Honeybees dying, situation ‘unheard of’

[cali]

Just last year, it seemed there was something to celebrate despite planet Earth’s ongoing honeybee apocalypse: Bee colony losses were down. Not by enough, but they were down.

“It’s better news than it could have been,” said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, a University of Maryland entomology professor who led a survey of bee populations that reported a loss of 23 percent of bee colonies — less than 30 percent, the average from 2005 to 2013. “It’s not good news.”

Though scientists cited progress in battles against an Asian mite that has killed many an American bee, they had words of caution.

<snip>

Turns out Pettis was right. VanEngelsdorp and other researchers at the Bee Informed Partnership, affiliated with the Department of Agriculture, just announced more than 40 percent of honeybee hives died this past year, as the Associated Press reported. The number is preliminary, but is the second-highest annual loss recorded to date.

“What we’re seeing with this bee problem is just a loud signal that there’s some bad things happening with our agro-ecosystems,” study co-author Keith Delaplane of the University of Georgia told the AP. “We just happen to notice it with the honeybee because they are so easy to count.”

<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/05/14/honeybees-dying-situation-unheard-of/

[CentralMass]

1. Is there a Roundup (glyophosate) connection ?

http://www.naturalnews.com/046769_Roundup_honeybees_colony_collapse_disorder.html

[longship]

4. Natural News?????

Natural News is a horrible site to cite. It is run by that wackaloon, Mike Adams, an utter anti-science conspiracy kook.

So I would say Roundup is most likely NOT the problem.

[GreatGazoo]

6. 3 logical fallacies in three sentences

ad hom + ad hom + faulty inductive reasoning.

Science = theories + research

But like the proverbial stopped clock....

RoundUp is not the problem but it is part of the problem which is the over use of patented pesticides and GMO seeds coated with neonics.

Main elements of the Commission's proposal to Member States:

The proposal would restrict the use of three neonicotinoids (clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiametoxam) for seed treatment, soil application (granules) and foliar treatment on bee attractive plants and cereals.
The remaining authorized uses would be available only to professionals.
Exceptions would be limited to the possibility of treating bee-attractive crops in greenhouses, in open-air fields only after flowering.
The restrictions would apply beginning December 1, 2013.
As soon as new information is available, at the latest within two years, the Commission would review the conditions of approval of the three neonicotinoids taking into account relevant scientific and technical developments.

Based on currently available data, the EPA's scientific conclusions are similar to those expressed in the EFSA report with regard to the potential for acute effects and uncertainty about chronic risk.

http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/about/intheworks/ccd-european-ban.html

[longship]

9. A well deserved and earned ad hominem.

Here's another link for you from a science Blogger, Dr. Steve Novella, who calls him a dangerous loon. Well earned, I might add.
http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/mike-adams-is-a-dangerous-loon/

I will stand by my post.

[GreatGazoo]

11. So by your (lack of) logic: Fox News lies therefore if Fox News says today is Thursday then today

is NOT Thursday. If Mike Adams says for example that "ten times ten equals one hundred" the statement is true, no matter what else he might have said that isn't true. Attacking the speaker (ad hominem) rather than what is said, does not disprove what is said.

Logic and inductive reasoning are the basis of science. Fallacies and faulty logic, on the other hand, are the basis of religion and delusion. Inductive reasoning points to neonics on commercial seed as a major factor in colony collapse.

[RobertEarl]

12. heh

I see you have that poster's number? Great show, Gazoo.

Yeah, I've been a on few long rounds on that ship.

I have not seen one honey bee yet this year. And the few bumblebess seem to be in decline also. Bad news.

[longship]

27. No doubt because of Fukushima.

:sheesh:

[RobertEarl]

29. That makes me happy

To know that when you see one of my posts you think of Fukushima is great.

The media is ignoring that catastrophe which is liable to continue polluting the planet for a century, so, to know that I am doing better than the paid shills for the industry warms my heart.

Where is the corium? Anybody know?

[longship]

32. No, Robert, you apparently think Fukushima is the cause of nearly everything.

I have no problem with your politics which I often agree with. However, I do have huge problems with your science.

Nice straw man that I think Fukushima is great. I do not. And I love the paid shill charge -- Cui bono fallacy? These types of arguments are always prime evidence of one who has no evidence. Actually, I wish I was paid to take down bullshit idiocy like "OMG! Sea stars are melting on the North American west coast because of Fukushima!!!" and the rest of the utter lunacy in these forums on Fukushima. Alas, I remain a poor, retired college grad. (BTW, physics.)

The reason your posts on Fukushima are nearly universally ridiculed is because that is what they deserve.

Sorry to break the news to you, because your strictly political posts are pretty damned good.

[MattBaggins]

14. Let me ad hominem for you one more time

Mike Adams is a fucking moron

[RobertEarl]

30. Even better

The nuke power plant operators at Fukushima are fucking killers.

