The epidemic of colony collapse has been discussed here before. Those discussions have focused on possible causes and are not linked to, partly because I’m being lazy, but also because this thread is less about the cause as the effect.
So it may be caused by an infectious agent, a toxic agent, or a consequence of industrial monoculture farming and the transport of hives all over creation stressing out the buggers and making them subject to all sorts of pathogens (or even hypothetically cell phone use) … but what is likely to be the actual effect?
It must be noted the honeybees in danger are an alien species brought over from Europe that subsequently became feral. The American honey industry has already been undercut by global competition. The business of these honeybees is more in commercial pollination. Hives are hyped up on sugar water and transported to fields (almond groves, etc) to do the business of pollination. Why are they needed? Because modern commercial monculture has made it tough going for native bee species which need a variety of native flowers scattered amidst the fields. These bees are unassuming and nonaggressive. You often hardly notice them. Sweat bees. Digger bees. So on. Often they live in small hives. They do not make much honey. They do not travel far. But a few small swaths of clover, coneflower, aster, and Monardia scattered in the groves and some undisturbed piles of sticks are enough to keep them happy and pollinating away.
So other than those in the honeybee industry who should really care about colony collapse syndrome? Farmers just need to slightly modify practices to planting a few flower stands and steward the land with some native plantings that will support the native bees which seem unaffected by colony collapse syndrome and who will do the job just fine. Bzzzness as usual otherwise.
Thanks for the link CK. I would love to hear Doug’s take on the concept that minor changes in industrial agriculture practices could help facilitate native bees filling in any pollinating gap.