Bees/ov Development Journal 84
BEE DEATH IN THE USA:
is the honey bee in danger?
Wolfgang Ritter, President of the Apimondia Standing Commission for Bee Health International (OIE) and German National Reference Laboratory for Bee Diseases, CVUA, Germany Many people are concerned about the future of the honey bee because of
ls the problem new?
the great number of bee colony losses, particularly in the USA, as recently highlighted throughout the media. !t is of such importance that
Similar symptoms with colony losses have already occurred in the USA: in Alabama and Minnesota in 2002 and 2004, as well as in California in
the US House of Representatives held a special hearing to deal with the matter, and even the New York Times and the Journal Science published
major features. As often happens, this creates media exaggeration ranging from ‘Bee AIDS’ to the extinction of mankind as a consequence
2005. But losses were also recorded outside the USA: for example in Australia and Mexico in 1975 and in those cases, this phenomenon was called ‘disappearing syndrome’, Europe, too, there have always been losses of bee colonies from time
of the loss of honey bees. To address the problem correctly, all the facts
In
are needed.
to time, showing the same symptoms. Extremely high losses were
How did it start?
recorded during the winter of 2002-2003, estimated at 20% in France and up to 38% in Sweden. In Germany, an average of 32% of the one million bee colonies died and many beekeepers lost everything. The
During October-December 2006 beekeepers throughout the USA announced a dramatic spate of sudden bee colony losses. Many beekeepers observed for the first time that no dead bees remained either in front of, or inside the hives. They found empty hives and combs with brood of all ages and plenty of food and in certain cases, the queen
along with some young bees, was still strolling over the combs. The Ministry of Agriculture immediately established a working group within the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to examine initial test results
symptoms were more or less identical with those recently observed in In Germany this phenomenon is called Kah/fliegen. It first
the USA.
occurred in France about 15 years ago and can still be observed today: most of the colonies collapsing in harvest. Across the rest of Europe symptoms were numerous and varied, and ranged from brood of all
stages left in the hive, few bees left in the hive until food stocks ran out, or cleared by robbing bees from stronger colonies.
and defined their observations as ‘Colony Collapse Disorder’ (CCD). Initial surveys indicated losses in some apiaries of 30-90% but, as with all cases of this kind, it was difficult at first to get reliable data on the
At first glance it seems strange that bees depart from their colony, leaving brood and food behind. To understand this you have to study the bee colony's procedures for averting diseases. All actions of the single NATHAN RICE
total losses. However, the extent of the problem became clearly visible when facts revealed that up to 700,000 colonies had died.
How do bees avert diseases?
ne
Only 14 days ago, strong bee colonies were crowded on these brood combs at an apiary in the USA afflicted by CCD. Now mainly young bees are left.
