrated in areas of pollination needed at the appropriate season.

I don’t think we can afford to lose our bee population right now. Pray for Bees!!! ~rore

Interesting read, Ror......

Einstein once said:
"If the bee becomes extinct,mankind would have four years left to live."
Lets hope hes wrong on this one as many bees throughout the US and Europe are dying out.
Scientists have suggested GMcrops and mutant mites for the causes-now they say it could be mobile phones!
http://www.mad4mobilephones.co.uk/news/779/

The following information was printed in the most obscure area of the local section of our daily newspaper. It evidently wasn't considered newsworthy enough to stand alone in the real news section.

'The latest theory for the cause of honeybee "colony collapse"...is cell phones....Some scientists are saying that mobile phone use could cause massive food shortages as crops fail from lack of bee pollination, the (U.K.) Independent reported.

'The theory is that radiation given off by cell phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, disorienting them and preventing them from finding their way back to their hives.

'...The theory is based on a study at Koblenz-Landau University in Germany in which bees refused to return to the hive when a cell phone was placed nearby.'

I realize more research and study is needed but what we already know about cell phones should make us curious enough to explore this area more fully. To my knowledge there is no longer any scientific research being conducted in the US regarding the safety of cell phones.

This seems strange to me in view of the fact that the FDA has stated that they cannot certify whether cellular phone technology is safe or not. What we do know is that our great-grandparents existed in a world that did not expose them to RFR (radio frequency radiation) while today we are exposed to over 10,000 times that amount. In the future we can expect more electric smog with the use of more High Definition TV and Wireless Internet Towers.

According to testimony given to the California Senate Hearing (Health and Services Committee) in April, 2000 by Janice Brewer of the National Brain Tumor Foundation of California: "Since 1975, in the US there has been a 25% increase in brain tumors. Worldwide there has been a 300% increase in brain tumors."

At that same Hearing it was reported that every year over 100,000 people in the US are diagnosed with having a brain tumor. Brain tumors are the 2nd leading cause of cancer deaths in children under the age of 19.

Read to the Committee was a quote from the Motorola instruction manual for the use of their then current cell phone: 'DO NOT hold the unit such that the antenna is in contact with exposed parts of the body, especially the face or eyes or ears while the unit is turned on.'

Dr. Neil Cherry, biophysicist in New Zealand states: "I now firmly believe the increased radiation that we are living in from radio and television and radars as well as microwaves and appliances compared to the turn of the century is contributing to our background rates of ill health." Could this help explain the explosion of conditions like Alzhimers disease and autism?

The testimony of those who were employed by companies like Motorola regarding the safety of using cell phones sounds very much like the history of the tobacco researchers. The experts were coerced or worse when they tried to publish results that were not in line with what the owners wanted to hear.

Like the cover-up of the harmful effects of smoking and the ingesting of second-hand smoke, it will likely take decades before the offending industries will be called to task for the harm their technologies cause.

According to Einstein we don't have decades. He once said that if the bees disappeared, man would have only four years of life left. If this is true the governments of the world need to immediately begin to seek the answers to what is causing bee colony collapse. If past history is any indication of the future they won't.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 ceded vital power to the telecommunication companies. According to the law of the land local governments have the power to regulate the design, construction and placement of new towers in communities only. They do not have the power to prohibit their existence or use for any claimed health or safety reasons.

There are said to be 1.5 billion cell phones users in the world. From 1996 to 2000 there was a 2200% increase in their usage and these figures have continued to increase. What does this prove? The power of the 'Golden Rule': Those who have the gold will rule.

If we lived in a sane world our leaders would be prioritizing their peoples' problems. They would be ensuring the economic stability of their nation by using sound fiscal policies; not spending outlandishly like some drunken sailor. They would be storing and stockpiling warehouses full of grain and other food stuffs instead of nuclear weapons. They would be diverting excess crop yields for future emergency use instead of for use as bio-diesel fuels.

But alas, in my opinion, we are not living in a sane world, if we ever were. I am reminded of a line in a Monty Hall movie, the Life of Brian. There is a scene where Jesus is giving the Sermon on the Mount and someone in the crowd commented. 'He just said 'Blessed are the meek,' isn't that nice, they deserve a break'...and then someone else replied 'Don't you understand, the meek are the problem?!'

You will find much more information on the dangers of cell phones at:

www.eon3.net

_______________________________
'Treat others as you would want to be treated.' Confucius' Silver Rule (500 BC)