They have found a fungus that might be killing the bees.

[alfredo]

This means they may be able to reverse the loss of colonies.


http://www.latimes.com/news/la-sci-bees26apr26,0,7437491.story?track=mostviewed-storylevel


A fungus that caused widespread loss of bee colonies in Europe and Asia may be playing a crucial role in the mysterious phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder that is wiping out bees across the United States, UC San Francisco researchers said Wednesday.

Researchers have been struggling for months to explain the disorder, and the new findings provide the first solid evidence pointing to a potential cause.

But the results are "highly preliminary" and are from only a few hives from Le Grand in Merced County, UCSF biochemist Joe DeRisi said. "We don't want to give anybody the impression that this thing has been solved."


~~~~

So folks, we may have bought ourselves some time. We need to clean up our act.

[Montauk6]

1. Ahhhh... so it's not the cellphones then?

[Benhurst]

2. Maybe.

Maybe not.

[alfredo]

3. As evil are cellphones are, they appear not to be the culprit.

[sam sarrha]

8. it's the Damn cell phones that are causing the Fungus to Grow.!!!!!!!!

:rofl:

[alfredo]

14. Cell phones are a fungus that make people act like jerks.

[originalpckelly]

5. I knew they weren't in the first place. That was just a bunch of bullshit...

cell phones did not start widespread use just this year. What a little common sense would do this nation.

[C_U_L8R]

4. there's a fungus among us?

[nolabels]

6. This only makes sense considering they got all them extra feet

http://www.premier-brands.com/aerosol.html

Insect foot care is such an untapped market :crazy:

[Bjornsdotter]

7. I heard that....

...the bees were raptured.

Cheers

[niyad]

9. jim hightower's column pointed out that there are a significant number of causes--all related to the

agribusiness ruination of bees--transporting them (causing major stress) feeding them sugar water, not allowing them to perform their usual multi-tasking, etc. etc.




Posted by Jim Hightower

Bees are dying. Dying all across America. Lots and lots of bees.

Starting in Florida last fall, the great bee die-off has spread to 24 states. Whole colonies are dying. In Western states, commercial beekeepers report up to a 60 percent loss of their bees, with losses 70 percent in Texas and on the East Coast. It's unprecedented.

Who cares? Well, few people realize that many of America’s food crops – from almonds to watermelon – rely heavily on commercial honeybees for pollination. No bees, no fruit. One study finds that these bees pollinate every third bite of food that we consume.

Another little known fact is that bee pollination is increasingly a highly concentrated industry. Rather than a dispersed system of local hives, a few commercial operators now haul tens of billions of bees from coast to coast, trucking their hives in 18-wheelers.

"Colony Collapse Disorder," as it's now called, could be the result of this industrialized model of pollination. First, the bees themselves have been bred into single-purpose super-pollinators, rather than bees with multiple functions (make honey, feed the queen, maintain the hives, and extend the species). The industrial bees have lost the diversity and natural traits of wild bees.

Second, constant trucking puts stress on the bees, suppressing their immune systems and making them vulnerable to viruses, mites, and diseases. Also as part of their forced migration, the bees are fed a limited diet of high fructose corn syrup – about as healthy as humans trying to live on Cokes. Other research is indicting certain pesticides and genetically altered organisms that have been artificially spliced into many field crops.

. . . . .



http://www.jimhightower.com/node/6106

[LiberalFighter]

10. Probably were infected by bushwad's infected nose.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Thank you for posting this, alfredo. I hope they're on the right track. It's really very serious. nt

[meldroc]

12. Bees need to be treated better.

That is, they need less stress on them so they remain healthy.

On top of that, they shouldn't constantly be dosed with pesticides and chemicals - while they get rid of mites and germs & such in the short term, they make the bees vulnerable in the long term.

Of course, most industrial beekeepers are going to take the Monsanto approach - use yet another chemical, some as-yet-undeveloped anti-fungal, to cure this particular problem, and we'll limp along for yet a few more years.

But in the end it'll blow up in everyone's faces.

From what I've been told, organic beekeepers and hobbyist beekeepers who practice organic beekeeping - who don't use lots of chemicals, haven't had a problem with CCD.

[lovuian]

13. Its still very preliminary if its a fungus Alleluia

thats treatable but its too soon yet for results from a few beehives

I think the point that organic beehives are surviving that it says for being organic
its the smart way to go

[alfredo]

15. This problem was not created in a vaccum. What is causing them

to be susceptible to these diseases.