Oftentimes we overlook the scenario of an insect species going extinct. After all, there are so many of them. It would be impossible for them to completely disappear so quickly, right? Well, if we consider the western honey bees of North America, we may need to think again. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is a peculiar phenomenon that has been occurring in the past decade, which describes the strange sudden disappearances of entire bee colonies in Europe and North America. If this continues at the current rate, the western honey bees may not be around for as long as we may assume.
So how does this affect us? In recent years, CCD has become a major issue in the agricultural industry as well as an environmental problem. This in turn has had significant impact on the economy. Honey bees are a very important part of the ecosystem in North America. Aside from producing the honey that we all enjoy, honey bees are absolutely vital to the pollination of a vast array of crop plants. Honey bees pollinate essentially every commonly known agricultural crop grown in the Western Hemisphere, aside from a select few such as wheat. In Ontario, beekeepers have lost between 70 and 90 per cent of their hives due to CCD. Over the past six years, approximately ten million beehives have been wiped out in Europe and North America. These beehives had an economic worth of two billion dollars. The estimated worth of global crops pollinated by honey bees in 2005, before CCD became a serious issue, was about $200 billion. As bee colonies continue to disappear, the cost of crops will likely increase as supply and demand lead to an increase in cost of pollination services from beekeepers.
The causes of CCD have been uncertain. Even today, scientists are still unsure as to what exactly has been causing entire bee colonies to suddenly die out all at once. One suspect has been the high usage of neonicotinoid in many agricultural crops, which the bees can consume through the nectar. Farmers have expressed the importance of the chemical for their crop yields. Neonicotinoid is a class of insecticide which is used to protect the seeds of corn, a crop that honey bees visit often. This has been a known problem in Ontario. Of the various suspected pesticides, fungicides, and insecticides, neonicotinoid is by far the most significant. As of 2013, neonicotinoids that have been suspected of killing honey bees have been banned in the European Union. In the United States, neonicotinoids have not been banned despite the expressed concerns of professional beekeepers and environmentalists. Instead, the cause of CCD has been speculated to be the Varroa mite. In Canada a similar view is shared, as the government has stated that they “do not feel a suspension [of neonicotinoids] is warranted at this time.” This year, the use of such pesticides are expected to increase in popularity.
Varroa mites are another suspected cause of CCD. The Varroa mites are a parasite that have been known to carry pathogens and contagious diseases, such as the deformed wing and acute bee paralysis viruses, when attaching to honey bees. An overall affliction with Varroa mites has tended to weaken a honey bee’s immune system, which in turn has led to fewer bee colonies surviving the winter, according to a study done at the University of Guelph. 85 per cent of the dead colonies studied had Varroa mites. In 2012, a third of honey bee colonies died over the winter in the United States, and this trend has continued.
The most recent research of this month has in fact suggested that a virus may be the primary cause of mass honey bee deaths in the West. A virus called tobacco ringspot virus, transmitted through pollen, has been a listed as a potential cause by scientists due to a correlation between infection from the virus and the peaks in bee deaths in the winter. Similar to the acute paralysis virus, the tobacco ringspot virus targets the nervous system. Overall the problem with viruses has been that they are so easily transmitted due to commercial bee colonies being transported across the continent continuously.
Another recent study has suggested that the prolonged exposure to synthetic chemicals has negatively affected the biological functions of honey bees. Chemical signals between the bees and their queen have been misconfigured such that many become sterile. Oftentimes the bees cannot lay any eggs.
Of course, Varroa mites are not the only parasite significantly harming western honey bees in North America. Although not as significant as a concern in terms of CCD currently, “zombie” flies have been another problem that has emerged recently from the western United States. Apocephalus borealis is a parasitical fly that has been reported to take honey bees as a host, causing the bees to be disoriented, irrational, and overall mindless in behavior which gives them the nickname of zombie bees. Zombie bees have been seen in the north-east United States in the recent months. Whether this means that Ontario may see them later this year is yet to be determined.
In summary, this situation with Colony Collapse Disorder has become very problematic. The implications of this will affect more than just bees and humans. Entire ecosystems might simply die out without the presence of honey bees. Will 2014 be the year when the bees finally start to return? Or will this trend continue indefinitely until there are no bees left? As of now, it seems nothing much will change, but with eleven months left in the year, anything is possible.
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