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Author Topic: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse  (Read 3371 times)

Offline bwallace23350

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The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« on: November 29, 2017, 11:43:26 am »
https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2017/11/29/the_biggest_myth_about_the_bee_apocalypse.html

In 2006, an ominous term entered the public lexicon: colony collapse disorder. The mysterious, somewhat vague word describes instances where entire colonies of honeybees abruptly disappear, leaving behind their queens. Colony collapse disorder (CCD) has since fueled claims of an ongoing "bee apocalypse," which summarizes the perilous plight of our pollinator pals.

But despite panicked claims of an apocalypse, managed honeybee colonies in the United States have actually been rising since 2008. In fact, as of April 2017, U.S. honeybee colonies are at their highest levels in more than 23 years! According to University of Sussex Professor Dave Goulson, perhaps the foremost expert on bees, the trend is the same globally.

Offline little john

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2017, 01:25:43 pm »
I think it's been a very useful scare story - by waking-up Joe Public to the undesirable consequences of widespread mono-cropping and the excessive use of both artificial fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides.  I hope there's still a bit more mileage to be gained by it, myth or not.

LJ
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Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #2 on: November 29, 2017, 02:33:16 pm »
It has also increased the number of hobbyist beekeepers 10 fold.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Van, Arkansas, USA

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #3 on: November 29, 2017, 03:00:34 pm »
Hello Wallace & LilJohn, I hope life finds you both well and prosperous.

CCD, well there is something to this, it?s not just a scare tactic.  Understand the followings:

     In the 1960?s I had bee hives as a kid.  There was no hive maintenance to me, no need for it.  The bees were completely self sustaining.  I did not even requeen, the bees managed that too.  I did Honey management and that was all that was required.  I added 2 supers in the spring, extracted in July and that was all that was required of me.  The bees were just fine, Year after year.  I?d catch swarms and walla, a new hive that only required a home.  I never saw bee disease, I never lost a hive in the 60?s.  No need for bee management, nothing required of me by the bees.  The bees took care of everything themselves.  Not so now a days, the bees need some help.

Now a days, beeks that is, most on this forum, are well accomplished bee keepers that can detect as well as solve problems within a hive.  Now Management is a must, not an option as in the 60?s.  Bees are not sustainable like in the 60?s; now we have virus, beetles, mites, neoinics, and or lack of habitats induce (demand) bee management.

I have lost hives this decade that I managed with great care,,, but not one hive lost in the 1960?s under zero management.  CCD is real, not a conspiracy.  Hives have increased this decade because beeks are doing a tremendous job educating themselves, managing and maintaining bees.  I give credit to the beekeepers for increase in hive numbers, CCD is still out there and a serious threat, but a manageable threat.
Blessings

Offline Kathyp

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #4 on: November 29, 2017, 03:23:28 pm »
Quote
CCD is real, not a conspiracy. 

It no doubt is real.  There are reports of it going back to the 1800s.  What it also is, is hyped.  It's always useful to someone to tell people that they are going to DIE because of X.

We deal with mites and other things that were not around in the 60s.  That is not CCD.  Some of us are having a heck of a time with yellowjackets.  I don't remember them being so bad even 10 years ago.  We are "managing" the bees and that's not always a good thing.  Rolled queens, disrupted building, etc. 

CCD is a specific thing.  Hive losses have many reasons.
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline Dallasbeek

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #5 on: November 29, 2017, 04:01:11 pm »
Waking people up about widespread mono-cropping -- what good does that do? We are not going to change corporate farmers from growing thousands of acres of corn or soybeans or whatever, so public awareness of the detriment to bees is worthless.  It just forces us to move our bees to a better environment.  Urban beekeeping won't solve the problem, but it makes those of us living in cities feel like we're contributing in some way to resolution of the problems faced by bees.
"Liberty lives in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no laws, no court can save it." - Judge Learned Hand, 1944

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #6 on: November 29, 2017, 04:20:44 pm »
One thing urban beekeepers have done is to help restore feral colonies in the wild. When I started, there were very few swarms or bee removals needed. My wife's garden had lots of flowers but no fruit. Even when my bees are else where. I still see bees now when my bees are away, not during my first few years..
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline eltalia

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #7 on: November 29, 2017, 04:29:08 pm »
The semantics of "CCD" aside there is little doubt the canaries of our shared air are sending a
message many refuse to entertain, including more than one POTUS and one most "Christian"
exPM of Australia.
Those that pay attention know in their heart of hearts they have not grown smarter, are not
"more educated" than previous generations of apiarists, and certainly benefit little (actually)
 from technolgy advancements as do other horticultural pursuits - the facts are apiarists
today work harder at doing what used to come naturally.

