Missing Bees To Possibly Cost Billions

[Nehkara]

As bees go missing, a $9.3B crisis lurks

But something has gone terribly wrong in this little utopia in a box. "There should be a lot more workers than there are," he says. "This colony is in trouble."

That pattern -- worker bees playing Amelia Earhart -- has become dismayingly familiar to the nation's beekeepers over the past year, as well as to growers whose crops are pollinated by honeybees. A third of our food, from apples to zucchinis, begins with floral sex acts abetted by honeybees trucked around the country on 18-wheelers.

We wouldn't starve if the mysterious disappearance of bees, dubbed colony collapse disorder, or CCD, decimated hives worldwide. For one thing, wheat, corn, and other grains don't depend on insect pollination.

But in a honeybee-less world, almonds, blueberries, melons, cranberries, peaches, pumpkins, onions, squash, cucumbers, and scores of other fruits and vegetables would become as pricey as sumptuous old wine. Honeybees also pollinate alfalfa used to feed livestock, so meat and milk would get dearer as well. Ditto for farmed catfish, which are fed alfalfa too.

And jars of honey, of course, would become golden heirlooms to pass along to the grandkids. (Used for millennia as a wound dressing, honey contains potent antimicrobial compounds that enable it to last for decades in sealed containers.)

In late June, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns starkly warned that "if left unchecked, CCD has the potential to cause a $15 billion direct loss of crop production and $75 billion in indirect losses."

This is becoming a terrible problem. I hope they find an answer soon or it could be disastrous.

[habernac]

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthr...highlight=bees

[burn_baby_burn]

I know alfalfa seed production in Southern Alberta is done with leaf cutter bees. Havn't heard if there population is declining. Also, hybrid seed canola uses honey bees for pollination in Western Canada.

[Byrns]

Doesn't the wind blow the pollen around as well? Flys? Wasps? Why is it just bees that cross pollinate?

[FireFly]

Originally Posted by Byrns

Doesn't the wind blow the pollen around as well? Flys? Wasps? Why is it just bees that cross pollinate?

It's not, it's just that they're the best at it.

[Flames89]

and wasps are a$$holes!

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by Byrns

Doesn't the wind blow the pollen around as well? Flys? Wasps? Why is it just bees that cross pollinate?

Other insects and wind will be nowhere near as efficent at pollinating as bees. No comparison. Bees are used for a reason.

[Katie]

Have they been found yet?

Maybe put up some signs and stuff.

[McG]

[Reaper]

I love how Katie has been trolling us tonight.