What is Digg?137 Comments
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28Yes...it could cause food shortages both in the US and elsewhere. Systemic insecticides are one possibility being discussed, but we need to collect more information and collect it quickly. Anybody who works with bees, and/or who has any information that could possibly help, should contact Maryann Frazier of the Department of Entomology (not Etymology, which is the study of word origins, btw) at Penn State University.
- marinist, on 10/12/2007, -2/+24This is why I get pissed off when people intentionally destroy bees, like the video of that loser lighting bees on fire.
- CBTF, on 10/12/2007, -1/+22From ta:
"The two European countries with the largest honey bee populations are France and Italy. It might be significant that those two countries banned certain pesticides in recent years because beekeepers there became convinced that systemic pesticides were killing off honey bees. And so far, neither France nor Italy has yet reported the collapse of honey bee hives."
Don't we have our answer then? It only makes sense. - BillTG, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23FTA - "Millions of honey bees in 22 American states, Spain and Poland have been disappearing at an alarming rate with no explanation to date, threatening pollination of one-third American food crops" Seems like a pretty serious threat. I imagine it will be taken more seriously if in the spring when the hives are thawed out there are even less bees. More research into the direct cause of disappearance is needed though.
- wiremonkeymommy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20this scares the crap out of me, talk about a major disruption in the food chain, glad to see this on digg
- allaboutdatiki, on 10/12/2007, -0/+19Where are the MIA bees going to die?
More info ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/11/AR2007021100650_2.html
"an analysis of dissected bees turned up an alarmingly high number of foreign fungi, bacteria and other organisms and weakened immune systems."
Scary stuff. :( - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+24If we extinct ourselves, then we deserve it. The earth will go on just fine without us, and will not miss us one bit.
- OmniMe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18I'd say 7-10 years ago we had 3 or 4 bee boxes around our wooded area and took care of others around the county. All of a sudden, the bees died off with no explanation. I thought it was only a local issue like mites or something.. but now, whoa! Ever since the bees left, so have the amount of apples, cherries, strawberries, etc we have every year. On a large scale, it's obvious to see it could be very devastating.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17It sure is scary.
Problem is, they still don't know which organism or other factor weakened the bees' immune systems so that the other opportunistic organisms could take hold.
Thanks for the article link. It gave these other sources:
Mid-Atlantic Apiculture: http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/index.html
Penn State University Entomology Dept.: http://www.ento.psu.edu/
American Beekeeping Federation: http://www.abfnet.org/ - CapeKid, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18I blame this guy: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2243176
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16Bees put food on YOUR table, and not just honey! What will you pay at the supermarket?
- MrWhoopass, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13No bodies? Sounds a bit off to me. I will have three pints and a paper bag to put over my head bartender.
Meanwhile, the bees could be heard saying "So long and thanks for all the pollen!". - buss, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12I assumed the article was sensationalist FUD, but to hear that NPR gave it serious coverage made me reconsider my position.
- towca, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12If the bees disappear and I don't get to have some honey with my cereal in the morning, the world will be sorry! >:(
- Calabahn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Have a towel close by.
- Jensaarai, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10God I hope there aren't enough people like you to make you "the first of many" say something so insanely stupid and ignorant. Do you have any idea how the world works? Do you have any clue about the natural processes that support us and our civilization?
If bees are *****, a lot of the food we eat goes unpollinated and doesn't grow. And a lot of the food our farm animals eat goes unpollinated. Then we're pretty much ***** a lot worse than the bees. And that's ignoring the terrible possibility that whatever is affecting the bees could affect us more directly as well. - coyforce, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10this is actually from an article published on NPR on feb 13th. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7388742 to listen.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11OH THE BEEMANITY
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10@coyforce,
I suggest that you post that NPR audio clip in the Podcast section, just to get a few more people's attention. Who knows - maybe somebody out here in cyberspace has observed something useful that can unlock this mystery. If you do so, please put in a comment asking beekeepers and agriculturalists to contact these websites for further information:
Mid-Atlantic Apiculture: http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/index.html
Penn State University Entomology Dept.: http://www.ento.psu.edu/
American Beekeeping Federation: http://www.abfnet.org/
Thanks! - shorn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10For those who think this is all very funny, allow me to quote John Whorfin:
"Laugh while you can, Monkeyboy!" - tidu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Great reply to the thread,
"Did you get their honey, or was it destroyed?" - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7@grevvvvv,
I don't think it's FUD. The story has been corroborated elsewhere. Also, read the comments; we're beginning to see reports from Digg members who have noticed the absence of honeybees in their locale, but who hadn't heard that this is a widespread problem. - Phssthpok, on 10/12/2007, -10/+17The problem is the bees are PUSSIES!
DEAL with it BEES
We ain't gonna change our pesticides just because you think it's killing you!
No CUT AND RUN! - bahprell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8SAVE THE BEES!!!! !!!!!!!! !!!!!!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7@OmniMe,
Wow...I was born in Akron. I remember there were TONS of honey bees there all the time. They'd mostly live on the patches of clover that seemed to be in everyone's yards. I didn't like to wear shoes when I was little, so I got stung on the feet a time or two. I haven't been there in a long time, but the last time I was there, I certainly didn't see clover in anyone's lawn. Nowadays folks just about everywhere spray with herbicides to kill clover in the lawns. Hmmm.... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7IMO, those particular pesticides are probably the likeliest factor. I think those might be systemic pesticides that go up into the plant and affect the bees via the pollen and nectar. They probably don't do us any good, either.