Put whatever name on it, that change in just a few human generations is true disorder... period.

The upside of apiary expansions in recent times is the power of the collective voice.. and no
disrespect intended the newbees are way more ready to spend actual dollars and educated in
 where to go to be heard in being tooled up to turn attention to a perceived problem.
I welcome the flood - one old furrt who looks on in admiration as each new paper is released.

Bill

Offline Dallasbeek

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #8 on: November 29, 2017, 04:46:23 pm »
 :embarassed:
One thing urban beekeepers have done is to help restore feral colonies in the wild. When I started, there were very few swarms or bee removals needed. My wife's garden had lots of flowers but no fruit. Even when my bees are else where. I still see bees now when my bees are away, not during my first few years..
Jim

What you seem to be saying is that we urban beekeepers let a lot of hives swarm and find their own homes, thus "restoring" the feral hive numbers everywhere.  This fall I've been getting 2 or 3 swarm reports a day through my club, but this time of year I just ignore them because they're so small they probably won't make it through the winter (if we have one).  Maybe I could have caught a bunch of the little swarms and combined them, but it would have meant traveling all over the Dallas-Fort Worth area to come up with a decent-sized colony. 
"Liberty lives in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no laws, no court can save it." - Judge Learned Hand, 1944

Offline Kathyp

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #9 on: November 29, 2017, 05:29:06 pm »
Quote
The semantics of "CCD" aside there is little doubt the canaries of our shared air are sending a
message many refuse to entertain, including more than one POTUS and one most "Christian"
exPM of Australia.
Those that pay attention know in their heart of hearts they have not grown smarter, are not
"more educated" than previous generations of apiarists, and certainly benefit little (actually)
 from technolgy advancements as do other horticultural pursuits - the facts are apiarists
today work harder at doing what used to come naturally.

It's not semantics.  CCD is determined by a specific set of circumstances found.

I would argue that we are more aware, more regulated, have cleaner water and air, and more attention is paid to what insecticides are used and how.  I have no idea what someones religion might have to do with any of that. 

"Working harder" might be part of it.  Commercial beekeepers, especially those moving hives from one place to another, stress bees.  Backyard beekeepers are constantly managing their hives.  While I do believe you have to care for what you keep, you also need to find that balance the tells you when to leave them alone and let them do their thing.

IF there is a reduction in the number of bees, and that's debatable, there are probably a whole lot of things that are contributing.  I would put loss of plant diversity and habitat up there near the top.  It's also good to remember that at least in the USA, honeybees were extinct until brought by the Europeans in the 1600s.  There may be some fossil record of them having been here long ago.  What happened to those bees?  It was not man. 
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Van, Arkansas, USA

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #10 on: November 29, 2017, 05:51:32 pm »
?one most "Christian"
exPM of Australia.?

 {I don?t see what religion has to do with it.}

Etalia is not talking about religion.  The word is used as a metaphor in his beautiful way of writing explaining exPM that refused to exknowledge CCD existed in his country.
Blessings

Offline eltalia

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #11 on: November 30, 2017, 07:08:10 am »
@kathyp
"It's not semantics.  CCD is determined by a specific set of circumstances found."

.. and these are, specificly?
I would accept a paraphrase over some convoluted romantic link
to populist speakings, as does that 'Christian' exPM of ours [.AU] so
fondly grasp as a Twitter[TM] moment.

Bill


Offline little john

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #12 on: November 30, 2017, 08:56:24 am »
Waking people up about widespread mono-cropping -- what good does that do? We are not going to change corporate farmers from growing thousands of acres of corn or soybeans or whatever, so public awareness of the detriment to bees is worthless. 

Mono-cropping isn't just about vast areas of land being devoted to one crop - it's a term used to describe the agricultural practice of growing a single crop - year after year - on the same land, in the absence of rotation of other crops.  Over time this practice encourages the build-up of pests, which in turn requires the use of pesticides/insecticides to control them.  Residue from these chemicals has already begun to enter the food chain.  Don't underestimate the power of consumers as they become increasingly alerted to this health issue  - especially when they begin to speak with a common voice.

