To Bee or Not to Bee . . .

“Despite these glorious shenanigans of blooms and birds and bees, plant sex is really plant-to-plant,” explained Susan Milius writing in a recent edition of Science News. Absolutely true, of course, but without bees to pollinate many of the world’s crops, we could be in deep trouble. In fact, say many researchers, we already are.

Commencing early in this century, beekeepers in Western countries started experiencing inexplicable, drastic depletions in their colonies. In the United States, losses were reported as high as 90 per cent. In Canada it was a lesser, but still horrifying average of 30 per cent. It quickly became tagged as Colony Collapse Disorder but researchers were unable to determine precisely what was killing the bees. The general consensus has been that a combination of factors is the cause. Suggested culprits involved included the parasitic varroa mite, the Nosema parasite, environmental factors and, of course, pesticides. Now recently reported research appears to point the finger of blame to the relatively new neonicotinoid pesticides along with a virulent virus vectored by varroa mites Thanks to human assistance, the varroa mite has spread across the globe. Except for a few fortunate isolated areas it has infested honeybee colonies. There, an individual varroa fastens onto a honey, inserts its proboscis and commences to suck the bee’s blood. This is bad enough for both bees and their keepers. Left unchecked, the parasites can decimate a colony. While not an insect itself, it is closely related, making control with pesticides difficult although formerly not impossible. Unfortunately, as with so many such solutions, the mites have built up resistance to the few pesticides possible to use against them.

---

If all this isn’t enough to make varroa mites to bees what mosquitoes are to humans, they also spread an unpleasant strain of virus when the feast on bees’ blood. Hawaii is one of the few places on Earth where varroa mite hasn’t reached. A few years ago it was accidentally introduced to one island in the archipelago. This made it an ideal place for scientists to research the problem. They discovered this disconcerting fact. The disease, called deforming wing virus, is now “one of the most widely-distributed and contagious insect viruses on the planet.” The international team’s findings were reported in the journal Science. Ever since the advent of modern chemical pesticides in the 1940s and ‘50s, campaigners have fought against their use. A major claim was their effect on other than the targeted wildlife. While slow to respond commercial producers latched onto the idea of systemic pesticides. These would be absorbed by crops, destroying pests biting into the plants but safe for all without aspersions to a free feast. One of the latest of these systemic solutions has been a group known collectively as neonicotinoids. Bayer CropScience, based in Switzerland, markets one of these products, imidacloprid, presently used worldwide, although restricted in some European countries. Although questioned by the manufacturer, recently published research indicates that neonicotinoids spread into pollen and nectar. While bees apparently are not killed outright, a sublethal dose affects both honey- and bumblebees – and presumably wild native bees also. Continued exposure to neonicotinoids over time reduces bee royalty, renders bees “picky eaters” and affects their behaviour, reducing ability to direct nestmates to otherwise good sources of food. Researchers from Britain, France, Belgium and the United States reported the results of their studies in world-renown journals Science and the Journal of Experimental Biology. Such research has increased demands that neonicotinoids be if not banned completely then at least severely restricted. No one as yet seems to have queried why this hazard was not detected earlier, either by the manufacturer or government controlling bodies. But even if the pesticide is removed from the market, the varroa mite remains. While research is underway to discover a strain of honeybees resistant to the pest, for example in British Columbia, much work remains to be done to solve the problem.