Adams got nothing on them. Yet you go after an individual?

[longship]

34. He goes after an utter loony.

And BTW, is EVERYTHING Fukushima?

:sheesh:

[Orrex]

15. Once a website has been conclusively demonstrated to be bullshit (like NaturalNews)...

Last edited Thu May 14, 2015, 05:54 PM - Edit history (1)

Then it's up to that site's advocates to demonstrate that further sputterings from that website have merit.

It's not that NaturalNews' long history of pushing bullshit means that they can't possibly publish true and factual information; it means that their long history of pushing bullshit has tainted their credibility so profoundly that everything they publish must be taken with a grain of salt and--preferably--corroborated by an objective and unaffiliated third party.

A sizable portion of DU'ers membership will summarily dismiss any statement made by or endorsed by Monsanto; do you fault these ad hominem attacks as eagerly as you fault people for doubting the integrity of NaturalNews?

[RobertEarl]

31. Once a nuke plant blows

When all the time the nukers said that nukes are safe, then their credibility should always be called into question.

But not so with some of you, eh? Instead some go after a non-killer individual.... It's like this is a meeting of kill the press and let the nukers blow free.

[longship]

35. I'm not saying it's from Fukushima

[Orrex]

38. Thank you.

I was trying to think of another example of a source that's been conclusively shown to lack all credibility--and which therefore doesn't need to be taken seriously--but I was having trouble coming up with one.

But then you posted your reply, and I remembered in a flash that you destroyed your credibility months ago.

Thanks!

[longship]

26. Okay, put your nickel down.

Give me your best shot. Give me any one article from Natural News that stands up to any kind of scientific scrutiny.

Just provide a link to the best Mike Adams has to offer and I will respond.
:sheesh:

[GreatGazoo]

36. If you re-read post #11 you will see (hopefully) that I am no more defending Mike Adams than Fox.

I imply that the 2 are both prone to less than factual prognostication.

Not really interested in Mike Adams because Mike Adams isn't killing bees -- Nenonics are, according to Harvard

[longship]

37. Glad that you are not interested in Mike Adams, because he's an ignorant kook. (More)

But I think one thing we can be pretty much sure of is that the honeybee problem is likely multi factorial. There are likely more than one cause. The bee keepers -- those in whose interest it would be to solve the issue -- have not solved it.

And yes, there are studies that cite neononics. And there are studies which cite mites. And I imagine others. One study does not make it science. It takes a lot of peer review and repetition to establish an hypothesis as theory in science. Right now, no one cause seems to have come forward, and the entomologists don't seem to have settled on a single cause, either.

Maybe the best hypothesis is that there is no single cause, which at this time seems to be the case. Nature is complex. There doesn't have to be a single cause. That would likely be wrong thinking given that there does not seem to be a consensus on the issue.

My best regards.

[MattBaggins]

13. fuck natural news

[Yorktown]

2. The problem appears to be nicotinoid based insecticides

But the chemical companies are dragging their feet because that's 4 big brands of insecticides.

[magical thyme]

3. that's one factor, but not the only one

from the linked article:

The cause of the bees’ demise was not noted, but researchers said colony collapse disorder — which causes mass deaths of the bees for reasons not fully understood — was not necessarily the culprit. As the Times put it last year: “What has emerged is a complex set of pressures on managed and wild bee populations that includes disease, a parasite known as the varroa mite, pesticides, extreme weather and poor nutrition tied to a loss of forage plants.”

[Sherman A1]

5. It is never just one thing

and this is true in this case as well. Very frightening....

[wordpix]

18. I agree with this but don't discount Roundup as one culprit

This is a lengthy scholarly article re: honeybees exposed to neonictinoids, atrazine and glyphosate.

http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Madeleine_Chagnon/publication/235740938_Acetylcholinesterase_in_honey_bees_(Apis_mellifera)_exposed_to_neonicotinoids_atrazine_and_glyphosate_laboratory_and_field_experiments/links/0f31752d891d213855000000.pdf

"Neonicotinoids are not the only source of pesticides posing
a threat to honey bees. The annual monitoring of surface
waters in agricultural areas by the Ministry of Environment
of Québec showed that atrazine and glyphosate (RoundUp®)
are among the most abundant products detected (Giroux and
Pelletier 2012). In the most contaminated areas, several adverse
physiological effects have been found in resident frogs
(Bérubé et al. 2005; Boily et al. 2005, 2009) including a high
AChE activity in plasma (Marcogliese et al. 2009). It is
possible that these contaminants may also affect honey bees."

