Colony Collapse Disorder: History and Causes

The rapid decline in the population of bees cannot be derived from a single factor. Like many environmental problems, the summation of several factors give rise to the problem that is the possibility of the extinction of bees. Although there may be a number of popular ideas about why bees’ populations are on the decline, some stand out above others. Things like parasites, chemicals, habitat destruction and changes, and reproduction issues all contribute significantly to a decline in the population of bees across the globe.

Where would we be without the honey bee? Around 2006, a decline in the honey bee population was noticed throughout the world. Beekeepers started noticing that many of their honey bee colonies were dying off, weakening, or completely leaving their hives. As the problem became more and more prevalent, it was given the name Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Scientist studying the sudden death and disappearance of the bees found problems that they were not able to explain. The honey bee decline became worldwide news as more and more beekeepers reported unexplained loss of honey bee hives. The common indicators of colony collapse disorder are the rapid loss of adult worker bees from affected colonies as evidenced by weak or dead colonies with

According to the article, Honey Bee Heath and Colony Collapse Disorder, honey bees around the U.S are slowly and puzzlingly disappearing. This slow disappearance of the honey bee population is caused by a disorder known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD.) Colony Collapse Disorder causes adult honey bees to completely “vanish” leaving behind only the queen bee along with immature bees. Although this disease is receiving a lot of attention and research on CCD is taking place, the causes and treatments for Colony Collapse Disorder are still undefinable as well. Some may ask, “Who cares? Why is it important that bees are disappearing?” It is important because bees are the foundation to U.S agriculture and they are vital to worldwide economic stability which is why finding the cause and treatment for CCD is a top priority for scientists and researchers around the world.

Purpose statement: Persuade my audience that more should be done to reverse the effects of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and other factors that are causing the bee population to decrease.

Studies have shown that the percentage of the amount of bee deaths have majorly increased. During past years surveys were sent out to commercial and small-time bee farmers on their total annual loss of honey bee colonies. During the 2012 and 2013 time period the annual total loss of bee colonies was at a peak of 45% of all their colonies. The 2013 and 2014 time period dropped to 34%. Then the 2014 and 2015 time period took a 7% percent jump leaving it around 41%. The most recent and influential is the 2015 and 2016 time period, from the past year it took a 3.1% percent jump to 44.1%, and this is of 48 states. At this rate we could be losing tons of bees and that sweet honey. But why are these bees dying so quickly, some might blame it to the

Colony Collapse Disorder is a phenomenon affecting domestic and wild honey bee colonies worldwide. Basically what is happening is worker bees are leaving the hive and not coming back but

A Spring without Bees: How Colony Collapse Disorder has Endangered Our Food Supply, written by Michael Schacker, discusses colony collapse disorder and how pesticides can hurt other parts of the environment. After reading this book, I have learned that many small factors can contribute to the cause of CCD. In addition, Schacker has brought to my attention the various ways I can help bees, from using organic pesticides to creating a bee garden with plants that attract pollinators. Overall, A Spring Without Bees has given me more insight to hardships beekeepers deal with against pesticide companies and details about the information the government is keeping about the harm that pesticides can do the environment.

During the winter of 2006, beekeepers all over the world started to see a 30 to 90% loss in their colonies as a result of Colony Collapse Disorder. In the United States alone, the bee population is steadily declining from 5 million bees in 1988 to 2.5 million bees today.

From around the year 2006, many bee farmers in the U.S.A and some parts of Europe started reporting sharp declines in their bee stocks. The reason for this declining numbers was not known and therefore scientists named it colony collapse disorder (CCD). Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is a not a very old phenomena and it became popular when large number of bee colonies started disappearing. The disappearing was mysterious since no dead bees were found in or around the beehives after a colony’s number was reported to have gone down or vanished. This prompted a lot of study and investigations to uncover the mystery and to establish possible remedies. Among the many reasons for the causes of the CCD

It gives a good description about how colony collapse disorder works and how bees are affected by it. “Disappearing Bees and Reluctant Regulators” as an article is a solid support for my research, it connects well with the other articles in my research like “Honeybees: CCD and Why Action Must Be Taken”. It should be noted that “Disappearing Bees and Reluctant Regulators” is in contrast with the “Disappearing bees” article that will appear later in the bibliography. I choose this article because it points out how EPA pesticide regulation could be a good thing and the causes of CCD could be because of something else. However, “Disappearing Bees and Reluctant Regulators” does go in depth what does the loss of the honey bee means for the economy and the