- eatpizza, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6There is a strong connection between clover and bees:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clover
So go plant some clover in your yard, and stop spraying commercial pesticides all over your lawn. Just because the chemical companies tell you to lust after a golf course green with nothing but grass, doesn't mean you have to listen to them. - apothekari, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7This is gigantic!!!!
Not to be an alarmist but Bees are HUGELY important to the survival of many many thousands of flowering fruit specimens as well as vegetable species!
We are possibly looking at MASSIVE food shortages.
Be Afraid... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5If you don't bother them, bees generally aren't interested in bothering you. Their activities are focused on gathering nectar, pollinating flowers, and looking after their hive. Actually, I think you are likelier to be stung by other types of insects, including wasps, hornets, and ants, depending upon where you live.
- azAZ09, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5We're screwed.
- krakkinem, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5"Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)."
Boy, I love it when they come up with nifty little acronyms for mysterious "disorders" as if it gives them some sort of handle on it. Soon they'll be marketing a prescription drug to the honeybees that treats this condition.
Anyway, this sounds very serious. "Honey bees pollinate about one-third of our food supply around the world." Yikes. I never knew that honey bees were that important. So that's what those beekeepers collect honey for. It's not a hobby, it's essential to our way of life. - paganmonkeyboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5i'm not laughing at all actually...
- TheBowerbird, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5As part of my government job function I actually have to review the air pollution effects from systemic pesticides and other seed treatments. I get access to complete confidential ingredient lists, data on the behavior of the individual constituents and so forth. What is scary is that there really haven't been that many studies on the agricultural pesticides, fungicides, and nematicides. Companies such as Syngenta have pushed these to ag giants like Monsanto and Bayer Cropscience who are treating the hell out of crop seed, which is then planted. Basically they form slurries of 10 or 12 toxic products, coat the seeds, dry them, then plant them. This is as much about Monsanto having an excuse to charge more for their seed as it is about brainwashed farmers who think that this is just technology helping them. The reality of it is that we don't really know the full effects of the various chemicals and paints (yes they paint the seeds as well) on small organisms, and these greedy people are treating more and more seeds all the time. I fear for the honeybees and other invertebrates.
- groovehouse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I guess you missed this part of the article, "if the honey bees disappeared off the face of the Earth, within four years, all life would be gone."
- smokinjuan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Hives just turn up empty? Mite infestation doesn't seem likely?
Bursts of magnetic fields induce jumps of misdirection in bees by a mechanism of magnetic resonance:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/v6406173767q7445/
http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1999/MichelleFinnegan.shtml
Hose an area with 250Hz em waves and the workers will lose their way back to the hive eventually starving to death.
Now, where are the bursts coming from?
240Hz is a subharmonic of our 60Hz electric grid. Increased electric consumption also raises em fields. Has electric consumption raised the 3rd harmonic to the bee's navigational tolerance threshold?
More nefarious sources include Russian plots to destroy American crops and mind control devices operating in the 250Hz range to induce anger in humans and instability in society. But you'll make your own mind up about that won't you ;)
http://hiddenmysteries.net/geeklog/article.php?story=20070215122737862&mode=print - Slyer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I swear that was the first actual comment I've seen on Digg.
- UrbanVoyeur, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Can you say RoundUp?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundup - Slyer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Its a good thing humans don't need a middleman...
- BESTenemy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6That is why I enjoy when nature strikes back and humans get inconvenienced. We deserve it.
- ldkronos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4That link upsets me a bit. Those bees weren't going to stay there on the swingset.
What happened was that they had a new (second) queen form in an existing colony, so part of the colony broke off and found her. The clump was just the rest of the bees protecting their queen until scouts found an adequate, safe & protective location for their new colony.
I documented a similar swarm a few years ago: http://www.pbase.com/ldkronos/honeybee_colony_migration
Also, I should say that if the bees really did come out of that hole in the house, then most likely the bees didn't all leave that hole. As I said, the colony probably broke in half and the rest probably were still in there. - scott1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"dam. Governments have agencies for everything!"
Welcome to our great nations Bureaucracy! - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5@MrWhoopass,
Dugg for the Hitchhiker's reference.
However, they HAVE managed to track down some of the dead bees - just not near the hive. They disperse from the hive to die separately, and they don't swarm as bees normally do when leaving a hive. Please read allaboutdatiki's comment above, and click on the link in the comment, for more details. - DeFex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3If that pesticide was to wipe out the other insects as well, especially ants you have no idea how bad things will get. and VERY quickly!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@deff,
Pollinating a few plants here and there, for instance to make hybrid seed - that would be practical.
Climbing out along every branch in every flowering tree in every orchard, going around to every clover plant in every pasture ourselves - no, I don't think so.
Honey bees are equipped to do this work far more efficiently than we are. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@gfair,
I know what you mean, but then, there was also a Washington Post article cited in the comments above, along with government and beekeeper websites.
BTW, I posted this other article nearly a week ago, but it didn't get much traction:
http://digg.com/environment/New_mysterious_ailment_is_killing_off_US_honeybees
Also, the honey you are buying now was packed some time ago, before people became aware of the extent of the problem.
- COMPACTION, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Last year I noticed there was an odd absence of bees but I thought it might be a local thing or the weather. Now when I see an idiot spraying his lawn with pesticides I'm going to complain to the By-Law Police. The soil in a golf green is considered toxic waste if it were to run through usual waste disposal regulation criteria.
- t35t0r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3what sort of plants and flowers can I plant to make bees more plentiful?
- verstohlen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I was going to come here to comment about the canary in the mine analogy, but I see the article already mentioned it. Disturbing indeed.
- yournamehere, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3space bees!
- fishbert, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Yeah, that was NPR's story of the day, too.
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