What Causes the Bees to Disappear?
Bee’s are disappearing from a number of reasons, some of these reasons include 2 types of parasites, a certain type of pesticide, and a phenomenon exclusive to bees called CDC or Colony Collapse Disorder.
What is Colony Collapse Disorder? (CDC)
Colony Collapse Disorder is the sudden mass disappearance of the majority of worker bees in a colony. The causes of this phenomenon are unclear, though many possible causes or contributory factors have been proposed, such as diseases, pathogens, pesticides, and changes in habitat.
A factor in causing Colony Collapse Disorder is the Small Hive Beetle.
What are the Impacts of Pesticides on Bees?
Of various pesticides, the neonicotinoid, has been identified as the main source of the problem for reduced bee population. This is a chemically-based pesticide similar to nicotine, designed to affect the nervous system when insects feeds on treated plants. This chemical can also affect humans and animals, but is not as lethal. Caution should be used when handling such chemicals, washing your hands is strongly recommended.
In 13 studies focusing on honey bees, and another study using 75 colonies of bumble bees, the following observations were made. There was one control group used to monitor activities of two additional groups. To simplify, we’ll reference the two study groups as low-dose and high-dose groups. These groups were exposed to neonicotinoids over a 2 – 4 week period during the flowering period. The results showed lower performance among the two groups respectively by 6 to 20%. Although not as many studies were conducted on bumblebees, the results showed were similar. However, the study on bumblebees highlighted a noticeable weight loss between the low-dose, and high-dose groups and the control group. Further study also showed a great difference in weight gain after several weeks. Other areas of concern were low production of Queen bees and a reduced workforce of worker bees creating smaller colonies.
How are Parasites Affecting the Bee Population?
There are two known parasites that affect the bee population.
Acapis Woodi
Acarapis Woodi (rennie) was found in Florida. It was found that Acarapis is not a serious pest of honey bees, however mite infestation may reduce bee activity. Acarpis Woodi is a tracheal mite affecting the respiratory system of honey bees, causing the disease known as acarapisosis, an infection in the trachea or bee breathing tubes, caused by the Acarpis Woodi. These microscopic mite measure 150 cm in length and feed on the haemolymph which is the equivalent of blood from their hosts. A bee with mites have a darkened trachea indicating the possibility of a mite infestation.
Varroa Destructor
Varroa Mites are external parasitic mites that attack Apis Mellifera and Apis Cerana other wise known as the Western and Eastern Honey Bee. The reproduce when a female mite enters the hive attached to a returning Worker bee. Worker bees are female and have several jobs, she must gather pollen, pollenize, and pack pollen, gather water, build the hive, feed the drones, attend the queen, and nurse the larvae. By attacking the worker bee the Varroa has full access to the hive, but once the Worker gets to the nursery she detaches and attaches to the larvae.
Once the Worker Bee seals the cell for the larvae to grow the Varroa produces male and female offspring which then mate and reproduce as well.
They do not kill the pupa as they crowd its cell, they let the now adult bee eat it’s way out of its cell and they escape and spread to other cells and one they mature they attach to the adult bees and drain them.
Continued exposure to the Varroa Mite can lead to birth defects in bees due to Varroosis, a disease that causes malformed wings and weakens their immune systems.
How do Mites Spread?
Robbing is one way that mites are spread. Robbing is when invaders from a hive attack and steal the honey from another hive, to bring towards their own. Typically this hive is weaker or has many of its bees outside of the hive when the attack occurs. This requires not only for them to enter a potentially infected hive, but if the hive does have Varroa, the bees need to fight for entry into the hive and this could be where a transfer of mites occurs.
There has not been a documented standard as to how bees contact Varroa. But Varroa can only reproduce in the colonies of honey bees, their method of reproduction an sustenance is dependent on the life cycle of the Apis Cerana and Apis Mellifera.
