Honey Bees Extinction

THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF THE WESTERN HONEY BEES Disturbing evidence that honeybees are in terminal decline has emerged from the United States where, for the fourth HONEY BEES EXTINCTION year in a row, more than a third of colonies have failed to survive the winter. The depopulation of bees could have a huge impact on the environment, which is reliant on the insects for pollination. f taken to the extreme, crops, fodder and therefore livestock - could die off if there are no pollinating insects left US & CANADA WINTER COLONY LOSSES COLONY LOSSES CAUSES 2009-10 NORMAL WINTER COLONY LOSSES 32% STARVATION 15% 21% WEAK COLONES IN THE FALL 20% POOR QUEEN OUALITY 29% WEATHER 21% 33.8% 16% INEFFECTIVE YARROA CONTROL 1 STARVATION 12% WEATHER 99% NOSEMA SPP. 8% OTHERS 14% WEAK COLONES N THE FALL 12% MITES 10% POOR QUEEN QUALITY S% COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER BEE DECLINE Bee colony losses have been rapid; colony losses are occurring in large numbers; and the reason(s) for these losses remains largely unknown. CANADA HONEY BEE COLONIES 575 676 In Canada, colony death has mainly been attributed to the failure of varroa mite treatments through mite resistance to chemicals, incomplete or incorrect formic US HONEY BEE COLONIES acid treatment. 2 460 00O RECENT WINTERS COLONY LOSSES (%) US COLONIES DECLINE In the past 50 years, the population of Bee colony losses have averaged 17%-20% per year since the 1990s. By comparison, bee colony losses between the winters of 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 averaged more than 30% during the year. domesticated honeybees has dropped 50 percent. The rate of loss experienced by the industry is unsustainable. 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 5,000,000 31.6% 29% 35.8% 35% 29% 33.9% 33.8% 21% 20 4.000 4.2 MM NORMAL WINTER COLONY LOSSES 15% 3AMM 3.000.000 40 27 MM 24 MM 2.000.000 60 1,000,000 80 100 1979 1989 1999 2009 2009-10 THE COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER (CCD) EFFECT ON US HONEY BEES & ITS Starting in late 2006, beekeepers in the United States began reporting sharp 28% of operations reported that at least declines in their honey bee colonies. Because of the severity and unusual some of their dead colonies had CCD-like symptoms circumstances of these colony declines, scientists named this phenomenon (were found dead without dead bees). colony collapse disorder (CCD). Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is characterized, in part, by the complete COLONIES WITHOUT CCD SYMPTOM COLONIES WITH CCD SYMPTOM 25%% 44 absence of bees in dead colonies and apiaries. Reports indicate that beekeepers in most states have been affected. LOSS LOSS CCD has not been routinely diagnosed by professional apiculturists in Canada. POSSIBLE CAUSES OF COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER CCD may be a syndrome caused by many different factors, working in combination or synergistically, including an interaction between pathogens and other stress factors. NOSEMA CERANAE GLOBAL WARMING POOR NUTRITION RADIATIONS IAPV VARROA MITE MIGRATORY STRESS CONTAMINATED WATER PESTICIDES PARASITE/PATHOGEN COMBINATION OF STRESSES GMO NEONICOTINOIDS WHY IT MATTERS: BEE POLLINATION DEPENDENT CROPS Honey bees are the most economically valuable pollinators of agricultural crops worldwide and are the only bee species kept commercially in the United States. Bee pollination of agricultural crops is said to account for about one-third of our diet. ALMONDS $15-20 APPLES OTHER FRUITS & NUTS OTHER VEGETABLES/MELONS BILLIONS ANNUALLY 10-90% 100% 90% US POLLINATOR DEPENDENT CROPS 10-90% 23% PROPORTION OF POLLINATORS THAT ARE HONEY BEES (%) %06 %08 06 - TOTAL U.S. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION - SUNFLOWER ALFALFA, HAY & SEED (033S 8 INID NOLIO) CANTALOUPE/HONEYDEW Bees contribute to global food security, and their extinction would represent a terrible biological disaster. BERNARD VALLAT, DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE WORLD ORGANISATION FOR ANIMAL HEALTH INFOGRAPHIC van Engelsdorp, D., Hayes, I., Caron, D. and J. Pettis. 2010. Preliminary results: honey bee colonies losses in the US., winter 2009-2010. http://ento.psu.edu/pollinators/news/losses-2009-10 CAPA Statement on Honey Bees Losses in Canada (2010) FFUNCTION Renée Johnson, Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder, Congressional Research Service, RL33938, January 7, 2010 BY Honey, February, 2007, Agricultural Statistics Board NASS, USDA, FFCTN.COM The Value of Honey Bees as Pollinators of U.S. Crops in 2000, March 2000, Cornell University, http://www.masterbeekeeper.org/pdf/pollination.pdf Alison Benijamin (Sunday 2 May 2010) "Fears for crops as shock figures from America show scale of bee catastrophe", The Guardian BROCCOLI - CARROTS ONIONS NÁOSSES %06-01 06-02 ЗАOS OTHER FIELD CROPS COLONIES THAT SUP