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Are Honey Bees Endangered?

are honey bees endangered

There are billions of Honey Bees in the world and from that point of view Bees are not endangered. But they are under threat. There have been mass deaths of bees all over the world and it has been very difficult to establish what has caused this and if it continues then Bees will become endangered.

It has been estimated that millions of bees have died in the last decade and scientists are unsure of the exact cause. There is no doubt that a number of factors have contributed to their slow decline. This includes pesticides which have been proven to affect their ability to navigate back to the nest, new forms of pests and disease which have targeted curtain species of bee and the reduced diversity of planets which has been found to reduce the immune system of the bee as they are exposed to few strains of pollen.

A condition called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has been cited as one of the main factors and results in all the workers to just die. This is still a mystery as to why this happens as there are no obvious outward indicators of any problems such as disease or parasites. Scientists are continuing their research, with one main avenue being the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus which is believed to be associated with CCD.

More on CCD

There have been some fanciful theories when it comes to the causes of Colony collapse disorder. These have included an Al-Quida plot to destroy American farming, mobile phone radiation and even something called Honey Bee rapture when Bees become captivated by celestial bodies.

The more serious suspects include a new mutated virus, fungal infections resulting in damaging toxins, contaminants in the environment in particular farming pesticides, nutritional stress maybe caused by drought and other weather extremes, transporting of bees and the confining nature this enforces, colony interaction and stress, or perhaps a combination which might have a knock on effect on the Bees immune system.

In the beginning many onlookers doubted the existence of CCD but in 2007 a congressional hearing in America, which featured testimonials from beekeepers, farmers and scientists, talked over the grim statistics on an international basis and came to the conclusion that humans have done a “relatively poor job of limiting the spread of bee diseases and pests globally”. The amount of evidence of something devastating happening to the worlds bees was overwhelming.

 

 

Honey Bees Feeding on Raspberry Plants

are honey bees endangered
flying honey bees
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