Monday 19 May 2008

What's happening to the bees?

I keep finding dead honey-bees in the house. It’s unusual enough for them to come inside in the first place, but finding their lifeless bodies is kind of eerie. It reminds me of the increasing reports of ‘disappearing’ bees.

One of the theories is that the radiation from mobile phones is harming colonies. This is from an online Independent article


The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation
systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way
back
to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to
back this
up.
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive's
inhabitants suddenly
disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature
workers, like so many
apian Mary Celestes. The vanished bees are never
found, but thought to die
singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and
other bees that normally raid
the honey and pollen left behind when a colony
dies, refuse to go anywhere near
the abandoned hives.
Bees don't just make honey, they are responsible for pollinating plants too, so without them life on earth could not continue. Yet as is often the case, very little seems to be happening to find out the cause of their decline and how to stop it.

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