[magical thyme]

21. I grow organic and a coworker is an organic grower who keeps bees

I don't discount Roundup or any other so-called pesticides. Thank dawg I live someplace where nobody nearby appears to treat their "lawns." I've considered beekeeping, but feel a little overwhelmed at this point to take on something new. However, some neighbor's honeybees made their way to my place last summer -- my tree-cutter who also keeps bees identified two european and one russian honeybee in my garden.

My coworker lost a large number of honeybees last year to an asshole nearby land-leaser who is putting in blueberries and sprayed on a windy day. Years of work getting certified by *all* of his neighbors, who all are small commercial organic growers, damaged in a single effing day.

However, in the case of the dyilng honeybees, the commercial beekeepers are using "factory farming" methods with disastrous results. Poor diet and high stress from living on the road compromise their immune systems, leaving them more vulnerable to everything.

[KamaAina]

28. Aha!

the commercial beekeepers are using "factory farming" methods with disastrous results.

Could this, rather than or along with nicotinoids or whatever, be the smoking gun?

[MH1]

33. I'm going to guess "along with".

I thought there wasn't much doubt that neonics are a contributor. In any biological system, if the system is weak from one factor, then it requires less of a hit from a second factor to kill or cause severe damage.

So it stands to reason that factory farming methods result in bees that are more vulnerable to the damage from neonics.

[magical thyme]

40. the nicotinoids are implicated in colony collapse disorder

however, according to the OP article, CCD actually has declined a bit. The increased overall bee losses are both turning bees into factory farm slaves plus nicotinoids.

[KamaAina]

41. Free-range bees?

I could certainly see that becoming a thing out here in California, home of free-range everything.

[ShawnRIN]

7. Be a part of the solution

I started a small hive in my backyard due to the declining bee population and as an ongoing science project for my kids. I live in a suburban area on the cusp of some farmland. Not ideal but a good diverse plant-life. It cost me about $300 bucks altogether to get started. We also discovered a thriving bee keeping community in the neighboring county which has offered us tremendous support in the form of expertise and encouragement.

[Wilms]

8. ^

[Sunlei]

10. the price we pay for green lawns, no afids on the flowers & 300 bushels of corn per acres &

a million hens crammed into 2 huge metal buildings & fishing nets so large they scrape the sea bottom of every living creature.

The price we pay is major extinctions of many creatures, even humans in many parts of the world are disposable 'by catch' plastic junk in the nets, not even worthy of pet food quality slaughterhouses craps.

[cwydro]

16. My family owns quite a bit of land in the country

in rural NC.

I plant crops every year, and as I walk around I always noticed the many bees happily busy in the clover and on the wildflowers.

I've been shocked this year because I have not seen ONE honeybee. My dad even kept bees here for years back in the 90's. We never used pesticides on our vegetable crops.

For me to have seen no bees at all at this time of year is alarming and upsetting to me. We have carpenter bees, bumble bees, and the never ending wasps.

But no honeybees.

[wordpix]

19. few bees and little wild clover here, too - haven't seen any this spring

I used to make sure my son wore shoes on the lawns in summer due to bees on the wild clover. Now there are no bees and there's also very little wild clover, either.

[cwydro]

20. We have tons of wild clover, and I used to get bee stung as a child a lot lol.

I still go barefoot, but even though I watch for the bees - there are none.

It's very upsetting.

[magical thyme]

22. I'm just starting to see some bumblebees in my neck of the woods

Either that or the same giant fat bee keeps showing up. It was trapped in my barn with me the other day, but happily found its way out. I just saw it again this morning. It's wierd to see such huge bees up here. They just started showing up last summer. Until then I had regular Maine bumble bees, which are maybe half the size and twice the speed of the newcomers.

Same thing with mosquitos. Maine mosquitos are tiny, fast and vicious. But giant ones start showing up last summer. Slow and easy to swat

[cwydro]

23. Carpenter bees look very much

like bumblebees. I only recently learned the differences. The carpenters have the shiny black abdomen with no yellow on it. The bumbles have furry bodies and yellow bands up and down.

Great thing is the male carpenter doesn't sting and the female doesn't want to!

If they're near your barn, they might well be carpenters because they burrow into wood.

[magical thyme]

24. nope. this bee is yellow striped and furry.

I think it was just passing through my barn and got stuck when I closed the door behind it.

[cwydro]

25. Lol, a bumble he must bee!

Yeah, the carpenters only have the yellow on top. And NOT furry.

I sure thought they were bumblebees before, but I didn't know the difference. It was a nature writer in our local paper.

Funny how you can learn stuff all the time (even at my advanced age.)

[Liberal_in_LA]

17. kick

[Caretha]

39. There is an incredible solution!!!

This is an invention by a father & son from Australia. Production will be up and running by December 2016.

This is the answer to honey bees & will turn all the bad news around.

Watch!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flow-hive-honey-on-tap-directly-from-your-beehive

It's amazing...enjoy