Fungus fingered in US honeybee wipeout
Possible cause of Colony Collapse Disorder?
Cloud storage: Lower cost and increase uptime
Scientists may have fingered a possible major contributory cause to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) - the hitherto unexplained disappearance of millions of honeybees in Europe, the US and seemingly Taiwan.
According to the Los Angeles Times, researchers have identified the single-celled fungus Nosema ceranae in dead bees from hives in Merced County, California. Other teams have similarly spotted the fungus in affected hives across the US, as well as two further fungi and 12 viral infections.
Powdered dead bee samples from the California hives were analysed by Dr. Charles Wick of the US Army's Edgewood Chemical Biological Center in Maryland using a "new system of genetic analysis". Wick pinned down several viruses, "including members of a recently identified genus called iflaviruses". These RNA-containing viruses infect the Varroa mite, which in turn lives on honeybees, and scientists speculate they may be fatal to bees.
The center's Evan W. Skowronski was able to offer a more clear-cut explanation for CCD, though. He said: "There was a lot of stuff from Nosema, about 25 per cent of the total. That meant there was more than there was bee RNA. That leads me to believe that the bee died from that particular pathogen."
Skowronski forwarded the tested bee samples to UC San Francisco biochemist Joe DeRisi, who confirmed "evidence of the viruses, along with genetic material from N. ceranae".
The upshot of all this is hope for the US's beekeepers. If N. ceranae is largely responsible for CCD, then scientists hope the antibiotic fumagilli - used to control the closely-related Nosema apis - might do the trick. It would be a timely cure: since last Autumn, 2.4 million commercial colonies across the United States have succumbed to CCD, according to Jerry Hayes of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in Gainesville.
However, DeRisi said at a meeting in Washington DC where 60 bee experts had got together to discuss CCD that the results were "highly preliminary". He warned: "We don't want to give anybody the impression that this thing has been solved."
Entomologist Diana Cox-Foster of Pennsylvania State University explained that Nosema ceranae represents "one of many pathogens" in the bees. She elaborated: "By itself, it is probably not the culprit … but it may be one of the key players." ®
COMMENTS
Bee Mutilation by Aliens
>Alien Abduction... Nuff said.
They do say that bee abductions often result in the phenominum of 'Bee Mutilation' - quite often their bodies are strangely squished to make them look like wasps.
Has anyone done a study to check the population of wasps and done a comparison with bee populations?
I'll bet the results would make you as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
Dr Doggie
Einstein the entomologist
Biology is probably the science which suffers most from others meddling in it, as if brightness elsewhere has a bearing on the natural world. So stories by Albert on bees and their place in the world are worth as much as the man who told him this. As if you can go into some detail without understanding the basics because, well, I live so it comes natural.
This is the unfortunate thing with inteligent design etc, all the same symptoms. You hear physicists ask `hey that theory about evolution, when will you get the proof finished?' and similar.
CCD
Colony collapse disorder is a term used generally. The strange fact is that the causes are general. Colonies die not because of one single problem, but because the combined effects of our civilization is too much for them. The same effects can be seen on the human population, but since human generations live longer, we can't see the effect now, but within a few generations the same ccd symptoms could be seen amongst humans. Colonies die because of the cumulative effects. The way to save them would be to take away enough damaging factors to let their environment stabilize. This would result in a better environment for humans too.
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Steps to Take Before Choosing a Business Continuity Partner
Requirements Checklist for Choosing a Cloud Backup and Recovery Service Provider
Cloud storage: Lower cost and increase uptime
SaaS data loss: The problem you didn’t know you had
