Friday, April 23, 2010

Colony Collapse Disorder

Interestingly CCD has been around for quite a few years before recent events became a main stream phenomenon. To draw a metaphor from human pandemics I wonder if a lot of the problem is similar to people being so mobile now. Where humans can spread an outbreak globally within hours via international flight; bees are trucked around the country and it spreads annually with the pollination cycle. Isolated CCD would burn through an area, wipe out colonies but within a few years only CCD resistant colonies would be left. Better to have the disease localized than national; but large scale agriculture keeps prices low. The double edged sword of modern agriculture.


Bee Colony Collapse Disorder

1 comment:

seattlecitybees said...

IAPV has not been isolated as a cause in CCD. In fact, no virus has been isolated. They have ground up bees, isolated the honeybee genetics, and examined what is left and found no new pathogens. If there is no virus, bacteria, fungus, etc., then what will the bees develop resistance to? I have done a lot of internet research on my blog regarding CCD and believe pesticides are to blame. Did you know that in 2008 the EPA would not release data regarding pesticides and CCD? Or that CCD is only affecting commercial beekeepers (primarily)?