|
|
About 29 percent of the deaths were due to Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious disease that causes adult bees to abandon their hives. Beekeepers who saw CCD in their hives were much more likely to have major losses than those who didn't. "What's frightening about CCD is that it's not predictable or understood," vanEngelsdorp said. On Tuesday, Pennsylvania's Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff announced that the state would pour an additional $20,400 into research at Pennsylvania State University looking for the causes of CCD. This raises emergency funds dedicated to investigating the disease to $86,000. The issue also has attracted federal grants and funding from companies that depend on honey bees, including ice-cream maker Haagen-Dazs. Because the berries, fruits and nuts that give about 28 of Haagen-Daazs' varieties flavor depend on honey bees for pollination, the company is donating up to $250,000 to CCD and sustainable pollination research at Penn State and the University of California, Davis. Related Links: Larry O'Hanlon's blog: Earth Impacts |
advertisement
Put Discovery News on Your Site!
|