The bees are dying because of humans. Global warming, habitat destruction, pesticides, and air pollution are just some of the ways that humans are actively destroying the global bee population. The insecticide neonicotinoids are the most widely used, and also one of the most hurtful. Neonicotinoids can affect the bees’ ability to navigate back to their hive, and also can lead to a decline in queen bees. The insecticides weaken the bees’ immune system which allows them to be much more susceptible to getting sick, and dying. However, honey colony collapse Disorder is not exclusively caused by neonicotinoids, viral pathogens and parasite mites are also fatal to the bee population. “Wild bee habitat shrinks every year as industrial agribusiness

According to the Nature, Conservancy tracheal and varroa mites infested beehives and decimated them. Varroa mites continued spreading diseases while the trachea mites didn't pose much of a problem. In fall of 2006, a sudden die-off of bee colonies was brought on by the disappearance of adult bees from their hives. they called it “fall dwindling” until later when they renamed it Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD. Since the bee population has reduced farmers will either have to sell crops later or sell less of them. If there were no bees, a large percentage of everyday foods we eat would be gone. Think about all the things you love eating or the fruits that you love to see and eat. Without bees, these things would be gone. Since flowers need have to be pollinated and bees do the pollinating the two would either exist together or die out together. This is bad because a lot of food comes from

The purpose of this report was to determine why bees are disappearing and the effect on the world if they disappeared, like pesticides and fungicides role in their disappearance, the role Colony Collapse Disorder has on their disappearance, the knock on effect on pollination, the knock on effect on crops, can anything take up their role, can humans take up their role and is life possible without bees. It was determined that a combination of pesticides and fungicides that contaminates the bees pollen leave the bees three time more likely to be infected by a parasite, allow not enough evidence is available some evidence shows that a combination of factors lead to CCD where the adult bees leave the hive, the queen, the baby bees and some worker bees this is not enough to support the hive in the long run so they die. Insects’ pollination accounts for one third of the human diet of which eighty percent is done by bees, so see a fifty percent decrease in pollination levels over twenty years could crop yields fall dramatically. Climate change which is thought to play a big role in when the bees immerge from hibernating through winter and loss of habitat also has an effect on how much the bees pollinate. One in every three mouth fulls of food of the average person is directly or indirectly linked to honey bee pollination, the effect of bees disappearing would cause plants that solely rely on bees to pollinate them to die out, out of one hundred crops which provides nighty

Problem: Decreasing Bee population caused by Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) During the 1980s onwards, the population of the bees had decreased at an alarming rate. The cause of the decline was “due to Varroa and tracheal mites: The first Varroa mite infestation was reported in 1987; tracheal mites were first detected in 1984.” [8] These die-offs forced many bee-keepers out of employment. These die-offs during the past were called by various names: “spring dwindle disease, fall dwindle disease, autumn collapse, May disease and disappearing disease.”[3]

Honey bees, feared by the misinformed and admired by the intelligent, are dying. The interest in bees from many environmentalists is not for a sudden cause, as this issue is not new to the world. Honey bees as a population have been in decline for years but have yet to reach the endangered species list anywhere in the United States except for Hawaii. Many people kill bees that buzz around joyfully, simply because they are afraid of being stung by them; however, a vast majority of bees do not sting and the others do not care. This unfortunate commonality is not even one of the top causes of the worldwide epidemic of honey bees. Although bees are jokingly idolized on the internet in pictures and videos as a result of a popular children’s movie, their population decline is in fact quite serious. Honey bees and other pollinators like birds and insects ensure the pollination of flowering plants and crops all around the globe. Not only do honey bees pollinate plants that produce the foods that humans eat, but they also pollinate trees that produce clean oxygen for Earth. Without honey bees, the world as we know it could soon end, due to carbon dioxide pollution and lack of farmable foods. The population of honeybees and other important pollinator-bee species is dwindling due to a dilemma known to scientists as colony collapse disorder (CCD) because of the use of bee-killing pesticides, known as neonicotinoids, the decrease of flower meadows in the world, and the general increase