Crop rotation to avoid pest build-up and minimise the need for fertilisers is a long-established tradition which is being unwisely flouted in pursuit of short-term profit.  The longer this practice continues, the more artificial chemicals need to be used, and new ones created as the bugs develop resistance to them.  This can only continue for so long, before Nature finally wins the battle - after which, farmers will be forced to revert to crop rotation.
LJ
A Heretics Guide to Beekeeping - http://heretics-guide.atwebpages.com

Offline Kathyp

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #13 on: November 30, 2017, 11:15:45 am »
Quote
.. and these are, specificly?

  Google is your friend and I have not had enough coffee yet this AM to keep my temper in check with people who are intentionally antagonistic. 
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline bwallace23350

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #14 on: November 30, 2017, 03:52:42 pm »
and or lack of habitats induce................... This is something that we could take care of in ways on our own property. My bees sit on pasture/woodland/orchard/and veggie garden. No pesticides used just nature.

Van, Arkansas, USA

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #15 on: November 30, 2017, 04:45:47 pm »
Agreed, 100%, Mr. Wallace.  You and many beeks properly manage the bees, each in their own way, and in my opinion this is reason for honey bee success.  Success I define here: as increased in hive population.

Unfortunately, monocroping as already brilliantly discusses by Lil John and others is cause for concerns as well as all the parasites introduced.  But,,,, like I said, summarized, the beeks are doing an excellent job, thus increasing hive population.  I say: Blessings to the beekeepers.

Offline UrbisAgricola

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #16 on: November 30, 2017, 05:24:22 pm »
Just adding something to the mix of conversation here. In addition to mono-cropping a related problem is farming every square inch of land.  There are some downsides to this for the farmer?never mind this entails using marginal land that needs more chemicals that cost money.  But anyway, leaving some hedgerows and maybe some marginal spaces would help both farmers and bees.
We all do better when we all do better.

Offline eltalia

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #17 on: November 30, 2017, 05:38:50 pm »

@little john

... pretty much spoton LJ, and why in my local the monoculture farming has turned to a "no tilling" policy and ponding for runoff water from thousands of acres, all this to assist in protecting our coastal reef system.
https://www.queensland.com/en-au/explore-queensland/great-barrier-reef?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIob3ezaDn1wIVAR4rCh2aagv_EAAYASAAEgKJVfD_BwE

My home block is surrounded mostly by these farms with many bush areas around creeks yet there is often a dearth right when bees do not need one, just as summer kicks in. To fix that for the bees we recently
put down 15 of these;

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melaleuca_linariifoli

and 50 of these;

https://www.anbg.gov.au/acra/descriptions/acc116.html

According to the datasheet these will both flower just as the spring flows finish and before the rains come, usually a time of regression for bees.
Difficult to accuire and expensive plantings we want the experiment to fix a local problem.

Bill


Offline little john

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #18 on: December 01, 2017, 06:29:25 am »
For anyone who hasn't already seen it - there's a very thought-provoking YouTube video entitled "Dirt - the Movie" - an .MP4 of some 360Mb in size which has a run-time of 80 mins - so you might want to save it and view in 'smaller doses', as there's a helluva lot of information contained within it.  I haven't managed to watch all of this video in one sitting yet !

There are several Google links for this video - this is just one (copy and paste) link:
Code: [Select]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvrww8iMl-A
It does touch on the problems of mono-culture. but is far more encompassing about the relationship between humans and the soil (dirt !) which - together with the power of the sun - is one of the foundations for life here on Earth.

Enjoy ...
LJ



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Offline Dallasbeek

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #19 on: December 01, 2017, 01:12:38 pm »
I show the movie as being blocked because of copyright issues, LJ.
"Liberty lives in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no laws, no court can save it." - Judge Learned Hand, 1944

Offline little john

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #20 on: December 01, 2017, 01:30:27 pm »
Thanks for the feedback.  So it can be watched but not saved to view later ?  Crazy.
I use 'Save from Net' without problems - could you try this link (works for me) ?
Code: [Select]
http://www.ssyoutube.com/watch?v=lvrww8iMl-A 
LJ
A Heretics Guide to Beekeeping - http://heretics-guide.atwebpages.com

Offline Dallasbeek

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #21 on: December 01, 2017, 02:45:04 pm »
No. It's blocked "in your country" totally because of copyright.  Maybe you can view it in the UK, but we in the USA can't watch or save-- can't access.  At least, I couldn't.
"Liberty lives in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no laws, no court can save it." - Judge Learned Hand, 1944

Offline beepro

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Re: The Biggest Myth About the "Bee Apocalypse
« Reply #22 on: December 02, 2017, 02:01:22 am »