Honey Bee Die-off Alarms Beekeepers

Feb. 5, 2007 — Something is wiping out honey bees across North America and a team of researchers is rushing to find out what it is.

What’s being called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has now been seen in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia and way out in California. Some bee keepers have lost up to 80 percent of their colonies to the mysterious disorder.

"Those are quite scary numbers," said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s lead apiarist. Whatever kills the bees targets adult workers which die outside the colony — with few adults left inside, either alive or dead. The disorder decimates the worker bee population in a matter of weeks.

Aside from making honey, honey bees are essential for the pollination of tens of million of dollars worth of cash crops all over the United States. That’s why almond growers of California, for instance, are taking notice and pledging funds to help identify and fight the honey bee disorder.

Among the possible culprits are a fungus, virus, or a variety of microbes and pesticides. No one knows just yet. On first inspection, the pattern of die-offs resembles something that has been seen in more isolated cases in Louisiana, Texas and Australia, vanEngelsdorp said.

"Right now our efforts are on collecting as many samples as possible," said vanEngelsdorp. Bees that are collected are carefully dissected and analyzed to see what might have killed them.

Other researchers are keeping track of the problem using Google Earth, as well as cutting edge hive-sniffing and eavesdropping technology to investigate the problem.

"We’re trying to sort out the myriad of variables," said Jerry Bromenshank of the University of Montana and Bee Alert Technology, Inc. "We’ve sent teams to Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania, and California. The scenario was about exactly the same everywhere we looked."

The locations of the bees are put on a global database to see it there is any geographic pattern. Bromenshank also uses a groundbreaking audio analysis technique that allows them to hear specific changes in bee colony sounds when specific chemicals are present. Chemical air sampling in hives is also being planned, he said.

Just how bad the bee problem is right now is unknown, since the first cases came at the end of 2006 and many colonies in northern states are not active yet.

As spring awakens honey bee colonies, it will be vital that beekeepers send information to the scientists, regardless of how well or poorly their bee colonies are faring, said Bromenshank. For that purpose the scientists have put together a confidential beekeeper survey on their Website, http://maarec.org.

"Beekeepers overwintering in the north may not know the status of their colonies until they are able to make early spring inspections," said Maryann Frazier, apiculture extension associate in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. "This should occur in late February or early March.

"Regardless, there is little doubt that honey bees are going to be in short supply this spring and possibly into the summer."