There has been a lot of exposure in the public media, and even more in current beekeeping literature, about dwindling bee populations in a syndrome called Colony Collapse Disorder.
During a harsh northern winter, some 15 percent of bee colonies can die.
But, in recent years the loss has been far greater.
Examining a dwindling colony reveals that the queen, brood and young bees are there, but there are no oldies.
Given that oldies are the foraging bees, it seems they do not return with their loads of nectar and pollen.
Many theories have been advanced and the cause has been labelled ‘multi-factorial’.
Currently there are three such suspects:
- poor nutrition;
- Neonicotinoid pesticides; and
- pathogenic infections.
They are related, with ‘neonics’ hot favourites, also contributing to the other two.
So what are neonicotinoids?
They are insecticide poisons now widely used in agriculture, especially to protect huge mono-culture food crops from devastation by insects.
In minuscule amounts it is within all of us, playing an essential role in nerve transmission, but excessive exogenous doses can wreck the system completely.
As an insecticide it is called a systemic poison – soak the seeds in it and it pervades the whole plant, the sap, the pollen and the nectar.
So, as she sucks up the sweet nectar from the flowers, the foraging bee cops a dose of insecticide.
It may not be enough to be immediately lethal, but sub-lethal doses can interfere with navigation causing the bees to not make it home.
Hence the disappearing oldies of Colony Collapse Disorder.
But, can bees live with the wide use of neonicotinoids?
They have been banned in some European countries, but not in Britain and not in Australia.
But, can the world maintain its food supply without insecticides?
It will not maintain its food source without bees!
