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June 24, 2005
Almost no bees this year.
The culprit? Probably varroa mites:
The Varroa mite, officially known as the Varroa jacobsoni, is a crab-shaped arachnid the size of a pinhead that attaches itself to a bee and sucks its blood for sustenance.
Eric Mussen, a UC Davis Extension bee expert who provides scientific guidance to California's bee keepers, says the Varroa mite is now resistant to all registered pesticides. And that means big trouble for farmers and their agricultural commodities that depend on honeybees for pollination.
"If for some reasons we were to lose all of our honeybees, California would be out about $4.4 billion worth of crops," Mussen said. Our daily diets would change dramatically, he added, "because about one third of the food we consume every day is the product of honeybee pollination."
The immediate future for bees is bleak. However, scientists are continuing to look for both biological and chemical control agents that will work against the Varroa mite. The challenge for researchers is how to kill one invertebrate -- the mite -- without harming another -- the bee.
I've counted no more than 10 honeybees in all of 2005. I'm contemplating putting mason bee and/or bumble bee hives in my backyard. These native bees are much smaller and much friendlier than the honey bee. Still, my neighbor with the steaming backyard jacuzzi might get even more steamed about a bee metropolis close by...
Posted by Sue at June 24, 2005 01:28 PM
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