Jon Entine | January 22, 2021
Myths and truths about bees: There is no ‘catastrophic decline’ in the global honeybee population, as many environmental groups continue to claim. In fact, honeybee hive populations are rising in North America and globally. The companion claim — that a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids (or neonics for short) are fostering a global honeybee pollinator crisis is also not accurate. However, honeybees and perhaps bumble bees (whose wild nature make them difficult to catalogue) do face a range of health threats that are serious cause for worry, and they need to be addressed.
What are the facts?
Colony Collapse Disorder
The honeybee population did face what appeared to be a crisis in the
mid-2000s when some United States’ beekeepers, mostly in California,
began discovering that their honeybees had mysteriously abandoned many
of their colonies, leaving behind the queen bee, attended by too few,
immature worker bees to sustain the colony, yet with ample viable brood
and stored food. The first report classified as CCD was in mid-November
2006 by a Pennsylvania beekeeper overwintering in Florida.
By February 2007, large commercial migratory beekeepers wintering in
California, Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas had reported heavy losses
associated with CCD, with losses ranging from 30% to 90% of their bee
colonies. This phenomenon was dubbed Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). What made CCD’s appearance in the United States stunning and
alarming was that episodes were being reported from widely separated
states across the continent..............To Read More....
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