Tag Results
2 posts tagged colony collapse disorder
Flies are turning California honeybees into zombies.
Biologists have found a parasitic fly inside bees from three-quarters of 31 surveyed hives in the San Francisco area.
The parasites control the bee’s behavior, disrupting its normal daytime routine and turning it into a nocturnal creature. The infected bees abandon their hives, disrupting the critical colony system.
Scientists believe this killer parasite may be contributing to Colony Collapse Disorder, which is rapidly killing honeybee hives across the U.S.
Our nation’s agricultural community depends on honeybees to pollinate nuts, vegetables and fruits. For California, where the zombie bees were discovered, its $1 billion annual almond business is entirely dependent on pollination from honeybees.
Clearly, zombie bees are no laughing matter.
It’s estimated that over a third of everything we eat relies on honeybee pollination. And last year, over 30% of the U.S. population of honeybees was depleted. Sounds like a major threat to human infrastructure has been underway for years.
Specifics from The Guardian:
Flowering plants require insects for pollination. The most effective is the honeybee, which pollinates 90 commercial crops worldwide. As well as most fruits and vegetables – including apples, oranges, strawberries, onions and carrots – they pollinate nuts, sunflowers and oil-seed rape. Coffee, soya beans, clovers – like alfafa, which is used for cattle feed – and even cotton are all dependent on honeybee pollination to increase yields.
Recent update can be found here… http://huff.to/h3Uc8o
